2010 Annual Report - University of New South Wales · 2012-03-15 · Prince of Wales Clinical...

Never Stand Still Faculty of Medicine

2010 Annual ReportPrince of Wales Clinical School

Prince of Wales Clinical School© 2010Faculty of MedicineUniversity of New South Wales, NSW 2052Australia

Medical Professorial UnitLevel 1, South Wing, Edmund Blacket BuildingPrince of Wales Hospital(Off Avoca Street)Randwick, NSW 2031Australia

Telephone +61 (0)2 9382 8880Website http://powcs.med.unsw.edu.au/Editors: Caitlyn Granse, Karen Walker

With grateful thanks to the staff and students of Prince of Wales Clinical School that provided text, statistics, photos and research images.

Design Helena Brusic, Design Studio, P3, www.p3.unsw.edu.au Ref 48173

ContentsINTRODUCTION

Organisational Structure ..........................................................................................................................3

Welcome .......................................................................................................................................................4

Head of School Report .............................................................................................................................6

School Manager .........................................................................................................................................7

Finance Manager .........................................................................................................................................7

RESEARCH GROUPS AND PROGRAMS

Adult Cancer Program .............................................................................................................................6

ACP: Molecular Innovations - Allosteric Disulphide Group ........................................................8

ACP: Molecular Innovations - Cancer Drug Development Group ............................................9

ACP: Molecular Innovations - Bioactive Lipid Signalling Group ...............................................10

ACP: Molecular Innovations - Bioinformatics and Protein Mass Spectrometry Group ...11

ACP: Stem Cell Group ................................................................................................................................12

ACP: Pharmacoepidemiology and Pharmaceutical Policy Group .............................................13

ACP: Medical Epigenetics Group ...........................................................................................................14

ACP: Cancer Maths Group .......................................................................................................................15

ACP: Biostatistics Group ...........................................................................................................................15

ACP: Cure For Life Neuro-Oncology Group ......................................................................................16

ACP: Gynaecological Cancer Research Group ................................................................................17

ACP: Cancer Aetiology and Prevention Group (CAPG) .................................................................18

ACP: Molecular and Cellular Oncology Laboratory .......................................................................19

Surgical & Orthopaedic Research Laboratory (SORL) ..................................................................20

Surgical Oncology Research Group .....................................................................................................21

Psychosocial Research Group .................................................................................................................22

Nanotechnology and Cancer Therapy Group ..................................................................................23

Bone Cancer Research Group .................................................................................................................23

Neuroscience Research Group ...............................................................................................................24

Clinical Pharmacology & Toxicology Group .....................................................................................25

Headache Research Group ......................................................................................................................25

Resources: Biobank .....................................................................................................................................26

Nephrology Group .....................................................................................................................................27

Diving and Hyperbaric Medicine ..........................................................................................................28

SCHOOL PROGRAMS

Undergraduate Students ..........................................................................................................................29

Postgraduate Students ..............................................................................................................................31

Conjoint ..........................................................................................................................................................31

GRANTS, AWARDS, PUBLICATIONS AND PRESENTATIONS

Awards and Grants .....................................................................................................................................33

Publications and Presentations .............................................................................................................36

PRINCE OF WALES CLINICAL SCHOOL

FACULTY OF MEDICINE

Edmund Blacket Building

Lowy Cancer Research Centre

Operations

Karen Walker School Manager

Irena Tomossy Finance Manager

Ria Riadi PA to Head of School

Dr Jonathon Erlich OHS Chairman

Caitlyn Granse Administrative Assistant

Postgraduate

A/Prof Claire Vajdic Postgraduate Coordinator

Dr Jonathan Erlich Postgraduate Coordinator

Undergraduate

Prof Phil Jones Director

Dr Silas TaylorLecturer

Jenny Ryall Administrative Officer

Conjoint

Ria Riadi Coordinator

2010 Organisational Structure

Research Groups

Dr Carl PowerBone Cancer

Prof Nicholas BuckleyClinical Pharmacology & Toxicology

Dr Mike BennettDiving & Hyperbaric

Dr Geoff LambertHeadache

Dr Aparajita KhatriNanotechnology & Cancer Therapy

Dr Jonathan ErlichNephrology

A/Prof Matthew KiernanNeuroscience

Prof Minas CoroneoOphthalmology

A/Prof Bettina MeiserPsychosocial

A/Prof Paul ThomasRespiratory

Prof Phil CroweSurgical Oncology

Prof Bill WalshSurgical & Orthopaedic Research Laboratory

Adult Cancer Program

A/Prof Claire VajdicCancer Aetiology & Prevention

Prof Susan WilsonCancer Maths

Dr Viola Heinzelmann-Schwarz Gynaecological Cancer

Dr Megan HitchinsMedical Epigenetics

Dr Luke HessonMolecular & Cellular Oncology

Prof Phil Hogg Molecular InnovationsAllosteric Disulphide

Dr Kerrie McDonaldNeuro-Oncology “Cure for Life”

Dr Caroline FordOvarian & Breast Cancer

Dr Sallie-Anne PearsonPharmacoepidemiology & Pharmaceutical Policy

Dr John PimandaStem Cell

Dr Pierre Dilda Prof Phil HoggCancer Drug Development

Dr Anthony DonBioactive Lipid Signalling

Dr Jason WongBioinformatics & Protein Mass Spectrometry

Dr Tim DobbinsBiostatistics

HEAD OF SCHOOLProf Robyn Ward

Anusha HettiaratchiBiobank

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Welcome to the Prince of Wales Clinical School, which is part of the Faculty of Medicine at

the University of New South Wales. Our School is advan-tageously situated at the neighbouring Lowy Cancer Research

Centre on University New South Wales campus in Kensington and the hub of the three hospitals and research institutes on Prince of

Wales campus in Randwick – Prince of Wales Hospital, Royal Hospital for Women, Sydney Children’s Hospital, and Neuroscience Research Aus-

tralia.

Prince of Wales Clinical School has a proud history of providing high quality medical education for undergraduate and postgraduate students as well as vis-

iting elective students from national and international medical schools. We have more than 300 undergraduate, 14 Honours, 50 ILP and 75 postgraduate students

across the programs of Medicine and Surgery. We have approximately 100 staff members comprising of academics, researchers and professional and technical staff.

There are over 200 conjoint appointments.

The Clinical School has an active research program with particular strengths in cancer, neurology, nephrology, orthopaedics and psychosocial research. Our research is funded through sources including the National Health and Medical Research Council, the Aus-tralian Research Council, Australian Cancer Council, Cancer Institute and other gov-ernment and industry grants.

The Clinical School consists of 26 research groups, the clinical teaching unit and the medical and surgical professorial unit.

Welcome

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Head of School Report

2010 has been a productive year for the Prince of Wales Clinical School. In terms of research, the scientists and clinical academ-ics have attracted more peer reviewed grant funding than has previously been recorded in the school’s history. Our research publication record and postgraduate student completions have also demonstrated strong growth. In terms of undergraduate teaching, our medical students have benefited from the con-tinued enthusiastic and professional engagement of our 260 conjoint academic staff.

Important initiatives in 2010 included:

• The official opening of the Lowy Cancer Research Centre. The Lowy houses the Adult Cancer Research Program of the Prince of Wales Clinical School

• The announcement of state and commonwealth government funding towards the establishment of the Australian Advanced Treatment Centre to house clinical research activities at Prince of Wales Hospital

• The launch of The Health Science Alliance, Australia’s first academic health science centre

Looking ahead we plan to refresh the Clinical Teaching Unit at Prince of Wales Clinical School in 2011. This unit will provide the focal point for undergraduate medical student teaching on the campus and we hope that it will be the base from which our teaching activities can expand. The Australian Advanced Treat-ment Centres will provide the impetus for developing a better framework for clinical research on the campus.

These positive outcomes reflect the work of the many dedi-cated individuals that form our school, as well as our partners at Prince of Wales Hospital, the Area Health Service and the broader community. In particular we would like to extend our thanks to Andrew Bernard, General Manager of Prince of Wales Hospital for his continued support of UNSW activities on the campus.

Robyn Ward, Head of School


The Adult Cancer Program (ACP) was formed in 2009 and represents one of the founding members of the Lowy Cancer Research Centre. This program brings together internation-ally recognised teams of basic science and clinical researchers to address the problem of human cancer. One of the distin-guishing features of ACP is the broad skill base of our clinical and basic research team leaders and the strong link between research and patient care. Clinicians like Viola Heinzelmann-Schwartz and John Pimanda have established laboratory

research groups while continuing to deliver care to patients with gynaecological cancer and haematological disorders. With the assistance of the Cure for Life Foundation we suc-cessfully established a neuro-oncology research team under the leadership of Dr Kerrie McDonald. In 2010, we had much to celebrate; including A/Professor Claire Vajdic winning the Premier’s Award for Outstanding Cancer Research Fellow, Prof Phil Hogg for the Australian Museum Eureka Prize for medical research translation and many PhD student prizes.

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School Manager

Finance Manager

2010 was an extremely busy year for the School in terms of ac-tivities and expansion, with the move of many of our research-ers to the Lowy Cancer Research Centre in early 2010 and two new research groups joining our ranks – Cure For Life Neuro-oncology and Gynaecological Cancer – we bumped our to-tal number of research groups to 26 and total number of staff working at the school to over 100.

Additional highlights for the year included:

• The UNSW Performance Development Scheme for professional and technical staff was successfully implemented

• 100% of our academic staff members participated in the Professional Development & Talent Management Program

• A new student area was constructed in the Medical Professorial Unit of Edmund Blacket Building which incorporates a meeting and study area including desks, computers and audio visual equipment to conduct presentations

• The school achieved brilliant HERDC results and earned significant competitive research income with over $12million in external research funding. With 4 books, 9 chapters in books, 297 journal articles, 90 conference papers, and numerous research reports, the research publication output of the School continues to be at a very high level

• I was asked to join the Faculty Women’s Employment Committee which meets 3-4 times per year to discuss a broad range of issues of relevance to academic women

• Finally POWCL’s administrative staff members all performed at their customary excellent levels and would like to thank them for their dedication and high service ethic

The School went through a significant expansion on multiple aspects of its operations. The growth in external research funding increased by 34% from approximately $9m in 2009 to $12 m in 2010. A substantial share of the increased external funding came from the highly competitive category 1-2 funding bodies such as the NHMRC and ARC in project and program grants, Cancer Institute NSW Fellowships and Grants, Cancer Australia and the Cancer Council. A significant increase in the number, quality and the dollar value of the research Fellowships reflected the high standard of research conducted by the members of the School. Last year was also a year of unprecedented success in attracting funding from foundations and philanthropic sources – for example a donation of $1.3m over 5 years program from the Cure for Life Foundation for Neuro-Oncology research in the Adult Cancer Program. The School also demonstrated a strong record in external industry and commercial grants through the activities of Surgical and Orthopaedic Research Laboratory (SORL) and others.

Irena TomossyOH&S

The School contintued to build on its 2009 OH&S objectives which were to improve standards, embrace new reporting measures and increase our compliance ranking within the Fac-ulty of Medicine.

The projects we chose to focus on included:

• Compulsory training for lab-based supervisors

• Enforcing training and supervising requirements for research students and improving student training records

• Organising compulsory ergonomics training for Prince of Wales Hospital-based UNSW staff

• Inspecting labaratories and following-up on corrective actions

Top Row: Justine Perry, Irena Tomossy Middle Row: Ria Riadi, Karen Walker, Michelle Yang Front Row: Jenny Ryall, Caitlyn Granse, Sally Li, Renee Hannan

• Quarterly reporting from each unit on progress with the Implementation Plan and Office Safety Toolkit. The School improved its implementation score from 40 to 73 out of a possible 91 points, which means we raised ourselves to be over 80% compliant

• Learning about and improving the quality of reporting of hazards and incidents using the new MyUNSW online reporting system, and comprehensively following through and closing the subsequent corrective actions – we now have one of the best reporting practices in the Faculty

Karen Walker

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Adult Cancer Program Molecular Innovations - Allosteric Disulphide Group

All life forms make proteins that contain strong bonds between pairs of cysteine amino acids called disulphide bonds. Prof Hogg and his team have discovered a new type of functional disulphide bond, one that controls how mature proteins work by breaking or forming in a precise way. They have called these bonds ‘allosteric disulphides’. They have defined a structural motif that characterises allosteric bonds and have predicted that about 7% of proteins could contain these bonds. Their characterisation will lead to a better understanding of not only mammalian biology, but also the biology of viral and bacterial pathogens.

Reduced monomeric CD4 is the preferred

receptor for HIV

CD4 is a co-receptor for binding of T cells to antigen present-ing cells and the primary receptor for the human immunodefi-ciency virus type 1 (HIV). CD4 exists in three different forms on the cell surface defined by the state of the domain 2 cysteine residues: an oxidized monomer, a reduced monomer and a covalent dimer linked through the domain 2 cysteines. The disulphide-linked dimer is the preferred immune co-receptor. We examined that form of CD4 that is preferred by HIV. HIV entry and env-mediated cell-cell fusion was tested using cells expressing comparable levels of wild-type or disulphide-bond mutant CD4 in which the domain 2 cysteines were mutated to alanine. Eliminating the domain 2 disulphide bond increased entry of HIV reporter viruses and enhanced HIV env-mediated cell-cell fusion 2 to 4-fold. These observations suggest that HIV enters susceptible cells preferably through monomeric reduced CD4, while dimeric CD4 is the preferred receptor for binding to antigen presenting cells. Cleavage of the domain 2 disulphide bond is possibly involved in the conformational change in CD4 associated with fusion of the HIV and cell membranes.

Leader and Team

Leader: Prof Philip Hogg, Direc-tor, Lowy Cancer Research Centre and NHMRC Senior Principal Re-search Fellow

Team: Dr Helena Liang, Postdoc-toral Research Fellow; Dr Kristina Cook, Postdoctoral Research Fel-low; Dr Diego Butera, Postdoctoral Research Fellow; Dr Lisa Matthias, Postdoctoral Research Fellow; Dr Andrea Herbert, Postdoctoral Re-search Fellow; Mr Tim Ganderton, PhD Student; Mr Iman Azimi, PhD Student

Current Projects

• Discovery of the Tissue Factor activator

• Allosteric disulphide bonds in HIV infection

• Allosteric disulphide bonds in thrombosis and haemosta-sis

Progress in 2010

• Showed that changing the solvent accessibility of the prion protein disulphide bond markedly influences its trafficking and effect on cell function

• Showed that β2 Glycoprotein I is a substrate of thiol oxi-doreductases

• Demonstrated that hypoxia regulates the production and activity of glucose transporter-1 and indoleamine 2,3 diox-ygenase in monocyte-derived endothelial-like cells, which is relevant to the pathogenesis of infantile haemangioma

• Discovered that the disulphide bond that constrains the HIV-1 gp120 V3 domain is cleaved by thioredoxin

• Completed analysis of disulphide bond acquisition through eukaryotic protein evolution

• Showed that reduced monomeric CD4 is the preferred re-ceptor for HIV

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Identification of a predictive marker The treatment of cancer patients with GSAO.

GSAO is a new cancer drug we have developed that is currently being trialed in cancer patients in the UK. To date, 24 patients have been treated with GSAO and there is preliminary evidence of anti-tumour activity. Our investigation of how GSAO works has revealed that it acts as a pro-drug. It is processed at the surface of the cells by an enzyme called γ-glutamyl transferase or γGT. A comprehensive analysis of γGT expression in human malignant neoplasms revealed that carcinomas (ovary, pan-creas, colorectal, hepatocellular …) as well as some brain tu-mours express γGT at different levels, while sarcomas tend not to express this enzyme. This finding implies that GSAO should be more effective against cancers that make this enzyme. We verified this concept in vitro and in mouse models of cancer as a basis for selection of patients with γGT-positive tumours (by biopsy) who are more likely to benefit from GSAO treatment. This approach to personalised medicine has precedent with the breast cancer drug, trastuzumab (Herceptin). Only patients whose tumours express HER2 for Herceptin are treated with this drug.

Leaders and Team

Leaders: Dr Pierre Dilda, Senior Research Fellow; Prof Philip Hogg, Director, Lowy Cancer Research Centre and NHMRC Senior Principal Research Fellow

Team: Dr Stephanie Decollogne, Postdoctoral Research Fel-low; Dr Christina Schroeder, Postdoctoral Research Fellow; Mrs Swapna Joshi, Research Assistant; Ms Lisbeth Sørum, Research Assistant; Ms Danielle Park, PhD Student; Ms Emma Ramsay, PhD Student

Current Projects

• Identification of a predictive marker for cancer treatment

• New metabolism inhibitors for glioblastoma and pancreatic cancer treatment

• In vivo imaging of tumours

Progress in 2010

• Showed that the expression of a tumour resistant marker (γ-glutamyltransferase) correlates with the anti-tumour efficacy of the metabolism inhibitor, GSAO

• Discovered that cancer-activated pancreatic stromal cells highly express the marker responsible for GSAO activation, γ-glutamyl transferase

• Showed that drug resistant glioblastoma cell lines are particularly sensitive to GSAO and PENAO

• Demonstrated that the second generation drug, PENAO, is a potent anti-tumour drug as a single agent when administered to animals both intravenously and subcutaneously

• Discovered how GSAO recognises dying and dead cells

• Evaluate GSAO as an imaging agent for muscle cell death

Adult Cancer Program Molecular Innovations - Cancer Drug Development Group

Tumours reorganise the metabolic steps used by normal tis-sues for glucose utilisation and ATP production. Normal tissues rely heavily on oxidative phosphorylation for ATP, while tumour cells employ a route that includes a much greater dependency on glycolysis. This metabolic phenotype becomes more pro-nounced with increased tumour malignancy. We are develop-ing a novel class of metabolism inhibitors for the treatment of cancer. These compounds target the power supply of tumour and tumour-supporting cells. The first generation molecule, called GSAO, is currently being successfully tested in a clinical trial in adults with solid tumours and trials of a second genera-tion compound, called PENAO, will begin in 2011.

