Members

Mater Medical Research Institute (QLD)

Director: Professor John Prins 
Deputy Director (Operations): Associate Professor Mark Bowles
Marketing & Communication Officer: Ms Marnie Nichols

Prinicpal Affiliations
Sisters of Mercy, Brisbane
Mater Health Services
University of Queensland

Principal Areas of Research
Cancer Immunotherapy
Dendritic Cell Biology
Mesenchymal Stem cells
Haematopoietic Stem Cell
Mucin Biology

Major Current Research
Phase 1 Clinical trials of novel immunotherapy vaccination in prostate cancer
Developing a dendritic cell purification platform extract dendritic cells from the patient's bloodstream.

Exploring the role of mucin genes in mucosal defence against infection and the development of cancer.

Studying cellular division mechanisms of tumour cells taken from leukaemic patients to find antibody targets that will make antibody-mediated therapies more effective against leukaemia.

Researching the role of cell-adhesion molecules and cytokines in maintaining a balance between cell proliferation and inhibition of haemopoietic stem cells
Studying the functional characterisation of dcs to identify specific surface molecules that pick up antigens.