National Drug Discovery Centre

Associate Professor Kym Lowes received her PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Western Australia in 2002. Following this, she undertook postdoctoral studies at the Howard Florey Institute, National Muscular Dystrophy Research Centre and The Bionic Ear Institute.

Assoc Prof Lowes has extensive experience in diverse aspects of the drug discovery process including discovery biology, high-throughput screening, hit-to-lead and lead optimisation. She has a successful track record in leading screening campaigns with internal and external collaborators from both academia and pharmaceutical companies.

The screening laboratory leverages state-of-the-art robotic equipment to enhance the scope and speed of the pre-clinical drug discovery process.

lowes@wehi.edu.au

Associate Professor Jeff Mitchell is a medicinal chemist and holds a PhD from the University of Melbourne. He has more than 20 years’ pharmaceutical industry experience, specialising in the discovery and development of novel small-molecule drugs.

Before joining the institute in 2015, Assoc Prof Mitchell was a Principal Scientist at Biota Pharmaceuticals, where he played a critical role on a number of small-molecule anti-infective projects. Among these were a human orthopneumovirus program, which progressed from hit to Phase 2 clinical trials in partnership with MedImmune and AstraZeneca, and a Clostridium difficile program that was successfully licensed to Taxis Pharmaceuticals.

mitchell.j@wehi.edu.au

Professor Guillaume Lessene trained as an organic chemist, completing his PhD at the University of Bordeaux, before undertaking postdoctoral work with Professor Feldman at Pennsylvania State University.

Since moving to WEHI in 2001, his major research focus has been the development of small molecules that target apoptotic and necroptotic cell death pathways.

Professor Lessene jointly leads the Technology Sciences Division at the institute, a multidisciplinary division that integrates cutting-edge technologies with foundational biology research. His work aims to translate fundamental discoveries into new medicines, advancing therapeutic innovation across a broad range of disease areas.S

Prof Lessene’s work targeting the BCL-2 family of proteins for cancer therapy formed the basis of a major collaboration between the Institute and two pharmaceutical companies, Genentech and AbbVie, leading to the development of venetoclax, the first BH3-mimetic approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL).

glessene@wehi.edu.au

Dr Kate Jarman received her PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Adelaide in 2010. Following this, she moved to Melbourne to undertake a postdoctoral position with Professor Shaun Jackson at The Australian Centre for Blood Diseases (Monash University) studying regulatory mechanisms of platelet function in thrombosis.

Kate is experienced in leading all facets of screening projects from assay design, development and execution through to hit validation and hit-to-lead support. She has successfully delivered projects across diverse target classes and technologies with WEHI teams, and external academic and pharmaceutical collaborators.

jarman@wehi.edu.au