ROLE OF METABOLIC DYSFUNCTION IN ADVANCED PROSTATE CANCER
RESEARCHER PROFILE
Dr Jennifer Gunter (Filmed March 2024)
Senior Research Associate (Cancer Metabolism),
Australia Prostate Cancer Research Centre – Queensland (APCRC-Q) & Group Leader, Cancer Metabolism Group,
Translational Research Institute (TRI),
Queensland, Australia
Dr Jennifer (Jenni) Gunter is a mid-career researcher, with a metabolic research background spanning almost 15 years. She leads a research team examining the metabolic plasticity of cancer cells with the aim of identifying therapeutic targeting strategies that extend patient survival. Jenni completed her PhD in 2005 at the Oxford Centre for Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolism at Oxford University.
She returned to Australia in 2006 with a University of Queensland Postdoctoral Fellowship at the UQ Diamantina Institute to pursue studies into the turnover and metabolism of adipocytes in obesity.
In 2010, Jenni joined the Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation, at QUT to research the intersection between chronic metabolic disorders and their emerging relationship to cancer. These studies were focused on the role of insulin and the relationship between the insulin and androgen signalling axes.
Dr Gunter was drawn to the area of prostate cancer research and the intersection between chronic metabolic disorders and their emerging relationship to cancer. Her strengths include expertise in the metabolic syndrome, insulin signalling and metabolism, and she has a demonstrated record of successful and productive research projects in metabolic research where she now applies her efforts to understanding the role of metabolic dysfunction in advanced prostate cancer.
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Visceral pain and the gut-brain axis
Professor Stuart Brierley is Director of the Visceral Pain Research Group, Director of the Hopwood Centre for Neurobiology, and Theme co-Leader of Lifelong Health at the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI).
Prof Brierley is an international expert on the ‘gut-brain axis’ and chronic visceral pain mechanisms. Current investigations are on a individual cell type called the enterochromaffin cell, and it helps signal pain and anxiety from the gastrointestinal tract to the brain.
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Genetic disease research imitating function and architecture of organs
Professor Wolvetang was among the first to bring the first human embryonic stem cells to Queensland, with his Wolvetang Group at the AIBN now renowned for its work with organoids: growing them, studying them, and using them to try and understand diseases and human development.
Using cutting edge technology, Professor Wolvetang designs and grows organoids both for their own work and for labs across the country, coaxing pluripotent stem cells or tissue samples into 3D structures that mimic the function and architecture of real brains, livers, kidneys, spinal cords, and intestines.
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Dr Jasmine Kaur
RESEARCH IN SPINAL CORD INJURY
@ GRIFFITH UNIVERSITY, QUEENSLAND, AUSTRALIA
