Associate Professor Colin Dunstan is a respected authority on bone metabolism with over 25 years of experience in both clinical and basic research. He was part of the team that identified osteoprotegerin, RANK ligand and RANK as central regulators of bone resorption. He has extensive experience in both academic and industry (Amgen) settings. He currently serves on the editorial boards of Endocrinology and the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research. Current research interests are in the local regulation of bone remodelling and in interactions between bone cell activity and cancer cells.
Dr Ashnil Kumar received his PhD from the University of Sydney in 2013. He is currently a lecturer in the School of Biomedical Engineering conducting research into computing algorithms and their application within clinical workflows. He is particularly interested in how to design and develop decision support systems that enhance clinicians’ decision making capacity. He works closely with clinicians from a number of hospitals in Sydney, including the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Westmead Hospital and Nepean Hospital.
Dr Jiao Jiao Li (JJ) is a biomedical engineer, NHMRC Early Career Fellow, and a chief investigator on the ARC Training Centre for Innovative BioEngineering. She received her PhD from the University of Sydney in 2015. JJ is researching regenerative medicine approaches to treat chronic musculoskeletal conditions such as osteoarthritis and bone loss. She has particular interest in developing stem cell-based therapeutics, as well as biomaterials for tissue engineering.
Mrs. Ros Wu joined the ARCTCIBE in June 2020 as the manager of the centre. She has previously obtained MCom and MEng.
Professor Fiona Wood is one of Australia’s most innovative and respected surgeons and researchers. A highly skilled plastic and reconstructive surgeon and world leading burns specialist, she has pioneered research and technology development in burns medicine.
One of Fiona’s early achievements was the development of a skin culture lab that she co-founded with scientist Marie Stoner. Professor Wood and Marie recognised the potential of tissue engineering technology to treat burns (called cultural epithelial autograph or CEA) and in 1993 developed a skin culture facility with support from a Telethon grant. Their product evolved from confluent sheets of CEA to aerosol-delivered cell-clusters, and is known as ‘spray-on skin’. This technology, commercialized through Clinical Cell Culture Pty Ltd (now AvitaMedical) is a world-first and has been used on more than 1000 patients around the world. In 2005 Professor Wood and Marie won the Clunies Ross Award (Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering for their contribution to medical science in Australia.
Professor Christopher Little is director of the Raymond Purves Bone and Joint Research Labs at the Kolling Institute of Medical Research at Royal North Shore Hospital, Australia. Chris is a qualified Veterinarian with specialist surgery training and ACVS certification. He was awarded a PhD degree from the University of Sydney in 1996 for his studies of cartilage degradation in a sheep model of osteoarthritis (OA). Following a 5-year postdoctoral position at Cardiff University (UK), he was awarded an Arthritis Foundation of Australia Fellowship at the University of Melbourne. In 2004 he moved to his current position in the University of Sydney Faculty of Medicine. Chris’s research interests focus on defining the biochemical and molecular mechanisms of joint pathology in OA, and tendon and intervertebral disc degeneration, and are based on the belief that it is only though a better understanding the mechanisms that drive the initiation and progression of these diseases that new therapies can be developed. Chris is recognized internationally for his expertise in the development and use of animal models of bone and joint disease. He has served as an Associate Editor of Osteoarthritis and Cartilage, and a leader of the OARSI international initiative to establish standardised methods for evaluation of animal models of OA. Chris received the 2010 Barry Preston Award from the Matrix Biology Society of Australia and New Zealand, presented to an outstanding leader in the field.
Professor Hunter is a rheumatology clinician researcher whose main research focus has been clinical and translational research in osteoarthritis (OA). He is the Florance and Cope Chair of Rheumatology and Professor of Medicine at University of Sydney and the Royal North Shore Hospital. He is ranked as the worlds leading expert in osteoarthritis on Expertscape.com since 2014. He is on the editorial board for Arthritis and Rheumatology, Osteoarthritis and Cartilage, Arthritis Care and Research and part of the review committee for OA for the American College of Rheumatology, EULAR and OARSI scientific meetings. Dr Hunter has over 450 peer reviewed publications in international journals, numerous book chapters, is the section editor for UpToDate Osteoarthritis and has co-authored a number of books, including books on self management strategies for the lay public.
Dr Maté Biro received his PhD with summa cum laude at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics in Dresden, Germany.
Dr. Biro has previously worked at the Centenary Institute of Cancer Medicine and Cell Biology in Sydney, in the Imaging Informatics division at the Bioinformatics Institute of A*STAR in Singapore, at the MIT BioImaging Center in Cambridge, MA, USA and in the Belle collaboration at the KEK: High Energy Accelerator Research Organisation in Tsukuba, Japan.
