 Dr
Johnson Mak
Dr Mak is a molecular virologist with a strong research interest in
the assembly process of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1),
and how these events may be manipulated for the development of effective
prevention and treatment strategies. He is presently the Head of the
HIV Assembly Group and the Head of Virology Program at the Macfarlane
Burnet Institute for Medical Research and Public Health in Melbourne
Victoria. In addition, Dr Mak also holds appointments at the Department
of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Monash University in Clayton
Victoria as a Monash Logan Fellow and Honorary Lecturer. After completing a PhD at the Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research
at McGill University Montreal Canada in mid-1996, Dr Mak has come to
Australia to pursue his research interests, specifically in the process
that regulates HIV-1 particle formation. In 1997, Dr Mak was awarded
an AMRAD Research Grant, which enabled him to build up his own lab
immediately and has taken on both honors students and PhD students.
He has since built a strong internationally recognized HIV assembly
group at the Burnet Institute. During this period, Dr Mak has also
provided a mentoring role to members of his team. His first PhD student
(Dr. M Shehu-Xhilaga) was awarded a CJ Martin Fellowship, and his post-doctoral
fellow (Dr. M Hill) was awarded an American Foundation for AIDS Research
Fellowship and recently a NHMRC project grant. Dr Mak’s research has already attracted considerable recognition
from the national and international scientific community; these are
evident by invited reviews, invited lectures, serving in editorial
board and grant reviewing panel. He has been awarded several NH&MRC
Project Grants and other similar post-graduate fellowships and awards.
Most of his publications appear in the top virology journal, and his
works are regularly cited by his peers. He is rated by his peers as
one of Australia’s strongest emerging HIV researchers. Dr Mak applied for a Pfizer Australia Research Fellowship to allow
him to continue to pursue his world leading research in Australia on
HIV assembly, and to define the replication process of human viral
pathogens through basic research and to translate his discoveries to
diagnosis, treatment and prevention. Dr Mak’s research has a virology focus, and he utilizes biochemical
and molecular biological tools to dissect the events in viral replication.
The Monash Biochemistry Department and the Burnet Institute are the
premium Australian research institutions in molecular biology and virology,
respectively. Through Dr Mak’s appointments at the Monash Biochemistry
and at the Burnet, he is able to work with some of the top Australian
scientists in the field, which further enhances his international competitiveness. The significance of this research lies in its potential to translate
some of the findings from basic research into disease treatment and
prevention. Some of these translational works are already underway,
which includes the development of: 1) an effective gene delivery vector,
and 2) a topical microbicide formulation to prevent sexual transmitted
diseases. This research could make a significant difference to the
well being of many Australians and others who are at risk for HIV-1
infection or suffer from various forms of genetic disorders.
Dr Mak was awarded at the Monash Biochemsitry in 2004
with his work being carried out at both the Monash Biochemistry and
the Burnet Institute where there are three research scientists and
three post-graduate scholars contributing to the research undertaken
at this laboratory. |
 Dr
Rodney Rietze
Dr Rietze is a developmental neurobiologist, whose main interest lies
in understanding the regulation of stem cell activity in the developing
and adult brain. He is currently a University of Queensland Senior
Research Fellow within the Queensland Brain Institute. There he heads
the Neural Stem Cell Research Laboratory and the NeuroFlo Cell Sorting
Facility, which provides the only cell sorter in the world dedicated
to the purification and characterisation of non-traditional, tissue-based
(i.e. neural) cell types (rather than blood cell types).
Dr Rietze began his research career in the laboratory of Dr. Sam
Weiss, a pioneer in the field of brain stem cell biology, where he
studied the role that stem cells play in generating new nerve cells
in the adult brain. Following the completion of a Master’s degree,
he worked for Neurospheres Ltd., a biotech company that focused on
harnessing the therapeutic potential of adult brain stem cells. During
this period, Dr. Rietze made a key discovery regarding the regulation
of neural stem cell activity, demonstrating the ability of such cells
to generate blood cell types following blood stem cell depletion.
Dr. Rietze then went to work in the laboratory of Professor Perry
Bartlett at The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research
in Melbourne, where he completed his PhD. This led to his second seminal
discovery, which was published in Nature in August 2001, reporting
the first successful purification of the stem cell from the forebrain
of adult mice using cell sorting techniques. This provided unequivocal
evidence that there is a single predominant stem cell that is responsible
for new neurons in the adult forebrain and conclusively demonstrated
the pluripotential nature of this stem cell.
