Personalised Medicine Centre

Professor Anthony Akkari the Director of the Personalised Medicine Centre. He is a pharmacogeneticist and neuromuscular geneticist with 28 years research experience in Australia and the US. He leads his dually based research group at CMMIT and the Perron Institute in developing new strategic approaches to identifying genetic mechanisms and mutations in neurological diseases, with the aim of developing new and personalised treatments for motor neurone disease.

Professor Steve Wilton AO is a world-renowned researcher who together with Professor Sue Fletcher has made global breakthroughs in the treatment of Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). Professor Wilton’s research focuses on an increasing array of diseases, including spinal muscular atrophy, Pompe’s disease, motor neurone disease and multiple sclerosis. Over 50 different diseases are currently being studied. Steve Wilton is Director of the Perron Institute and Deputy Director of the Personalised Medicine Centre.

Dr May Aung-Htut is a Senior Research Fellow and Co-Head of the Molecular Therapy Group with Professor Steve Wilton. She is an experienced and dedicated scientist with a proven record of accomplishment in molecular and cell biology. Dr Aung-Htut is the leader of Discovery and Research in the Sarepta Translational Laboratory, developing and refining antisense oligomers targeting inherited and acquired conditions including other muscular dystrophies, multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer’s, Pompe’s disease, asthma and neuroinflammatory conditions.

Professor Veedu has dual appointment as head of Nucleic Acid Therapeutics Research within the Personalised Medicine Centre and the Perron Institute. Rakesh received his PhD from the University of Queensland after completing his MSc degree from Griffith University. He has over 14 years’ experience in basic and translational research in the field of oligonucleotide therapeutic development, and published >90 articles in reputed journals.

Joining the Personalised Medicine Centre and the Perron Institute from Estonia in 2018, Professor Kõks’ research focuses on understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying neurodegenerative disorders, including Parkinson’s disease. He also researches into, and has vast experience in psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, osteoporosis and osteosarcoma. Professor Kõks is a highly published researcher and is an active member of several international research consortia.

Emeritus Professor Fletcher AO is a molecular biologist and Senior Principal Research Fellow who has been integral in pioneering therapeutic antisense oligomer development in partnership with Professor Steve Wilton. Together they created the first two FDA approved therapeutic treatments for Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Professor Fletcher’s research interest area has expanded into inherited blindness and neurodegenerative disease. She is a passionate and involved patient and community advocate, as well as a dedicated volunteer for support organisations.

Professor Needham is a Consultant Neurologist seeing neuromuscular and myositis patients at Fiona Stanley Hospital, the Perron Institute and IIID at Murdoch University. Professor Needham also leads the dually based Myositis Research Group at the Personalised Medicine Centre and the Perron Institute. She is passionate and well versed in all things Inclusion Body Myositis, having a fantastic rapport with her patients and colleagues.

Professor Currie co-heads the Neonatal Infection and Immunity Team with Neonatologist Clinical Prof Tobias Strunk at the Wesfarmers Centre of Vaccine & Infectious Diseases, Telethon Kids Institute and leads the Sepsis Diagnostics Research Group with the Personalised Medicine Centre. As a basic scientist with over 20 years of experience in the fields of immunology and infectious disease, his current research combines current cellular and molecular ‘omics’ methodologies with primary human and animal samples, to understand how the immune system contributes to defence against infection in sepsis.

Associate Professor Kylie Sandy-Hodgetts is a Senior Research Fellow leading the Skin Integrity research group at the Personalised Medicine Centre. Her research interests are in wound healing, prevention, risk assessment and clinical trials in surgical wound healing and is Chief Investigator of a number of clinical trials Phase I - IV. Kylie is the Founder and inaugural President of the International Surgical Wound Complications Advisory Panel (ISWCAP), a culmination of her research activity and doctoral work into early identification and prevention of surgical wound complications.

Dr Rea is a Senior Research Fellow and mid-career researcher with 10 years postdoctoral experience. Her research is focused on understanding the mechanisms underlying dementia and neurodegeneration. Dr Rea uses innovative analytical techniques to demonstrate changes to key biochemical, cellular and structural components of neurons in response to genetic risk factors.

Associate Professor Learmonth is an accredited physiotherapist and the Academic Chair for Sport and Exercise Science at Murdoch, specialising in physical activity research in neurological conditions. Her research agenda has examined feasibility and efficacy-based interventions for enhancing adherence to physical activity in MS, influences of exercise on symptom management, outcome measurement in MS, and clinical exercise promotion in MS.

Clinical Professor Kermode is a Consultant Neurologist and Head of the Demyelinating Diseases Research the Personalised Medicine Centre and the Perron Institute. Highly awarded and published, Allan’s broad training incorporates not only clinical neurology, clinical immunology, electrophysiology and neuroradiology, but also several years of virology, cellular immunology and molecular biology bench work.

Khurshid Alam is an Associate Professor in Health Economics at the Murdoch Business School. A/Professor Alam did his PhD in Health Economics from Monash University in 2015. His primary expertise is in cost-effectiveness and cost-benefit analysis to examine value for money (VfM) and resource-allocation for clinical and public health interventions and diagnostic trajectories of rare diseases. His research interests extend to health care financing, health systems, health services, health policy, health equity and global health where he supervises multiple PhD students as a primary supervisor.

Professor Gardiner has 25 years of computational modelling experience. His expertise is modelling cell-tissue interactions and inter- and intra-cellular communication networks. This requires multidisciplinary expertise beyond biomedical science, and includes material science, mechanics and transport processes (from chemical and mechanical engineering), control systems and applied mathematics.

Dr Ianthe Pitout is a molecular geneticist at Murdoch University focused on RNA-targeted therapeutics to treat degenerative diseases. An early career researcher with 10 years of experience in the design and evaluation of splice switching antisense oligonucleotides for translational applications, she is an experienced biotechnology researcher, having worked in both academic and industry sectors. She currently leads the Oligo Therapeutics laboratory where her team are developing AO therapeutics for motor neuron disease, inherited blindness and other neurodegenerative conditions.

Dr Loren Flynn is a molecular geneticist and mid-career researcher with a research focus on the development of antisense oligonucleotides (AOs) and their application in translational medicine. Experience in the evaluation of AOs in both in vitro and in vivo models, as well as experience working with industry in drug development and FDA regulatory procedures for a rapid pre-clinical translation of AO therapies. Alongside Professor Anthony Akkari, they lead the dually based Motor Neurone Diseases Genetics and Therapeutics group at Murdoch’s Personalised Medicine Centre and the Perron Institute.

Mark is a molecular biologist with a longstanding research interest in virology, with a focus on molecular biology and immunology and antivirals with more recent interest being in cancer immunology. His team works with researchers to achieve their research goals specialising in immunology and infectious disease. He also plays a key role in the health research building ensuring that things run smoothly.

Dr Andrew Gibson is a senior lecturer and drug hypersensitivity research laboratory lead at the Personalised Medicine Centre, Core Genomics, Murdoch University, Western Australia. He has done 7 years immunopharmacology research at the MRC Centre for Drug Safety Science in Liverpool, UK. Focused on the optimization and combined implementation of in vitro cell culture platforms and single-cell sequencing. He works on both industrial projects and those with specialist clinicians to define immunogenic risk of drugs, chemicals, and biologics.

Dr Chopra leads research and development for Murdoch’s Medical Genomics Research Facility and has established a world class, state of the art accredited laboratory specializing in molecular genomics. She has an extensive track record in driving the development of novel, leading-edge techniques and analysis tools utilized by academic and industry collaborators throughout the world.