Bulletin

Issue: September/October 2007

News

‘Australia Award’ for fight against cancer

La Trobe University Professor David Vaux was among nine top medical researchers awarded one of the nation’s newest and most prestigious science awards – an Australia Fellowship from the National Health and Medical Research Council.

The first of these fellowships, each valued at $4 million over five years, were announced by the Health Minister, Mr Tony Abbott in August to ensure that Australia remained at the forefront of world health and medical research.

They concentrated on three of Australia’s biggest health challenges – cancer, infectious diseases and mental health. In the 1980s Professor Vaux discovered the first molecular components of the mechanism involved in cell death, known as ‘apoptosis’. He is now recognised internationally as a leading researcher in what has become one of the hottest fields of bio-medical science.

Cells that fail to die when they should can cause cancer, and Professor Vaux’s research has identified a number of genes that inhibit the death of cancer cells. Professor Vaux has previously been awarded a Federation Fellowship, the Australia Research Council’s most prestigious fellowship. The new award will allow him to accelerate this groundbreaking research to develop new cancer therapies.

During the last two years at La Trobe University, Professor Vaux has built up a series of interlinked laboratories that focus on this field. Four research teams are working on major projects deepening our understanding of the mechanisms that regulate the destruction of cells.

‘If cells fail to die when they should, they can develop into cancers. On the other hand, in heart attacks, stroke or neurodegenerative diseases, many cells appear to die unnecessarily,’ he said.
‘Understanding that process is essential to develop drugs that can make cancer cells kill themselves – or prevent other cells from dying when they shouldn’t. This would make a major impact on many important diseases.’

Two of Professor Vaux’s colleagues from the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, who are helping to establish the new Australian Institute of Molecular Medicine (AIMM) – Professors Andreas Strasser and Doug Hilton – also received NHMRC Australia Fellowships.

New research partnership

The AIMM is based at La Trobe University’s main Melbourne campus at Bundoora.

Part of a ground-breaking research partnership in molecular medicine between La Trobe and the Co-operative Research Centre for Biomarker Translation, it will have close links with researchers at the Bundoora campus of the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, and the Co-operative Research Centre for Cancer Therapeutics. The CRC for Biomarker Translation is headquartered on the University’s Research and Development Park. It was co-founded by Professor Nick Hoogenraad, Head of the School of Molecular Sciences.

Professor Vaux said the AIMM plans to build a state-of-the-art purposebuilt facility at the University in 2009 dedicated to research into the molecular basis of human diseases.

‘It’s the next step in expanding innovative research, collaboration and teamwork,’ he said. ‘Creating a focus of talented and diverse scientists is vital for making discoveries in basic science and translating them into treatments for important diseases.’