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Adult Cancer Program Molecular Innovations - Bioactive Lipid Signalling Group

Current Projects

• Control of glioblastoma cell proliferation by the sphingolipid catabolic pathway

• Alterations to myelin sphingolipid content in Alzheimer’s Disease

• Development of synthetic sphingosine analogues as anti-cancer agents

Progress in 2010

• Developing a new method for analysis and visualisation of complex lipidomic mass spectrometry data

One of the challenges as we move into the systems bi-ology era is how we as humans can make sense of the vast quantities of data that we can now generate with so-phisticated techniques such as mass spectrometry. In the context of lipid metabolite profiling, this refers specifi-cally to our ability to simultaneously measure and draw meaningful conclusions from specific changes amongst hundreds of different metabolites, following a given cell stimulus or insult (which could also be at the whole or-ganism level). In collaboration with Dr Jason Wong in the Lowy Cancer Research Centre and Dr Leila Hejazi in the UNSW BMSF, we have developed a sophisticated new approach for extraction, collation, and visualisation of li-pidomic mass spectrometry data that allows us to draw meaningful conclusions in the context of biosynthetic and catabolic pathways.

We investigate how a group of cellular molecules termed sphingolipids control the proliferation and survival of cancer cells. In doing so we aim to take a “systems” level, integrated approach to understanding how the synthesis and turn-over of these molecules is spatially and temporally regulated to control cell fate. We also investigate how alterations to sphingolipid composition, both in brain cells and the myelin sheaths that surround neurons, contribute to the pathogenesis of Alzhei-mer’s Disease.

Alterations to myelin sphingolipids in Alzheimer’s Disease

In collaboration with Prof Brett Garner of the University of Wol-longong, we have begun an analysis of sphingolipid alterations in the heavily affected hippocampal brain region of Alzheimer’s Disease brain tissue. Our preliminary analysis has identified two very significant changes in myelin sphingolipid content that are likely to impact heavily on the conduction and integrity of hippocampal axons; specifically, a large reduction in galactosyl-ceramide content and an increase in the prevalence of hydroxy-lated ceramides. We will begin examining the molecular basis for these changes in 2011.

Requirement for sphingosine kinase 2 in proliferation of glioblastoma cells

We have shown that loss of the enzyme sphingosine kinase 2 blocks proliferation of cultured glioblastoma cells by inhibiting their entry into the cell cycle. In collaboration with the labora-tory of Prof Hugh Rosen in the Scripps Research Institute we have now developed and validated a high throughput screen-ing approach for identification of sphingosine kinase inhibitors and aim to screen the NIH compound library (approx 300,000 compounds) for sphingosine kinase inhibitors in 2011.

Leader and Team

Leader: Dr Anthony Don, Cancer Institute NSW Fellow

Team: Mr Eric Qiao, Research As-sistant; Mr Chung Gyo Lee, MPhil Student; Ms Mindy Da, Honours Student

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Adult Cancer ProgramMolecular Innovations - Bioinformatics and Protein Mass Spectrometry Group

With the proliferation of biological data over the past decade, bioinformatics has become an indispensable tool in under-standing biological processes. Our research involves the ap-plication of methods in data mining and machine learning to a broad range of problems in proteomics, genomics and mo-lecular evolution of proteins. We are also interested in the use of mass spectrometry for the analysis of proteins and are de-veloping novel analytical methods that will enable the study of sub-proteomes.

Automated typing and subtyping of Influenza virus from high-resolution mass spectra

The use of high resolution mass spectrometry has been shown to be a rapid and accurate method for the typing and subtyp-ing of influenza viruses. The detection of peptides with unique theoretical masses enables unequivocal assignment of type and subtype for any given sample. This research further extends the use of mass spectrometry for typing and subtyping by the de-velopment of naïve Bayes classifiers for automated analysis of influenza proteolytic mass spectra. Theoretical and experimen-tal testing of the classifiers demonstrates their applicability at protein coverage rates normally achievable in mass mapping experiments. The application of FluTyper to whole virus and an-tigen digests of a range of different strains of the influenza virus is demonstrated. FluTyper is expected to popularise the use of mass spectrometry to characterize influenza viruses.

Leader and Team

Leader: Dr Jason Wong, Cancer In-stitute NSW Early Career Develop-ment Fellow and UNSW Vice-Chan-cellor’s Postdoctoral Fellow

Team: Mr John Ng, PhD Student

Current Projects

• Detection of splice variants and fusion proteins by mass spectrometry

• Screening of candidate binding proteins to functional DNA elements in leukaemic cell lines

• Chemical proteomics approach for the detection and analysis of protein 3-nitrotyrosine

Progress in 2010

• Developed a novel algorithm for automated typing and subtyping of Influenza virus from high-resolution mass spectra

• Identified disulfide bonds in β2 Glycoprotein I and HIV-1 gp120 that is regulated by oxidoreductases

• Showed that disulfide bonds are being acquired through eukaryotic protein evolution

• Developed pipeline for the analysis of methlyation, ChIP and nucleosome next-generation sequencing data

• Development of the first data parallel tandem mass spectra interpretation algorithm for GPUs

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Adult Cancer Program Stem Cell Group

The primary focus of our research program is to better under-stand how genes that drive blood and mesenchymal stem cell development are regulated.

Our research is in the following core areas:

• Investigating transcription factor interactions that drive haematopoietic stem cell (HSC) and mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) development, self-renewal and differentiation

• Investigating interactions between the core transcription factor networks in HSCs and MSCs with cell signalling pathways associated with their development and maintenance

• Investigating links between the transcription factor network in embryonic HSCs and in leukaemic cells

• Investigating the pathogenesis of myelodysplasia (MDS) with a view to drug development

Leader and Team

Leader: Dr. John Pimanda, Senior Lecturer and Consultant Haema-tologist

Team: Dr Vashe Chandrakanthan, Senior Research Associate; Dr Julie Thoms, Senior Research Associate; Dr Eva Diffner, Research Associate; Dr Jair Kwan, Research Associate; Dr Ashwin Unnikrishnan, Research Associate; Ms Kathy Knezevic,

Senior Research Officer; Mr Arjun Verma, Research Assistant; Mr Jonathan Marks-Bluth, PhD student; Ms Rabab Nasral-lah, PhD student; Ms Melinda Tursky, PhD student; Ms Jackie Hua, BSc Honours student.

Progress in 2010

• Described a role for ERG, an ETS transcription factor in the pathogenesis and maintenance of T- acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (T-ALL). This oncogenic transcription factor is regulated by other T-ALL oncogenes, TAL1, LMO2 and LYL1 by acting on an enhancer that is transiently expressed in early thymic T-cell progenitors (Thoms et al Blood 2011 (in press))

• Showed in collaboration with Drs Samir Taoudi and Doug Hilton at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, that this transcription factor plays a non-redundant role in HSC self renewal during embryonic haematopoiesis (Taoudi et al Genes and Development, Feb 2011)

• Our investigations into the role of cell signalling pathways in regulating haematopoietic transcription factors have revealed a novel mechanism by which the level of Runx1, the master regulator of HSC specification, is controlled in haematopoietic tissues (Knezevic et al Molecular and Cellular Biology 2011 (in press))

• Concluded a series of collaborative research studies in molecular haematopoiesis: Dr Bertie Gottgens, Cambridge (Wilson et al Cell Stem Cell 2010; Oram et al Oncogene 2010); Dr Richard Lock, CCIA (Bachman et al Blood 2010); Dr Andrew Elefanty, Monash (Pereira et al submitted)

• Twenty patients with MDS from NSW and the ACT were treated with Azacytidine, an epigenetic modifier, on a compassionate use program, as part of a research study aimed at better understanding the pathogenesis of this disorder. The majority of patients demonstrated a clinical response. This drug which would have cost patients ~ $100,000/year is as of February 2011, available on the pharmaceuticals benefit scheme

• Set up an ES cell differentiation system to model the earliest stages of blood specification in the embryo. This is an essential tool for studying the molecular events that drive this process

• Set up an in vitro T-cell differentiation system to harvest and interrogate gene transcription at various stages of normal T-cell development

• Using ENU mutagenesis and screening for recessive haematopoietic defects during embryonic development, we successfully identified two heritable mutations with profound effects on the generation of HSCs

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Leader and Team

Leader: Dr Sallie-Anne Pearson, Senior Research Fellow

Team: Dr Efty Stavrou, Research Fellow; Dr Preeyaporn Srasueb-kul, Sr, Research Fellow; Dr Ju-lia Langton, Research Fellow; Dr Christine Lu, Research Fellow; Ms Anna Drew, Senior Research Assistant; Mr Leigh Melish; Dr Car-ole Harris, PhD Student

Adult Cancer ProgramPharmacoepidemiology and Pharmaceutical Policy Group

The primary remit of the Pharmacoepidemiology and Pharma-ceutical Policy research program is to better understand access to, and use of, cancer medicines in real world clinical practice.

The research interests of the group focus on three core areas:

• Using secondary data sources to investigate the use and impact of medicines in real world clinical practice

• Clinician behaviour change, specifically the use and uptake of electronic decision support to guide prescribing practice

• Investigating the direct and indirect costs of cancer care from the perspective of health care payers and patients

Current Projects

Our symposium - “New and Emerging Cancer Therapies: From Hype to Reality”.

The specific objectives of the national meeting were to:

• Define the problem of funding cancer therapies and co-dependent technologies

• Propose models for debate, including strengths and limitations

• Make recommendations for activities beyond the meeting

The symposium was attended by 50 national and interna-tional invitees with representation from Australia’s national committees making decisions about the subsidy of health technology, the pharmaceutical industry, clinicians, scien-tists, health economists, health planners and consumers. The need for genetic testing was identified as a key issue for new cancer therapies and as a consequence the debate focused on three models for providing access to genetic testing and drugs. The strengths and weaknesses of each model was debated and subsequently summarised in a po-sition paper that has been distributed to all stakeholders including the Commonwealth government.

Progress in 2010

• Completed a project investigating the choice and justification for treatment durations in clinical trials of targeted cancer agents using trastuzumab for early stage breast cancer as a case study. We found there is little scientific evidence for these choices and have called for greater transparency on the part of drug developers in relation to this issue. The work was published in Lancet Oncology

• Continued to build a data infrastructure to assess the use and impact of targeted agents in routine clinical care. We have received data updates for the Herceptin Program (trastuzumab for metastatic breast cancer) which is now a cohort of more than 3500 women. We have also received our first data feeds for trastuzumab for the treatment of early stage breast cancer, lapatinib for metastatic breast cancer and bevacizumab for the treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer

• Completed two projects assessing the rates of cardiac monitoring in the Herceptin Program cohort – one assessing the impact of prescribing restrictions (mandatory cardiac monitoring) for trastuzumab for early stage disease on rates of monitoring in Herceptin Program enrolees. The other project assesses the predictors of cardiac monitoring in this cohort

• Undertaken a cohort study (Elements of Cancer Care) examining the resource utilisation and costs associated with the implementation of chemotherapy protocols at 11 NSW cancer care centres. We have recruited more than 500 patients with colorectal, breast or lung cancer

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Adult Cancer ProgramMedical Epigenetics Group

The group focuses on unusual “epigenetic” mechanisms that predispose to young-onset cancer. Most familial cancers occur due to the inheritance of a mutation within the genetic code of a cancer-protection gene. Some patients are mutation-neg-ative, but instead, their gene has been switched off by the ac-cumulation of a repressive chemical at the start of the gene, namely methylation. Termed an “epimutation” this cancer-causing mechanism shows unusual patterns of inheritance. In addition, mutations in front of the gene can similarly attract methylation. The aim of this group is to determine the role and inheritance of various types of epimutation in cancer.

Highlights

Identification of the first dominantly transmitted MLH1 epimu-tation in an Australian family, and revealed its likely cause as a 5’UTR single nucleotide variant. This represents a novel cause for epigenetic aberration. This is best summarised in the sum-mary and significance sections to be submitted to the high im-pact journal Cancer Cell (IF 26).

Summary

Constitutional epimutations of tumor suppressor genes mani-fest as promoter methylation and transcriptional silencing of a single allele in normal somatic tissues, thereby predisposing to cancer. Constitutional MLH1 epimutations occur in individu-als with young-onset colorectal cancer and demonstrate non-Mendelian inheritance through their reversal in the germline. We now report a cancer-affected family showing dominant transmission of soma-wide highly mosaic MLH1 methylation and transcriptional repression linked to a particular genetic haplotype through three generations. Methylation was local-ized to the MLH1-EPM2AIP1 CpG island and all transcripts initiating therein demonstrated allele-specific suppression. The epimutation was erased in spermatozoa but reinstated in the somatic cells of the next generation. The affected haplotype harbored two single nucleotide substitutions in tandem; c.-27C>A located near the MLH1 transcription initiation site and c.85G>T. No other structural or sequence changes were found. The c.-27C>A variant significantly reduced transcriptional activ-ity in reporter assays and is the probable cause of this epimuta-tion.

Significance

Constitutional epimutations have been identified in tumor suppressor and DNA mismatch repair genes and represent an alternative mechanism for cancer predisposition to conven-tional coding mutations. Some constitutional epimutations are caused by underlying cis-acting genetic alterations nearby the affected gene and thus display autosomal dominant inherit-ance. However, the mechanistic basis for MLH1 epimutations, which have demonstrated non-Mendelian inheritance due to their reversibility between generations, remains undefined. This study of a cancer-affected family with dominant inheritance of a mosaic MLH1 epimutation provides the first evidence of a cis-genetic basis for constitutional epigenetic silencing of MLH1. The identification of a heterozygous germline c.-27C>A single nucleotide substitution within the 5’UTR nearby the transcrip-tion start site, raises the interesting possibility that promoter

variants of unknown pathogenic significance in MLH1 and oth-er tumour suppressor genes may confer cancer susceptibility through their association with epigenetic modifications. This finding indicates a close genotype-epigenotype interaction in a cancer-associated gene.

Leader and Team

Leader: Dr Megan Hitchins, NHMRC Career Development Fel-low, UNSW Senior Research Fellow, UNSW Senior Lecturer

Team: Dr Robert Rapkins, Post-doctoral Research Associate; Dr Sameer Srivastava, Endeavour Award Visiting Postdoctoral Fel-low; Dr Amanda Goncalves, Visit-ing Postdoctoral Fellow; Chau-To

Kwok, Research Assistant and part-time PhD student; Joice Kuroiwa-Trzmielina, PhD student; Jonathan Ledang, MBBS Hons student

Current Projects

• Interaction between promoter variants and the epige-nome

• MLH1 epimutation

• MGMT SNP inducing methylation’ BRCA1/BRCA2 epimu-tation

Progress in 2010

• Completed the project on cancer Family 16 in which a c.-27C>A 5’UTR variant within MLH1 caused a Mendelian constitutional epimutation.

• Project investigating the MGMT SNP and how it leads to constitutional methylation was essentially completed

• BRCA1 and BRCA2 epimutation screen and follow-up in family members was completed and a manuscript is in preparation

• MBBS (Hons) student, Jonathan Ledang conducted and completed his Hons project

• Two PhD students, Joice Kuroiwa Trzmieline and Chau-To Kwok have completed lab work and are writing their theses full time

• Hosted two visiting Postdoctoral academics

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Adult Cancer ProgramCancer Maths Group

What are the major factors underpinning complex genetic dis-eases like cancer, diabetes, or Crohn’s disease? To answer this question new biostatistical tools are needed, including soft-ware for mining the human genome with interactions between the genome and environment being incorporated. The focus of the Cancer Maths Group is development and evaluation of statistical methods and software tools for analysis of complex genomic disease data. Application of these methods and tools will form the basis of a superior understanding of the overall process leading to disease and hence better predictions with important ramifications for new treatments and health care planning.

Leader and Team

Leader: Prof Susan Wilson

Team: Mr Chris Pardy, PhD Student

Current Projects

• Methods for simultaneous analysis of genetic and gene expression data

• Biostatistical approaches to inference of genetic regulatory networks

• Analysis of DNA methylation array data

Progress in 2010

• A penalised maximum likelihood approach to model selection was developed for simultaneously analysing all genetic variants for the situation where the number of genetic variants far exceeds the number of observations

• A previous approach for weighted gene coexpression network analysis was extended using mutual information as a measure of association that is valid for both continuous and discrete variables

• The distributions of the bead level and summary data produced by the two major Illumina methylation technologies have been investigated, as well as the consequences for statistical analysis

Biostatistics Group

The Biostatistics Group supports high quality research across the cancer research spectrum by providing expert statistical advice on experimental design, analytic plans and data man-agement. It also provides support to the Faculty of Medicine on an as-needed basis through the biostatistical consulting service and statistics lectures presented to academic staff as well as clinical and population health researchers. The group also has an active interest in statistical methodology as it relates to bio-medical research.

The Herceptin Program

The group is analysing MBS and PBS data for HER2+ metastatic breast cancer patients who received trastuzumab.

Leader and Team

Leader: Dr Tim Dobbins

Team: Dr Preeyaporn Srasuebkul, Research Fellow

Current Projects

• Meta-analyses of outcome data for targeted cancer therapies

• Novel analyses of Australian trastuzumab data

• Analysis of endpoints in cancer clinical trials

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Mr Hazem Abuhusain, PhD student; Ms Dan Lu, PhD student; Dr Adam Fowler, PhD student; Ms Cathy Payne, PhD student

Adult Cancer Program Cure For Life Neuro-Oncology Group

Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most common brain cancer with a median survival of only 15 months. Infiltration, cell migration and resistance to chemotherapy and radiotherapy are charac-teristic of GBM. As new therapeutic regimes are developed, it is paramount that we work out a strategy for identifying the patients that will show a positive response to treatment. The discovery of new biomarkers with capacity to predict patient response to treatment is a key priority of the Cure For Life Neu-ro-oncology Group. Understanding the mechanisms of tumour migration and infiltration is another research priority for the group.

Highlights

One of the significant projects was our research implicating the microRNA, miR-124a, as a regulator of tumour migration. A number of novel and important observations were made in this study which we believe will have immediate impact on our understanding of the biology of glioblastoma.

