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- A multi-pronged approach to targeting myeloproliferative neoplasms
- A new paradigm of machine learning-based structural variant detection
- A whole lot of junk or a treasure trove of discovery?
- Advanced imaging interrogation of pathogen induced NETosis
- Analysing the metabolic interactions in brain cancer
- Atopic dermatitis causes and treatments
- Boosting the efficacy of immunotherapy in lung cancer
- Building a cell history recorder using synthetic biology for longitudinal patient monitoring
- Characterisation of malaria parasite proteins exported into infected liver cells
- Deciphering the heterogeneity of the tissue microenvironment by multiplexed 3D imaging
- Defining the mechanisms of thymic involution and regeneration
- Delineating the molecular and cellular origins of liver cancer to identify therapeutic targets
- Developing computational methods for spatial transcriptomics data
- Developing drugs to block malaria transmission
- Developing models for prevention of hereditary ovarian cancer
- Developing statistical frameworks for analysing next generation sequencing data
- Development and mechanism of action of novel antimalarials
- Development of novel RNA sequencing protocols for gene expression analysis
- Discoveries in red blood cell production and function
- Discovering epigenetic silencing mechanisms in female stem cells
- Discovery and targeting of novel regulators of transcription
- Dissecting host cell invasion by the diarrhoeal pathogen Cryptosporidium
- Dissecting mechanisms of cytokine signalling
- Doublecortin-like kinases, drug targets in cancer and neurological disorders
- Epigenetic biomarkers of tuberculosis infection
- Epigenetics – genome wide multiplexed single-cell CUT&Tag assay development
- Exploiting cell death pathways in regulatory T cells for cancer immunotherapy
- Exploiting the cell death pathway to fight Schistosomiasis
- Finding treatments for chromatin disorders of intellectual disability
- Functional epigenomics in human B cells
- How do nutrition interventions and interruption of malaria infection influence development of immunity in sub-Saharan African children?
- Human lung protective immunity to tuberculosis
- Improving therapy in glioblastoma multiforme by activating complimentary programmed cell death pathways
- Innovating novel diagnostic tools for infectious disease control
- Integrative analysis of single cell RNAseq and ATAC-seq data
- Interaction with Toxoplasma parasites and the brain
- Interactions between tumour cells and their microenvironment in non-small cell lung cancer
- Investigation of a novel cell death protein
- Malaria: going bananas for sex
- Mapping spatial variation in gene and transcript expression across tissues
- Mechanisms of Wnt secretion and transport
- Multi-modal computational investigation of single-cell communication in metastatic cancer
- Nanoparticle delivery of antibody mRNA into cells to treat liver diseases
- Naturally acquired immune response to malaria parasites
- Organoid-based discovery of new drug combinations for bowel cancer
- Organoid-based precision medicine approaches for oral cancer
- Removal of tissue contaminations from RNA-seq data
- Reversing antimalarial resistance in human malaria parasites
- Role of glycosylation in malaria parasite infection of liver cells, red blood cells and mosquitoes
- Screening for novel genetic causes of primary immunodeficiency
- Single-cell ATAC CRISPR screening – Illuminate chromatin accessibility changes in genome wide CRISPR screens
- Spatial single-cell CRISPR screening – All in one screen: Where? Who? What?
- Statistical analysis of single-cell multi-omics data
- Structural and functional analysis of epigenetic multi-protein complexes in genome regulation
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- Structure, dynamics and impact of extra-chromosomal DNA in cancer
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- Using combination immunotherapy to tackle heterogeneous brain tumours
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- Using structural biology to understand programmed cell death
- Validation and application of serological markers of previous exposure to malaria
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Paving the way for new inflammatory disease therapeutics
Complementary expertise in inflammatory diseases and a proven track record in translating discovery research into therapeutics led WEHI and Boston-based biotech pharmaceutical company IFM Therapeutics to join forces.
Founded in 2015, IFM Therapeutics is focused on developing new drugs targeting the innate immune system to treat cancer, inflammation and autoimmune diseases. In 2017, two of IFM Therapeutics’ immuno-oncology programs were acquired by Bristol-Myers Squibb. IFM also secured two deals with Novartis in 2019 for innate immune programs targeting autoimmunity and inflammatory diseases. Collectively, these deals have a potential value of several billion US dollars.
Highlighting the role of inflammasomes in inflammatory diseases
Immunology division lab head Professor Seth Masters is a leading expert in Inflammasomes – large protein complexes involved in the innate immune response and inflammation – and their roles in disease. Professor Masters has recently made significant discoveries about several Inflammasome proteins and developed assays to assess their activation or inhibition, which became the basis of an IFM-WEHI partnership.
Utilising the advanced facilities and expertise of WEHI’s National Drug Discovery Centre, IFM and WEHI are conducting a high-throughput small molecule screen to try to identify drug-like compounds with the potential to inhibit the innate immune pathways that are the focus of an IFM drug development program.
“IFM has a strong track record in developing these types of anti-inflammatory drugs and was the perfect partner for this project,” Professor Masters said.
Working together to identify novel pathways and develop new therapeutics
“We were attracted to WEHI for this collaboration through our relationship with Professor Masters and the high-quality drug discovery capabilities of the National Drug Discovery Centre, making it the ideal partner for this project,” IFM Therapeutics CEO Dr Martin Seidel said.
“The nature of the high-throughput screen we developed with Professor Masters required a high degree of technical sophistication to pull off, and WEHI’s deep expertise and strong capabilities allowed the screen to be carried out with a high degree of skill and quality – the entire team was a pleasure to work with,” Dr Seidel said.
WEHI and IFM negotiated an innovative deal structure for the one-year research project, which takes a risk-sharing, incentives-based approach to delivering project outcomes. IFM has an exclusive option to acquire the results of the project. If IFM chooses not to exercise this option, WEHI will retain any resulting intellectual property in the hit compounds.
“I think partnerships like the one between WEHI and IFM are particularly important. Companies like IFM are well placed to adapt and develop new modalities and target new parts of the immune system,” Professor Masters said.
“By working with WEHI, IFM can use speedy and adaptive new technologies to develop drugs that target new pathways.”
The project is mutually beneficial, providing vital advances in basic science that can be used as a building block for further discoveries.
“We know that the immune system is important for lots of different diseases, but we don’t know what diseases these drug-like compounds might be effective against in the future, which is why basic research is so important.”
WEHI’s Head of Biotechnology and Commercialisation, Dr Anne-Laure Puaux, said the partnership provided new opportunities to advance medical research.
“IFM is a fantastic company to work with because they are bridging the gap between early-stage discovery research and the development of targeted therapeutics and have a proven capability to partner with large biopharmaceutical companies to bring innovation to patients,” she said.
“We are delighted to be working with IFM to make further advances in medical research and for WEHI to play a role in finding new drugs for the treatment of inflammatory diseases.”