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- Alistair Brown
- Anne-Laure Puaux
- Assoc Prof Joanna Groom
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- Associate Professor Aaron Jex
- Associate Professor Andrew Webb
- Associate Professor Chris Tonkin
- Associate Professor Diana Hansen
- Associate Professor Edwin Hawkins
- Associate Professor Ethan Goddard-Borger
- Associate Professor Gemma Kelly
- Associate Professor Grant Dewson
- Associate Professor Isabelle Lucet
- Associate Professor James Vince
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- Associate Professor Jeff Babon
- Associate Professor Joan Heath
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- Associate Professor Justin Boddey
- Associate Professor Kate Sutherland
- Associate Professor Kelly Rogers
- Associate Professor Marie-Liesse Asselin-Labat
- Associate Professor Melissa Call
- Associate Professor Misty Jenkins
- Associate Professor Nawaf Yassi
- Associate Professor Oliver Sieber
- Associate Professor Rachel Wong
- Associate Professor Rhys Allan
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- Associate Professor Ruth Kluck
- Associate Professor Shalin Naik
- Associate Professor Sumitra Ananda
- Associate Professor Tim Thomas
- Associate Professor Tracy Putoczki
- Chela Niall
- Deborah Carr
- Dr Alisa Glukhova
- Dr Anna Coussens
- Dr Ashley Ng
- Dr Belinda Phipson
- Dr Ben Tran
- Dr Bernhard Lechtenberg
- Dr Brad Sleebs
- Dr Drew Berry
- Dr Gwo Yaw Ho
- Dr Hamish King
- Dr Hui-Li Wong
- Dr Jacqui Gulbis
- Dr Jim Whittle
- Dr Lucy Gately
- Dr Margaret Lee
- Dr Mary Ann Anderson
- Dr Maryam Rashidi
- Dr Matthew Call
- Dr Nadia Davidson
- Dr Nadia Kershaw
- Dr Philippe Bouillet
- Dr Rebecca Feltham
- Dr Rory Bowden
- Dr Samir Taoudi
- Dr Sarah Best
- Dr Saskia Freytag
- Dr Shabih Shakeel
- Dr Sheau Wen Lok
- Dr Stephin Vervoort
- Dr Yunshun Chen
- Guillaume Lessene
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- Diseases
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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
- Structural basing for Wnt acylation
- Structure, dynamics and impact of extra-chromosomal DNA in cancer
- Targeted deletion of disease-causing T cells
- Targeting cell death pathways in tissue Tregs to treat inflammatory diseases
- The cellular and molecular calculation of life and death in lymphocyte regulation
- The role of hypoxia in cell death and inflammation
- The role of ribosylation in co-ordinating cell death and inflammation
- Understanding Plasmodium falciparum invasion of red blood cells
- Understanding cellular-cross talk within a tumour microenvironment
- Understanding the genetics of neutrophil maturation
- Understanding the roles of E3 ubiquitin ligases in health and disease
- Unveiling the heterogeneity of small cell lung cancer
- Using combination immunotherapy to tackle heterogeneous brain tumours
- Using intravital microscopy for immunotherapy against brain tumours
- Using nanobodies to understand malaria invasion and transmission
- Using structural biology to understand programmed cell death
- Validation and application of serological markers of previous exposure to malaria
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Colonial Foundation Healthy Ageing Centre

- Our work: An early blood test for dementia
- The problem
- The solution
- Our goals
- Who we are
- Our research projects
- Contact us
The Colonial Foundation Healthy Ageing Centre was established as a collaboration between founding partners WEHI and the Royal Melbourne Hospital, and made possible thanks to a generous $15 million commitment from the Colonial Foundation.
Our work: An early blood test for dementia
The Colonial Foundation Healthy Ageing Centre has a single focus – to design and develop the first blood test to diagnose dementia. The test will diagnose dementia at an early stage, when more can be done to stop or slow the progression of the disease.
Over the five-year term of the centre, we will use cutting-edge technology and bioinformatic tools to analyse more than 20,000 human samples with the aim of identifying a dementia signature. With clinical pathologists at the Royal Melbourne Hospital (RMH), we will validate biomarkers with the goal of developing pathology tests for the early detection of dementia. A diagnostic test will also help to:
- monitor disease progression
- monitor treatment response
- assist clinicians in prescribing targeted interventions
- better understand familial risk.