• Our retrospective analysis of 119 patients diagnosed with glioblastoma (GBM) demonstrates a significant loss of microRNA-124a (miR-124a) expression in the majority of patients

• Patients with lower than average miR-124a showed poorer survival

• Restoring miR-124a expression in a GBM cell line, A172 led to significant inhibition of migration and invasion

• Restoring miR-124a expression levels in A172 cells also resulted in reduced mRNA and protein expression of three targets, namely IQ motif containing GTPase activating protein 1 (IQGAP1), laminin ʮ1 (LAMC1) and integrin β1 (ITGB1). These molecules have all been implicated in migration and all have binding sites for miR-124a in the 3’ UTR regions

• Showed reciprocal expression of miR-124a and all three targets in our GBM cohort

This study was recently accepted for publication in the Euro-pean Journal of Cancer and we are now examining if adding miR-124a to existing chemotherapy increases efficacy.

Leader and Team

Leader: Dr Kerrie McDonald; Chair of Cure for Life Neuro-Oncology Group

Team: Dr Siska Sumual, Postdoc-toral Scientist; Ms Ellein Mreich, Research Officer; Ms Sylvia Chung, Research Officer; Ms Sarita Tiwari, Research Assistant, Tumour Bank; Ms Hatice Sevim, PhD student;

Current Projects

• Australian Genomics and Clinical Outcomes of Glioma (AGOG)

• IQGAP1 and its role in regulating tumour migration

• MicroRNA combined with chemotherapy

• Tumour recurrence: Understanding the mechanisms

Progress in 2010

• MGMT promoter methylation testing was developed using pyrosequencing technology. The results of this test will help guide oncologists in their assessment of patient response to alkylating drugs such as temozolomide

• Showed for the first time that a microRNA is capable of regulating tumour migration. This study was recently accepted in the European Journal of Cancer

• Three other studies were accepted for publication this year in international journals

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Adult Cancer Program Gynaecological Cancer Research Group

Ovarian cancer is the gynaecological malignancy with the high-est mortality world-wide. 75% of patients are diagnosed at an advanced stage of the disease as it is rare to detect the symp-toms of this cancer at an early stage. Our research focuses on the early detection of ovarian cancer using blood-based mo-lecular markers. Our group has numerous national and interna-tional collaborations, particularly in Russia, the USA and Swit-zerland.

Affinity Purification of Anti- Glycan Antibodies

Affinity chromatography was performed using a panel of gly-coconjugates to detect isolated glycan-binding proteins from a pool of ascites. The P1 glycan was identified as a top candidate biomarker and was therefore selected for further study. A pool of ascites from 17 ovarian cancer patients was pre-processed and analysis performed using 1D SDS-PAGE in combination with silver staining, which revealed the presence of several affinity purified proteins ranging from 20kDa to 100kDa, and could clearly distinguish controls incorporating eluted and neutralised samples. Additionally, following SDS-PAGE, immu-

Current Projects

• Evaluation of P1 as potential new tumormarker in ovarian cancer using bioplex assay

• Identification of Core2 as a marker of progression in ovarian cancer

• Development of a new generation glyco-array

• SFRP4 and the WNT signalling pathway in ovarian cancer

• IQGAP1 and its role in ovarian cancer

Progress in 2010

Included a cohort of over 600 patients with gynaecological adenocarcinoma and healthy controls from high risk popu-lations

• Pathological review of all prospectively included specimen and tissue microarray production

• Development of a method of affinity purification of P1 antibodies from ascites of ovarian cancer patients

• Study of immunoglobulin subfractions IgM and IgG of anti-P1

• Received grant funding for sFRP4 WNT signalling project in collaboration with Dr Caroline Ford (based on our data); immunohistochemistry performed on wnt5a, beta-catenin and USP4

noblotting using anti-human IgA, IgG & IgM revealed immu-noglobulines specifically bound to P1. Anti-P1 antibodies were further validated using ELISA. High optical density for the P1 glycan and low or no cross-reactivity to other glycans, like the blood group antigens, indicates a highly specific purification of anti-P1 antibodies which is essential for our future experiments.

Leader and Team

Leader: Dr Viola Heinzelmann-SchwarzTeam: Dr Sheri Nixdorf, Research Associate; Dr Brian Tse, Research Assistant; Dr Francis Jacob, Re-search Assistant

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Adult Cancer Program Cancer Aetiology and Prevention Group (CAPG)

The Cancer Aetiology and Prevention Group (CAPG) aims to better understand the causes of cancer and factors that in-fluence outcomes after cancer diagnosis. The CAPG employs classical and innovative cancer epidemiological methods and includes large-scale studies of cancer incidence, survival and risk factors in people with immune dysfunction. It also includes studies of two complex, common and poorly understood can-cers, lymphoid malignancies and cancer of unknown primary origin. The studies involve national and international collabora-tions that integrate cancer epidemiology with biostatistics, bio-logical sciences, pharmacoepidemiology and health services research. The research program builds an evidence base for preventative strategies that will reduce the burden of cancer.

Understanding cancer risk in primary immune deficiency

Primary immune deficiency (PID) comprises a number of he-reditary conditions characterised by impaired immunity. Can-cer is the second-leading cause of death after infection in both children and adults with PID. Studies of the cancer profile in PID have the potential to provide insight into the relationship be-tween immune function and cancer control, and inform patient management strategies.

The Australasian Society of Clinical Immunology and Allergy (ASCIA) PID Registry formed the basis for the study of 1132 patients. Data linkage was used to identify incident cancers over an average 16 person-years follow-up. The study found a modest 1.6-fold excess relative risk of any cancer, and a strong excess risk of a small number of cancers, non-Hodgkin lym-phoma, leukaemia, stomach and thymus cancer. Excess cancer risk was not observed for all PID subtypes.

This study represented the largest population-based evaluation of cancer incidence in PID to-date. The findings suggest that PID may be associated with a narrower range of solid cancers than iatrogenic and HIV-related immunodeficiency.

Understanding cancer risk in diabetes mellitus

The cancer risk profile in type 1 diabetes mellitus is uncertain. Most studies of the diabetes-cancer association have included patients with both type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Given the pre-dominance of type 2 diabetes, the resultant cancer risk profile is likely to reflect that of type 2 patients. The pathology under-lying the diabetes subtypes differ, as do the cancer risk fac-tors, such as age, obesity and physical inactivity. It is therefore plausible that type 1 and type 2 diabetes may exhibit different cancer risk profiles.

Using a population-based data linkage study design, we ex-amined cancer incidence relative to the general population in 11,818 patients hospitalised and treated for type 1 diabe-tes in New South Wales and Western Australia. We found no significant excess risk of cancer overall. A meta-analysis of our findings with three previous population-based cohort studies (n=60,431) showed no consistent risk pattern and a significant association only for ovarian cancer (1.8-fold increased risk).

These data suggest that type 1 diabetes mellitus does not have a profound influence on cancer risk.

Leader and Team

Leader: A/Prof Claire Vajdic

Team: Dr Marina van Leeuwen, Leukaemia Foundation Postdoctor-al Research Fellow; Dr Limin Mao, Postdoctoral Research Fellow (Jan-May); Ms Nicki Meagher, Research Manager; Ms Andrea Schiffer, NSW Health Trainee Biostatistician; Ms Binna Jeong, ILP student

Current Projects

• Cancer after heart, lung and liver transplantation (the CAT study)

• Risk factors for non-Hodgkin lymphoma

• Cancer incidence and risk factors in opioid dependent persons in pharmacotherapy (the ODP study)

Progress in 2010

• Completed study of cancer incidence profile in primary immune deficiency

• Completed study of cancer incidence profile in diabetes mellitus

• Ongoing international pooled analyses of risk factors for non-Hodgkin lymphoma

• Death and cancer record linkage completed for the CAT study

• Commenced data linkage for the ODP study

• Commenced exploratory analysis of cancer of unknown primary in a cohort of Veterans Affairs clients

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Adult Cancer ProgramMolecular and Cellular Oncology Laboratory

The Molecular and Cellular Oncology Laboratory is at the fore-front of epigenetic research with extensive expertise in the genetic and epigenetic analysis of colorectal cancer. A major focus of our group is the study of a type of colorectal neoplasia known as laterally spreading tumours (LSTs). Though very little is known about molecular changes associated with LSTs it is clear that some subtypes show a very high malignant potential. In collaboration with a team of gastroenterologists at West-mead hospital we are currently collecting the most extensive biobank of LST specimens in the world. As part of our research we will comprehensively characterise the molecular changes involved in the formation of LSTs using next generation se-quencing technology to provide a high-resolution map of the genome, epigenome and transcriptome. Another active area of research in our laboratory is the investigation of the molecu-lar events associated with gene silencing. This research aims to reveal insights into the mechanisms by which genes are epi-genetically silenced in cancer. Collectively, research within the Molecular and Cellular Oncology Laboratory is geared towards a better understanding of the mechanisms by which genetic and epigenetic changes lead to colorectal cancer.

Leader and Team

Leader: Dr Luke Hesson, Cancer Institute New South Wales Fellow

Team: Dr Mathew Sloane, Post-doctural researcher; Dr Sameer Srivistava, Post-doctural research-er; Ms Jenny Liu, PhD student; Ms Vibha Patil, PhD student; Mr Peter Zarzour, Honours student

Current Projects

• Genome-wide profiling of Laterally Spreading Tumours (LSTs) of the colorectum

• Investigation of the molecular events associated with gene resilencing following the withdrawal of epigenetic therapies

Progress in 2010

LST project• Collection of 465 LST specimens and matched normal

tissues from 301 patients (now stored within the Lowy Biorepository) and cataloguing of specimen details in CaTissue

• Extraction of DNA from 222 specimens and extraction of RNA from 41 specimens, as well as the molecular characterisation of 198 specimens for up to 11 molecular features known to be associated with colorectal cancer

• Established and optimised experiments for comparative genomic hybridisation, RNA-Seq, MNase-Seq and MBD-Seq and application of these techniques to the genome-wide analysis of 5 non-granular LSTs

Resilencing project• Optimisation of the experimental methods for the

epigenetic treatment and analysis of two cell lines for the resilencing project. This has led to the scale-up and repeat of this experiment for a large-scale analysis using candidate gene and genome-wide approaches

• Together, these projects have contributed to two abstracts at the Lorne Cancer and Digestive Disease week conferences in 2010

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Surgical & Orthopaedic Research Laboratory (SORL)

Current Projects

• Biodegradable scaffolds for anterior cruciate ligament and rotator cuff repair

• Composite technology for total hip replacements

• Osteoconductive and inductive bone graft materials for spinal fusion and trauma applications

• Molecular biology of osteoporosis

• Strategies to improve uncemented fixation in arthroplasty

• Effect of sterilisation techniques on the mechanical and biological properties of bone, tendon and meniscal allografts

• Investigating the effects of high pressure injection injuries and methods for detection

Progress in 2010

• New Editorial Board Invitation - Muscles, Ligaments and Tendons Journal

• Establishment of our Vascular Research group with Dr. Ramon Varcoe and new large animal model of fistulas and well biomechanical evaluation of vascular stents

• Successful regulatory filings to FDA for platelet sequestration as well as a number of bone graft materials

• In house digital radiograph processing for X-Rays

• Continued grant support from ACARP

• Successful completion of 2 honours students (Awarded First Class Honours)

• Successful completion of 1 masters and 2 PhD students

• Two new academic staff appointments

SORL’s research interests encompass the biology and biome-chanics of connective tissue healing and strategies to improve clinical outcomes using biomaterials and biotechnology in in-jured and diseased states. Our primary fields of interest overlap with our surgical colleagues in the disciplines of Orthopaedics, Plastics and Vascular Surgery. Our research group is involved in extensive research collaborations in Australia, United States, Japan, United Kingdom, Italy and The Netherlands.

Our goal is to provide a collaborative and exciting research environment to further the understanding at the interface be-tween surgery, engineering and medicine.

Leader and Team

Leader: Professor William R Walsh, Director

Team: Mr John Rawlinson, Lab Manager and Head Animal Sur-gery and Husbandry; Dr Yan Yu, Conjoint Senior Hospital Scientist, Head, Molecular Biology; Dr Rema Oliver, Research Fellow, Head, His-tology; Dr Matthew Pelletier, Re-search Fellow; Dr Nicky Bertollo, Research Fellow; Dr Adrian Low,

Research Fellow; Dr Abe Lau, Research Associate; Dr Alain Rives, Research Associate; Chris Christou BScVet, Staff Vet-erinarian; Mr Gregory Mitchell, Animal Technician; Ms Samar Saliba, Research Technician; Mr Nick Russell, Research Techni-cian; Mrs Manuela Winkler/ Mrs Andrea Andriolas, Business Manager

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Surgical Oncology Research Group (SORG)

Current Projects

• Expression of IGF1R and its down-stream signalling factors in sarcomas

• Mechanism of chemoresistance by IGF/IGF1R signaling

• Mechanism of radioresistance by IGF1R activation and timing of drug delivery

• Mutation analysis of EGFR, k-ras and b-raf genes in sarcoma cell lines and sarcoma samples

Progress in 2010

• Expression of IGF1R and its down-stream signaling factors in tissue samples from a cohort of 89 sarcoma patients was detected and analysed (ASG 2010 Best Poster Award Part I)

• Effect and mechanism studies of combination therapy using IGF1R inhibitor and each of 5 chemotherapueutic agents was investigated in 11 sarcoma cell lines (ASG 2010 Best Poster Award Part II)

• Mechanism of radioresistance by IGF1R activation and survival signalling as well as timing of drug delivery were studied (2010 AACR presentation)

• Mutation analysis on a panel of 15 human sarcoma cell lines was completed

Sarcomas are connective tissue tumours which account for nearly 15-20% of childhood cancers and 1-2% adult cancers. About 50% of patients diagnosed with sarcoma eventually die of the disease, regardless of standard treatment including sur-gery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy. The SORG focuses on improving the efficacy of radiotherapy or chemotherapy using sensitising drugs, as well as identifying new therapeutic targets which can be used to develop effective therapeutic strategies. We aim to translate effective new treatments into clinical tri-als, eventually effecting clinical practice and policy. The group is involved in extensive collaborative projects both in Australia and internationally.

One target has at least three effects

The past year has seen much of the Surgical Oncology Research Group’s output devoted to the insulin-like growth factor recep-tor (IGF1R) targeted therapy in sarcoma. The study was initiated with the support of the Ross Trust Foundation.

The study found that, the IGF1R signalling plays at least three roles: promoting tumour cell growth, participating in cellular resistance to chemotherapy as well as radiotherapy. Preclinical studies showed that inhibition of IGF1R signalling achieved sar-coma cell growth delay, as well as enhanced tumour cell death by either individual chemotherapeutic drugs or X-ray.

The presentation of this study was awarded the Choong-Dick-inson Best Poster Prize at the Australian Sarcoma Group meet-ing in October 2010. This important finding generated a clini-cal trial proposal that was approved in 2010 by the Australian Sarcoma Study Group.

Leaders and Team

Leaders: Prof Philip Crowe and A/Prof Jia-Lin Yang: Co-Di-rectors

Team: Dr Shing Wong; Frederick Luk, PhD student; Alyse Hopkins, ILP student; May Wong, ILP student; Xiaochun Wang, MSc student

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Psychosocial Research Group

The Psychosocial Research Group (PRG) comprises a research team dedicated to the exploration of all psychosocial aspects of cancer. The PRG began in 2000 and instigated a research program in psycho-oncology. It has now established itself as a leading centre in this field. On the basis of the quality and quantity of its peer-reviewed publications and research grants, the PRG is one of the leading international groups in the field of psychosocial aspects of cancer genetics. Other areas of na-tional and international recognition include the aetiology of cancer-related fatigue, the psychosocial support and informa-tion needs of younger women with a diagnosis of breast cancer and cultural aspects of cancer.

Highlights

Fertility-related knowledge, decision-making preferences, and treatment intentions in young women with breast cancer.

For many young women with early breast cancer fertility is a priority. Interventions to retain fertility options generally need to be accessed prior to chemotherapy, but many women do not receive information regarding these options in a timely fashion. Knowledge about fertility and decisional conflict has not previ-ously been measured in young breast cancer patients consider-ing future pregnancies. One hundred and eleven young women with early breast cancer who had not yet completed their fami-lies were recruited around the time of diagnosis. Knowledge regarding fertility-related information, decisional conflict, and preferences regarding fertility information and decision-mak-ing was measured. From a potential fertility-related knowledge score of 10, the mean was 5.2 (SD=2.3, range: 0–10). Decreased knowledge was associated with increased decisional conflict about pursuing fertility preserving interventions (OR=0.57, 95% CI: 0.44–0.73, p<0.001). 31% of women reported that they would consider undertaking IVF as a method to conserve their fertility, while 38% were uncertain. Consideration of IVF was not related to whether subjects were in a committed relationship (OR: 1.20, p=0.716) or a definite desire for more children (OR: 1.54, p=0.513). Around diagnosis, many young breast cancer patients have low levels of knowledge about fertility issues. Further, low knowledge is associated with increased decisional conflict which is likely to undermine the quality of decision-making. These findings suggest that targeted and timely fer-tility information may reduce decisional conflict and increase informed choice. Neither relationship status nor firm plans re-garding future children reliably predict desire to pursue fertility preservation.

