Tasmanian feature: All in the family

Prof Terry Dwyer is the Director of the Menzies Research Institute, which he established in 1988. The institute is an epidemiology focused research organisation looking at the causes of human diseases.

"It was set up to look at environment and lifestyle diseases," Dwyer says, adding that the Institute's original focus has now expanded to include research on the genetic aspects of disease: "It's something that fits in with the work very well."

Dwyer explains that Tasmania is an ideal place to do large-scale epidemiological studies - its population is small (around half a million people), and it has excellent medical records.

"This is one of the few populations where you can trace families very easily," he says.

In addition, Tasmania has an advantage unique to Australia - two thirds of the population can be traced back to 8000 or so families resident in the state since 1850.

"You can set up very large family pedigrees," explains Dwyer. "This is the most common and most powerful way to look at genes."

According to Dwyer, there are two ways that the Menzies is approaching genetic epidemiology.

The first way is to perform candidate gene validation. This involves taking a gene and looking to see whether it is present in families with the disease or condition being studied.

The second method is used to examine gene modifiers, or gene variants, which might predispose an individual to a particular condition.

Researchers at the Menzies are also looking at the interaction of genes with environmental factors.

The institute's research is starting to attract a lot of interest from the biotech and pharmaceutical industries, according to Dwyer.

He says the Menzies currently has a number of collaborations with the CRC for Identification of Genes for Common Human Diseases (Gene CRC), of which the institute is an associate member. For example, the two groups are doing a project in collaboration with the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute (WEHI) and the Australian Genome Research Facility (both part of the CRC), looking for genes associated with multiple sclerosis. Dwyer said that Tasmania has about seven times higher incidence of MS than Queensland.

In another CRC project, this time in collaboration with Melbourne company Cerylid Biosciences, researchers are looking at osteoarthritis of the hand.

The Menzies is also working with Autogen on genes associated with Type 2 diabetes and the "metabolic syndrome" of obesity and diabetes. In addition, it has a project with international pharmaceutical company Pfizer, performing candidate gene validation for an osteoarthritis study.

"Interest is extending beyond gene discovery to candidate gene validation," Dwyer says.

"We'll continue to do gene discovery, but there will be a whole range of ways to look at candidate genes," he says - pharmacogenetics and the way that gene variations modify diseases are becoming important.

Dwyer is acutely aware of the potential for commercial opportunities and spin-offs from the research performed by scientists at the Institute, but cautions that the work can take years due to the amount of time required to set up large family studies.

"In essence, this is early-stage gene discovery work that has potential for commercialisation," he says. Much of the IP from the work so far belongs to the companies and organisations investing in the Menzies' research programs.

"Our intention is to remain a non-profit institute, but also set up alliances with companies for commercialisation. It's easier to keep the two separate," Dwyer says. "I see the range of work expanding as the opportunities are good and in unique circumstances."

Dwyer says that possible collaborations with the proposed Bioinformatics Centre of Excellence at the University of Tasmania might lead to new ways of setting up databases and new software for analysing epidemiological data, particularly with the large pedigrees with which the institute works.

The Menzies Institute has had considerable support from the State and Federal governments. In late 2000, the Tasmanian government provided the institute with a $500,000 per year grant under its Tasmanian Icons program to further its biotechnology program and assist with commercialisation.

Dwyer says "(Government) Support for us now is likely to be beneficial over the next few years."

In addition, he says, the Tasmanian Department of State Development has been very helpful to the Institute, especially in the formulation of business plans.

And the NHMRC awarded the Institute over $3 million in grants announced late last year.

"We think the work here will benefit the people here considerably," Dwyer says.