WEHI Wednesday Seminar hosted by Professor Edwin Hawkins

Dr Raymond Yip
Senior Research Officer – Hawkins Laboratory, Inflammation division, WEHI

The bone marrow as a window to cancer and immunity

Davis Auditorium

Join via SLIDO enter code #WEHIWednesday

Including Q&A session

Please note this presentation will not be recorded

The bone marrow contains specialised microenvironments, referred to as niches, which actively control haematopoietic cell survival, expansion, and differentiation. Pathogenic cells can hijack and transform these niches to drive disease progression and therapy evasion. Defining the cellular dynamics and molecular interplay that underpin these processes is therefore critical to identifying new therapeutic vulnerabilities.

In this seminar, I will discuss how we leverage intravital microscopy and spatial transcriptomics to dissect the role of bone marrow niches in two plasma cell-driven diseases: multiple myeloma and systemic lupus erythematosus. By mapping the cellular and molecular landscape of these niches at unprecedented spatiotemporal resolution, we uncover shared and disease-specific principles that redefine our understanding of plasma cell biology in cancer and autoimmunity.

Raymond is a Cancer Research Fellowship Victoria Mid-career Fellow and Senior Research Officer at the Hawkins laboratory. He completed his PhD at the University of Hong Kong and subsequently trained at WEHI, first in the Visvader/Lindeman laboratory investigating breast cancer bone metastasis, and later developing spatial omics platforms through a joint appointment across the Hawkins laboratory, Centre for Dynamic Imaging, and Advanced Genomics Facility. These methodological capabilities now underpin his research projects and support a growing network of national and international collaborations.

All welcome!