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Professor Nick Hoogenraad:

All living processes are carried out at the molecular level. So we are made up of atoms, and atoms make up molecules. And the molecules of life like DNA, proteins and sugars and lipids etc, they’re what we are made of.

Professor David Vaux:

It’s important to study molecular sciences just so we can understand how we work and how biological organisms function, but also so that we can come up with new treatments for important human diseases such as cancer.

Associate Professor Mick Foley:

We’ve been researching for a number of years now on shark antibodies and it turns out that shark antibodies are very small and they offer a lot of advantages if you’re trying to exploit them as therapeutic agents for a variety of diseases.

Professor Leann Tilley:

We’re trying to understand the fundamental inner workings of the malaria parasite. We’re trying to understand when the parasite gets inside red blood cells, how it alters the properties of those red blood cells to make them sticky.

Professor David Vaux:

My lab research is mechanisms of cell death, and what makes it unique is that we’re one of the few labs in the world that’s understanding how each little piece of the cell death mechanism goes together.

Professor Nick Hoogenraad:

The first and my long love if you like in research is work on part of the cell called the mitochondria. Mitochondria are packets, they’re if you like little factories in the cell that produce the energy for life.

Associate Professor Mick Foley:

Traditional antibodies, like human antibodies have been used for several years now to combat a lot of cancers and autoimmune diseases, and I think the next generation that might come along are these small proteins, and sharks have them naturally in their blood.

Professor Leann Tilley:

We’re using molecular cell biology techniques but in particularly we’re using a range of new imaging technologies that enable us to see the malaria parasite with unprecedented detail.

Professor David Vaux:

Every second a million cells divide in two in our bodies, and every second we need to get rid of a million cells, and the way our bodies do that is that our cells have a built in self destruct mechanism and they activate that mechanism and kill themselves.

Professor Nick Hoogenraad:

If we could understand more fully exactly how our cells respond to demands on energy for example, to make more of it for example, just exactly what the machinery is, what the molecular machinery is, that will help us to perhaps be able to treat things that go wrong.

Professor Leann Tilley:

I like to use instruments, microscopes to actually really get down to the molecular workings of the malaria parasite.

Associate Professor Mick Foley:

We’re at the beginning of a project where we’ve isolated a shark antibody to a particular molecule on the surface of breast cancer cells and in the laboratory test tube that shark antibody will kill those breast cancer cells and stop them growing.

Professor David Vaux:

The reason we study this process is partly we’re interested in how it works and how cells and how the body works, but also so that we can come up with new treatments for diseases such as cancer when the process of cell death goes wrong.

Professor Leann Tilley:

So if we were able to do what we’re trying to do, to find new ways of killing the malaria parasite, then potentially we can save the lives of a million kids every year.

Associate Professor Mick Foley:

There is something nice about a predator like a shark being able to offer up something that maybe one day be able to treat cancers, autoimmune diseases, those sorts of things.

Professor Nick Hoogenraad:

My name is Professor Nick Hoogenraad, and I’m a professor of biochemistry, and my research interests are in gaining molecular explanations for living processes.

Professor Leann Tilley:

I’m Leann Tilley, I’m a biochemist working here in the Department of Biochemistry at La Trobe University.

Professor David Vaux:

My name is Professor David Vaux, and I’m a molecular biologist and I study the mechanisms of cell death.

Associate Professor Mick Foley:

My name is Mick Foley, I’m an associate professor in the Department of Biochemistry, School of Molecular Sciences at La Trobe University.