Leader and Team

Leader: A/Professor Bettina Meiser, Director

Team: Ms Barbara Bennett, National Breast Cancer Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow; Ms Elvira Zilliacus, Research Of-ficer; Ms Jordana McLoone, Research Officer; Ms Kaaren Watts, Research Of-ficer; Ms Margaret Gleeson, Research

Current Projects

• Development and evaluation of a fertility-related decision aid for young women with a diagnosis of early breast cancer

• An online hereditary prostate cancer decision aid (HPC-DA) for men with a family history of prostate cancer

• Randomised controlled trial (RCT) comparing the efficacy of educational materials regarding treatment-focused genetic testing (TFGT) to that of standard pre-test genetic counselling in preparing women newly diagnosed with breast cancer for decision-making about TFGT

Progress in 2010

• Completed data collection through 22 oncology clinics for a comprehensive nation-wide prospective study to assess the fertility-related issues amongst young women with a diagnosis of early breast cancer and to compare the efficacy of a fertility-related decision aid to usual care. Submitted article on cross-sectional study to Journal of Clinical Oncology

• Launched randomised controlled trial (RCT) evaluate an online hereditary prostate cancer decision aid for men with a family history of prostate cancer who are considering their prostate cancer screening options

• Launched randomised controlled trial (RCT) at three study sites comparing the efficacy of educational materials regarding treatment-focused genetic testing (TFGT) to that of standard pre-test genetic counselling in preparing women newly diagnosed with breast cancer for decision-making about TFGT

Officer; Dr Michelle Peate, Research Officer; Ms Nadine Kas-parian, NHMRC Training Fellow; Ms Bronwyn Calford, Honours student

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Nanotechnology and Cancer Therapy GroupEach year, about 2700 men die from Prostate Cancer (PC) in Australia. Despite the increasing use of nomograms to im-prove diagnosis and patient selection, a significant proportion (approximately 40%) fail localised treatments, often resulting in long-term hormonal chemotherapy and low quality of life. Thus, the primary focus of our research is on:

• The application of emerging new treatments and technologies, particularly for late stage hormone-refractory PC and

• Preclinical and clinical evaluation of novel imaging technologies in trials of prostate cancer detection and progression as well as evaluating novel therapeutic treatment response in clinical trials.

Leader and Team

Leader: Dr Aparajita Khatri, Senior Research Fellow

Team: Dr Nirupama Verma, Research Fellow; Ms Xiaochun Wang, Senior Research Assistant; Ms Swapna Joshi, Senior Research Assistant

Current Projects

• Development of synergistic combination therapies employing the use of cytoreductive gene therapy in conjunction with traditional therapy to effectively target late stage local and metastatic prostate and ovarian cancer

• Development of preclinical prostate cancer models that adequately reflect features of clinical PC

Progress in 2010

• Demonstrated that Purine Nucleoside Phosphorylase mediated gene directed prodrug therapy synergises with traditional docetaxel based chemotherapy against drug resistant, late stage, ovarian and prostate cancer. Output: Two manuscripts under review (Molecular Cancer and Clinical Cancer Research); One review article was recently published in Cancer Letters

• Demonstrated that Mesenchymal Stem cells (MSC) carrying Iron Oxide nanoparticles conjugated to adenoviral gene expression vector can migrate to tumour cells. Output: One review article published in Stem Cells; One manuscript in preparation

• Demonstrated that iron oxide based nanoparticles can be targeted effectively to PC cells via conjugation with prostate-specific antibodies. Output: Manuscript in preparation; One review published in Discovery Medicine

• Broadened the transgenic adenocarcinoma of prostate (TRAMP) mouse model to display local and metastatic (including to bone) late stage hormone refractory PC. Output: One manuscript published in The Prostate; One review published in Cancer Metastases Reviews

Bone Cancer Research GroupBone metastasis is a frequent and devastating consequence of many cancers including breast and prostate cancers. The re-search of this group is focused on understanding the mecha-nisms and biology of bone metastasis and preferential tumour growth in bone using established and novel models of bone metastasis. Another aspect of the work examines the effect of the anti-tumour immune response on tumour growth in bone and the bone itself.

Leader and Team

Leader: Dr Carl Power, Head, Bio-logical Resources Imaging Lab, Sen-ior Lecturer

Team: Dr Tzong-Tyng Hung, Post-doctoral Fellow; Mr Brian Tse, PhD student

Current Projects

• Development of novel immunocompetent models of pros-tate cancer bone metastasis

• Assessment of the Th17 cell response to primary and met-astatic prostate tumours

• Gene expression analysis of poorly and highly bone-meta-static variants of a prostate cancer cell line

• Interleukin-18 as a cancer immunotherapeutic

• The effects of the antitumour immune response on the os-teoblastic/osteolytic nature of tumour-bearing bones

Progress in 2010

• Confirmed that the anti-tumour immune response to bone tumours has a significant effect on the osteolytic/osteo-blastic nature of bone metastatic tumours

• Presented novel work on Th17 cells in a poster titled “Cir-culating and tumour-infiltrating CD4+IL-17+ T cells in mice bearing orthotopic and heterotopic prostate tumours” at the American Association for Cancer Research Annual meeting and the Joint Prostate Cancer Foundation of Aus-tralia and Australian-Canadian Prostate Cancer Research Alliance Conference

• Completed Gene and miRNA profiling for bone metastat-ic variant cell lines, identifying potential genes related to bone metastatic phenotype (Collaboration with Dr. Ruby Lin- BABS)

• Developments in animal imaging: (A) New immunocompe-tent model of prostate cancer bone metastasis further modi-fied to express luciferin for in vivo imaging. (B) Examined the potential of a new cancer therapeutic drug, GSAO, as an in vivo imaging label in prostate cancer model utilising Maestro fluorescence imaging (collaboration with Prof. Phillip Hogg POWCS)

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Neuroscience Research Group

The aim of our team is to investigate the mechanisms, preven-tion and treatment strategies for neurodegenerative diseases including motor neurone disease, multiple sclerosis and stroke. We also have a research focus covering chemotherapy-induced neurotoxicity and inherited neuropathies. We are involved in a number of clinical trials aimed at preventing or slowing the progression of neurodegenerative diseases.

Our research is intrinsically linked to the provision of clinical services, particularly the Multidisciplinary Motor Neurone Dis-ease Clinic; the Hereditary Nerve and Muscle Clinics and diag-nostic neurophysiology clinics, all run through Prince of Wales Hospital. Neurological consultation and clinical neurophysi-ological services are also provided at the Professorial Suite.

Highlights

Recent findings from our NHMRC project grant investigating nerve function in patients treated with chemotherapy have es-tablished a biomarker to identify which patients may be at risk of neurotoxicity. This biomarker was developed from over 1000 studies undertaken in cancer patients by PhD student Susanna Park, working with Dr Cindy Lin and Dr Arun Krishnan. These studies have identified involvement of axonal sodium channels in the development of nerve damage following cancer treat-ment. These nerve biomarkers are now being used to provide feedback to oncologists regarding nerve function in their treat-ed patients, and we have been asked to incorporate our bio-markers into an international clinical trial to commence in 2011.

Leader and Team

Leader: Professor Matthew Kier-nan, Professor of Neurology

Team: Dr Cindy Lin, Senior Re-search Officer, Senior Lecturer UNSW; Dr Arun Krishnan, Senior Research Officer, Senior Lecturer Translational Neuroscience; Dr Steve Vucic, Senior Research Of-ficer, Associate Professor in Neu-rology; Dr Robert Bolland, Senior

Research Officer; Dr Jennica Winhammer, Research Officer; Sr Margie Zoing, Research Officer; Ms Eleanor Ramsey, Clinic & Research Coordinator; Ms Tricia Parnell, Executive Assistant; Dr Michelle Farrar, PhD Student; Mr Eric Han, PhD Student; Mr Ben Cheah, PhD Student; Ms Susanna Park, PhD Student; Dr James Burrell, PhD Student; Mr William Huynh, PhD Stu-dent; Ms Ria Arnold, PhD Student

Current Projects

• Clinical trials in Motor Neurone Disease and Multiple Sclerosis

• Identification of the mechanism of chemotherapy-induced neurotoxicity

Progress in 2010

• The initiation of therapeutic treatment trials, supported by the National Health and Medical Research Council

• Therapies incorporating a respiratory training device that aims to maintain breathing muscle function in motor neurone disease patients. As part of this process we have initiated and developed a clinical trials consortium, and are currently enrolling patients from across Australia into these trials

• In separate studies in children who develop an early form of the disease known as spinal muscular atrophy, the team is exploring the pathophysiology of this devastating childhood disease

• Completed a longitudinal study that investigated nerve function in spinal cord injured patients. These studies have identified that spinal cord injury has significant downstream effects on nerves in the arms and legs of spinal patients. In tandem with these studies, the team has developed templates of nerve damage, to better identify the processes that may be damaging nerves in spinal injured patients

• Completed a study investigating the use of intravenous immunoglobulin therapy for inflammatory neuropathy. This study will be published in the prestigious journal Archives of Neurology

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Highlights

2010 saw SACTRC successfully make the transition to ongoing project grant funding (now guaranteed until 2014) with local leadership after the international collaborative research grant that established it was concluded. This will take it through to its second decade and hopefully a long and healthy life. It also reached its 100th publication. There continues to be many out-comes from this research; outcomes from the research have been incorporated into WHO & national treatment guidelines and three pesticides have been banned from 2011.

The Australian Snakebite Project also secured ongoing funding to 2014 and achieved its 10th (& 11th) research publication. This is the only substantive project on human snakebite ever con-ducted in Australia and has major impact on treatment guide-lines in Australia.

Leader and Team

Leader: Prof Nick Buckley

Team: Prof Andrew Dawson, Adjunct Professor, Project Direc-tor, SACTRC; Ms Melissa Pearson, PhD student; Ms Jacqueline Anderson, PhD student

As part of the South Asian Clinical Toxicology Research Col-laboration (SACTRC) collaboration we have developed a centre of clinical toxicology research excellence in Sri Lanka – largely funded by the NHMRC and Wellcome Trust International Col-laborative Research Grant scheme. The main focus of this work is pesticide poisoning, although the collaboration began with trials on snake envenomation and oleander poisoning and con-tinues to be active in researching these areas and in other com-munity based public and mental health projects. The group’s interests within undergraduate teaching are problem-based learning, evidence-based clinical teaching and computer-assisted learning (CAL) with a focus on clinical pharmacology and toxicology and understanding the immediate relevance of mechanisms to clinical practice.

Current Projects

● South Asian Clinical Toxicology Research Collaboration

● Australian Snakebite Project

● Renal biomarker collaboration

Progress in 2010

Started work based around four successful grants awarded:

∙ Randomised Control Trial (RCT) of Safe Storage of pesticides in Sri Lanka

∙ RCT of education for primary care doctors in Sri Lanka

∙ RCT of FFP in Russell’s viper envenomation

∙ Pilot Work on renal biomarkers of acute nephrotoxicity.

● Obtained with collaborators three new grants totalling over $1.5 million

Clinical Pharmacology & Toxicology Group

Current Projects

• Cortico-Brainstem connections

• Prevention of migraine

Progress in 2010

• Traffic in the trigeminal system is not increased by triggers

• Measured effects of migraine triggers on trigeminovascu-lar sensation

• Discovered suppression of sensation by NRM stimulation

• Determined that brainstem chemical stimulation sup-presses trigeminovascular sensation

• Determined that brainstem local anaesthesia facilitates trigeminovascular sensation

• Determined that somatostatin is a likely neurotransmitter in the migraine trigger pathway

Headache Research GroupThe Group is engaged on a research project into the causes and mechanisms of headache. The research involves investigation of the neural pathways involved in the perception of head pain and in the control of the craniovascular reactivity. The research involves neurophysiological recording of single neuron activity in vivo, the monitoring of cranial blood flow and use of histo-logical techniques to assess neuronal activity.

Highlights

Traffic in the trigeminal system is not increased by triggers. Mi-graine triggers and peripheral stimulation both increased the discharge of 2nd order trigeminal neurons. Injection of local anaesthetic into the trigeminal ganglion decreased the sponta-neous rate and the stimulus-induced responses of these neu-rons, but it did not block the excitation caused by migraine trig-gers. This suggests that many triggers do not produce migraine pain by an action on peripheral sensation alone. Extremely sig-nificant parallel research in humans (evidently prompted by our own work) has shown that the trigeminal nucleus is activated before any pain is felt, mediated by central rather than periph-eral mechanisms. There could be no stronger support for our hypothesis.

Leader and Team

Leader: Dr Geoff Lambert, Senior Research Fellow

Team: Associate Prof A.S. Zaga-mi, co-author of the papers and co-creator of the program; Ms Linda Truong, Research Assistant; Mr George Mallos, Senior Technical Officer

Resources: BiobankTumour tissue banks are vital for cancer research. The Lowy Cancer Research Centre has purpose-built, state of the art Biobank facilities for the reception and processing of human biospecimens. The Biobank contains biospecimens, including blood and tissue samples, taken with consent from both healthy in-dividuals and patients diagnosed with cancer. Clinical information from the do-nors is also collected and linked to the specimens via a secure, web accessible database. The aim of the Biobank is to provide translational cancer researchers with high quality biospecimens and related clinical data, in order to facilitate discoveries that will lead to improvements in cancer diagnosis and treatment.

Highlights

CaTissue is the biospecimen inventory and tracking module of the cancer Bio-medical Informatics Grid (caBIG) developed by the US National Cancer Institute (NCI). The Biobank has an instance of caTissue currently in production. CaTis-sue provides functionality for both Biobank staff and research scientists, and is configurable across multiple types of biospecimens and collection sites. The biobank is able to retrieve data concerning the collection, storage, quality as-surance and distribution of biospecimens through a web based interface. Sci-entists are able to search for and request biospecimens for correlative studies. The Biobank has developed a working relationship the NCI/ca Tissue developers and plans to become involved in developing an international version of this program.

The Biobank is currently supporting 17 active collection protocols.

We have a total of 22,283 specimens stored. This includes;● 9,595 tissue samples● 2,293 cell samples● 2,235 fluid samples● 8,160 molecular samples (6,683 DNA & 1,477 RNA)

Progress in 2010

• caTissue v1.1.1au established and in production within the Biobank

• Specimen collection protocols established for researchers and specimen collection commenced

• Patient recruitment for investi-gator driven projects

Leader and Team

Leader: Dr Anusha Hettiaratchi, Biobank Manager

Team: Ms Diane Schipp, Research Data Manager; Miss Genevieve Ben-nett, Research Nurse; Mrs Sarita Ti-wari, Research Assistant

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Nephrology Group

Overview

Kidney injury is a common occurrence in hospitalised patients, particularly those who are critically ill, occurring in almost two out of three patients in intensive care units. The presence of even mild kidney injury increases time spent in hospital and increases critically ill patients’ risk of dying. Even small improve-ments of kidney function could potentially provide significant improvements in outcome for a large number of patients.

Ischaemia/reperfusion injury (IRI) is a leading cause of kidney injury. IRI follows when blood supply to the kidney is interrupt-ed and it occurs in a number of settings including kidney trans-plantation. The group has been investigating the mechanisms that cause IRI of kidneys, with the goal of discovering novel ways to prevent or treat injury.

The group has been working on the role of the protease acti-vated coagulation system, studying its role as an arm of the in-nate immune inflammatory response and its role in angiogen-esis. Their studies in mice have demonstrated that thrombin generated as a result of Tissue factor activity plays an important role in IRI by activation of protease activated receptor -1 (PAR-1). The group has shown that by blocking PAR-1 we can prevent injury. They have also shown that PAR-1 contributes to chronic kidney injury in a model of progressive renal fibrosis and ob-struction, but here the ligand may be different as thrombin de-ficiency was not clearly protective.

Current projects

The group’s most recent work has been examining what might regulate PAR-1 expression and what downstream effectors may be activated to cause kidney injury.

• Interaction between PAR-1 and Sphingosine Phosphate Kinase

PAR-1 may regulate inflammation and injury by stimulating sphingosine phosphate kinase (SPHK) activity and expression with subsequent sphingosine -1-phosphate production and signalling via one of its receptors sphingosine -1-phosphate receptor 1 (S1Pr1). We have shown that thrombin dependent PAR-1 signalling may negatively regulate SPHK’s particularly SPHK-2. We are currently exploring whether PAR-mediated regulation of SPHK may be one mechanism by which PAR-1 inhibition confers protection from IRI.

• The Role of EGR-1 in PAR-1 Expression

We have shown that EGR-1 is up regulated and there is nuclear localization of the protein early following renal IRI. This up-regulation was PAR-1 independent. This suggests that EGR-1 might play a role in PAR-1 expression in vivo. Current studies are ongoing into determining whether EGR-1 is essential for PAR-1 expression in vivo.

• PAR-1 and adenosine signalling

We are also assessing other potential pathways that PAR-1 signalling may interact with, including the adenosine signalling pathway that is dependent on expression of the cell surface molecules CD39.

Leader and Team

Leader: Dr Jonathan Erlich, Senior Lec-turer and Nephrologist

Team: Dr Sean Kennedy, Senior Lec-turer, School of Women’s & Children’s Health. Co-investigator and co-supervi-sor; Ms Dian Purnamasari, ILP student; Mr George She, Honours student; Mr David Chen, ILP student; Mr Anthony Chuang, Medical Student Year

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Diving and Hyperbaric Medicine

Our research group was organised in 2010 with the aim of fostering research in all aspects of both diving and hyperbaric medicine. Diving medicine is concerned with all physiological and medical aspects of immersion and breathing compressed gas under water and is of great interest to both recreational divers and commercial/military operations. Hyperbaric medi-cine is involved with all aspects of the treatment of disease by the application of high oxygen partial pressures. The group is particularly focussed on the evidence-basis of these disciplines and is a world leader in the critical appraisal and meta-analysis of the evidence for the application of hyperbaric oxygen in a wide range of disease.

Our research is intimately involved in the delivery of clinical ser-vices through the Department of Diving and Hyperbaric Medi-cine, a state-wide service located at the Prince of Wales Hosptial.

Installation of the new hyperbaric chamber

The research group is now the proud possessor of the largest therapeutic compression chamber in the world. On 25 August 2010 the staff assembled at dawn to watch the arrival of the new compression vessel that takes Prince of Wales Hospital and UNSW into the forefront of clinical hyperbaric and diving therapy. The vessel has four internal compartments, all capable of independent compression according to patient and research requirements. One large compartment is designed primarily for our routine ‘walk-in’ patients – where we will be able to treat 10 patients in a single session; another large compartment will be set up as a two bed intensive care area and a smaller chamber area is designed for use at higher pressures for the treatment of diving injuries. The whole facility is directed from a fully com-puterized ‘fly by wire’ panel with video surveillance and voice communications to all areas.

