University of Tasmania – 1998
1998 – $50,000 research grant
Research Institution: University of Tasmania, Hobart, Tasmania
Director of Research: Professor Konrad Muller
Research Focus: Immune system & cancer defence
Feature Outcome:
Discovery that carcinogens alter the local immune system when cancer cells are present. This alteration tricks the body into developing positive immune responses to cancer cells, allowing them to grow, rather than killing them.
Research Background:
- The Confocal Microscopy Unit is being used to analyse cellular events associated with cancer and the body’s defence system.
- Both ultraviolet light (UVB) and chemical carcinogens alter the skin, giving rise not only to the cancerous process but an alteration in the local body defence system. This has implications for the emergence of cancer cells and their ultimate spread.
Further Key Outcomes:
- Opportunity for further research into defence cells and how they handle foreign material as opposed to mature normal adult dendritic cells.
- Insight into the basic differences in skin cancers.
- Understanding of focal points of manipulation to redirect the immune response to skin cancer.
