Scientific Grants Review Committee
Professor John Rasko
Chairman, Scientific Grants Review Committee
In 2004 Prof. Rasko led a team that identified the gene for Hartnup Disease reported in Nature Genetics. He has championed gene therapy for haemophilia with collaborators in the USA, published in Nature Medicine papers.
He serves on national committees, editorial boards and grant review panels. He has authored ~100 publications and co-edited a book published by Cambridge University Press on the ethics of inheritable genetic modification.
He is a highly sought speaker and is active in fundraising for biomedical research.
Professor Christina Mitchell
Member, Scientific Grants Review Committee
Professor Christina Mitchell trained as a physician scientist specialising in Clinical Haematology. She received her medical training from Melbourne University and consultant training in Haematology at the Alfred Hospital Melbourne.
Her advanced clinical training in Haematology included a PhD characterising the natural anticoagulants protein C and protein S and her post-doctoral studies were undertaken in the field of intracellular signalling in Professor Phil Majerus’ laboratory at Washington University Medical School, St Louis, USA.
In 1991 she returned to Australia and became an independent investigator at the Department of Medicine, Box Hill Hospital. Eight years later she was appointed Professor and Head of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Monash University and in June 2006, she was appointed Head of School of Biomedical Sciences at Monash University.
Professor Mitchell’s work has focused on the molecular mechanisms of intracellular proteins that upregulate muscle hypertrophy and cell differentiation.
Professor Peter Currie
Member, Scientific Grants Review Committee
A/Professor Peter Currie received his BSc (Hons) in 1987 from the University of Melbourne and PhD in 1993 from Syracuse University (USA) studying as aspects gene regulation. Peter’s interest in muscle biology initiated during his postdoc in London at the Imperial Cancer Research Fund (UK), where he studied the molecular genetics of muscle development.
Peter established his own research group at the MRC Human Genetics Unit in Edinburgh (UK) in 1998 researching muscle development and disease, a research direction that has been maintained after being recruited to the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute in Sydney (AUS) in 2003.
Peter’s particular interest is in the study of the genetics of muscle formation in the embryo and how this processes is perturbed in human diseases such as dystrophies and myopathies. He is an expert in the application of zebra fish genetics to the study of muscle biology and specialises in the utilisation of sophisticated imaging techniques to study muscle formation within the intact organism.
Doctor Charles P. Emerson Jr
Member, Scientific Grants Review Committee
Dr Emerson has been a Senior Scientist and Director of the Boston Biomedical Research Institute since 2003. He is the Director of the BBRI-based Senator Paul D. Wellstone Cooperative Research Muscular Dystrophy Centre as well as the lead investigator in studies of myogenesis in FSHD dystrophic muscles.
Dr Emerson is an internationally recognised developmental biologist through his research on skeletal myogenesis. His significant contributions include pioneering molecular work using cell culture models and the development of cell-based gene transfer approaches.
He received his A.B. from Princeton and a Ph.D. from the University of California San Diego, followed by postdoctoral training at the University of Virginia, where he initiated his research on skeletal myogenesis.
Dr Emerson has held faculty positions at the University of Virginia as Commonwealth Professor of Biology, at the Fox Chase Cancer Centre as Senior Scientist, and at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine as the Joseph Leidy Professor and Chair of Cell and Developmental Biology.
Dr Emerson has been the recipient of NIH Career Development and Merit Awards. Im addition to his academic and research leadership roles, he has also been director of two NIH training grants.
Doctor Alan Watts
Member, Scientific Grants Review Committee
Dr Alan Watts has had an extensive career, with experience in the fields of science, business and technology. Alan has an Honours Degree in Science, for which he majored in Chemistry and Genetics, and he completed his Doctorate in Molecular Immunology at the University of Sydney.
Alan has experience in the general field of molecular immunology and cytokines, and practical experience with proteomics. Alan has published a number of papers and is named on several patents.
Alan’s career has seen him in many varied positions, including a post-doctoral position at the Weizmann Institute, Israel, as Scientific Director of a Sydney-based biotechnology company, and in the commercial division of pharmaceutical company Merck Sharpe and Dohme. Additionally, Alan has experience in business development, particularly in the context of start-up companies.
Alan currently holds the position of Medical Manager of U.S. pharmaceutical company Abbott. In addition to FSHD Global, Alan gives his time to two other not-for-profit organisations – in his role as Trustee of the Wenkart Foundation and as Director of a licensed sporting club.