UHMS

Associate Professor Bennett was invited to address the Under-sea and Hyperbaric Medical Society (UHMS) in a plenary ses-sion devoted to the treatment of neurological disorders with hyperbaric oxygen. The presentation gave a critical appraisal of the evidence for the benefit of HBOT for autism and cerebral palsy, concluding there were grave methodological flaws in the research to date and little or no evidence of effectiveness for HBOT in this area.

Leader and Team

Leader: Associate Professor (Conjoint) Michael Bennett, Re-search Director, ADHMRG, Director of Operating Suite (Anaesthesia) and Supervisor of Training, Dept. Diving and Hyperbaric Medicine

Team: Dr Robert Turner, Director of the Department of Diving and Hyperbaric Medicine; Dr Jan Lehm, Co-investigator; Dr Barbara Trytko;

Ms Samantha Wills, Primary researcher; Dr Glen Hawkins, Principal investigator; Dr Nayden Naydenov

Current Projects

• The Australasian database of hyperbaric oxygen therapy for chronic wounds

• The treatment of idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss with hyperbaric oxygen therapy

• DORCTIHM

• Myopic shift and HBOT

Progress in 2010

• Establishment of the formal research group ‘The Australian Diving and Hyperbaric Medicine Research Group’

• The group continues to co-ordinate and publish results of the Australia/New Zealand outcomes database in the treatment of chronic wounds with HBOT

• Launched the multi-centre randomised controlled trial of HBOT for the treatment of sudden sensorineural hearing loss. Currently there are three centres enrolling patients in this area

• Publication of the Cochrane systematic review into the treatment of decompression illness

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Undergraduate Program

The Clinical Teaching Unit (CTU) oversees the clinical teaching and assessment of undergraduate students attached to the Prince of Wales Clinical School. It is primarily an administrative unit to coordinate the placement of all students, organise clini-cal teaching activities, organise clinical examinations, ensure compliance with University and NSW Health policies and sup-port teaching staff, including conjoint teachers, and students. Overall there are more than 200 students who complete part of their clinical training in the clinical units of the Prince of Wales Hospital each year.

Exercise Physiology Students commence Clinical Placements at the Prince of Wales Hospital

After much planning, the first students from UNSW’s Exercise Physiology Course, have commenced placements at the Prince of Wales Hospital. As an emerging allied health field, hospi-tal exercise physiologists play an integral role in preventative disease management and keeping people from readmitting to hospital. The students are working in the Cardiac Rehabilita-tion Out-Patient Program at Prince of Wales Hospital, under the supervision of Bill Brennan and Jenny Fildes. Their role will in-volve assessing patients, developing suitable exercise programs and assisting in the delivery of suitable exercise programs for those affected by a heart condition. Education, counselling and motivating people on healthy lifestyle practices is another im-portant part of the role, assisting people to live well with their chronic disease and to enhance their quality of life. The exercise physiology students will also have the unique opportunity to gain exposure to the full cardiac experience, observing cardio-thoracic surgery, cardiac diagnostic testing, ICU and in-patient rehabilitation. This will enable the student to gain a compre-hensive understanding of the multi-disciplined approach to cardiac disease treatment and where their role fits within the patient management. There are plans to expand the practicum experience in other chronic disease areas. If you would like fur-ther information on the Exercise Physiology Clinical Practicum program, please contact Dr Fiona Naumann at [email protected].

Phase Coordination

Phase 1:

Students in Phase 1 of the Medicine program (Years 1 and 2) attend the hospital for clinical skills tutorials. Each student has three hospital tutorials in each 8-week course which alternate with clinical skills tutorials in the University campus Clinical Skills Centre. The hospital tutorials are delivered by visiting general practitioners and senior and junior hospital staff. With their clinical tutor, a group of 7 students will see patients with clinical presentations relevant to the subjects that they are learning on campus. The hospital tutorials also provide the opportunity for the students to practice the skills, which they have learnt in the campus clinical skills centre, on real patients. Overall 10 groups of Phase 1 students attend the hospital every week.

The final clinical examination for the Phase 1 students has been held in May each year but from 2011, the exam has been re-scheduled to November at the end of Year 2. The clinical skills examination involves six stations where the students demon-strate their clinical skills on volunteer subjects who are simulat-ing common clinical problems.

Phase 2:

Phase 2 of the Medicine program consists of two distinctive components – the Independent Learning Project (ILP) and the clinical courses. All students undertake the ILP (or Honours) which is a research project. The POWCS supervises approxi-mately 15-20 students doing their ILP in the hospital’s re-search centres or clinical units. Many of the ILPs which focus on clinical practice provide valuable information on the quality of clinical practice in the hospital. Most students completing the ILP are attached to the clinical centre or unit supervising them although if space is not available, the clinical school has a common area for ILP students. Aside from the project, the ILP also includes coursework on research methodology delivered on campus and complemented by additional tutorials in the school.

Graduating Class of 2010

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Leader and Team

Leader: Professor Philip Jones, Direc-tor, Clinical Teaching Unit

The Team: Dr Silas Taylor, oversees clinical teaching MBBS program, Di-rector of the Clinical Skills Centre; Ms Jenny Ryall, Administration Officer; Ms Justine Perry, Administration As-sistantProgress in 2010

Current Projects

• 34 students from the POWCS, who were in the second cohort of students in the revised MBBS program, graduated in 2010; 10 with Hons

• The first clinical academic in Exercise Physiology was appointed to the POWCS to supervise clinical placements of students in this program

Outlook for 2011

• The Clinical Teaching Unit will maintain its current teaching load for students in the MBBS program and anticipate an increasing number of students in the Exercise Physiology program

• The School will be introducing the use of iPads for assessors to record and report students’ performance in workplace-based assessments and clinical examinations. This technology will facilitate reporting and improve feedback to students

The Phase 2 clinical courses are a series of placements in dif-ferent hospital settings including medical and surgical wards, aged care unit, oncology unit, paediatrics and obstetric services and in community centres. During these placements the stu-dents continue to develop their clinical skills with a greater em-phasis on developing diagnostic skills. They spend three days each week in these clinical settings and return to the University campus for further lectures and practical classes relating to the weekly themes which guide their learning. These campus ses-sions provide the opportunity for the students to relate what they are seeing in clinical settings to the biomedical sciences which underpin clinical medicine. As with Phase 1, the student are examined at the end of the clinical courses with a multi-station clinical skills exam.

Phase 3:

The final two years of the Medicine program is a series of clini-cal courses in which the students are embedded in clinical units in hospitals and in general practice. These placements are typi-cally 4 or 8 weeks in duration and there is an expectation that the student becomes an active member of the clinical team. All Year 5 students are placed in medical and surgical units in the hospital. For the remaining terms in Year 5 the students are placed in other core clinical specialties including Paediatrics, O&G, Psychiatry and Primary Care. In Year 6, they complete all the core clinical placements not covered in Year 5 as well as a placement in the Emergency Department. Year 6 students also complete elective courses which give them a chance to choose clinical disciplines where they want more experience.

2010 Student Numbers

Phase 1 - 140Phase 2 - 35Phase 3 - 77

Prizes and Awards

• Sarah Davies received the Foundations Year Graduates Medal which recognises leadership and fellowship

• POWCS student prizes went to Shah Inam for best overall performance (Max Thorpe Prize) and best performance in Medicine (Graham Macdonald Prize). Shu Wang received the John Coleman Prize for best performance in Surgery

• The 2010 Teacher of the Year Awards went to Melissa Drinkwater (Best RMO), Louis Wang (Best Registrar) and Shing Wong (Best Consultant). The POWCS Award went to Professor Paul Spira

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Postgraduate

Prince of Wales Clinical School (POWCS) has a long tradition of integrating research, teaching, and clinical care. A primary focus of our research is translational medicine – bench-to-bedside. We have world class research facilities at the Prince of Wales Hospital in the disciplines of neurology, nephrology, vi-rology, surgery, oncology, amongst others. We also have close affiliations with many renowned centres such as Neuroscience Research Australia, the Lowy Cancer Research Centre and the Garvan Institute. We offer higher degrees in clinical medicine as well as laboratory and public health research.

We provide excellent infrastructure and support to postgradu-ate students to allow them to pursue high quality research. We also have experienced and dedicated academic staff to super-vise, mentor and educate our students. With access and expo-sure to a diverse range of academic disciplines, our graduates receive all-round training in scientific research. We do our best to ensure that students realise their full potential and experi-ence the thrill of scientific discovery. Our postdoctoral scholar-ships, biostatistics training scholarships and travel scholarships demonstrate our commitment to postgraduate students.

If you are a prospective student, please look through the re-search section of this annual report to find out about poten-tial supervisors and research groups, and to get ideas for your research project. Then visit our ‘How to Apply’ section of the School website (http://powcs.med.unsw.edu.au/powcsweb.nsf/page/PG Application) for instructions on the admission application process for Prince of Wales Clinical School before you undertake the general admissions application via https://my.unsw.edu.au.

In 2010 there were 75 postgraduate students enrolled in our School, 54 PhD students, 19 Masters by Research students and 2 MD students. During 2010, 7 PhD, 2 Masters and 2 MD stu-dents submitted their theses. 10 local students were enrolled with a federally funded competitive scholarship.

A highlight of the year was the award of a highly competitive Fulbright Scholarship to Dr Benjamin Cheah. Ben will use this scholarship to undertake a year of research in the United States, commencing July 2011.

Team

Team: Coordinators Dr Claire Va-jdic, Associate Professor, and Dr Jonathan Erlich, Senior Lecturer; Ms Caitlyn Granse, Administrative Assistant

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Prince of Wales Clinical School has over 200 conjoints – both medical and research professionals with various specialties, many based on Prince of Wales Hospital campus in Randwick – who actively support the teaching, research, student supervi-sion and other critical functions of the School and the Faculty of Medicine at UNSW. The School acknowledges the enormous contribution our conjoints make to the community and learn-ing experience of our school. We thank them all very much for their efforts.

Four of our Conjoints who were selected for recognition of their contributions are listed below:

KE KHOR

Conjoint Senior Lecturer, Prince of Wales Clinical School; Director, Department of Pain Management, Prince of Wales Hospital Senior Staff Specialist, Division of Anaesthesia; UNSW Examiner and Member of Training Unit Accreditation Com-mittee, Faculty of Pain Medicine

Why Pain Medicine?I consider it an achievement to re-

main sane (some would dispute this!) after 16 years of working in the difficult and new area of pain medicine. I discovered ac-cidentally when I was in my first year as an anaesthesia registrar that when I gave patients good postoperative pain relief, their outcome was superior. Later, we had a cancer patient and under the guidance of my consultant, I carried out a neurolytic in-trathecal block which gave such good pain relief and improve-ment in his quality of life that it sealed my fate to pursue this career to bring pain relief to people. I have been mentored very well throughout my training by Drs Cressy Free, Nanda Bellum and Matthew Crawford, all of which highlight the immense val-ue to good mentorship.

DAVID GOLDSTEIN

Conjoint Professor, Prince of Wales Clinical School

Qualifications: MBBS (Monash), FRACP, FRCP(UK)

Contributions/Interactions with UNSW: Student teaching, ILP stu-dents, joint research projects with other faculty members

Career Highlights: Election to International Affairs Committee of American Society of Clinical Oncology, President Clinical On-cology Society of Australia.

Major Projects: New therapeutic approaches to pancreas can-cer; cross cultural issues in oncology; cancer survivorship; neu-rological toxicity of chemotherapy agents; targeting new path-ways of cancer progression.

Conjoints

MEL DRINKWATER

Conjoint Associate Lecturer, Prince of Wales Clinical School; Orthopaedic Registrar, Prince of Wales/Bankstown Hospitals

Qualifications: MBBS(Hons/BSc (Med) /BA , Grad Dip Bioethics

Achievements: Teaching Award, Prince of Wales Clinical School, 2010

Contributions/Interactions with UNSW: Graduated from UNSW in 2008. I have been taking a tutorial group of UNSW students for the past three years. I was also the Director for CONTACT Information and Referral Service at UNSW from 2005-2007 and was involved in organising the Student Orientation Program 2003-2006. I was the Band Director for Med Revue from 2003-2007.

I grew up as an ‘Air Force Brat’, a child of a navigator, and was privileged to live in most continents by the age of 10. My time in Australia was spent in the Blue Mountains. I decided early on that I wanted to do medicine (the other option was Vet Science, but animals don’t talk back!), and was lucky enough to be ac-cepted to UNSW Medicine in 2001. I did my degree part-time, along with Arts, so that I could also work for the University, and pursue my other great love of music. I graduated in 2008, and have been at Prince of Wales Hospital since then. I’ve re-cently married (the photo is me playing bass at my wedding), and started work as an Orthopaedic Registrar. I look forward to completing my Masters in Bioethics, and continuing to pro-gress in my chosen medical career, as well as spending time with my family and friends.

JACQUELINE CT CLOSE

Conjoint Associate Professor, Prince of Wales Clinical School; Senior Staff Specialist in Geriatric Medicine, Prince of Wales Hospital; Honorary Senior Research Fellow, Neurosci-ence Research Australia

What motivates you to do what you do?The ability to work in an environ-ment which supports people to

combine clinical practice with academia is an enormously privi-leged position to be in. To develop evidence through research and then be part of the process of taking that evidence and integrating it into policy and practice is what drives me on a daily basis. It is difficult to describe what it feels like when you see clinical staff putting into practice your research and then seeing it make a tangible difference to the lives of the patients we see on a daily basis.

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Awards and Grants


Funding:1. Hitchins MP, Ward RL, Hawkins NJ; NHMRC

Project Grant; The role and inheritance of constitutional epimutations in early-onset colorectal cancer; $334,000 (2009-2011)

2. Ward R; Cancer Institute NSW Research Scholars Award; Relationship between folate coenzyme distribution and aberrant DNA methylation in colorectal cancer – for J Liu; $63,000 (2009-2011)

3. Ward R; Cancer Institute NSW Research Scholars Award; Targeted cancer therapies their effectiveness and cost effectiveness in the real world – C Harris; $62,000 (2009-2011)

4. Pearson SA, Ward RL; Cancer Australia Pro-ject Grant; The use and impact of cancer medicines in real world clinical practice: Evaluation in a cohort of elderly Austral-ians; $418,000 (2009-2011)

5. Ward RL, De Souza P; Cancer Institute NSW SESIAHS Cancer Trials Network Support Grant; $606,647 (2009-2011)

6. Lassere M, Johnson K, Dunsmuir W, Gal-braith S, Ward R, Hughes M; NHMRC Pro-ject Grant; Levels of evidence for surrogate therapeutics; $524,225 (2008-2010)

7. Lipton L, Seiber O, Molloy P, Ward RL, Han-non G, Gibbs P; NHMRC Project Grant; Analysis of gene amplification/loss and methylation associated with progression to metastatic colorectal cancer; $595,500 (2008-2010)

8. Ward R, Pearson S, Haas M, O’Connell D, McKinnon R, Henry D, Lassere M, Knight R, Messer M; Cancer Australia Priority-driven Collaborative Cancer Research Scheme; Es-tablishment of a network to evaluate new and emerging cancer therapies; $600,000 (2008-2010)

9. Hitchins M, Ward R; NHMRC Project Grant; Epimutations as germline defects in hered-itary cancer syndromes; $370,500 (2008-2010)

10. Sitas F, Canfell K, O’Connell D, Barton M, Ward RL, Banks E; Cancer Council NSW Population Health Study; NSW Cancer, Lifestyle and Evaluation of Risk (CLEAR) Study; $853,000 (2007-2011)

11. Ward R, Haas M, Van Gool K, Hall J, Stew-art B, Links M, Pearson S, Board N; NHMRC Program: Health Services Research; Us-ing clinical and economic evidence to in-form local decision making in cancer care; $1,575,750; (2007-2011)

Allosteric Disulphide Group

Awards:1. Jamie Callachor Eureka Prize for Medical

Research Translation, 2010

Grants:1. CN Chesterman, MC Berndt, BH Chong,

PJ Hogg, LM Khachigian, CR Parish, RO Stocker; NHMRC Program Grant 455395; Vascular biology; 2007-2011; $14,516,180 ($580,665pa)

2. PJ Hogg; NHMRC Senior Principal Research Fellowship 401103; 2006-2010; $782,500 ($156,500pa)

3. PJ Hogg, C Schroeder; NHMRC Project Grant; Mechanism of interaction of VWC domains and consequence for protein function; 2009-2011; 185,500pa

4. PJ Hogg, RL Ward, IW Dawes, RB Lock, P de Souza; Cancer Institute NSW Translational Program Grant; Anti-mitochondrial cancer drugs; 2007-2011; $3,750,000 ($750,000 pa)

5. PJ Hogg; Premier’s Award for Outstanding Cancer Researcher 2009; 2009; $50,000

6. PJ Hogg, IW Dawes, RB Lock; Cancer Coun-cil NSW Program Grant PG 06-07; New arsenical-based cancer drugs; 2006-2010; $1,900,000 ($380,000pa)

7. RL Ward, NJ Hawkins, A Spigelman, PJ Hogg; Cancer Council NSW Strategic Re-search Partnership Grant SRP 06-06; The Colorectal Cancer Research Consortium: a model for the integration of biomedi-cal research into patient care; 2006-2010; $1,250,000 ($250,000pa)

8. PJ Hogg; Mallinckrodt (Covidien); Mecha-nism of action of the apoptosis imaging agent, GSAO; 2008-2010; US$390,000 (US$130,000pa)

Bioactive Lipid Signaling Group

Grants:1. Don, AS. Cancer Institute NSW Early Career

Development Grant, 2009 – 2011; The mo-lecular pathway for leukaemia cell death induced with the new therapeutic FTY720; $523,173.

