SCIENCE AT THE SHINE DOME canberra 7 - 9 may 2008

Awards and admission of new Fellows

Thursday, 8 May 2008

The Inaugural Ruth Stephens Gani Medal

Dr Vanessa Hayes
Cancer Genetics Group, Children’s Cancer Research Institute

Vanessa Hayes moved to Australia after graduating with a PhD in cancer genetics from the University of Groningen in the Netherlands, and heading a laboratory investigating genetic susceptibility to HIV/AIDS in South Africa. She established the Australian Cancer Research Foundation Unit for the Molecular Genetics of Cancer in 2005. Vanessa has investigated the effect of DNA sequence variation on aspects of human cancers, including responses to therapeutic intervention. Her major contribution relates to the effect of DNA variation on the risk of prostate cancer in Australian men. She has recently been recruited to the Children’s Cancer Institute Australia to establish a ‘next generation’ genetics laboratory. Her work has been recognised by a number of awards, including the 2007 NSW Premier’s Award for Outstanding Cancer Research Fellow and she is currently an Australian Young Tall Poppy Science Award recipient.

SNPing away at prostate cancer

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer affecting Australian men and the second largest cause of male cancer deaths. Although the cause of prostate cancer is poorly understood, genetic variation has an important impact on this complex disease. Collaborators and I have been investigating the effect of DNA variations (single nucleotide polymorphisms, SNPs) on prostate cancer risk in a large series of Australian men with and without prostate cancer. These studies have contributed significantly to current understanding of steroid hormone and inflammatory gene variation on risk to prostate cancer, patient survival, circulating hormone levels and even patterns of hair loss. In a recent breakthrough, a region of the human DNA linked to susceptibility to prostate cancer has been identified. However, the biological mechanisms underlying this association are unclear. Vanessa’s team is using observed differences in prostate cancer incidence between ethnic groups as a tool to finely map the putative prostate cancer risk marker/s. Genetic testing for prostate cancer risk, diagnosis, prognosis and personalised treatments is now in sight.