Professor Simon Foote
Director and Senior Member
Research Interests:
Genetics of Human Disease
In collaboration with Dr Jo Dickinson, Dr Russell Thomson and Dr Jim Stankovich we are searching for genes predisposing people to cancer. We use the unique attributes of the Tasmanian population to isolate large pedigrees segregating susceptibility genes for either haematological malignancies or prostate cancer. Dr Dickinson and her colleagues have identified a gene responsible for some cases of prostate cancer and we have good evidence for a location for another gene responsible for leukaemia in another large Tasmanian family.
In collaboration with Dr Bruce Taylor and colleagues in Melbourne, we are working towards the identification of genes predisposing people to multiple sclerosis. This is a disease with a high incidence in Tasmania, probably due to the lower latitude of the island. It has a strong genetic component and we have identified several candidates.
Research Projects:
1. Understanding the role platelets play in a malarial infection
2. Finding new anti-malarial drugs that target host molecules
3. Large-scale ENU screen looking for genes that mediate resistance to malarial infections
5. Identification of genes underscoring susceptibility to haematological malignancies
6. Identification of genes underscoring susceptibility of humans to prostate cancer