Bioinformatics and Protein Mass Spectrometry Group

Grants:1. JW Wong; Innovation Grant; Chlorotyosine

proteomics in lung cancer; 2009; $50,000

2. JW Wong; Vice-Chancellors Postdoctoral research fellowship; High-performance data parallel algorithms for mass spec-trometry-based proteomics; 2010-2012; $365,000

3. JW Wong; Early Career Grant; Computa-tional mass spectrometry-based identifi-cation of alternatively spliced proteins in cancer cells; 2010; $30,000

Biostatistics Group

1. Preeyaporn Srasuebkul: Post Doctoral Re-search Grant and Travel Support Program, $2,000

Bone Cancer Research

Awards:1. Dr Carl Power, Faculty of Medicine, Dean’s

Rising Star 2010

2. Dr Tzong-Tyng Hung, Joint Prostate Can-cer Foundation of Australia and Australian-Canadian Prostate Cancer Research Alli-ance Conference, Poster Prize.

Grants: 1. Power CA, Housley G, Apte M, Bertrand

P, Carrive P, Crowe P, Gunning P, Haber M, Hardeman E, Hogg P, Grimm M, Ceczy C, Kavalaris M, Khachigian L, Lock R, MaNeil P, Scott K, Walsh W, Yang J, Rae C. Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scanner for small animal imaging, UNSW Major Re-search Equipment and Infrastructure Initia-tive, 2010, $700,000

2. Hogg P, Don A, Gaus K, Gunning P, Haber M, Hardeman E, Jessup W, Kavalaris M, Khachigian L, Lock R, Norris M, Pimanda J, Power C, Thomas S. Maestro 2 and Nu-anceEX imaging, UNSW Major Research Equipment and Infrastructure Initiative, 2010, $400,000

3. Power CA and PJ Russell. How can we prevent bony metastasis from tumours? Sydney Foundation for Medical Research, 2008-2010, $225,000

4. Hung T and Power CA. The role of TH17 associated cytokines (IL17 and IL23) on prostate cancer development and bone metastasis, Faculty research-Early career research grant, UNSW, 2011, $20,000

Cancer Aetiology and Prevention Group

1. Claire Vajdic, Premier’s Award for Out-standing Cancer Research Fellow, 2010

2. Marina van Leeuwen, Leukaemia Founda-tion Postdoctoral Fellowship, 2010

Grants:1. CIs: Vajdic CM, Giles GG, Seymour J, Miliken

S, Benke G, Cozen W , A population-based family study of follicular lymphoma, NHM-RC Project Grant, 2011-15, $1,619,364

2. CIs: Vajdic CM, Pearson SA, Dobbins T, Health service utilisation and risk factors for cancer of unknown primary, Cancer In-stitute NSW Cancer Epidemiology Linkage Program Grant. 2011-13: $296,558

3. CI: Vajdic CM, Cancer epidemiology in high-risk populations and complex can-cers, Cancer Institute NSW Career Devel-opment Fellowship, 2011-13, $246,576

4. CI: van Leeuwen MT, Integration of epide-miological, biological and health services data in cancer research, NHMRC Postdoc-toral Training Fellowship (Public Health), 2011-14, $290,032

Cancer Drug Development Group

Grants:1. PJ Dilda, HT Arkenau; NHMRC Project

Grant. Investigation of a tumour enzyme as a predictor of patient response to an Aus-tralian anti-cancer drug. Associate inves-tigators are Prof. M. Apte, Dr. A. de Fazio, Prof. R. Ward, Dr. S. Decollogne and Prof. A. Pompella. 2010-2012 ($348,750 over 3 years).

2. PJ Hogg, RL Ward, IW Dawes, RB Lock, P de Souza; Cancer Institute NSW Translational Program Grant; Anti-mitochondrial cancer drugs; 2007-2011; $3,750,000 ($750,000 pa)

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3. PJ Hogg; Premier’s Award for Outstanding Cancer Researcher 2009; 2009; $50,000

4. PJ Hogg, IW Dawes, RB Lock; Cancer Coun-cil NSW Program Grant PG 06-07; New arsenical-based cancer drugs; 2006-2010; $1,900,000 ($380,000pa)

5. RL Ward, NJ Hawkins, A Spigelman, PJ Hogg; Cancer Council NSW Strategic Re-search Partnership Grant SRP 06-06; The Colorectal Cancer Research Consortium: a model for the integration of biomedi-cal research into patient care; 2006-2010; $1,250,000 ($250,000pa)

6. PJ Hogg; Mallinckrodt (Covidien); Mecha-nism of action of the apoptosis imaging agent, GSAO; 2008-2010; US$390,000 (US$130,000pa)

Cancer Maths

Awards:

1. C Pardy: Prince of Wales Clinical School Postgraduate Research Scholarship (2010)

2. C Pardy: Travel award to attend BioInfo-Summer 2010, Melbourne

3. A Gillett: Travel award to attend BioInfo-Summer 2010, Melbourne

4. A Motyer: Travel award to attend Genetic Analysis Workshop 17, 2010 Boston, USA

Grants:

1. SR Wilson (CI), Development and Evalua-tion of Statistical Methods and Software for Analysis of Complex Genetic Disease Data, NHMRC, 2009-2013

2. CJ Burden and SR Wilson, Statistical and Mathematical Analyses of Sequence and Array Data, ARC, 2009-2011

3. CJ Burden and SR Wilson, Mathematical Methods for Next Generation Sequencing, ARC, 2010-2012

Clinical Pharmacology and Toxicology Group

Awards: 1. Andrew Dawson invited to be the Louis

Roche plenary lecturer at the European Association of Poisons Centres & Clinical Toxicology Scientific meeting

Grants: 1. Buckley NA, Endre Z, Dawson A, Isbister

GK, Sheriff MHR, Roberts M, Biomarkers of acute renal toxicity in humans, NHM-RC Project Grant 1011772, 2011-2013, $1,044,710

2. Isbister G, Buckley NA, Hodgson W, Ran-domised clinical trial of antivenom after red belly black snake bite, NHMRC Project Grant 1010370, 2011-2014, $445,576

3. Endre Z, Peake P, Buckley NA, Investigat-ing fragments of kidney cells in the urine for markers of kidney injury, Kidney Health Australia/Project Grants, 2011, $50,000

Cure For Life Neuro-oncology Group

Awards:1. McDonald KL. Cancer Institute NSW Career

Development Award (2010-2013)

Grants:

1. McDonald (PI), Combining microRNA with cilengitide: A novel therapeutic approach to impede brain tumour cell migration. Cancer Institute NSW Career Development Fellowship, 2010-2013

2. McDonald (PI), The role of IQGAP1 in ac-tively migrating glioma cells and its regu-lation by miR-124. Cancer Council NSW Project Grant, 2009-2011

3. McDonald (Co-PI), Clinical Outcomes and Genetic Epidemiology of High Grade Glio-ma: AGOG. Cancer Council NSW Strategic Partnership Grant, 2008-2012

Pharmacoepidemiology and Pharmaceutical Policy Group

Grants: 1. Health service utilisation and risk factors

for cancer of unknown primary (CUP), Can-cer Institute NSW, 2011-2013, $300,000

2. Validation of upper gastro-intestinal can-cer surgical procedural and diagnostic codes in NSW, Cancer Institute NSW, 2011, $50,000

3. The use, effectiveness and safety of cancer medicines in the real world clinical setting, CINSW Career Development Fellowship, 2010-2012, $600,000

4. Measuring the use and impact of the Can-cer Institute Standard Cancer Treatments Program in NSW hospitals, CINSW Trans-lational Health Services Research Grant, 2010-2012, $600,000

Gynaecological Cancer Research Group

Grants: 1. Swiss National Foundation, Junior Re-

search Grant (CIA Francis Jacob) 65’000 for 1 year (application for 3 years)

2. Cancer Cure (CIA Caroline Ford) 90’000 for 1 year > 45’000 for Heinzelmann group

Headache Research Group

Grants: 1. Australian Brain Foundation, awarded for

2011, $17,000

2. NHMRC grant, 2009-2011, $197,500pa

Diving and Hyperbaric Medicine Group

1. Sudden sensorineural hearing loss, UHMS Research Foundation, $7,400

2. Sudden sensorineural hearing loss, Aus-tralian DHM Research Foundation, $15,000

Medical Epigenetics

Awards:1. Dr Megan Hitchins: NHMRC CDAII (Bio-

medical) and Cancer Institute NSW CDA top-up.

2. Dr Sameer Srivastava: Endeavour Postdoc-toral Fellow Award

3. Dr Robert Rapkins: Faculty of Medicine Postdoctoral Conference Travel Award

4. Joice Kuroiwa-Trzmielina: PRSS Conference Travel Award

Grants:1. National Health & Medical Research Coun-

cil of Australia, 2010-2012, AUS$508,608

2. Kumar RK, Foster PS, Hitchins MP. Project grant, ID 630501, Mechanisms of induction and progression of childhood asthma: in-vestigations in a mouse model

3. Cure Cancer Australia Foundation, 2010. Tsafnat G, Hitchins MP. AUS$75,000. ID 630435. Computational discovery of can-cer-affiliated long-range methylation sites

4. National Health & Medical Research Coun-cil, Australia, 2011-2014. AUS$424,920. (APP1006498). Career Development Award II. Distinct types of epimutations in cancer susceptibility

5. Cancer Institute NSW. 2011-2013. Career Development Award; Supplementation of NHMRC CDAII

6. Cancer Institute NSW. 2011. Hitchins MP, Khachigian L. Research Innovation Grant (ID 10/RFG/12). AUS$47,222. Development of novel methods for the discovery of in-teractions between gene promoter muta-tions and the epigenetic machinery

Molecular and Cellular Oncology Lab

Awards: 1. Cancer Institute Early Career Development

Fellowship, 2010-2012

Grants: 1. Cancer Institute New South Wales Fellow-

ship, 09/CDF/2-26, 2010, $599,883

Nanotechnology and Cancer Therapy Unit

Awards: 1. Best Gene therapy Paper for 2009, Award-

ed to Dr Khatri in 2010

Grants:1. Verma N and Khatri A, In vivo evaluation of

mesenchymal stem cells as cellular-carriers of magnetic nanoparticles and therapeutic genes for cancer imaging and targeting, Faculty Research Grants Program, 2010-2011, $20,000

2. Russell PJ, Khatri A and Cowin, G., Targeted nanoparticles for imaging prostate cancer, Research Grant, Prostrate Cancer Founda-tion Australia, 2010-2011, $125,000

3. Originally Russell PJ, now Khatri A, Com-bined, Novel tumour-targeted molecular and traditional chemotherapy for treating androgen refractory prostate cancer, Pro-ject Grant: NHMRC 510238, 2008-2010, $520,500

4. Originally Russell PJ and now Khatri A, Thierry B, Walsh BJ, Bucci J and de Souza P 2008-2011, Targeted nanoparticles for imaging prostate cancer, Project Grant: NHMRC 51039, 2008-2010, Cancer Aus-tralia $300,000 + Prostate Cancer Founda-tion Australia $278,416

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Awards: 1. Benjamin Cheah, 2011 Fulbright scholar-

ship, Department of Biostatistics at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, commencing July 2011

2. Susanna Park, Young Investigator Award, International Congress of Clinical Neuro-physiology, Kobe, Japan.

3. Susanna Park, NHMRC Overseas Biomedi-cal fellowship

4. Susanna Park, R.G Menzies Fellowship, London

5. Susanna Park, Prince of Wales Clinical School International Travel Grant

6. Dr Steve Vucic, Corticomotoneuronal func-tion in asymptomatic SOD-1 mutation carriers, M.A.B. Brazier Young Investigator Award

Grants: 1. National Health & Medical Research Coun-

cil (NH&MRC). 2010-2013, $444,411

2. NH&MRC project grant, 2010-2013, $244,250

3. NH &MRC project grant, 2009-2012, $571,175

4. NH &MRC project grant, 2008-2011, $297,250

5. Sydney Foundation for Medical Research, 2008-2010, $150,000


Grants:Total funding of $1,767,420 over 3 years, ad-ministered by UNSW. Collaborative grants not listed: 1. Meiser B. Career Development Award, Lev-

el 2, Psychosocial implications of genetic counselling and testing, National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia APP1003921, 2011-2014, $424,920

2. Meiser B. Career Development Fellowship, Psychosocial implications of cancer genet-ic counselling and testing, Cancer Institute NSW , 2010-2012, $599,255

3. Meiser B, Mitchell G, Tucker K, Saunders C, Geelhoed E, Hopper J, Watts K., Too much, too soon? The impact of treatment-focused genetic testing in patients newly diagnosed with breast cancer, Cancer Aus-tralia, Priority-driven Collaborative Cancer Research Scheme, 2010-2012, $ 594,540

4. Kasparian N, Meiser B, Menzies S, Mann G, Butow P, Barlow-Stewart K., The de-velopment and trial of tailored psycho-educational resources for melanoma pa-tients, Cancer Council NSW , 2010-2011, $ 142,500


Awards: 1. Best Scientific Presentation – New South

Wales Hand Society Meeting – Dr. Roger Haddad

Grants: 1. External funding of more than 4 million

dollars in 2010

Surgical Oncology Research Group

Awards:1. Best of the Best Poster: Choong-Dickinson

Poster Prize: Yang JL, Das Gupta R, Hop-kins A, Luk F, Goldstein D, Crowe PJ. Signifi-cance of IGF-1R and Its Signaling Pathways in Human Sarcoma, 2010, 16-17 October, Australian Sarcoma Group 2010 Annual Scientific Meeting

Grants: 1. Ross Trust Research Fund, Strategic Learn-

ing & Teaching Development Funding for 2011, $60,000 pa 2011-2013

Stem Cell Group

Grants: 1. Tissue specific regulation of gene expres-

sion (CIA), ARC, 2009-2011, $278,000

2. Transcriptional regulation of haematopoi-etic stem cell development (CIA), NHMRC, 2008-2010, $544,000

3. Interactions between transcription fac-tor networks and cell signalling pathways (CIA), NHMRC, 2009-2011, $566,500

4. Dissecting the embryonic blood-endothe-lial regulatory code and investigating its role in leukaemia (CIA), NHMRC, 2010-2012, $623,500

5. Determining the transcriptional program of a leukaemogenic transcription factor in normal and leukaemic cells (CIA) NHMRC, 2011-2013, $621,732

6. Upregulation of Dyskerin augments telom-erase activity in haematopoietic cells (CIB), NHMRC, 2011-2013, $359,208

7. Do Leukaemic cells use stem cell enhanc-ers to express oncogenic transcription fac-tors? (CIA), Leukaemia Foundation, 2010, $98,000

8. Pathogenesis of Myelodysplasia (CIA), Leu-kaemia Foundation, 2009-2011, $150,000

9. Epigenetic changes associated with phar-macotherapy in Myelodysplasia (CIA), Can-cer Institute of NSW, 2010, $50,000

10. Identifying transcriptional regulatory com-plexes in leukaemia (CIB), Cancer Institute of NSW, 2011, $50,000

11. Major Equipment Grant (CIA), UNSW/NHMRC, 2010, $338,000

12. Major Equipment Grant (CIA), UNSW/NHMRC, 2011, $142,000

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Publications and Presentations


1. de Raad J, van Gool K, Haas M, Haywood P, Faedo M, Gallego G, Pearson S, Ward R. Nursing takes time: workload associated with administering cancer protocols. Clin J Oncol Nurs (2010) 14 (6):735-741

2. Hains IE, Ward R, Pearson S. Implementing a web-based oncology protocol system in Australia: Evaluation of the first three years of operation. Intern Med J (2010) 2010 June7:Epub ahead of print

3. Harris CA, Ward RL, Dobbins TA, Drew AK, Pearson S. The efficacy of HER2 targeted agents in metastatic breast cancer: A me-ta-analysis. Ann Oncol (2010) 2010 Nov 30:Epub before printing

4. Hesson LB, Hitchins MP, Ward RL. Epimu-tations and cancer predisposition: impor-tance and mechanisms. Current opinion in Genetics and Development (2010) 20(3):290-298

5. Hill V, Hesson LB, Dansranjavin T, Dallol A, Bieche I, Vacher S, Tommasi S, Dobbins T, Gentle D, Euhus D, Lewis C, Dammann R, Ward RL, Minna J, Maher ER, Pfeifer GP, Latif F.Identification of 5 novel genes methylated in breast and other epithelial cancers. Mol Cancer (2010) 9 (1):51

6. Irving Taylor, Julio Garcia-Aguilar, Robyn Ward. Fast Facts: Colorectal cancer. Health Press Ltd; Queen St, Abingdon (2010) 3rd ed

7. Kwok C-T, Ward RL, Hawkins NJ, Hitchins MP. Detection of allelic imbalance in MLH1 expression by pyrosequencing serves as a tool for the identification of germline de-fects in Lynch syndrome. Familial Cancer (2010) 9(3):345-356

8. Liu JJ, Ward RL. Folate and one-carbon me-tabolism and its impact on aberrant DNA methylation in cancer. Adv Genet (2010) 71:79-121

9. Pearson S, Chin M, Faedo M, Ward R. Rationale for treatment durations of tar-geted cancer agents. Lancet Oncol (2010) 11(12):1113-15

10. Pearson S, Srasuebkul P, Harris C, Ward R, Dobbins T. Trastuzumab (T) Treatment Out-comes According to Concomitant Chemo-therapy Regimen: Overall Survival (OS) of HER2+ Metastatic Breast Cancer (MBC) Pa-tients.. Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety (2010) 19:S187

11. Ringland CL, Arkenau AT, O’Connell DL, Ward RL. Second primary colorectal can-cers (SPCRCs): experiences from a large Australian Cancer Registry. Ann Oncol (2010) 21(1):92-97.

12. Trainer A, Ward RL. How to treat Familial Cancer. Australian Doctor (2010) 6:29-36

13. Trainer AH, Lewis CR, Tucker K, Meiser B, Friedlander M, Ward RL. The role of BRCA mutation testing in determining breast cancer therapy. Nature Reviews Clinical Oncology (2010) 12: 708-717

Allosteric Disulphide Group

1. Tabrett CA, Harrison CF, Schmidt B, Belling-ham SA, Hardy T, Sanejouand YH, Hill AF and Hogg PJ (2010). Changing the solvent accessibility of the prion protein disulphide bond markedly influences its trafficking and effect on cell function. Biochem J 428, 169-182.

