An Australian research project into the development of new therapies to combat autoimmune diseases is set to receive American aid thanks to the award of a 2014 Fulbright scholarship to a UTS researcher.
Dr Andrew Hutchinson from the UTS School of Medical and Molecular Biosciences is one of 31 recipients across Australia to receive the prestigious award, which fosters the cultural exchange of Australian researchers to conduct research or training in the United States.
Dr Hutchinson will spend up to a year at the Yale School of Medicine. His host supervisor, Professor Philip Askenase, is a world-renowned immunologist who has pioneered a number of animal models of inflammatory disease. These credentials, according to Hutchinson, are the perfect fit for his Fulbright research project.
"My research background and that of Professor Askenase's are in molecular and cellular aspects of immunology. Professionally, our research teams have shared interests and a strong dedication to the development of new therapies for immune system diseases.
"One of the important properties of the immune system is to know how to distinguish between foreign bodies (i.e. pathogens) and self, and to respond to the former without harming the latter. In many immune system mediated diseases, this decision tree breaks down and the immune system starts to respond to self-molecules thereby leading to local or systemic destruction of host tissues which ultimately causes disease."
The focus of the UTS-Yale Fulbright project is to work on antigen-specific suppressor exosomes (ASSEs), a newly described signalling complex that can suppress the response of the immune system against a given molecule. As such, ASSEs hold great potential in treating a variety of immune mediated diseases.
One of the issues with using ASSEs clinically however, is that only small amounts can be purified from blood and obtaining large enough quantities to be used at a therapeutic dose is almost impossible. To overcome this issue, Dr Hutchinson and Professor Askenase plan to create synthetic ASSEs that retain the characteristics of their natural counterparts and can be produced on a large scale for therapeutic purposes.
The Fulbright Program in Australia is funded by the Australian and American governments and a generous group of sponsors. Each year, exceptional Australians and Americans are awarded up to $47,000 each to develop new knowledge and skills through cultural exchange with overseas host institutions.
- 2014 Fulbright scholar Dr Andrew Hutchinson will be focused on the development of new therapies for immune system diseases in up to a year at the Yale School of Medicine
- He will work with world-renowned immunologist Professor Philip Askenase on therapies to suppress immune system attacks on "self-molecules"