Leon Brownrigg, BSc GDipSc MMedSc GDipEd
Senior Medical Scientist at Cell and Tissue Therapies (CTTWA)
Royal Perth Hospital, Perth, WA
Alicia Didsbury, PhD
Research Fellow
The University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
Ashleigh Henderson, BSc, MSc
Senior Immunotherapy Scientist at the Bone Marrow Transplant / Cellular Therapy Laboratory
Royal Brisbane & Women’s Hospital (RBWH), Brisbane, Qld
Paulo Martins, PhD
Research Officer at the Tumour Immunology Laboratory
QIMR Berghofer, Brisbane, Qld
Leon Brownrigg, BSc GDipSc MMedSc GDipEd
Leon’s career has spanned academia, private industry, and the public health sector. He started as a research officer at the University of Western Australia, Royal Perth Hospital and Fremantle Hospital investigating a diverse range of subjects including breast and prostate cancers, tissue remodeling in inflammatory bowel disease, and genetic polymorphisms associated with dyslipidemia in diabetes mellitus. He was then recruited to industry where he spent nine years with an Australian start-up biotech company Genestream Pty Ltd, developing luciferase reporter assay technologies. He is co-inventor of a class of bright synthetic luciferases, technology previously licensed and marketed as TurboLuc by Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc and now owned by Promega Corporation.
Currently he is Senior Medical Scientist at CTTWA, Royal Perth Hospital, where he had been recruited to establish a modular manufacturing platform for non-virally mediated genetically modified cell therapies including CAR T-cells. He has experience in Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP)-grade clinical cell therapy manufacture, process development and clinical research translation. His current major projects include the translation and manufacture of a TIL therapy for malignant melanoma using the CliniMACS Prodigy TRT process.
“As an ISCT-CMaT Workforce Development in Biomanufacturing course graduate and having an Education background, I would like to see programs deployed for the ANZ region with focuses on undergraduate and graduate training for Good Clinical Practice (GCP) and GMP environments, including manufacturing and quality, as there remain significant recruitment deficits in these areas. Cell and Gene Therapy (CGT) growth is rapid. It is now possible to provide entire career paths for ESPs in CGT, from graduation to retirement, if the educational opportunities are developed and presented. ISCT has a fundamental role in the nexus between government, academia, and industry, and can shape the future of the next generation of ESPs.”
Alicia Didsbury, PhD
Alicia has a Ph.D. in immunology from The University of Auckland and currently leads the translational cell therapy team out of the Dunbar Lab Group at the School of Biological Sciences. She is a Lotteries Health Research Fellow, and her work focuses on developing autologous T-cell therapies for melanoma and epithelial ovarian cancers.
Alicia is passionate about developing cell therapies in New Zealand, the access to which is currently limited. She is also dedicated to supporting research infrastructure that will make it easier for researchers and medical professionals to rapidly translate ideas into treatments.
Alicia is a member of the ISCT ESP committee and the ESP mentoring work group and is also an ambassador for the global ISCT meeting in Paris this year. Alicia has joined the ANZ ESP subcommittee to help promote CGT in the ANZ region and to be more involved in this growing industry. In addition to her roles in ISCT, Alicia serves on the Australia New Zealand Gynaecological Oncology Group ovarian cancer tumour work group and as a trustee for the New Zealand charity Cure Our Ovarian Cancer.
“I am excited to work with ISCT to help build CGT implementation and competence in New Zealand and especially to support other ESPs to get involved and become leaders in this rapidly growing sector.”
Ashleigh Henderson, BSc, MSc
Ashleigh has had a key role in the development of the CAR-T cell program at the Royal Brisbane & Woman’s Hospital where she has developed a new set of processes and documentation to position RBWH as a central Immunotherapy treatment hub. This has included attaining cGMP supplier approval for commercial CAR-T cell manufacture and in-house CAR-T cell manufacture for patients through clinical trial access. Ashleigh is passionate about being able to bring new, promising cell and gene therapy treatments to patients through the conduct of rigorous clinical trials.
“Even though I am new to the ISCT community, I feel very privileged for the opportunity to be on the ESP committee. I hope that my involvement can help other early stage scientists find their place in the field of cell and gene therapy. I would also encourage any ISCT ESP members to reach out to any committee member for guidance or for representation of any input or ideas for the ISCT organisation”.
Paulo Martins, PhD
Paulo’s background is in biochemistry and biotechnology and he has worked in the cell therapies industry focusing on the validation of mesenchymal stem cells as a cell therapy product. His research interests led him to pursue immunology at the University of Queensland where his work laid the groundwork for the development of novel antibody-based immunotherapeutics for viral infections following transplantation. He has since joined the Tumour Immunology Laboratory where he focuses on novel immunotherapies for the treatment of cancers. His knowledge of adoptive cell therapies and cytomegalovirus (CMV) have provided him with a unique understanding on the potential synergies of using CMV immunotherapy, with chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) immune cells, as dual targeting strategies to augment cancer treatments. The work has been licensed to a QIMR Berghofer spin-out company called Cyteph.
“As a translational immunologist I hope to facilitate networking opportunities and collaborations between academia, and the regulatory and commercialization pillars of cell and gene therapies across the ANZ region.”
Please let the ANZ ESP Sub-committee members know if you are interested to join and contribute.
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