2. Ioannou Y, Zhang JY, Passam FH, Rahgo-zar S, Qi JC, Giannakopoulos B, Qi M, Yu P, Yu DM, Hogg PJ and Krilis SA (2010). Naturally occurring free thiols within β2-glycoprotein I in vivo: nitrosylation, redox modification by endothelial cells, and regulation of oxidative stress-induced cell injury. Blood 116, 1961-1970.

3. Wong JW, Ho SY and Hogg PJ (2010). Di-sulphide bond acquisition through eukar-yotic protein evolution. Mol Biol Evol 28, 327-334.

4. Azimi I, Matthias LJ, Center RJ, Wong JW and Hogg PJ (2010). Disulphide bond that constrains the HIV-1 gp120 V3 domain is cleaved by thioredoxin. J Biol Chem 285, 40072-40080.

5. Matthias LJ, Azimi I, Tabrett CA and Hogg PJ (2010). Reduced monomeric CD4 is the preferred receptor for HIV. J Biol Chem 285, 40793-40799.

6. Keynote Speaker, 2010 Lorne Cancer Con-ference, Lorne, VIC

Bioactive Lipid Signalling Group

1. Jary E, Bee T, Walker SR, Chung S-K, Seo K-C, Morris JC, Don AS (2010) Elimination of a hydroxyl group in FTY720 dramatically improves the phosphorylation rate. Mol Pharmacol, 78(4): 685-92.

2. Wong JWH & Don AS (2010) LipidQ: A Software Program for Extraction and Col-lation in Excel of LC-MS/MS Data Derived from Multiple Samples. http://www.can-cerresearch.unsw.edu.au/CRCWeb.nsf/page/lipidms.

3. Wong JWH & Don AS (2010) An Add-on for Heat Map Comparison of Different Sample Sets in Excel. http://www.cancer-research.unsw.edu.au/CRCWeb.nsf/page/bubble

4. Hejazi L, Wong J, Don AS. Two dimen-sional, LC-MS/MS-based characterisation of sphingolipids within biological extracts, based on mass and hydrophobicity. 12th International Union for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology meeting, Melbourne, 2010.

Bioinformatics and Protein Mass Spectrometry Group

1. Wong JW, Ho SY and Hogg PJ (2010). Di-sulphide bond acquisition through eukar-yotic protein evolution. Mol Biol Evol 28, 327-334.

2. Wong JW, Schwahn AB and Downard KM (2010) FluTyper - An Algorithm for Auto-mated Typing and Subtyping of the In-fluenza Virus from High Resolution Mass Spectral Data. BMC Bioinf, 11:266

3. Azimi I, Matthias LJ, Center RJ, Wong JW and Hogg PJ (2010). Disulphide bond that constrains the HIV-1 gp120 V3 domain is cleaved by thioredoxin. J Biol Chem 285, 40072-40080.

4. Schwahn AB, Wong JW and Downard KM (2010) Rapid Differentiation of Seasonal and Pandemic H1N1 Influenza through Proteotyping of Viral Neuraminidase with Mass Spectrometry. Anal Chem, 82:4584-4590

5. Wong JW and Cagney G (2010) An over-view of label-free quantitation methods in proteomics by mass spectrometry. Meth-ods Mol Biol, 604:273-83

Biostatistics Group

Presentations:

1. The impact of oestrogen receptor (ER) sta-tus on overall survival of metastatic breast cancer patients receiving trastuzumab in Australia. P Srasuebkul, SA Pearson, C Har-ris, R Ward, T Dobbins.The 16th Annual Meeting of Japanese Society for Pharma-coepidemiology and the 5th Asian Con-ference on Pharmacoepidemiology, 29-31 October 2010, Tokyo, Japan

2. Trastuzumab treatment outcomes accord-ing to estrogen receptor (ER) status: Over-all survival of HER2+ metastatic breast cancer patients. P Srasuebkul, SA Pearson, C Harris, R Ward, T Dobbins. Sydney Can-cer Conference, 14-16 July 2010, Sydney, Australia

Publications:

1. Hong AM, Dobbins TA, Lee CS, Jones D, Harnett GB, Armstrong BK, Clark JR, Mil-ross CG, Kim J, O’Brien CJ, Rose BR. Hu-man papillomavirus predicts outcome in oropharyngeal cancer in patients treated primarily with surgery or radiation therapy. Br J Cancer. 2010 Nov 9;103(10):1510-7

2. Hong A, Dobbins T, Lee CS, Jones D, Jackson E, Clark J, Armstrong B, Harnett G, Milross C, O’Brien C, Rose B. Relation-ships between epidermal growth factor receptor expression and human papillo-mavirus status as markers of prognosis in oropharyngeal cancer. Eur J Cancer. 2010 Jul;46(11):2088-96

3. Hill VK, Hesson LB, Dansranjavin T, Dallol A, Bieche I, Vacher S, Tommasi S, Dobbins T, Gentle D, Euhus D, Lewis C, Dammann R, Ward RL, Minna J, Maher ER, Pfeifer GP, Latif F. Identification of 5 novel genes methylated in breast and other epithelial cancers. Mol Cancer. 2010 Mar 5; 9:51

4. Harris CA, Ward RL, Dobbins TA, Drew AK, Pearson S. The efficacy of HER2-targeted agents in metastatic breast cancer: a meta-analysis. Ann Oncol. 2010 in press

5. Adelstein BA, Dobbins TA, Harris CA, Mar-schner IC, Ward RL. A systematic review and meta-analysis of KRAS status as the determinant of response to anti-EGFR an-tibodies and the impact of partner chemo-therapy in metastatic colorectal cancer. Eur J Cancer. In press 2010

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R. Reporting time-to-event endpoints and response rates in 4 decades of randomized controlled trials in advanced colorectal cancer. Cancer. 2010 in press

7. Hong AM, Dobbins TA, Lee CS, Jones D, Fei J, Clark JR, Armstrong BK, Harnett GB, Milross CG, Tran N, Peculis LD, Ng C, Milne AG, Loo C, Hughes LJ, Forstner DF, O’Brien CJ, Rose BR. Use of cyclin D1 in conjunc-tion with human papillomavirus status to predict outcome in oropharyngeal cancer. Int J Cancer. 2010 in press

Bone Cancer Research

Publications

1. Wang L, Chen H, Liu F, Madigan M, Pow-er C, Hao J, Patterson K, Pourgholami M, O’Brien P, Perkins A, Li Y. Monoclonal anti-body targeting MUC1 and increasing sen-sitivity to docetaxel as a novel strategy in treating human epithelial ovarian cancer. Cancer Letters. 2010 Sept; 300:122–133.

2. Power CA, Marfleet TW, Qualtiere L, Xiao W, Bretscher, PA. Development of Th1 Im-prints to rBCG Expressing a Foreign Pro-tein: Implications for Vaccination against HIV-1 and Diverse Influenza Strains. Jour-nal of Biomedicine and Biotechnology Volume 2010 (2010), Article ID 591348, 8 pages

3. Kiros TG, Power CA, Wei G, Bretscher PA. Immunization of newborn and adult mice with low numbers of BCG leads to Th1 responses, Th1 imprints and enhanced protection upon BCG challenge. Immuno-therapy. 2010 Jan; 2(1): 25-35.

Presentations

1. Power, CA. Invited - Small animal models of prostate cancer. Joint Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia and Australian-Ca-nadian Prostate Cancer Research Alliance Conference. Broadbeach, Queensland, Australia. August 6-8, 2010.

2. Hung T-T, Russell PJ, Power CA. Circulating and tumour-infiltrating CD4+IL-17+ T cells in mice bearing orthotopic and heterotop-ic prostate tumours. Joint Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia and Australian-Ca-nadian Prostate Cancer Research Alliance Conference. Broadbeach, Queensland, Australia. August 6-8, 2010.

Cancer Aetiology and Prevention Group

Publications

1. Conde L, Halperin E, Brown KM, Smedby KE, Rothman N, Nieters A, Slager SL, Brooks-Wilson A, Agana L, Akers NK, Riby J, Adami HO, Chang ET, Darabi H, Glime-lius B, Hjalgrim H, Humphreys K, Liu J, Low HQ, Melbye M, Cozen W, Davis S, Hartge P, Morton LM, Schenk M, Wang SS, Arm-strong BK, Kricker A, Milliken S, Purdue MP, Vajdic CM, Boyle P, Lan Q, Zahm S, Zhang Y, Zheng T, Becker N, Benavente Y, Boffetta P, Brennan P, Butterbach K, Cocco P, Fore-tova L, Maynadie M, de Sanjose S, Staines A, Spinelli JJ, Achenbach SJ, Call TG, Camp NJ, Caporaso NE, Cerhan JR, Cunningham JM, Goldin LR, Hanson CA, Kay NE, Lanasa MC, Leis JF, Marti GE, Rabe KG, Rassenti L, Spector LG, Strom SS, Vachon CM, Wein-berg JB, Holly EA, Chanock S, Smith MT, Bracci PM, Skibola CF. Genome-wide as-sociation study identifies novel HLA-DQB1 risk alleles specific to follicular lymphoma. Nature Genetics 2010;42:661-4. [Impact Factor 30.259]

2. Vajdic CM, Mao L, van Leeuwen MT, Kirk-patrick P, Grulich AE, Riminton S. Are an-tibody deficiency disorders associated with a narrower range of cancers than other forms of immunodeficiency? Blood 2010;116:1228-34. [Impact Factor 10.896]

3. Grulich AE, Vajdic CM, Falster MO, Kane E, Ekstrom Smedby K, Bracci PM, de San-jose SS, Becker N, Turner JJ, Martinez-Maza O, Melbye M, Engels EA, Vineis P, Seniori Costantini A, Holly EA, Spinelli JJ, La Vec-chia C, Zheng T, Chiu BCH, Dal Maso L, Cocco P, Maynadié M, Foretova L, Staines A, Brennan P, Davis S, Severson R, Cerhan JR, Breen EC, Birmann B, Cozen W. Birth order and risk of non-Hodgkin lymphoma – true association or bias? Am J Epidemiol 2010;172:621-30. [Impact Factor 5.454]

4. Vajdic CM, van Leeuwen MT, Turner JJ, McDonald A, Webster AC, McDonald SP, Kaldor J, Chapman JR, Grulich AE. No ex-cess risk of follicular lymphoma in kidney transplant and HIV-related immune defi-ciency. Int J Cancer 2010;127:2732-5. [Im-pact Factor 4.734]

5. van Leeuwen MT, Webster A, McCredie MRE, Stewart JS, McDonald SP, Amin J, Kaldor J, Chapman JR, Vajdic CM, Grulich AE. Reduction of immunosuppression after kidney transplantation is associated with reduced cancer risk of some cancer types. BMJ 2010;340:c570. [Impact Factor 12.827]

Presentations

1. Vajdic CM, Mao L, van Leeuwen M, Grulich AE, Kirkpatrick P, Riminton S. Site-specific cancer incidence in primary immune de-ficiency. 101st Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research. Washington, USA. April 16-20, 2010. Poster

2. Vajdic CM, Mao L, van Leeuwen MT, Kirk-patrick P, Grulich AE, Riminton S. Are anti-body deficiency disorders associated with a narrower range of cancers than other forms of immunodeficiency? Sydney Can-cer Conference. Sydney, Australia. 14-16th July, 2010. Oral

3. Vajdic CM, Grulich AE, Falster MO, on be-half of the InterLymph Consortium. Birth order and risk of non-Hodgkin lymphoma – true association or bias? Sydney, Aus-tralia. Sydney Cancer Conference. 14-16th July, 2010. Poster

4. Vajdic CM, Grulich AE, Falster MO, on be-half of the InterLymph Consortium. Self-reported childhood and adult medical his-tory and risk of non-Hodgkin lymphoma – can retrospective case-control study data be trusted? Sydney, Australia. Australasian Epidemiology Association Conference. 30th September, 2010. Poster

5. Vajdic CM, Meagher NS, Hicks SC, Faedo M, Ward RL, Pearson SA. Governance ap-proval for multi-site, non-interventional research: What can HoMER learn from the NSW experience? Sydney, Australia. Aus-tralasian Epidemiology Association Con-ference. 30th September, 2010. Poster

Cancer Maths

1. Wilson, SR, Biostatistics. International En-cyclopedia of Statistical Science, Springer, invited article, to appear

2. Wilson, SR, Statistical genetics. International Encyclopedia of Statistical Science, Spring-er, invited article, to appear

3. Motyer, A, Galbraith, S, McKemdry, C and Wilson, SR, Lasso Model Selection with Post-Processing for a Genome-Wide As-sociation Study Data Set, presented at GAW17, accepted for publication in BMC Proceedings

4. Song, J and Wilson, SR, A large-scale ge-nome simulation model incorporating pat-terns of linkage disequilibrium, presented at CTAC 2010, written paper under revision

5. Pardy, C and Wilson, SR, A bioinformatic implementation of mutual information as a distance measure for identification of clus-ters of variables, presented at CTAC 2010, written paper under revision

Clinical Pharmacology and Toxicology Group

1. Dawson AH, Eddleston M, Senerathna L, Mohammed F, Gawarammana I, Manu-weera G, Buckley NA. A prospective cohort study of the acute human lethal toxicity of agricultural pesticides - implications for improving regulation and reducing global suicide. PloS Med 2010; 7(10): e1000357. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1000357.

2. Churchman A, O’Leary M, Buckley NA, Page C, Tankel A, Gavaghan C, Porges K, Holdgate A, Brown SA, Isbister GK. Clinical effects of red-bellied black snake (Pseude-chis porphyriacus) envenoming and cor-relation with venom concentrations: Aus-tralian Snakebite Project (ASP-11). Medical Journal of Australia 2010;193:696-700.

3. Shihana HSF, Dissanayake DM, Buckley NA, Dawson A. Quantitative bedside screening test for methaemoglobin. Annals of Emer-gency Medicine 2010;55(2):184-9. IF:4.23

4. Ireland G, Brown SGA, Buckley NA, Storm-er J, Currie BJ, White J, Spain D, Isbister GK for the ASP Investigators. Serial labora-tory changes in envenomed versus non-envenomed snakebite patients. When can we safely exclude envenoming? Medical Journal of Australia 2010; 193:285-290.

5. Roberts D, Buckley NA, Mohamed F, Ed-dleston M, Goldstein DA, Mehrsheikh A, Bleeke MS, Dawson AH. A prospective observational study of the clinical toxicol-ogy of glyphosate-containing herbicides in adults with acute self-poisoning. Clinical Toxicology 2010;48:129-36.

Cure For Life Neuro-oncology Group

1. McDonald KL, McDonnell J, Muntoni A, Henson JD, Hegi ME, von Deimling A, Wheeler HR, Cook RJ, Biggs MT, Little NS, Robinson BG, Reddel RR, Royds JA. (2010) Presence of alternative lengthening of tel-omeres mechanism in patients with glio-blastoma identifies a less aggressive tumor type with longer survival. J Neuropathol Exp Neurol. 69(7):729-36. Impact Factor: 4.564

2. Fowler A, Thomson D, Giles KM, Maleki S, Mreich E, Wheeler HR, Leedman PJ, Cook RJ, Biggs MT, Little NS, Robinson BG, Mc-Donald KL (2010) MicroRNA-124a is fre-quently down-regulated in glioblastoma and is involved in migration and invasion. European Journal of Cancer. In Press

3. Duncan CG, Killela P, Payne CA, Lampson B, Chen WC, Solomon D, Waldman T, Mc-Donald KL, McLendon RE, Bigner DD, Yen H (2010) Integrated genomic analyses iden-tify ERRFI1 and TACC3 as glioblastoma-targeted genes. Oncotarget 1(4) 265-277

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Little NS, Wheeler HR, Robinson BG, Mc-Donald KL. (2010) Post-contrast enhance-ment as a clinical indicator of prognosis in patients with anaplastic astrocytoma. J Clin Neurosci. 17(8):993-6. Impact Factor: 1.214

5. Parkinson JF, Afaghi V, Payne C, Buckland ME, Brewer JM, Biggs MT, Little NS, Wheel-er HR, Cook RJ, McDonald KL (2010) Single centre experience in oligodendroglioma over 20 years- impact of molecular and clinical factors on outcome. J Clin Neuro-sci. In Press

Cancer Drug Development Group

1. Park D. and Dilda P.J. (2010). Mitochondria as targets for angiogenesis inhibition. Mo-lecular Aspects of Medicine. 31, 113-131

Diving and Hyperbaric Medicine Group

1. Mitchell SJ, Bennett MH. Decompression illness. In: Women and Pressure, Fife C, M St. Leger Dowse (Eds). Best Publishing, Flagstaff, Az 2010: 42-94. (Invited book chapter)

2. Bennett M, Heard R. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy for multiple sclerosis. CNS Neuro-science and Therapeutics 2010;16(2):115-124. (Peer reviewed Medline listed journal)

3. Bennett M, Wasiak J, Schnabel A, Kranke P, French C. Hyperbaric oxygen ther-apy for acute ischemic stroke. Stroke 2010;45:e185-186. (Peer reviewed, Medline listed journal)

4. Meehan CA, Bennett MH. Medical assess-ment of fitness to dive – comparing a ques-tionnaire and a medical-interview-based approach. Diving and Hyperbaric Medicine 2010;40(3):119-125. (Peer reviewed, Med-line listed journal)

5. Bennett MH, Mitchell S, Lehm JP, Wasiak J. Recompression and adjunctive therapy for decompression illness: a systematic review of randomized controlled trials. Anesth Analg Volume: 111, Issue: 3, Date: 2010 Sep , Pages: 757-62 (Peer-reviewed, Med-line listed journal).

