External Research GroupsThe majority of the research supported by the ASCC is performed in the laboratories of key stem cell biologists across the nation. This collaborative relationship allows the ASCC to tap into excellence in stem cell biology but also to forge multi-disciplinary teams to take innovative approaches towards stem cell research that may translate into therapeutic outcomes Our current external research portfolio includes researchers in Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland. 
Professor Kerry Atkinson
ASCC Project: PO51: Molecular Homing Mechanisms of MSCs in the Heart (in collaboration with Professor Michael Feneley and Dr Chris Blair, Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute, Sydney) Project Research Staff:
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Kerry Atkinson graduated in medicine from the Middlesex Hospital Medical School, University of London (UK). He underwent postgraduate training in oncology at the Royal Marsden Hospital in London. He was Assistant Professor of Medicine at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center /University of Washington in Seattle, USA working on the allogeneic bone marrow transplantation program. He joined the staff of St Vincent’s Hospital, Sydney, Australia and spent 15 years helping develop the clinical and experimental bone marrow transplant program there. He served as President of the Transplantation Society of Australia and New Zealand, founded the Australasian BMT Cooperative Study Group and the Australian BMT Recipient Data Registry. From 1996-2003 he spent seven years in the USA cellular biotechnology industry, serving as Director of Clinical Transplantation at Systemix Inc, Palo and subsequently as Director of Cell and Gene Therapy for the American Red Cross. Prior to accepting the position of Director of Allogeneic Stem Cell Therapies at the Mater Hospital, Brisbane, he was Medical Director/Vice-President of Clinical Affairs at Osiris Therapeutics, Inc., Baltimore, USA and responsible for the company’s clinical trial development program utilizing human mesenchymal stem cells in hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, repair of infarcted myocardium and meniscal regeneration. He has published 199 papers in the marrow transplant and stem cell literature, published “The BMT Data Book” (Cambridge University Press) and is the editor of the textbook “Clinical Bone Marrow and Blood Stem Cell Transplantation” also published by Cambridge University Press. He is a member of the NHMRC Cell Therapy Advisory Committee, a Member of the Advisory Committee of the Stem Cell Research Institute, National Health Research Institutes Taiwan, a Fellow of the Royal College of Medicine (UK), a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Medicine and a Professor of Medicine at the University of Queensland. Contact Details for Kerry Atkinson:
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Professor Richard Boyd
ASCC Project: Rejuvenation and Manipulation of the Thymus, Bone Marrow and Immune System Project Research Staff:
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Professor Richard Boyd is the Director of Monash Immunology and Stem Cell Laboratories (MISCL), where he leads a laboratory of approximately 25 people. He is also Chief Scientific Officer of UK AIM-listed biotechnology company Norwood Immunology, who have supported the translation of his research to clinical trials in Australia and the US. Professor Boyd’s research has focussed on the formation and growth of the immune system and his group were the first to grow an organ from stem cells; they identified epithelial stem cells in the embryonic mouse, which could form a thymus after transplantation. His laboratory established an internationally recognised leadership position in understanding the nature and function of thymic microenvironment. Recently they have developed technologies for reversing the age-associated degeneration of the immune system, particularly the thymus, including making haemopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) more efficient. This research has been translated into ground-breaking clinical trials on enhancing the recovery of the immune system in cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy and HSCT, in Australia and the USA. Combining thymic regrowth and donor HSCT also forms a platform for inducing tolerance to stem cell based therapies, in addition to treating autoimmune diseases. Professor Boyd has published over 200 papers and for over 25 years has had a major role in education of undergraduate and postgraduate students (supervised over 65 BSc Hons and 32 PhD) at Monash University. He has also given many public lectures on immunology and stem cells, and over 500 scientific presentations at national and international conferences, and research institutes. In 2004, the collaboration between Professor Boyd’s laboratory and Norwood Immunology was awarded an Australian Government Business/Higher Education Round Table (B-HERT) award for outstanding achievement in research and development, and education and training. Contact Details for Richard Boyd:
