MUSCLE CELL COMMUNICATION AND REPAIR
With
Dr. William Roman
Group Leader,
Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute (ARMI)
Monash University, Melbourne, Australia
RESEARCHER PROFILE
Filmed in Melbourne | April 2025
Dr. William Roman is a Group Leader at the Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute (ARMI) at Monash University. He obtained his PhD from Paris Descartes University and Freie University of Berlin, focusing on nuclear positioning during skeletal muscle development. Dr. Roman’s research journey has taken him across the globe, including postdoctoral work in Barcelona, tissue engineering in Lisbon, and a brief stint at Stanford University.
At ARMI, Dr. Roman leads innovative research on intercellular communication within muscle organs. His work involves growing human muscles on chips to understand how skeletal muscle cells interact with neurons and tendons. This research aims to develop better models for studying muscle diseases, drug screening, and even applications in cellular agriculture and biorobotics.
Dr. Roman’s recent breakthrough in muscle repair mechanisms, independent of stem cells, has potential implications for preserving muscle function in exercise, diseases, and aging. His lab employs cutting-edge techniques such as cell biology, tissue engineering, and spatial transcriptomics.
In recognition of his groundbreaking work, Dr. Roman was awarded the prestigious 2024 Metcalf Prize for Stem Cell Research, highlighting his significant contributions to the field of regenerative medicine.
Dr Roman’s research has been funded by the Baker Foundation, Australia’s NHMRC and more recently the National Stem Cell Foundation.
Source: Supplied and supplemented
-
Better biomarkers for predicting the incidence of having atherosclerosis and heart attack
Assoc Prof Bursill is a vascular biologist with interests and expertise in vascular inflammation, atherosclerosis and angiogenesis. She completed her PhD at The University of Adelaide in lipid metabolism then headed to Oxford University for five years to undergo a postdoctoral post in the Departments of Cardiovascular Medicine and Pathology. Her postdoctoral time triggered her interest in the mechanisms that cause atherosclerosis and in particular the role of small inflammatory proteins called chemokines.
-
Systems genetics to determine risk of developing diabetes complications
Dr Mara Zeissig is a recently appointed Lab Head within the Tumour Inflammation and Immunotherapy Program at the South Australian immunoGENomics Cancer Institute (SAiGENCI).
Her research focuses on studying immune evasion mechanisms in lung and pancreatic cancers to identify novel ways to increase response to immunotherapy. Her expertise is in genetically engineered mouse models of lung cancer, CRISPR-Cas9 screening technologies and T cell based immunotherapies (e.g Checkpoint inhibitors). -
Peripheral intravenous catheter management
Dr Grace Xu is a clinician-researcher, senior nurse practitioner, and emerging implementation scientist with more than 16 years of emergency nursing experience. She is a Fellow of the College of Emergency Nurses Australasia and a Centaur Fellow. She also leads the Early Career Researcher/Clinician Researcher portfolio within the Alliance for Vascular Access Teaching and Research group.
