Fellowship awarded to MMRI researcher in Australian first

On the eve of Jose Carreras’ only Brisbane concert, Mater Medical Research Institute (MMRI) researcher Dr Hannah Cullup was the first researcher in Australia to receive the Jose Carreras International Leukaemia Foundation Fellowship award.

Jose Carreras established the Jose Carreras International Leukaemia Foundation in 1988 after his own battle with leukaemia and has invested more than 7.5 million euros in research and funded more than 150 scientific projects across the globe.

Dr Cullup, whose project is titled ‘Antibody mediated dendritic cell depletion to attenuate graft versus host disease and promote graft versus leukaemia’, is the first medical researcher in Australia to receive this fellowship.

“Leukaemia is a disease of the blood and bone marrow and continues to be a life threatening condition affecting both children and adults. When a leukaemia patient has to undergo a bone marrow transplant they may unfortunately suffer from a complication called graft versus host disease,” Dr Cullup said.

“The project will use an antibody to kill a particular type of white blood cell, called a dendritic cell, and then determine if this antibody can prevent graft versus host disease, and promote the beneficial graft versus leukaemia effect—the reason why we give a patient a transplant.”

“I am honoured to receive this three year fellowship and am excited to begin the project,” she said.

Scientists at the MMRI have been researching how the body’s immune system works in health and disease for over 10 years. By understanding how the body’s immune response goes wrong new, smarter therapies can be developed to treat or prevent disease.