Can
you explain your research?I have always had a nerdy attachment to B cells - the cells that make antibodies, which are protective in immunity and harmful in autoimmunity. Now I’m studying the ways in which the protein GILZ controls B cell behaviour. GILZ is induced by glucocorticoids (or steroids), which are prescribed to around 70% of lupus patients and still used in around 50% of rheumatoid arthritis patients to try to gain some control over the disease. GILZ appears to mimic many of the same anti-inflammatory effects of glucocorticoids (for example, by inhibiting B cell production of antibodies), but without causing the same harmful side effects. We are investigating the potential for GILZ to be a safe and effective alternative treatment for autoimmune diseases.
When you were young, what did you want to be when you grew
up?
Crew
on a container ship or an icebreaker, marine pilot guiding large ships into
port, forest ranger, immunologist.
What do you enjoy doing
outside work?
Vaccinating
lambs and calves - real world immunology! We spend lots of weekend time tending
to stock, orchards, vines and our own need for fun (swimming in the dam, riding
motorbikes, playing with all the dogs) at the family farm.
Something your work colleagues probably don’t know about
you?
I’m
a senior science textbook editor and author in my 'spare time'. If your son or
daughter takes up biology in year 11 or 12 in Victoria or the rest of Australia
from this year onwards, chances are they will be working from my books (I dare
you to find a mistake!).
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