Invited International Keynote Speakers
Assoc. Prof. Xiaole Shirley Liu
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Our laboratory focuses on the design of statistical and computational algorithms to discover and explore the genomic sequence elements related to gene regulations. We are especially interested in Chromatin ImmunoPrecipitation coupled with DNA microarray analysis (ChIP-chip) to study the effect of transcription factor binding on transcription regulation. ChIP-chip studies the in vivo transcription factor binding locations in the genome. In the past few years, our laboratory has excelled in computational sequence motif finding and has developed a number of widely-used motif-finding algorithms for different biological applications.
Lab webpage: http://liulab.dfci.harvard.edu/http://www.stat.harvard.edu/faculty_page.php?page=xsliu.html
Prof. Richard (Dick) McCombie
Cold Spring Harbour Laboratories (CSHL)
Genome structure; DNA sequencing; computational molecular biology; Human Genome Project, exon capture/targeted re-sequencing
One of the most exciting areas of research to arise from genomics is the role of sequence variation among individuals of the same species in determining their phenotype in areas as disparate as behaviour and the susceptibility to diseases. Next generation DNA sequencing allows us to generate billions of bases of sequence in a short amount of time at unprecedented low cost. As a research focus, we utilise these technologies to elucidate the role of genomic variation in causing two major disease classes, cognitive disorders (such as schizophrenia) and cancer.
Lab webpage: http://www.cshl.edu/public/SCIENCE/mccombie.html
Dr. Leming Shi - ABSTRACT
National Centre for Toxicological Research
Leming Shi received a B.Sc. in analytical chemistry from Hunan University, M.Sc. and Ph.D. in computational chemistry from the University of Science and Technology of China and the Chinese Academy of Sciences, respectively, where he also worked as an assistant and associate professor for three years. Between 1994 and 2001, Dr. Shi worked in the US on various positions at Case Western Reserve University, the National Cancer Institute, R.O.W. Sciences at the FDA, Wyeth, and BASF. Dr. Shi was a co-founder and director of informatics at Chipscreen Biosciences Ltd. in Shenzhen, China (2001-2003), where he and his team designed several novel drug candidates that have shown promising profiles in Phases I, II and III clinical trials for treating cancer and type 2 diabetes. Dr. Shi joined the FDA’s National Center for Toxicological Research, Jefferson, Arkansas in April 2003, where he conceived and has been leading the MicroArray Quality Control (MAQC) project to properly utilize genomics and bioinformatics for personalized medicine. Dr. Shi has co-authored over 100 peer-reviewed papers and is a coinventor of nine issued patents. Dr. Shi is also an adjunct professor of medicine at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences’ Myeloma Institute for Research and Therapy.
Lab webpage: http://edkb.fda.gov/MAQC/
Dr. Paul Spellman
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
My group is interested in using genetic, genomic, and proteomic data to understand and model the biology of cancer and to develop methods to effectively deploy therapeutic agents in the age of personalized medicine. We are interested in the effects of genomic dysregulation in cancer, particularly ovarian cancer. The group collaborates extensively with researchers from Berkeley Lab, UC Berkeley, and UCSF in this work.
Lab webpage:www.lbl.gov/lsd/People_&_Organization/Scientific_Staff_Directory/Spellman_Lab.html
Dr. Philip Stephens
Wellcome Trust Sanger Centre
Dr Philip Stephens has a PhD from Oxford University in clinical genetics.
Philip joined the Cancer Genome project at its inception, ten years ago, and is now a senior scientist.
He has used high throughput mutation detection techniques, capillary sequencing and now next gen sequencing to investigate the genetics/genomics of multiple cancer types, predominantly breast cancer.
Lab webpage: http://www.sanger.ac.uk/research/projects/cancergenome/
Prof. Vanessa M. Hayes
Professor of Human Genomics, J. Craig Venter Institute, San Diego, CA
Vanessa Hayes has headed a Cancer Genetics Group first at the Garvan Institute for Medical research and then the Children’s Cancer Institute Australia in Sydney since 2003. In 2010 she will join the J. Craig Venter Institute as Professor of Human Genomics.
