Science at the Shine Dome 2010

Career research awards

Thursday, 6 May 2010

2010 Macfarlane Burnet Medal and Lecture

Professor David Vaux FAA
NHMRC Australia Fellow, Department of Biochemistry
La Trobe University.

David Vaux graduated in medicine from Melbourne University and undertook his PhD at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research. He did postdoctoral research at Stanford before returning to WEHI in 1993. In 2006 he moved to La Trobe University where he is currently an NHMRC Australia Fellow. He is best known for his research in the field of cell death (apoptosis). When he is not doing that he tries to promote grass-roots science through ANZAAS and he fosters responsible conduct in science by advocating the establishment of an ombudsman for research integrity in Australia.

A short walk through the valley of (cell) death

With the evolution of multicellularity and specialisation into germ and somatic cell lineages, organisms were freed from the constraints that had hitherto limited development of mechanisms for cell suicide. Indeed, for most types of cells in large, long-lived animals, it is more efficient to produce too many cells, and then delete the excess by activating an endogenous self-destruct mechanism. Because in a human a million billion cells kill themselves every second, this process must be carefully controlled. Failure of cell death can lead to malignancies, such as leukemias and lymphoma, and inappropriate cell death can reduce tissue and organ function. In humans, cell death is regulated by members of the Bcl2 and IAP families of proteins. Several types of cancer have been associated with over-activity of genes such as Bcl2, cIAP1 and cIAP2. Currently, clinical trials are underway in humans with cancer to test drugs that antagonise Bcl-2 or the IAPs, to see if cell death mechanisms can be reactivated in their tumour cells. Basic research in organisms as diverse as worms, insects and mammals has identified a process of fundamental importance to animals, and has led to the development of new strategies to treat disease in humans.