Gynaecological Cancer Research Group

Presentations

1. 23.03.2010 ASGO (Australian Society of Gynaecological Oncologists) Margaret River/WA (Talk Dr. Viola Heinzelmann-Schwarz): Anti-glycan antibody detection of non-mucinous epithelial ovarian can-cers using printed glycan array

2. 22.06.2010 SGGG (Swiss Society of Gynae-cologists and Obstetricians) Interlaken/Switzerland (Talk Dr. Tatiana Pochechueva): Purification and detection of anti-P1 an-tibodies in ovarian cancer patients using flow cytometric immunoassay and ELISA

3. 25.10.2010 IGCS (International Gynaeco-logic Cancer Society), Biennial Meeting 22.-26.10.2010, Prague (Talk Dr. Viola Hein-zelmann-Schwarz): Anti-glycan antibodies as new ovarian cancer tumormarkers iden-tified using printed glycan array

Publications

1. Pochechueva T, Chinarev A, Spengler M, Korchagina E, Heinzelmann-Schwarz V, Bo-vin N, Rieben R. Multiplex suspension ar-ray for human anti-carbohydrate antibody profiling. Analyst, 7; 136(3): 560-9 (2011). Epub (2010) Nov 25.

2. Kolahdooz F, van der Pols JC, Bain CJ, Marks GC, Hughes MC, Whiteman DC, Webb PM, Australian Ovarian Cancer Study Group*. Meat, fish, and ovarian cancer risk: results from 2 Australian case-control studies, a systematic review, and meta-analysis. Am J Clin Nutr. Apr 14 (Epub) (2010).

3. Nagle CM, Olsen CM, Bain CJ, Whiteman DC, Green AC, Webb PM, Australian Ovar-ian Cancer Study Group*. Tea consumption and risk of ovarian cancer. Cancer Causes Control. May 20 (Epub) (2010).

4. Phelan CM, Tsai YY, Goode EL, Vierkant RA, Fridley BL, Beesley J, Chen XQ, Webb PM, Chanock S, Cramer DW, Moysich K, Ed-wards RP, Chang-Claude J, Garcia-Closas M, Yang H, Wang-Gohrke S, Hein R, Green AC, Lissowska J, Carney ME, Lurie G, Wilk-ens LR, Ness RB, Pearce CL, Wu AH, Van Den Berg DJ, Stram DO, Terry KL, Whiteman DC, Whittemore AS, DiCioccio RA, McGuire V, Doherty JA, Rossing MA, Anton-Culver H, Ziogas A, Hogdall C, Hogdall E, Krüger Kjaer S, Blaakaer J, Quaye L, Ramus SJ, Jacobs I, Song H, Pharoah PD, Iversen ES, Marks JR, Pike MC, Gayther SA, Cunning-ham JM, Goodman MT, Schildkraut JM, Chenevix-Trench G, Berchuck A, Sellers TA; Ovarian Cancer Association Consortium, Australian Cancer Study (Ovarian Cancer); Australian Ovarian Cancer Study Group*. Polymorphism in the GALNT1 gene and epithelial ovarian cancer in non-Hispanic white women: the Ovarian Cancer Asso-ciation Consortium. Cancer Epidemiol Bio-markers Prev. 19(2):600-4 (2010).

5. Verderio P, Pizzamiglio S, Southey MC, Spurdle AB, Hopper JL, Chen X, Beesley J; Australian Ovarian Cancer Study Group*, KConFab, Schmutzler RK, Engel C, Burwinkel B, Bugert P, Ficarazzi F, Manoukian S, Barile M, Wappenschmidt B, Chenevix-Trench G, Radice P, Peterlongo P. A BRCA1 promoter variant (rs11655505) and breast cancer risk. J Med Genet. 47(4): 268-70 (2010).

6. Ahmed AA, Etemadmoghadam D, Temple J, Lynch AG, Riad M, Australian Ovarian Cancer Study Group*, Sharma R, Stewart C, Fereday S, Caldas C, DeFazio A, Bowtell D and Brenton JD. Driver mutations in TP53 are ubiquitous in high grade serous carcinoma of the ovary. J Pathol. 221(1):49-56 (2010).

Headache Research Group

1. Lambert GA, Truong L, Zagami AS. A role for both the PAG and the NRM in cranio-vascular sensation. In. Journal of Headache Pain; 2010, pp. Abstract 426, page 104. Conference communication own submit-ted as a full paper.

2. Lambert GA, Truong L, Zagami AS. Effect of cortical spreading depression on basal and evoked traffic in the trigeminovascular sensory system. In. Journal of Headache Pain; 2010, pp. Abstract 425, page 104. Conference communication now submit-ted as a full paper

3. Lambert GA. The lack of peripheral pa-thology in migraine headache. Headache. 2010;50:895-908. Recent paper achieving a very high citation rate.

4. Lambert GA, Zagami AS. The mechanism of action of migraine triggers: an hypothe-sis. Headache. 2009;49:253-275. Most-read paper in the field in 2010

5. Lambert GA, Mallos G, Zagami AS. Von Frey’s hairs – a review of their technology and use – a novel automated von Frey device for improved testing for hyperal-gesia. Journal of Neuroscience Methods. 2009;177:420-426.

Molecular and Cellular Oncology Lab

1. Lock FE, Underhill-Day N, Dunwell T, Matallanas D, Cooper W, Hesson L, Recino A, Ward A, Pavlova T, Zabarovsky E, Grant MM, Maher ER, Chalmers AD, Kolch W and Latif F (2010). The RASSF8 candidate tumor suppressor inhibits cell growth and regu-lates the Wnt and NF-κB signaling path-ways. Oncogene. 29(30):4307-16

2. Donninger H, Hesson L, Vos M, Beebe K, Gordon L, Sidransky D, Liu JW, Schlegel T, Payne S, Hartmann A, Latif F, Clark GJ (2010). The Ras effector RASSF2 controls the PAR-4 tumor suppressor. Mol Cell Biol. 30(11):2608-20

3. Hesson LB, Hitchins MP, Ward RL (2010). Epimutations and cancer predisposition: importance and mechanisms. Curr Opin Genet and Devel. 20(3):290-8

4. Dunwell T, Hesson L, Rauch TA, Wang L, Clark RE, Dallol A, Gentle D, Catchpoole D, Maher ER, Pfeifer GP, Latif F (2010). A Genome-wide screen identifies frequently methylated genes in haematological and epithelial cancers. Mol Cancer. 25;9:44

5. Hill V, Hesson LB, Dansranjavin T, Dallol A, Bieche I, Vacher S, Tommasi S, Dobbins T, Gentle D, Euhus D, Lewis C, Dammann R, Ward RL, Minna J, Maher ER, Pfeifer GP, Latif F (2010). Identification of 5 novel genes methylated in breast and other epi-thelial cancers. Mol Cancer. 5;9:51

Medical Epigenetics Group

1. Detection of allelic imbalance in MLH1 expression by pyrosequencing serves as a tool for the identification of germline de-fects in Lynch syndrome. Kwok C-T, Ward RL, Hawkins NJ, Hitchins MP. Familial Can-cer 2010; 9:345-356. (Peer reviewed journal article, IF 2.05)

2. Epimutations and cancer predisposition: importance and mechanisms. Hesson LB, Hitchins MP, Ward RL. Current Opinion in Genetics and Development 2010; 20:290-298 (Peer reviewed Review, IF 9.7)

3. Inheritance of epigenetic aberrations (con-stitutional epimutations) in cancer suscep-tibility. Megan P. Hitchins. Advances in Ge-netics 2010, 70:201-243. In Epigenetics and Cancer, Part A [ISBN: 978-0-12-380866-0] Peer reviewed Book chapter and Review.

4. Chapter 2: Historical Aspects of Lynch Syndrome. Henry T. Lynch, M.D, Megan P. Hitchins, Ph.D, Trudy G. Shaw, M.A, Jane F. Lynch, B.S.N, Hemant Roy, M.D. Peer re-viewed Book chapter In: Hereditary Colo-rectal Cancer. Springer Science+Business Media, LLC

Nanotechnology and Cancer Therapy Group

1. Tang C., Russell P. J., Martiniello-Wilks R., Rasko J. E.Khatri A. Concise review: Na-noparticles and cellular carriers-allies in cancer imaging and cellular gene therapy? Stem Cells 2010; 28: 1686-702.

2. Singh P, Yam M, Russell PJ and Khatri A. Molecular and traditional chemotherapy: A united front against prostate cancer. Cancer Lett . 2010 Jul 1;293(1):1-14. Epub 2010 Feb 1..

3. Jeet V, Russell PJ and Khatri A. Modeling prostate cancer: a perspective on trans-genic mouse models. Cancer Metastasis Rev 2010; 29:123-42.

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CD147/EMMPRIN and CD44 are potential therapeutic targets for metastatic prostate cancer. Curr Cancer Drug Targets. 2010 May;10(3):287-306

Nephrology

Presentation:

1. The contribution of EGR-1 to renal injury following renal ischaemia and reperfusion injury is dependent on PAR-1, American Society of Nephrology, Denver CO 2010


1. Kiernan MC, Vucic S, Cheah BC, Turner MR, Hardiman O, Eisen A, Burrell J, Zoing MC. (2010). Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. The Lancet (in press).

2. Vucic S, Cheah BC, Yiannikas C, Vincent A, Kiernan MC. (2010) Corticomotoneuronal function and hyperexcitability in acquired neuromyotonia. Brain 133(9):2727-33.

3. Park SB, Lin CSY, Krishnan AV, Friedlander ML, Lewis CR, Kiernan MC. (2010) Early, progressive and sustained dysfunction of sensory axons underlies paclitaxel-induced neuropathy. Muscle and Nerve Dec 9. [Epub ahead of print]

4. Han SE, Lin CS, Boland RA, Bilston LE, Ki-ernan MC. (2010). Changes in human sen-sory axonal excitability induced by focal nerve compression. Journal of Physiology 558: 1737-1745.

5. Vucic S, Burke D, Kiernan MC. (2010). Fa-tigue in multiple sclerosis: mechanisms and management. Clinical Neurophysiol-ogy 121(6):809-817.

Pharmacoepidemiology and Phar-maceutical Policy Group

1. Pearson S, Chin M, Faedo M, Ward R. Ra-tionale for treatment durations of targeted cancer agents.

2. Lancet Oncology. 2010; Published on-line October 8, 2010 DOI:10.1016/S1470-2045(10)70236-9.

3. Harris C, Ward R, Dobbins T, Drew A, Pear-son S. The efficacy of HER2 targeted agents in metastatic breast cancer: A meta-analy-sis. Annals of Oncology. 2010;doi:10.1093/annonc/mdq593.

4. Moxey A, Robertson J, Newby D, Hains I, Williamson M, Pearson S-A. Computer-ized clinical decision support for prescrib-ing: provision does not guarantee uptake. Journal of the American Medical Informat-ics Association; 2010; 17(1):25-33.

5. Hains IE, Ward R, Pearson S. Implementing a web-based oncology protocol system in Australia: Evaluation of the first three years of operation. Internal Medicine Journal 2010.

6. Robertson J, Walkom E, Pearson S, Hains I, Williamson M, Newby D. The impact of pharmacy computerised clinical decision support on prescribing, clinical and patient outcomes: A systematic review of the lit-erature International Journal of Pharmacy Practice. 2010;18:69–87.

7. Best Presentation - Harris C, Pearson S, Dobbins T, Drew A, Ward R. HER2 targeted agents improve overall survival in HER2+ metastatic breast cancer (MBC): A meta-analysis. Medical Oncology Group of Aus-tralia - Annual Scientific Meeting. 2010.

8. Poster Prize - Pearson S, Srasuebkul P, Har-ris C, Ward R, Dobbins T. Trastuzumab (T) Treatment Outcomes According to Con-comitant Chemotherapy Regimen: Overall Survival (OS) of HER2+ Metastatic Breast Cancer (MBC) Patients. International Soci-ety of Pharmacoepidemiology Conference. 2010; Brighton, United Kingdom.


1. Price MA, Butow PN, Charles M, Bullen T, Meiser B, McKinley J, Phillips KA, and the kConFab Psychosocial Group. Predictors of breast cancer screening behaviors in women with a strong family history of the disease. Breast Cancer Research and Treat-ment 2010;124:509–519.

2. Kasparian NA, McLoone J, Meiser B, Butow PN, Simpson JM, Mann GJ. Skin cancer screening behaviors among individuals with a strong family history of malignant melanoma. British Journal of Cancer 2010; 103: 1502-09.

3. Trainer AH, Meiser B, Watts K, Mitchell G, Tucker K, Friedlander M. Moving towards personalised medicine: Treatment- fo-cused genetic testing of women newly diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Interna-tional Journal of Gynecological Oncology 2010;20(5):704-716.

4. Watts K, Mireskandari S, Sherman K, Meiser B, Taylor A, Tucker K. Predictors of rela-tionship adjustment among couples cop-ing with a high risk of developing breast/ovarian cancer. Accepted by Psychology and Health on 12/01/2010.

5. Wakefield CE, Watts KJ, Meiser B, Sansom-Daly U, Barratt A, Mann GJ, Lobb EA, Gaff CL, Howard K, Patel MI. Development and pilot testing of an online screening deci-sion aid for men with a family history of prostate cancer. Accepted by Patient Edu-cation and Counseling on 6/4/2010.

Stem Cell Group

1. Wilson NK, Foster SD, Wang X, Knezevic K, Schütte J, Kaimakis P, Chilarska PM, Kinston S, Ouwehand WH, Dzierzak E, Pimanda JE, de Bruijn MF, Göttgens B. Combinatorial transcriptional control in blood stem/pro-genitor cells: genome-wide analysis of ten major transcriptional regulators. Cell Stem Cell. 2010 Oct 8; 7(4):532-44.

2. Pimanda JE, Göttgens B. Gene regulatory networks governing haematopoietic stem cell development and identity. Int J Dev Biol. 2010; 54(6-7):1201-11.

3. Oram SH, Thoms JA, Pridans C, Janes ME, Kinston SJ, Anand S, Landry JR, Lock RB, Jayaraman PS, Huntly BJ, Pimanda JE, Göttgens B. A previously unrecognized promoter of LMO2 forms part of a tran-scriptional regulatory circuit mediating LMO2 expression in a subset of T-acute lymphoblastic leukaemia patients. Onco-gene. 2010 Oct 28; 29(43):5796-808.

4. Bachmann PS, Piazza RG, Janes ME, Wong NC, Davies C, Mogavero A, Bhadri VA, Szy-manska B, Geninson G, Magistroni V, Ca-zzaniga G, Biondi A, Miranda-Saavedra D, Göttgens B, Saffery R, Craig JM, Marshall GM, Gambacorti-Passerini C, Pimanda JE, Lock RB. Epigenetic silencing of BIM in glucocorticoid poor-responsive pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia, and its re-versal by histone deacetylase 6 inhibition. Blood. 2010 Oct 21; 116(16):3013-22.

5. Wang B, Chen J, Santiago FS, Janes M, Ka-vurma MM, Chong BH, Pimanda JE, Khachi-gian LM. Phosphorylation and acetylation of histone H3 and autoregulation by early growth response 1 mediate interleukin 1beta induction of early growth response 1 transcription. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. 2010 Mar; 30(3):536-45.


1. Bertollo, N and WR Walsh. Effects of patel-lar position and defect healing on in vitro stifle joint kinematics following removal of the central one-third of the patellar tendon in an ovine model. Journal of Orthopaedic Research. 2010; 29:572-581.

2. Haddad, R, P Scherman, T Peltz, S Nicklin, and WR Walsh. A biomechanical assess-ment of repair versus nonrepair of sheep flexor tendons lacerated to 75 percent. J Hand Surg Am. 2010; 35:546-51.

3. Pelletier, MH, AC Lau, PJ Smitham, G Niels-en, and WR Walsh. Pore distribution and material properties of bone cement cured at different temperatures. Acta Biomater. 2010; 6:886-91.

4. Wang, LW, SW Wong, PJ Crowe, KE Khor, G Jastrzab, AD Parasyn, and WR Walsh. Wound infusion with local anaesthesia af-ter laparotomy: a randomized controlled trial. ANZ J Surg. 2010; 80:794-801.

5. Yuan, H, H Fernandes, P Habibovic, J de Boer, AM Barradas, A de Ruiter, WR Walsh, CA van Blitterswijk, and JD de Bruijn. Oste-oinductive ceramics as a synthetic alterna-tive to autologous bone grafting. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2010; 107:13614-9.

Surgical Oncology Research Group

1. Yang JL, Das Gupta R, Hopkins A, Luk F, Goldstein D, Crowe PJ. Significance of IGF-1R and Its Signaling Pathways in Human Sarcoma, 2010, 16-17 October, Proc Aus-tralian Sarcoma Group 2010 Annual Scien-tific Meeting.

2. Yang J-L, Zahorowska B, Kasim Y, Goldstein D, Crowe PJ. Mechanism of the synergis-tic antiproliferative effect of gefitinib and interferon-alpha in sarcoma cell lines. Proc 101st Ann Meet AACR, 2010, p398-399 (#1655).

3. Kuang J, Knittel TZ, Goldstein D, Crowe PJ, Yang J-L. Targeting type 1 insulin-like growth factor receptor enhances radio-sensitivity in human liposarcoma cell lines. Proc 101st Ann Meet AACR, 2010, p1344 (#5540).

4. Frederick Luk, Yan Yu, William R. Walsh, Philip Crowe, Jia-Lin Yang. Anti-prolifera-tive effect of the combination therapy us-ing IGF-1R inhibitor typhostin AG1024 and doxorubicin in human osteosarcoma cell lines. The 6th Congress of Asian Society for Pediatric Reseach, April 15-18, 2010 Taipei, Taiwan (ID: P1-159).

5. Hopkins A, Crowe PJ, Yang JL. Effect of Type 1 Insulin-Like Growth Factor Receptor Tar-geted Therapy on Chemotherapy in Hu-man Cancer and the Mechanisms Involved. J Cancer Res Clin Oncol, 2010; 136(5): 639-650. DOI: 10.1007/s00432-010-0792-0.

2010 Annual Report - University of New South Wales · 2012-03-15 · Prince of Wales Clinical...

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