Her team has made major contributions to advancing knowledge of genetic susceptibility to prostate cancer in Australian men. Through her initial research work in HIV/AIDS susceptibility in Southern Africa and her interest in understanding the genetic contribution to the observed ethnic differences in prostate cancer incidence and mortality rates, has highlighted the importance of defining human genetic diversity globally. With Sub-Saharan Africa being the roots of anatomically modern humans the team is focused on generating not only a database of human genome diversity that challenges the extremes of modern human genome variation, but adds important content (both rare and common variation) to current databases. This research will contribute to our understanding of human evolution (forager to farmer, as well as out migration out-of-Africa) and disease evolution. Ultimately how genetic variation impacts disease at the level of population-wide susceptibility, initiation and development, disease cause and outcome, as well as individual response to therapy.
Opening Oration
Prof. Joe Sambrook (AMATA-10 Opening Oration)
Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre
Professor Joe Sambrook is internationally renowned for his studies of DNA tumour viruses and the molecular biology of normal and cancerous cells, which have effectively changed our understanding of the cellular development of many forms of cancer.
During the course of his distinguished career he has worked at a number of leading scientific institutions, including the Laboratory of Molecular Biology at Cambridge in England, the Salk Institute in California, the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York and the University of Texas South Western Medical Centre in Dallas.
Professor Sambrook was Foundation Director of Research of the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre in Melbourne until 2000, and under his stewardship, scientific staff had increased in number from 75 to nearly 200, across a range of new programs. Joe is an inspirational speaker and his published works include three editions of the best-selling, highly influential laboratory manual "Molecular Cloning", currently the most-cited book in Google Scholar.
Invited National Speakers
Prof. Susan Clark
Garvan Institute
Professor Susan Clark has a highly acclaimed international reputation for her pioneering work in mammalian epigenetics. Susan heads the epigenetics research program at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research in Sydney, Australia. She graduated in 1982 with a phD in Biochemistry at the University of Adelaide and then spent ten years in the Biotechnology Industry before returning to basic research in gene regulation in 1992. Her studies over the last sixteen years have initiated profound questions about the importance of epigenetics in early development and in disease, especially in cancer. She has made extensive ground-breaking discoveries relating to DNA methylation patterns in normal and cancer genomes, that have led to new tests for early cancer detection. The techniques she pioneered in the early 1990s, including bisulphite sequencing, have revolutionised and now underpin a new era in epigenetics research. She has a number of awards including the RPAH Research Medal in 2002, Julian Wells Medal in 2003, Ruby Payne-Scott Award for contribution of women in science in Australia; “Biochemisch Analytik Preis” for outstanding contribution for Methylation analysis in 2004 and in 2006 was elected a Fellow of the World Technology Network for Biotechnology.
Prof. Andrew Biankin
Garvan Institute
Andrew is a Surgeon Scientist who specializes in Pancreatic Diseases, particularly focusing on Pancreatic Cancer and its precursor lesions. His clinical practice is part of a specialist unit treating pancreatic disease. His research is focused on translating scientific discoveries into patient care through improved application of current therapies, early detection and novel therapeutics.
He is the clinical lead of the Australian Pancreatic Cancer Genome Initiative with Prof. Sean Grimmond of the QCMG (scientific lead), which aims to sequence the genome, transcriptome and epigenome of ~400 pancreatic cancers as part of the International Cancer Genome Consortium.
Prof. Liz Musgrove
Garvan Institute
Prof Liz Musgrove’s research aims to elucidate mechanisms of cell cycle control in breast cancer and to understand the impact of their deregulation on cancer development, progression and therapeutic responsiveness. She uses a systems biology approach to understanding steroid hormone action on the cell cycle by identifying regulators of breast cancer cell proliferation, elucidating their inter-relationships, and dissecting their functions using techniques including functional genetic screens. This knowledge will be used to identify clinically useful markers of disease progression or therapeutic response and to develop a mechanistic understanding of endocrine resistance, a major limitation to the successful treatment of breast cancer.
