Purcell lab news
Behind every treatment that improves human health is a story of discovery. Every day we make new research discoveries and forge partnerships that have a global impact. Read about some of these here.
News and outreach highlights
Professor Tony Purcell's ground-breaking work has featured prominently in many outlilets. Here are a few highlights:
About Professor Purcell's research:
- Shining light into 'black box' of influenza may lead to better vaccines: In a paper published in Nature Communications, Professor Tony Purcell and his collaborators have come one step closer to a more effective influenza vaccine. The team revealed how the immune system presents small bits of the flu virus (peptides) to T cells to stimulate the development of T cell immunity against the disease. Details of this research appeared in The Daily Telegraph, The Herald Sun, The Age and syndicated across many other newspapers. Read more. July 2019
- New discovery helps researchers better understand the immune system: A team of researchers, co-led by the Monash BDI's Professor Tony Purcell and Dr Nathan Croft, has found the immune system can recognise more proteins from viruses than previously thought. Answering one of the most long-standing questions about how the immune system fights infection, this study will guide improvements in vaccine design. Published in PNAS, received coverage on Medical Express, Mirage News, My Science, City News and more. February 2019
- Putting pep into peptide debate: Tony and his team's publication in Science Immunology provides significant new insights into trans-spliced peptides and their potential disease-fighting properties, opening up potential new vaccination and immunotherapies. October 2018
Funding, recognition and awards:
- US funding boost for autoimmune projects: Tony's research received funding from JDRF and the National Psoriasis Foundation. July 2019
- $20 million in NHMRC project grants for Monash BDI researchers: Tony's NHMRC Project Grant funding, December 2018
- Recognising outstanding achievements and reflecting on 2018: Tony and his team receive the Monash BDI Director's Highly Commended Publication Award for their publication titled ‘A subset of HLA-I peptides are not genomically templated: Evidence for cis- and trans-spliced peptide ligands’ published in the journal Science Immunology. November 2018
- New approach for effective influenza immunity: Dr Patricia Illing, is awarded a 2018 Michelson Prize for Human Immunology and Vaccine Research for her “innovative and disruptive” investigations into how the immune system responds to the influenza virus.June 2018
- A$9.8 million fight against superbugs: Tony is one of the Monash scientists to receive funding from the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) to develop cutting edge treatments for life-threatening infections caused by bacterial superbugs. April 2014
Read more Purcell Lab news at Monash BDI.
Read more Purcell Lab press/media coverage.
Monash BDI news
With 700 researchers making incredible discoveries daily, Monash BDI has many success stories to share.