Professor Steve Wilton
Member, Scientific Grants Review Committee
Professor Steve Wilton joined the Australian Neuromuscular Research Institute (University of Western Australia) in 1991 and is now the head of the Molecular Genetic Therapy Group. Initially involved in the development of molecular diagnostic tests for many neuromuscular disorders, the primary translational research focus of his group is applying and extending the use of antisense oligomers to induce specific exon skipping as a therapy for Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Clinical trials in the UK have demonstrated safety and confirmed proof of concept that exon skipping may be a promising treatment for DMD.
Some of the great challenges ahead are to quickly validate exon skipping as a viable treatment for exon 51 responsive DMD mutations and extend the application to as many other DMD mutations as possible. If antisense oligomer induced splice intervention proves effective for DMD, this approach could be applied to many other genetic and acquired conditions, including Spinal muscular atrophy, FSHD and Friedreich’s ataxia. He is currently the President of the Australasian Gene Therapy Society, a member of the Executive Committee of the World Muscle Society, enjoys fishing, scuba diving, windsurfing, drinking wine, watching bad movies and plans to age ungracefully. He may be the first person to break a leg sky-diving for ActionDuchenne.
Dr Robin Fitzsimons
Member, Scientific Grants Review Committee
Robin Fitzsimons studied medicine at Sydney University, and diverted along the way to take a Bachelor of Science (medical) degree in Biochemistry. Then, while qualifying as a neurology physician she obtained a Sydney PhD which was focused on a major muscle protein (myosin) during development and in muscular dystrophies. Then followed an extended period working and publishing as a scientist in Cambridge and London, before returning to clinical neurology practice in Sydney.
While in England in the early 1990s Robin developed a parallel career in print journalism, and began to write on a range of international issues, but most especially about Hong Kong politics from the Patten era onwards. She has contributed to many Australian and international publications, including The Times (London), The Canberra Times, The Asian Wall Steet Journal, The International Herald Tribune and many more. Her journalistic work has taken to Bucharest for a NATO Summit and New York for a General Assembly meeting on the Millenium Development Goals.
All these interests are ongoing – together with a strong commitment to the University of Sydney, particularly in its international missions and outreach vocation.
Dr Paul Gregorevic
Member, Scientific Grants Review Committee
Dr Paul Gregorevic is an internationally recognised authority on the use of recombinant viral vectors for the study of muscle biology, and for the development of genetic therapies for muscle disease.
Dr Paul Gregorevic trained with Prof Gordon Lynch, an international expert in the field of muscle physiology, at the University of Melbourne and completed his Ph.d in Physiology in 2001. He completed his postdoctoral training at the University of Melbourne, and Paul D Wellstone Co-operative Research Centre, at the University of Washington, USA, directed by Prof Jeffrey Chamberlain, one of the pioneers of, and arguably the leading expert on gene therapies for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, before attaining a faculty appointment in the Department of Neurology at The University of Washington in 2007.
In 2008, Dr Paul Gregorevic relocated his research program to the Baker IDI Heart & Diabetes Institute, Melbourne, where he is Head of the Laboratory for Muscle Research and Therapeutics Development, and Director of the Recombinant Viral Vector Core.
Dr Paul Gregorevic has authored numerous papers, reviews and book chapters concerning the mechanisms of skeletal muscle function and adaptation, neuromuscular disorders, and intervention strategies for their treatment. Recent awards include the 2006 A.K. McIntyre Medal from the Australian Physiological Society, for outstanding achievements in the physiological sciences, and the 2007 Pfizer Australia Senior Research Fellowship for outstanding young scientists.
Dr Lucy Burns
Member, Scientific Grants Review Committee
Dr Lucy Burns is a General Practitioner, business woman, entrepreneur and mother, and has FSHD.
Lucy was diagnosed with FSHD at the end of her first year of medical school. She went on to complete her medical degree as well as a diploma in obstetrics and gynaecology and has a Fellowship of the Royal College of General Practitioners.
Lucy has been working as a GP for the past 15 years and currently works with the Defence Force at HMAS Cerberus. Lucy also owns and runs an online company called Better than Flowers, which delivers chocolate gift bouquets around Australia, in addition to running the volunteer organisation Australia’s Biggest Book Group, an online book club. Lucy donates all the profits from her business ventures to research into FSHD.
Lucy is a highly sought after public speaker and she has been greatly successful in raising the public profile of muscular dystrophy and FSHD within the community.