HTCS Facility staff
Dr Ian Street (Director) established the WEHI/Bio21 High- Throughput Chemical Screening Facility at the Walter and Eliza Hall Research Institute of Medical Research Biotechnology Centre in 2003 and was recently seconded to the appointment of Chief Scientific Officer of the Cooperative Research Centre for Cancer Therapeutics (CTx). Dr Street has over 18 years experience in commercial and academic drug discovery. Before working at WEHI, Dr Street spent 11 years working in the international pharmaceutical (Merck) and Australian biotech industry(Cerylid Biosciences & Bionomics). This body of work has contributed to compounds entering development, clinical trials and the market. Dr Street currently directs CTx’s R&D program and project portfolio. He also manages the company’s technology relationship with partners and stakeholders and is responsible for the Portfolio Management Group, CTx’s prime selection forum for evaluating and selecting new projects and monitoring the performance of projects in the pipeline.
Dr Kurt Lackovic (Senior Research Officer) completed his Bachelor of Applied Science (Honours) degree at LaTrobe University in 1998. He proceeded with a PhD in analytical chemistry at LaTrobe University, spending one year at the Department of Inorganic Chemisty, Umeå University, Sweden, and a brief stint using the Australian beamline at the Photon Factory synchrotron in Tsukuba, Japan. His PhD was awarded in 2003. Dr Lackovic then relocated to Sweden for his initial post doctoral placement, managing a project seeking to identify myocardial infarction susceptibility genes and conducting animal trials of novel stroke medication at the Department of Medical Biosciences, Umeå University, Sweden. Dr Lackovic returned to Melbourne in October 2006, immediately taking a position in the HTCS group where he is currently employed as a Senior Research Officer. Dr Lackovic is responsible for managing collaborative research projects seeking lead-like molecules, developing novel techniques, and reporting findings. In addition, Dr Lackovic is responsible for the HTCS facility's high content imaging capabilities.
Dr Hendrik Falk (Senior Research Officer) was awarded a B.A. in Business Information Technology and then studied pharmacy at the Martin-Luther Universität Halle/ Germany, receiving the licence to practise in 2000. During his doctoral thesis at the Freie Universität Berlin, Dr Falk examined the involvement of G proteins in cellular signalling. During post-doctoral studies in the Molecular Tumour Genetics group at the Max-Delbrück-Center, Berlin/ Germany, Dr Falk expanded his skills to the high-throughput screening for ligands of G protein coupled receptors. Hendrik brings extensive knowledge in molecular biology as well as biochemical and cellular assays of mammalian cells to the HTCS. Dr Falk joined the HTCS group as a Research Officer in 2008. He is responsible for designing, developing and implementing high throughput screens and follow-up studies in collaboration with the sponsoring research group. His responsibilities predominantly include providing assay/database support for the Co-operative Research Centre for Cancer Therapeutics projects.
Dr Tony Cardno (Research Officer) completed his Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry before undertaking an MSc in Microbiology at the University of Otago /New Zealand that was completed in 1998. He then moved for two years to Pfizer Animal Health at the Sandwich site in England where he worked in a drug screening group focused on receptor ligand binding assays and antibacterial drug screens. He undertook a PhD at the University of Otago/New Zealand (2002-2007). Funding from the Health Research Council of New Zealand’s International Investment Opportunity Fund (IIOF) enabled a patented high throughput assay developed during Dr Cardno's PhD to be further developed at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute under collaboration with the University of Otago and Otago Innovation Ltd. Dr Cardno joined the institute's HTCS group in January 2010 to undertake the collaborative assay development.
Dr Karl-Johan Leuchowius (Research Officer) completed his Master of Science in Molecular Biotechnology Engineering at Uppsala University, Sweden in 2005. His MSc project developed novel methods for next-generation DNA sequencing. He completed his PhD in the department of Genetics and Pathology at Uppsala University, working with the development of an in situ proximity ligation assay for high-content analysis of proteins and protein-protein interactions in both cells and tissues. He finished his PhD in 2010 and continued his work as a postdoc in the same research group, while working part time as a consultant for Olink Bioscience, helping their customers set up high-content screening assays. Dr Leuchowius joined the HTCS group in December 2010 to work with drug discovery, mainly aimed at the prevention of breast cancer recurrence.
Dr Hong Yang (Biosensor Applications Specialist) obtained her PhD degree in Biochemistry from N. Bethune University of Medical Sciences. As an Alexander Von Humboldt Postdoctoral Fellow, she worked in the Institute of Technical Biochemistry and Chemistry, Stuttgart University, Germany for two years. She served as a post doctoral fellow in Protein Crystallography and Engineering Group in Research School of Chemistry, Australian National University from 1999 -2002. This was followed by a Research Officer appointment within both the Molecular Genetics of Cancer and Structural Biology Divisions at The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research from 2002 to 2007. From 2007, she has specialised in biosensor studies utilising our Biacore S51 to develop assays for protein characterisation, hit selection and small molecule binding kinetic characterisation in the HTCS Facility.
Rebecca Moss (Database Administrator) graduated from RMIT in 1999 with Bachelor in Applied Science/Biotechnology, (Honours) in Medical Laboratory Sciences, Biochemistry. She joined the Queensland Pharmaceutical Research Institute, Griffith University, in 2000 as a research assistant where she was involved in the high-throughput screening of natural product extracts and compounds. She has been employed by The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research since 2002 in the HTCS Facility as an Automation specialist and Database administrator for the HTCS group. Her current role includes administrating the ActivityBase (IDBS) database system and the Co-operative Research Centre for Cancer Therapeutics’ Electronic Laboratory Notebook (IDBS).
Patrizia Novello (Automation Specialist) graduated with her Bachelor of Biological Sciences degree (Honours) from LaTrobe University in 2000. She was subsequently employed for a year at The Baker Heart Research Institute on a research project that aimed at elucidating the role of Von Willebrand Factor protein in platelet activation, followed by running screening assays at Cryptome Pharmaceutical for two years. She joined the HTCS group late in 2004 where she was involved in developing and running two WHO/Tropical Disease Research-funded screening campaigns against novel parasite enzyme targets. She is currently working as the automation specialist in the group, looking after three major automation robots which play a fundamental role in the execution of the primary screens of the HTCS group.
Margaret Tiong (Research Assistant) completed her Bachelor of Biomedical Science degree in 2009 and graduated with a Bachelor of Science (Honours) degree from The University of Melbourne in 2009. Margaret was awarded an Honours scholarship from Melbourne University and her research project involved looking at integrin-linked kinase (ILK) as a potential therapeutic target in breast cancer. Margaret started working in the HTCS group in October 2010 as a Research Assistant.