The discovery of a resident population of functional stem cells in
the adult brain has revolutionised the way we view the brain’s
response to processes such as ageing, learning and memory, and its
ability to respond to perturbations, including trauma and disease.
During the course of his Pfizer Australia Research Fellowship Dr Rietze
will seek to elucidate further the unique cell surface markers of the
endogenous brain stem cell and its progeny, allowing their purification,
and an unambiguous investigation into the intrinsic and extrinsic factors
that regulate these cells’ activity. This work is vital if we
are to develop successful strategies to treat a wide range of debilitative
neurodegenerative diseases and injuries, whose conditions extract an
enormous economic and social cost of sufferers, carers and governments
alike. The ability to translate the results of such state of the art
scientific research will also help ensure Australia maintains its current
internationally competitive edge in this burgeoning field.
|
 Associate
Professor Lea Williams
Associate Professor Williams is Director of the Brain Dynamics Centre
at Westmead Hospital, which is developing functional biological markers
to aid both diagnosis and treatment evaluation in brain disorders of
mental health. She is responsible for the Centre’s integrative
neuroscience research program, which brings together multimodal brain
imaging techniques, new ways of analyzing and modelling brain data,
and their application to major neuropsychiatric disorders.
A/Professor Williams coordinates a multidisciplinary team of neuroscience
and clinical researchers. Her current research is focused on major
brain disorders in which there is a disintegration of the higher cognitive
processes, essential to everyday function – schizophrenia, post-traumatic
stress disorder (PTSD) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
(ADHD). The disabilities in attention, emotion and motivation associated
with these disorders have a significant impact on both the individual
and wider community, reflected in an annual Australian healthcare budget
of over $3.7bill. Combined, these conditions are experienced by around15%
of Australians.
As part of her PhD at the University of New England, A/Professor
Williams completed a postgraduate sabbatical at Oxford University.
During the completion of her PhD (1996), A/Professor Williams took
up an academic research position at the University of New England.
In 1998, she gained extensive functional neuroimaging expertise, during
an extended sabbatical at the London Institute of Psychiatry, a leading
centre for neuroimaging in psychiatry. On return to Australia in 1999,
she took up her present positions as Associate Professor in Psychology
and Psychological Medicine at the University of Sydney, and Director
of the Brain Dynamics Centre. Since 1999, she has established the first
multimodal brain imaging research program at Westmead Hospital. A/Professor
Williams’ has pioneered unique methods for capturing both the
timing and the spatial structure of the brain’s connectivity.
She developed the first methods for simultaneous recording of brain
and body arousal responses.
A/Professor Williams’ research has already been recognised
in several ways by the international scientific community. A number
of leading international groups are seeking to use the techniques she
has pioneered. She has been awarded several large grants from the Australian
Research Council and international bodies, and received a number of
international awards for her neuropsychiatric research. A/Professor
Williams has published over 50 scientific articles in the international
literature, including top journals in the field such as Neuroimage
and the American Journal of Psychiatry. She is rated by her peers as
one of Australia’s leading cognitive neuroscientists.
A Pfizer Australia Research Fellowship has allowed A/Professor Williams
to pursue her world leading research on a full time basis, within her
role as Director of BDC. She will focus on identifying the cause and
treatment of major neuropsychiatric disorders. Over the past century,
human neuroscience has focused on identifying a ‘single lesion’ – or
brain region – responsible for brain disorders. Yet, we are increasingly
aware of the highly interconnected nature of the brain’s 100
billion neurons. Determining the cause of complex disorders, such as
schizophrenia and PTSD, will rely on identifying the profile of disconnections
rather than the single lesion. A/Prof Williams will use her innovative
techniques to identify ‘when’ disconnections occur, ‘where’ they
occur, and ‘how’ they interact with body arousal changes.
Treatments will then be evaluated to determine their effectiveness
in restoring healthy brain connections.
This research program is significant in that it would be the first
to examine both the cause and treatment of brain disconnections in
major neuropsychiatric disorders using multimodal brain imaging techniques.
The integration of both temporal (‘when’) and spatial (‘where’)
measures is essential to identifying biomarkers that have diagnostic
sensitivity for complex disorders, such as schizophrenia, PTSD and
ADHD. This integrated profile provides the base for targeting the most
effective treatments for each disorder and individual.
A/Professor Williams was awarded at the Brain Dynamics
Centre in 2004, where she has 12 research scientists, 2 post-doctoral
scholars, seven post graduate scholars and 5 international collaborators
contributing to the research program.
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