Monash scientist recognised by Fellowship to Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences
Professor Jamie Rossjohn and Professor Ian Frazer AC, AAHMS President
Monash University researcher Professor Jamie Rossjohn has been formally inducted into the Fellowship of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences (AAHMS).
Professor Rossjohn, Head of the Infection and Immunity Program at the Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute (BDI), was welcomed into the Academy at a ceremony held in Adelaide on 19 October.
Being elected as a Fellow honours the important contribution Professor Rossjohn has made to health and medical research in Australia. Professor Rossjohn, ARC Laureate Fellow, is recognised internationally for being at the cutting-edge of advances in the field of immunology.
“On behalf of my team and I, I am delighted to receive recognition of my findings on immunity - research that has been conducted at Monash over the last 15 years. I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge and highlight the tireless work of the research assistants in my laboratory, key members of the team whose work underpins our endeavours,” Professor Rossjohn said.
The Academy grants Fellowships to up to 50 outstanding medical scientists each year. This year’s new Fellows were officially recognised at the Formal Induction Dinner held as part of the Academy’s 2017 Annual Scientific Meeting.
In congratulating Professor Rossjohn, the Academy’s President, Professor Ian Frazer AC, said: “Health and medical research undertaken by the new Fellows of the Academy, and enabled by government and philanthropic funding, will help to ensure quality and equitable health care as we enter the age of precision medicine.”
The event, staged in collaboration with the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia (ASSA), brought together Australia’s leaders in health and medical research, social and political science. Its theme was ‘Health Equity: Challenges & Solutions’.
Professor Rossjohn delivered a talk on his work on Mucosal-Associated Invariant T-cells, or MAIT cells, and how these T-cells can recognise vitamin B metabolites and distinct small molecule compounds, including drugs. This represented the first description of how an antigen-presenting molecule could bind small organic metabolites – a finding that has implications for how commonly prescribed drugs can impact on T-cell immunity.
His induction into the Academy comes less than four months after his admission to the Fellowship of the Academy of Medical Sciences in the UK. In addition to heading the Infection and Immunity Program, Monash BDI’s largest program, Professor Rossjohn is Professor of Structural Immunology at Cardiff University, Wales. He is also a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science, among other fellowships.
Among his scientific achievements, Professor Rossjohn has provided the basis of key immune recognition events by T -cells. He has shown how T-cells recognise polymorphic Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) molecules in the context of protective immunity and aberrant T-cell reactivity and unearthed mechanisms of HLA polymorphism impacting on drug and food hypersensitivities, and Natural Killer (NK) cell receptor recognition. Moreover, he has pioneered our understanding of lipid- and metabolite- based immunity.
The Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences, established in 2014, aims to develop a healthier and more health literate community.
Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences - 2017 Fellows