Australian researchers awarded $1m Pfizer fellowships

Dr Stephen Nutt, based at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, and Dr Anthony Hannan, at the Howard Florey Institute, have each been awarded five-year grants of AUD$1 million under the Pfizer Australia Research Fellowship scheme.

Nutt's work centres on blood cells and the development of the immune system. He has genetically engineered mice with key transcription factors that regulate the activity of genes within bone marrow blood cells.

One model of these knockout mice, PU.1, has a severe hematopoietic stem cell defect which makes them susceptible to acute myeloid leukaemia. "PU.1 regulates many genes that important for stem cell function," said Nutt.

Another type of knockout mouse, BLIMP-1, is susceptible to a very severe autoimmunity which results in inflammatory bowel disease. BLIMP (or B-lymphocyte induced maturation protein) regulates the genes that are required for antibody production and control T cells which regulate immune response.

"By taking out these genes, we remove a control point and then see what goes wrong in the absence of a control point," said Nutt.

Nutt thinks his ability to make these knockout mice -- which are "unique in being able to understand how blood cells differentiate" -- was the competitive advantage that impressed Pfizer's committee to offer him the fellowship.

The funding will allow Nutt to move some of his work into corresponding situations in humans.

"We're now starting to screen human patients that have inflammatory bowel disease, or colitis, conditions that look very similar to our mouse disease," said Nutt. "We will then look to see whether BLIMP is either mutated, so a genetic problem, or whether it's not regulated appropriately in these patients."

In relation to his hematopoietic stem cell work and PU.1, Nutt said he wants to "go down to the molecular level and try to work out: what are the particular genes that are deregulated in these mice?"

"We know some of them but we don't probably know the important one," he said.

From there he wants to understand what genes have become deregulated when these mice develop leukaemia.

Nutt pointed out that his work is not disease focused. "I'm more trying to understand 'what is normality' -- what a normal situation is," he said. "Our goal ultimately is to understand how a normal blood system works in a normal person."

Nutt, who also recently received the Burnet Prize - the most prestigious award bestowed by WEHI which recognizes pioneering research by its younger scientists -- said that it was "delightful" to win the Pfizer fellowship.

"It's very prestigious, and that's one plus," he said. "Secondly, it's financially much superior to the other ones that are available in Australia. The financial security gives me that flexibility to follow my research wherever I want to and not have to continually write a grant application to move in that direction."

Prof Suzanne Cory, WEHI's director, said in a statement that "Stephen Nutt's scientific creativity and leadership are outstanding."

"His impressive achievements since being recruited back to Australia as WEHI's inaugural Metcalf Leadership Fellow are indicative of an exciting future in medical research," she said.

Neuroscience awarded

Dr Anthony Hannan, a senior research fellow at the Howard Florey Institute, has demonstrated that environmental factors such as mental and physical exercise can delay the onset of some degenerative brain diseases such as Huntington's disease.

Hannan will use his Pfizer fellowship to further explore key areas of neuroscience, and work towards the eventual development of new therapeutic approaches for devastating brain diseases such as Huntington's, schizophrenia and Alzheimer's.

The Pfizer fellowships are believed to be Australia's largest single private medical research grants and there were six finalists from across the country vying for the two 2006 fellowships granted.

This is the fourth year the Pfizer fellowships have been running, bringing the total number to nine, with each receiving $1 million over a five year period.