Medical Genome Centre – 1997
1997 – $1 million research grant
Research Institution: Medical Genome Centre, John Curtin School of Medical Research, Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory
Director of Research: Professor Christopher Goodnow
Research Focus: Immune system, genes & cancer defence
Feature Outcome:
Establishment of a new facility and technology to explore the genome for critical genes and mechanisms regulating cancer and the immune response to cancer cells.
The research program now represents a major national and international effort at the cutting edge of research aimed at understanding how the genome encodes our body’s health and capacity to respond to stress.
Further Key Outcomes:
- A major achievement in 2003 was the discovery of a critical gene, Carma-1, essential for mobilizing attacks by T cells and B cells in the immune system. A major goal of cancer immunotherapy is to mobilize T cells against cancer cell components by co stimulating the T cells through specific receptors, but the mechanism of co stimulation has remained obscure.
- The Centre’s discovery that Carma-1 is central to T cell co stimulation, together with the biochemical characteristics of Carma-1 protein, led to a new view of how T cells can be activated against cancer components that otherwise tend to render T cells tolerant and ineffective.