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Professor Justin J. Cooper-White
ASCC Project: Stem cell bioreactor project Project Research Team:
Professor Cooper-White’s research interests are in biomaterials synthesis and processing, surface engineering, tissue engineering, non-Newtonian fluid mechanics, microfluidics and microbioreactors. He is currently a group leader of the Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology at the University of Queensland and manages a group of 9 postdoctoral fellows and 18 students. He has authored or co-authored over 160 research publications and presentations, including over 80 refereed publications and is often asked to present plenary, keynote and invited lectures at national and international conferences. He is a consultant for a number of international companies, on the Editorial Boards of the Korean-Australian Rheology Journal, Rheologica Acta and the Open Biomedical Engineering Journal, and is a reviewer of major international journals. He holds 7 patents in the areas of formulation design for agriproducts, microbioreactors, particle synthesis using microfluidic devices and tissue engineering scaffolds. He is the current President of the Australasian Society for Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering and the past President of the Australian Society of Rheology. Contact Details for Justin Cooper-White
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Associate Professor Andrew G. Elefanty
ASCC Project: Embryonic Stem Cells and Haematopoietic Mesoderm Project Research Staff:
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Associate Professor Elefanty was trained as a physician in medical oncology and completed a PhD in leukaemogenesis under the supervision of Prof Suzanne Cory at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research in 1992. He was awarded an NHMRC Neil Hamilton Fairley travelling fellowship and a Roche travelling fellowship from the RACP in 1993, taking up a position at the National Institute for Medical Research in London in the laboratory of Professor Frank Grosveld, studying the haematopoietic transcription factor, GATA-1. Associate Professor Elefanty returned to the Hall Institute in 1995 as a Special Fellow, Head of the Developmental Haematopoiesis laboratory. In collaboration with Professor Glenn Begley, he generated ESC and mice in which lacZ was targeted to the locus of the key haematopoietic transcription factor, SCL. In order to study the events antedating blood cell formation, he also cloned mouse and human homologues of a Xenopus laevis homeobox gene, Mix.1, a key protein patterning mesoderm in the frog. The Mixl1 deficient mouse embryos that we generated displayed major defects in mesoderm and endoderm. Associate Professor Elefanty has maintained this focus on ESC differentiation along mesodermal (blood) and endodermal (pancreas) lineages. This has involved relocation to MISCL in order to expand his scientific endeavours into human (H)ESC. This phase of research has resulted in the generation of ESC lines in which fluorescent reporters have been introduced into key gene loci (such as MIXL1) that allow the objective monitoring of in vitro differentiation of ESC in a logical, step-wise fashion. His team has developed a robust system for the efficient differentiation of HESC (spin EBs), complemented by the development of a recombinant protein, animal product free medium (denoted APEL) in which HESC differentiation can be reproducibly directed to different lineages by the inclusion of specific growth factors. Associate Professor Elefanty is the editor-in-chief of Stem Cell Research, launched by Elsevier Press in 2007, and a founding editor of Current Protocols in Stem Cell Research, also launched in 2007 by John Wiley & Sons. He was an invited speaker and a member of the Scientific Organizing Committee for the 2006 International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) conference in Toronto, chairman of the Scientific Organizing Committee for the 2007 ISSCR meeting in Cairns and is a current member of the ISSCR Finance Committee. Associate Professor Elefanty played a significant role at the government and the community level during the embryonic stem cell debate in 2002-2006 and in the 2005 Lockhart review, appearing as a witness to senate committees, assisting the members of the Victorian legislative assembly, and addressing the annual general meeting of the AMA and addressed school, political and community groups on stem cell related issues. Contact Details for Andrew Elefanty:
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Professor Peter Gray
ASCC Project: Stem Cell Bioreactor Project (with Professor Justin Cooper-White and Associate Professor Ernst Wolvetang) Embryonic Stem Cells and Haematopoietic Mesoderm Project Research group:
Professor Peter Gray was appointed in 2003 as the inaugural Director of the Australian Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN) at the University of Queensland. Professor Gray is Professor of Biotechnology at the University of New South Wales, and was Director of the Bioengineering Centre, UNSW and Senior Principal Research Fellow at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research. He has held academic positions at University College London and at the University of California, Berkeley. Professor Gray has had commercial experience in the USA working for Eli Lilly and Co and the Cetus Corporation. Professor Gray is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering, the Australian Institute of Company Directors, and the Institution of Engineers Australia. He was one of the founders and is a past President of the Australian Biotechnology Association (AusBiotech). Professor Gray is an active researcher who has published and patented widely and serves on the editorial boards of a number of leading journals. He serves on the Boards of Biopharmaceuticals Australia Pty Ltd, ACYTE Biotechnology Pty Ltd and the Advanced Water Management Centre, and on a number of government committees in the fields of biotechnology, pharmaceuticals and education. He is a regular reviewer and consultant for public and private sector research initiatives in Australia and overseas. Contact Details:
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 Associate Professor Sean Grimmond
ASCC Project: ASCC Core Bioinformatics Facility Project Research group:
Sean is an NHMRC Senior Research Fellow who established the IMB's Expression Genomics laboratory in 2001. His work is centred at the intersection of bioinformatics, genomics and cell biology and its underlying theme is the accurate characterisation of the transcriptome and the identification of transcriptional programs or gene networks controlling cellular phenotypes in human development and disease. These studies involve an integrated pipeline approach to large scale transcriptome annotation, genome wide surveys of gene expression, computational prediction of gene function and transcriptional programs, and the validation of lead genes function. This pipeline approach has been successfully used to screen the mammalian genome/transcriptome/proteome f or key secreted factors/cell surface markers of ES cell, haematopoietic differentiation, organogenesis and renal repair and is now being extended to study ES cell differentiation, cell division and tumorigenesis. Sean is recognised internationally as a pioneer in microarray expression profiling and its application to mammalian development, and is an active senior member of the international transcriptome/bioinformatics community. He is a senior member of the large international transcriptome consortium, Functional Annotation of the Mouse (FANTOM) (2002-present), and of the Human Genome Network Project (2005-present). He is the bioinformatics Principal Investigator for the kidney program in the NIDDK's Stem Cell Genome Anatomy Project and more recently a co-PI for the NIH's Molecular Atlas of Genitourinary Development. He has also driven bioinformatics programs for the Australian Stem Cell Centre and the Australian Renal Regeneration Consortium. Contact Details for Sean Grimmond:
Postal address: Institute for Molecular Bioscience
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Professor Richard Harvey
ASCC Project: Cardiac Adult Stem Cells Project Research group:
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Professor Richard Harvey, PhD, FAA (Australia), received his PhD in 1982 under supervision of the late JRE Wells from the Department of Biochemistry, University of Adelaide. After further training at Harvard University for 3 years and spending 10 years at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research in Melbourne, he joined the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute (VCCRI) in 1998, where he is currently Co-Deputy Director and Head of the Developmental Biology Division. He holds the endowed Sir Peter Finley Professorship of Cardiac Research at the University of New South Wales. His research interests include cardiac developmental biology and stem cells and he is a Research Project Director of the Australian Stem Cell Centre. In 2001, he received the Hazel Croke Research Award from the NHF; in 2004, the RT Hall Prize, the highest senior investigator award of the Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand; in 2005, the Julian Wells Medal and Oration, conferred by the Executive Committee of the Lorne Genome Meeting; and in 2007 the Evelyn Hall Award of the National Heart Foundation. In 2007 he was elected member of the Australian Academy of Science. He is on the editorial boards of Developmental Cell, Developmental Biology, Developmental Dynamics, Trends in Cardiovascular Medicine and Stem Cell Research. Contact Details for Richard Harvey:
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 Professor Melissa Little
ASCC Project: Renal stem cells Project Research group:
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Professor Little is the Chief Scientific Officer for the Australian Stem Cell Centre and the Group Leader of the Renal Development and Disease Laboratory at the Institute for Molecular Bioscience (IMB), The University of Queensland (UQ). She was also a Founding Scientist and Director of Nephrogenix Pty Ltd. Professor Little has contributed significantly to the understanding of the childhood kidney cancer Wilms’ tumour and the role-played by the Wilms’ tumour 1 (wt1) gene in normal kidney development. Her research now focuses on the molecular genetics of kidney development and the causes of renal disease, with the aim of developing stem cell technology for use in kidney regeneration. She has published over 80 articles in this area. Professor Little established the Renal Regeneration Consortium, a panel of national experts that works towards developing novel strategies for kidney regeneration. A direct outcome of this initiative was the incorporation of Nephrogenix Pty Ltd, which is developing cell-based therapies for renal disease. Professor Little started her career in the genetics of childhood cancer at the Queensland Institute of Medical Research. Following a PhD in Biochemistry (UQ), Professor Little undertook a Royal Society Endeavour Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Human Genetics Unit in Edinburgh and the Centre for Molecular and Cellular Biology at UQ (1990-1994). She was subsequently awarded the inaugural AMRAD Postdoctoral Award (1993), an R. Douglas Wright Postdoctoral Fellowship (1995), a Sylvia and Charles Viertel Fellowship (1998), and is currently an NHMRC Honorary Principal Research Fellow. Throughout her career, Professor Little’s achievements have been recognised by awards such as the Australian Academy of Sciences Gottschalk Medal in Medical Sciences (2004), the GlaxoSmithKline Award for Research Excellence (2005), and the Smart State Smart Women Award (2006). In 2006, she was awarded a prestigious Eisenhower Fellowship, which recognised her contribution to both the commercial and academic sectors. This fellowship involved a two month professional tour of the USA investigating barriers to the translation of research into outcomes. Professor Little serves on the Queensland Biotechnology Advisory Committee and is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. Contact Details for Melissa Little:
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Professor Lars Nielsen
ASCC Project: Ex Vivo Generated Allogenic Neutrophils for Anti-Infective Supportive Care in Acute Leukaemia Project Research group:
Professor Lars Nielsen is an Engineering graduate from Denmark who completed his doctoral research at the University of Queensland. He is currently a Professor at the Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology. Professor Nielsen’s group is dedicated to both the advancement of bioengineering science and its application to specific problems. Using thermodynamic principles, novel approaches are developed for handling complex, transient dynamics in developing tissue as well as rational design of complex pathways. These novel approaches are used in the design of bioprocesses as diverse as the production of blood cells for transfusion and the production of industrial biopolymers. The lab has two principle research areas, tissue engineering and metabolic engineering. My specific interests include haematotherapy, immunotherapy and organotypic models for the study of disease and treatment in the tissue engineering area. The Group also concentrates on polymer production in bacteria, recombinant protein and virus production in animal cells, and sugarcane engineering in the metabolic area of my research. Professor Nielsen is also the director of graduate studies at the AIBN. Contact Details for Lars Nielsen:
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Dr Joy Rathjen
ASCC Project: Differentiation of Human ESC to Blood Project Research group:
Professor Peter Rathjen obtained his Ph.D. degree from the University of Oxford where he studied as a Rhodes Scholar. He developed a longstanding interest in Embryonic Stem (ES) cell research during subsequent postdoctoral research with Prof. John Heath at the University of Oxford. On returning to the University of Adelaide in 1990, he established a research program directed towards understanding how ES cell differentiation can be directed to form functional cell populations analogous to those formed during embryo development. This research has informed our understanding of mammalian development and led to the development of techniques for the directed differentiation of ES cells to defined cell lineages. As part of the ARC Special Research Centre for the Molecular Genetics of Development he has investigated the formation and specification