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Professor Jane Visvader
the 2016 Florey lecture
The Annual Florey Lecture 2016
Professor Jane Visvader
‘Mapping the mammary gland to understand breast cancer’
Professor Jane Visvader is Joint Head of the Division of Stem Cells and Cancer and the Breast Cancer Laboratory at The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research. She carried out PhD studies in the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Adelaide, and held subsequent positions as a postdoctoral fellow at the Salk Institute, San Diego, and Research Associate/Instructor at the Children’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School, Boston.
Professor Visvader's previous work focused on identifying transcription factors important for determining cell-fate in the haemopoietic system. In 1998, she made a transition to mammary gland development and breast cancer, with her appointment to the Victorian Breast Cancer Research Consortium as a Group Leader, based at The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research. She was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science in 2012 and was awarded a NHMRC Australia Fellowship.
Her research group (jointly headed with G Linderman) has made significant contributions to the mammary gland field. Current efforts are directed towards further purifying stem cells and identifying pathways that modulate their activity. By studying the precancerous phase, through careful analysis of the earliest cellular changes and pathways switched on in these cells, a disrupted pathway was recently identified that could be therapeutically targeted. This is now being tested in a pilot clinical trial as a prevention therapy for women carrying a BRCA1 mutation.
Professor Visvader will discuss mapping the mammary gland to understand breast cancer.
Previous Lectures
Each year, to honour and celebrate medical research, innovation and success, The Florey Medical Research Foundation invites a prominent researcher to Adelaide to deliver a public lecture in their field. Learn more
