WHO ARE WE

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Prof. Andreas Strasser leads the Blood Cells and Blood Cancer Division at WEHI. He was the first to demonstrate that abnormalities in apoptosis regulation can cause autoimmune disease and cancer, the current focus of his research. Moreover, he identified the two distinct signalling pathways of apoptosis (death receptor or stress signals). Prof. Strasser's contributions have led to the development of BH3 mimetic anti-cancer drugs including venetoclax. He has published over 600 papers which have amassed over 75,000 citations.

Prof. Sharad Kumar leads the Molecular Regulation Lab at the Centre for Cancer Biology, UniSA. He has made many seminal contributions to the cell death field including discovery of caspase-2, Drosophila cell death machineries and a caspase-independent cell death process now known as autophagy-dependent cell death. Prof. Kumar has been awarded the ASBMB Lemberg Medal, FAOBMB Research Excellence Award, ANZSCDB President’s Medal and was appointment as a Member of the Order of Australia.

Prof. Suzanne Cory has devoted a lifetime to understanding the molecular genetics of cancer. With David Vaux and Jerry Adams, they discovered that the oncogene BCL-2, activated by chromosome translocation in human lymphoma, inhibits cells from dying, and synergises with Myc in lymphomagenesis. In addition to her ample research papers that have shaped modern science, Prof. Cory has also shaped the scientific community through her roles as the Director of WEHI (1996-2009) and President of the Australian Academy of Science (2010-2014).

A/Prof. Ruth Kluck is laboratory head at WEHI. She investigates the mitochondrial pathway of apoptosis, focusing on how the BCL-2 protein family regulate mitochondrial permeabilisation. This work began in her PhD and continued into her postdoc where she reported that BCL-2 regulates apoptosis by maintaining mitochondrial integrity. After joining WEHI in 2002, her work has identified key steps in how BAX and BAK change conformation to form pores that commit the cell to die, or become sequestered by pro-survival members.

Prof. Jerry Adams is a laboratory head at WEHI whose research has shaped our understanding of genetics and cell biology. After his initial training with Jim Watson and then Fred Sanger, Jerry’s research has focused on the genetic basis of cancer including discovery of the pro-cancer role of MYC and BCL-2 mutations, and investigates how BCL-2 regulates apoptosis. He has been awarded ample prestigious grants and awards, and frequently publishes in influential journals such as Nature and Science.

Prof. Peter Colman undertook his PhD in physics at the University of Adelaide and transited to structural biology. Postdoctoral work on antibody structure led into studies at CSIRO on the influenza virus antigen neuraminidase and the discovery of zanamivir. In 2001 he moved to WEHI, establishing there the structural biology division which included a team of medicinal chemists. The ensuing collaboration with cell death laboratories at WEHI resulted in industry collaboration and the discovery of venetoclax.

Prof. David Vaux graduated from the University of Melbourne in 1984, then did a PhD at WEHI where he discovered that BCL-2 acted differently to other oncogenes, namely by preventing cell suicide, rather than by promoting cell division. While a post-doc at Stanford, he showed that mammalian apoptotic mechanisms were related to the those in the worm, C. elegans. After returning to Australia in 1993, he and his lab identified the IAP family of proteins in mammals, and their antagonists, including Diablo/Smac and HtrA2. 

Dr. Kim Newton is a Principal Scientist in the Physiological Chemistry Department at Genentech (South San Francisco, USA). She obtained her PhD at The University of Melbourne before pursuing a postdoc position at WEHI. Her research explores the relationship between cell death and inflammation, with an emphasis on the signaling mechanisms of FADD, caspase-8, RIPK1, and RIPK3. She is an author of 51 primary publications with 21 of these in Cell, Science or Nature.

Prof. Shigekazu Nagata is currently a laboratory head at iFREC, Osaka University (Japan). After obtaining his Ph.D. as a biochemist at Tokyo University, he was trained as a molecular biologist in Charles Weissmann's laboratory in Zurich and worked with cytokines (human interferon and G-CSF). In the early 1990th, his group in Osaka Bioscience Institute demonstrated that apoptosis could be induced by a death factor (Fas ligand). Since then, he has been asking many fundamental questions about how cells die, how macrophages engulf dead cells, and what happens to the dead cells in macrophages.