of neural progenitors from ES cells. More recently, he has developed a focus on the formation of mesoderm lineages as part of the Australian Stem Cell Centre. Professor Rathjen was appointed to the Chair of Biochemistry at the University of Adelaide in 1995, became foundation Head of the Department of Molecular Biosciences in 2000, and in 2002 was appointed Executive Dean of the Faculty of Sciences. In 2005 he was the recipient of the inaugural Premier's Award for Scientific Excellence (Research Leadership) in South Australia. He moved to the University of Melbourne in 2006 as Dean of Science, and has recently accepted the position of Deputy Vice Chancellor Research at the University of Melbourne. Dr. Joy Rathjen graduated from Oxford in 1990 and returned to the University of Adelaide where she worked closely with Prof. Rathjen in his work on ES cells. She is now a Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Zoology at the University of Melbourne and works on understanding the regulatory mechanisms that control pluripotent cell differentiation. Contact Details for Joy Rathjen:
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Dr. Edward Stanley
ASCC Project: Embryonic Stem Cells and Haematopoietic Mesoderm Project Research Staff:
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Dr. Stanley trained in the area of colony stimulating factors under the supervision of Dr. Ashley Dunn at the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research. During this time, he generated one of the first knockout mice using homologous recombination to delete the GM-CSF gene. Following completion of his Ph.D., Dr. Stanley was awarded a Human Frontiers in Science Organization Fellowship prior to taking up a CJ. Martin Fellowship. These fellowships allowed him to relocate to the National Institute for Medical Research, Mill Hill, London, where he studied HOX gene regulation, before returning to the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research (WEHI). In 2000, he was appointed Head of the Embryonic Stem Cell laboratory at WEHI before moving, at the beginning of 2002, to the Centre for Early Human Development, Monash Institute for Reproduction and Development. Currently he jointly head the Embryonic Stem Cell Differentiation Laboratory within the Monash Immunology and Stem Cell Laboratories at Monash University. This laboratory focuses on embryonic stem cell (ESC) differentiation along mesodermal (blood) and endodermal (pancreas) lineages. The laboratory has generated genetically modified ESC lines in which fluorescent reporters have been introduced into key gene loci (such as Mixl1, Pdx1). This laboratory is a major recipient of funding from the Australian Stem Cell Centre. Dr. Stanley was an invited chair for the 2006 International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) conference in Toronto and was part of the program Committee for the 2007 ISSCR meeting in Cairns. He also played a significant role at the government and the community level during the embryonic stem cell debate in 2002-2006, attending a senate inquiry to present the case for stem cell research (in 2002 and again in 2006) and presented to 2005 Lockhart committee which reviewed stem cell legislation. Contact Details for Ed Stanley:
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Associate Professor Ernst Wolvetang
ASCC Project: Safe and Efficient Expansion of Genetically Stable hESC under Defined Conditions
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Associate Professor Wolvetang leads the human embryonic stem cell engineering group within the Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, University of Queensland. Previously, he was head of the Basic Human Embryonic Stem Cell Biology Laboratory at the Australian Stem Cell Centre (ASCC) and Honorary Senior Lecturer in the Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology at Monash University. Between 1997 and 2006, Associate Professor Wolvetang was located at the Centre for Early Human Development in the Institute for Reproduction and Development, Monash University, initially looking at the role that ETS2 plays a role in immune cell destruction, neuronal apoptosis and transcriptional regulation of the amyloid precursor gene. He then joined the laboratory of Associate Professor Martin Pera (2003-2006) to investigate the role of signalling/gene regulation pathways in the control of growth, differentiation and apoptosis of human embryonic stem cells (hESC) by using retroviral transduction of sh RNA’s and cDNAs. This work culminated in his publication (Nature Biotechnology) describing the relationship between the expression of CD30, apoptosis and genetic instability in hESC. As a result of this work, Associate Professor Wolvetang is now recognised nationally and internationally for his knowledge on proliferation, apoptosis and genetic stability of hESC. Contact Details for Ernst Wolvetang:
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