Glaxo award winner getting more out of LIF

Prof Doug Hilton, a researcher at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute in Melbourne, has been awarded this year's GlaxoSmithKline award for research excellence, for his work on cell signalling.

The $30,000 award recognises distinguished discovery in scientific and medical research that leads to advances in human health. Hilton, who at 39 is one of the youngest recipients of the award, has been working on cytokines and cell signalling since his days as an honours and PhD student in Prof Nick Nicola's lab at WEHI.

It was there that he discovered leukaemia inhibitory factor (LIF) -- now an important factor used to suppress the growth of embryonic stem cells so that genetically modified mice can be produced, as well as a molecule with clinical potential as a treatment for fertility problems related to embryo implantation.

"LIF has been really exciting -- it's been really nice to see some attempts to develop it clinically," Hilton says.

That appreciation for the commercial development of basic science is one of the hallmarks of Hilton's career to date. Many of the cellular growth factors he has played a role in discovering and characterising, through his work at WEHI, as a scientist at Melbourne biotechnology company Amrad and with the CRC for Cellular Growth Factors, which he led for a five-year span, have developed into commercialisable opportunities.

Take the opportunity

Hilton believes that researchers have an obligation to apply their research when a clinical or commercial use becomes apparent. That doesn't mean dropping the research career to become a biotechnology entrepreneur though -- from Hilton's perspective, it means linking up with those best able to develop the opportunity, including other researchers with particular expertise or interests, as well as companies able to commercialise the applications.

"If you see an opportunity, you have an obligation to bring other people on board to help develop it," he says. "It shouldn't be an either/or situation."

Hilton hasn't been short of these opportunities either. Among the growth factors and receptors Hilton has been involved in cloning are the IL-13 receptor, which has been recognised as an important target for drug development due to the central role played by IL-13 in asthma and inflammatory diseases. The molecule was last year the subject of a major commercial deal by Amrad.

Molecules with potential

More recently, Hilton has been working on suppressors of cytokine signalling -- the so-called SOCS family of proteins.

"A lot of the cytokines do really beneficial things, but if you have too much of them it can be pretty devastating -- even lethal," Hilton says. "We were really interested in what negatively controlled cytokines, switched them off."

The SOCS discovery, which was published in 1997, sparked a huge interest in the field, Hilton says, with the WEHI group leading the charge to identify and characterise the proteins. So far, the group has knocked out six SOCS genes in mice, to look at the roles the proteins play. Some of them have intriguing potential -- SOCS1, for example, plays a role in controlling interferon responses, so could be useful as a target for drugs to treat chronic viral diseases and autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis and diabetes, while SOCS2 is involved in growth hormone signalling, and SOCS3 in controlling G-CSF and erythropoietin.

But while Hilton is aware of the potential of the molecules he's been involved in discovering and characterising, he isn't planning to return to industry any time soon, preferring the challenges of research. "I've had offers to go [back] into industry, but I like the interface," he says.

Hilton has also received another recent accolade -- election to the Australian Academy of Science. "That was a surprise - it's really my first 'grown-up' honour," he says, noting that by most researchers' standards, he's still in the early phase of his career.

For now, he's excited about encouraging younger scientists to be aware of the possibilities their research holds. And he is happy to be working in the WEHI's stimulating research environment. "If someone has $100 million and would like to sink it into a new institute where we could really build something new and dynamic from the ground up -- they can give me a call," Hilton says.