Exploiting the functional interplay between the epigenome and host immune system to devise new cancer therapies

Professor Ricky Johnstone received his PhD from the University of Melbourne in 1993 and after a postdoc at Harvard Medical School returned to Melbourne to establish the Gene Regulation Laboratory at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre in 2000. Professor Johnstone is the Associate Director of Laboratory Research at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre and plays a key role in defining the strategic direction of the research division. He has published more than 190 peer-reviewed papers, was awarded an NHMRC Senior Principal Research Fellowship in 2015 and in 2011 was promoted to Full Professor in the Department of Pathology at the University Of Melbourne. He is a cancer researcher who has utilized genetic mouse models of hemopoietic malignancies and solid tumors to understand the epigenetic changes that underpin tumor onset and progression and to develop new therapies that target epigenetic and transcriptional regulatory proteins.  In 2008 Dr Johnstone and Dr Grant McArthur established the Cancer Therapeutics Program within the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre to bring together a critical mass of researchers with the aim to translate fundamental research findings into clinical outcomes that will benefit cancer patients.