Prof. Simon Foote
Menzies Research Institute
Professor Simon Foote is director of the Menzies Research Institute Tasmania. His research interests revolve around the genetic analysis of disease. He uses mice to study the host response to infectious disease and his laboratory is working towards a new range of antimalarial compounds mimicking the natural genetic mutations mediating clinical resistance in endemic populations. He is also involved with teams mapping susceptibility genes in humans, notably Multiple Sclerosis, Haematological Malignancies and Renal Failure. He was involved in the early days of the human genome mapping project at the Whitehead Institute, MIT and was one of the founders of the Australian Genome Research Facility.
Prof. Frances Shannon
John Curtin School of Medical Research
Professor Frances Shannon is Deputy Vice Chancellor Research at the University of Canberra with responsibility for developing and implementing the research strategy of the university, research education and training, university research centres and research and research student management. Professor Shannon was educated in Ireland at University College Dublin completing a BSc (Hons) and a PhD in biochemistry there before moving to Australia.
Professor Shannon was previously interim Director (2008-2009) and Deputy Director (2007-2008) of the John Curtin School of Medical Research (JCSMR) at the Australian National University. She has also served as head of the Division of Molecular Bioscience at JCSMR and her underlying academic role was as Professor and Group Leader, Gene Expression and Epigenomics Laboratory. Prior to moving to the ANU she was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Adelaide and then Founding Member of the Hanson Centre for Cancer Research at the Institute of Medical and Veterinary Science in Adelaide, South Australia.
Professor Shannon has had a successful career in biomedical research, research supervision and administration. She has a significant record in attracting major competitive grants and infrastructure support, in publishing her research in high impact international journals and in training PhD students and postdoctoral fellows. She has developed a number of productive national and international research collaborations that have provided important contributions to understanding immune cell function and development. She remains a Professor (honorary) of the Australian National University where she continues to run her research laboratory.
Professor Shannon has served on numerous national bodies and assessment panels especially for the National Health and Medical Research Council and has recently contributed to the national agenda for investment in bioplatform technologies and "omics" technologies through Bioplatforms Australia and NCRIS. During 2009, she was instrumental in developing the ANU strategy for bioscience research as the University restructured and developing a university -wide strategy for genomics technology investment.
Professor Shannon is leading the development of research at the university by devising and implementing a strategy to improve the quality and quantity of research activity. The major areas of development include; identifying clear areas of research focus based on current capability and future opportunity, developing innovative research training strategies and creating productive national and international research linkages.
Dr. Ross Dickins
Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research
Ross Dickins did his PhD with Professor David Bowtell at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre/University of Melbourne. As a postdoc in Professor Scott Lowe’s laboratory (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, New York) he developed RNA interference technology allowing the stable or reversible inhibition of endogenous gene expression in cultured cells, and reversible, tissue-specific gene knockdown in transgenic mice.Ross returned to Melbourne in 2008 and is currently a VESKI Fellow, Nossal Fellow, and group leader at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute.His laboratory uses in vitro and in vivo RNAi to investigate haematopoiesis in the mouse, with particular focus on developing new models and treatment strategies for leukaemia.
Dr. Rohan Williams
John Curtin School of Medical Research
Rohan Williams has worked in genetics, genomics and bioinformatics since 2003 following completion of his PhD in gastrointestinal clinical physiology (UNSW). Between 2004 and 2007 he was an NHMRC Peter Doherty Fellow at the University of New South Wales with Peter Little. He was appointed Group Leader at the JOHN Curtin in 2007. He and his group are interested in modern approaches to genotype-phenotype correlations and the mechanisms underlying inter-individual variation, particularly at the level of global gene expression, variation in epigenomic phenomena and the applications of these ideas in developing personalised biomarkers for preventative health applications.
Dr. Tony Papenfuss
Walter & Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research
Tony was originally trained as a mathematician and obtained his PhD from Monash University. For the last 6 years he has been in the Bioinformatics Division at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, where he is now head of the Genomic Sequence Analysis lab.
His research is focused on sequence analysis, particularly the development of computational methods and tools for analysing next generation sequence data and for comparative genomics. He applies methods developed in these areas to study diseases like malaria, cancer and the Tasmanian devil facial tumour disease. He has also contributed to 4 eukaryotic genome projects—most recently the wallaby and Great Barrier Reef coral.
