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Institute researchers have been behind such groundbreaking discoveries as CSFs, hormones that boost infection fighting white blood cells, which have helped more than 20 million cancer patients recover from chemotherapy and revolutionised bone marrow transplantation.
The institute is established, a Gallipoli tragedy claims the director designate, and the first members of staff are appointed.
Our cancer research effort begins. Investigative work after the Bundaberg disaster vindicates vaccination, and Sir Frank Macfarlane Burnet embarks on his research career.
A new research program delivers the first snake bite antivenom, and Burnet pioneers the use of hen eggs to grow and study viruses. With the outbreak of World War II the institute’s activities shift to a wartime footing.
Researchers identify a new agent of allergic reactions, and the first references to Burnet’s Nobel Prize-winning theory are published. The institute mourns the loss of Dora Lush following a fatal laboratory accident.
Burnet wins the Nobel Prize. Institute researchers propose the radical theory of autoimmunity, and Jacques Miller, who identified the function of the thymus, drives another major immune discovery.
Burnet wins the Nobel Prize. Institute researchers propose the radical theory of autoimmunity, and Jacques Miller, who identified the function of the thymus, drives another major immune discovery.
Australia’s first fully equipped genetic engineering laboratory is established. Ian Mackay pioneers treatments for autoimmune disease that are still widely used today.
The CSFs story gathers momentum and a new malaria vaccine program leads to clinical trials. In 1988 scientists discover the BCL-2 gene holds the key to cancer cell death.
CSFs are approved for use as a therapy for cancer patients, the culmination of 25 years work. Blocking programmed cell death is found to trigger development of autoimmune disease, and the first genetically modified malaria parasite is created.
Breast stem cells are discovered, changing our understanding of the origins of breast cancer. Researchers identify the toxic proteins causing coeliac disease, and the DIABLO protein is identified, leading to new anticancer drugs.
Clinical trials of an anti-cancer drug for leukaemia begin, after 25 years of Bcl-2 research. The first genetically attenuated antimalarial vaccine enters clinical trials, and researchers develop a potential cure for hepatitis B.
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