The problem
Dementia is a complex and growing health problem. It is a progressive neurological condition that will touch many of our lives. Living with dementia can profoundly impact a person’s quality of life, and families acting as carers.
Despite dementia being the second leading cause of death in Australia, research continues to be underfunded. Without a medical breakthrough, the number of people living with dementia is expected to more than double by 2050.
Dementia research has so far failed to deliver life-changing benefits for individuals and the community in the same way that new treatments for cancer or heart disease have.
The solution
We urgently need new and better ways to diagnose dementia. These solutions must take advantage of the most advanced technologies available while being accurate, cost-effective and practical enough to be widely used.
The Colonial Foundation Healthy Ageing Centre has:
- A collaborative vision to bring together the best and brightest minds to tackle one of the biggest global health crises.
- A different approach, using state-of-the-art mass spectrometry technology to find complex disease signatures that will enable early detection of dementia.
- A unique network of medical researchers, clinicians, neuropsychiatrists, pathologists, patient advocacy groups and philanthropists, working together to make this vision a reality.
Our goals
Stage 1: Discover biomarkers
We are generating proteomic and metabolic data to identify a biomarker or panel of biomarkers that could be used to detect and diagnose dementia.
Stage 2: Develop assays for emerging biomarkers
The centre is developing immunoassays for ultrasensitive detection of blood biomarkers for dementia.
Stage 3: Implement tests in pathology labs
We are addressing the challenges of implementing powerful mass spectrometry-based tools for diagnostics, to produce an accredited pathology test for the early detection of dementia.
Stage 4: Conduct patient data-driven research
We are investigating Parkinson's disease biomarkers and optimising tools for biomarker discovery.
Our collaborators
Who we are
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Frank is the former Director of Pathology at the Royal Melbourne Hospital and has been instrumental in establishing the Colonial Foundation Healthy Ageing Centre as a partnership between WEHI and the Royal Melbourne Hospital. Frank is a member of the National Pathology Accreditation Advisory Council (NPAAC) and an assessor of pathology laboratories for NATA (National Association of Testing Authorities). His work includes translational research, pathology services and laboratory medicine in the fields of genomics, proteomics and metabolomics. |
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The Centre brings together an interdisciplinary team of researchers, clinicians and pathologists who are highly skilled in proteomics technologies, data analysis and clinical assay development.

From left to right: Dr Steve Binos, Dr Mustafa Ayhan, Sukhdeep Spall, Dr Jeffrey Smith, A/Prof Andrew Webb, Dr Nadja Bertleff-Zieschang,
Dr Ahmed Mohamed, A/Prof Cherie Chiang, Dr Sylvie Callegari, Kruti Patel, Julian Kelabora.
Not pictured: Dolores Arenas Cavero, Dr Joel Smith, Dr Simon Cobbold.
Our research projects
The Colonial Foundation Healthy Ageing Centre has a single focus – to develop new and better ways to diagnose and treat dementia. The five-year centre will:
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Discover biomarkers
Together with the ASPREE team at Monash University, we are generating proteomic and metabolic data to identify a biomarker or panel of biomarkers that could be used to detect and diagnose dementia.
The centre uses an approach called mass spectrometry (MS)-based proteomics to study – in unprecedented detail and complexity – the nature of healthy ageing and disease.
We are creating the technology needed to undertake this work; the first step in this ambitious program. We will use this technology to analyse blood and urine samples from 12,000 healthy individuals collected from the ASPREE study over more than a decade. More than 1000 people in this study have since been diagnosed with dementia, giving us an unparalleled opportunity to identify early signs of dementia.
Project team
- Dolores Arenas Cavero
- Dr Steve Binos
- Julian Kelabora
- Dr Ahmed Mohamed
- Sukhdeep Spall
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Develop assays for emerging biomarkers
The centre is developing immunoassays for ultrasensitive detection of blood biomarkers for dementia.
The first candidate selected was the neurofilament light chain (NfL), a marker for neurological damage. We are collaborating with Professor Dennis Velakoulis and his team at The Royal Melbourne Hospital (RMH) Neuropsychiatry, who have extensive experience in clinical diagnosis of neurological disorders and clinical research into NfL.
They demonstrated that NfL levels are elevated in plasma from patients with neurodegenerative disorders, including Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases, both of which are associated with dementia. There is a strong and unmet clinical need for detection of NfL and other emerging biomarkers, and the focus of this work is to develop a robust and clinically suitable assay for use in routine pathology.
Project team
- Jeff Smith
- Kruti Patel
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Implement tests in pathology labs
Together with clinical pathologists at the Royal Melbourne Hospital, we will address the challenges of implementing these powerful tools for diagnostics, to produce an accredited pathology test for the early detection of dementia. In a first step, we are building mass spectrometry capacity and knowledge in Melbourne Health Pathology so that state-of-the-art technology can be translated to the clinic.
Currently, work is continuing at RMH Pathology to increase the number of Therapeutic Drug Monitoring (TDM) tests developed on site and provided to clinicians and patients using cutting-edge mass spectrometry instrumentation. With hospital clinicians, a list of therapeutic drugs was compiled for which patient monitoring was a top priority. The first was the azole antifungals. The development and bioanalytical method validation is nearing completion and we anticipate routine testing for these antifungal drugs will begin early in 2022. Every routine diagnostic test that is developed on site will build mass spectrometry-based capability and knowledge within RMH to facilitate the validation and test implementation of the newer proteomics-based testing in the future.
Project team
- Dr Mustafa Ayhan
- Dr Joel Smith
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Patient data-driven research
The centre studies the hypothesis that selected proteins play a role in pathways leading to Parkinson's disease making them not only potential biomarker of disease, but also candidate drug targets.
We also strive to optimise current sample purification protocols and mass spectrometry data analysis including artificial intelligence-assisted tools to increase sensitivity and identification of biomarker in our data.
Project team
- Dr Sylvie Callegari
- Dr Simon Cobbold
- Sukhdeep Spall
- Daryl Wilding-McBride
Contact us
Enquiries can be sent to Dr Nadja Bertleff-Zieschang, Colonial Foundation Healthy Ageing Centre Manager.