As an EMBL Australia Group Leader he will expand his exciting studies on the way actomyosin complexes control cell shape, homeostasis and migration in cancer and immune function, focusing on the elucidation of biomechanical interaction within and between cells.
Dr. Biro is spearheading the use of complex in vitro and in vivo models for studying the cell-intrinsic actin cytoskeleton cues and dynamics that govern the invasive migration of tumour cells, the tissue scanning of T cells and their cytotoxic interaction with tumour cells. Using a multidisciplinary approach encompassing cell biology, biophysics, bioimage informatics and advanced light microscopy, he aims to unravel fundamental actin-based processes and develop new methodologies for basic cell biological research. Dr. Biro’s research relies heavily on advanced microscopy and the development of image analysis platforms capable of automatically detecting and analysing the kinetics of actomyosin, cell movement and protrusions.
Dr. Biro’s group is primarily concerned with the cell biology and mechanics of the actin cytoskeleton, and how immune cells (T cells) locate and kill cancer cells.
Dr. Shanny is an experienced senior executive, having held roles across industry, government and universities. She has expertise in public administration and policy development with strong corporate governance skills. Shanny holds a PhD in Biochemistry and is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. She is the CEO of ARCS Australia.
Dr. William Lu is the postdoctoral researcher at Osseintegration Group of Australia
Professor Fulham is the clinical director of Medical Imaging/ Director Department of Neurologist at RPA and the University of Sydney
Associate Professor Jinman Kim received his PhD in Computer Science from the University of Sydney in 2005. He is currently the Director of the Visual TeleHealth Lab, the Biomedical & Multimedia Information Technology (BMIT) Research Group , School of Computer Science, Faculty of Engineering and Information Technologies, University of Sydney. As an active key member of the BMIT Research Group, he is in charge of a research commercialisation and industry links. He has produced a number of impact publications, including IEEE Transactions, Medical Image Analysis, etc., and received several prestigious external completive grants, including the ARC Discovery and Linkage grants. He is also a Theme Leader in the Faculty’s Institute of Biomedical Engineering and Technologies (BMET).
Ms Ameneh Sadeghpour is an accomplished Engineer with experience in Pharmaceutical, Medical Device and Biotechnology industries. Ameneh has driven the transition of many technologies from proof of concept, to commercial production and industrial processes.
Most recently Ameneh worked for Genea Biomedx, which specialises in IVF technologies. She was seconded to the UK for two years as Operations/Project Manager, to expand Genea’s medical devices facility from Australia into the UK, including attainment of a CE mark certification for sale in the EU and set-up of the EU sales and support centre.
Ameneh has a Masters degree qualification in both Biomedical Engineering and Project Management from UNSW and USYD, as well as PMI Project Management Professional qualification.
Dr Williams, after stints at the Medical Research Council and the Forensic Science service, completed a PhD in Materials Science at the University of Manchester. He then took up a Postdoctoral Fellowship in the Biomaterials Theme of CSIRO Molecular and Health Technologies in Melbourne Australia. Following that, he was awarded a prestigious Alfred Deakin Research Fellowship (2012-2014).
Dr Fiona Cameron joined the ARC in July 2012 as Executive Director for Biological Sciences and Biotechnology. Prior to this, Dr Cameron led the Innovation & Consulting Unit at the University of Western Sydney (UWS) as the Associate Director. In this role, she worked closely with the University Executive, academics, active researchers and the University Research Office at UWS to identify opportunities to protect, develop and commercialise Intellectual Property and to build relationships with Industry and Government.
Between 1986 and 2007 Dr Cameron worked at the CSIRO, where she was appointed a Principal Research Scientist of its Division of Molecular Science, and a member of the executive team of the CSIRO National Research Food Futures Flagship. Dr Cameron was also a key developer of the CSIRO Nanotechnology Centre. Active in gene control research, Dr Cameron’s work at CSIRO included the development of molecules for better gene delivery into cells and gene therapy.
Being heavily involved in commercially funded medical research, Dr Cameron’s most recent publications take the form of a suite of patents.
Dr Cameron originally trained at the University of Sydney and the Australian National University. She was awarded a Doctor of Philosophy in 1990 from Macquarie University, having studied the regulation of gene control using engineered ribonucleic acids.
Tel: 0061 2 9114 4607
Email: artcibe@sydney.edu.au
@2020 ARC Centre for Innovative BioEngineering
Level 4, J07
Faculty of Mechanical Engineering
University of Sydney
Darlington NSW 2008
Australia