Media Releases

Centenary researcher wins national award for excellence

28 November 2008: Congratulations to Dr Jeff Holst, one of the Centenary Institute's up-and-coming young researchers, who has been awarded the inaugural Discovery Award for his research into the immune system. The award - for an early career scientist whose discovery has already demonstrated its importance or impact - is part of Research Australia's Thank You Day program for 2008.

While undertaking in-depth studies at the prestigious St Jude Children's Research Hospital in the USA, Dr Holst discovered a key mechanism that controls 'negative selection', which can lead to autoimmunity.

In autoimmune diseases, rather than attacking invading microbes, the immune system attacks the body's own organs, tissues and cells. Some 80 autoimmune diseases are known, including type 1 diabetes, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis and lupus.

"Our capacity to control the immune system and disease development has been limited by an incomplete understanding of the mechanisms involved, and this finding gave new insight into how these diseases start," Dr Holst explains. "What we found is that the triggers for the immune system are not simple on-off switches, rather they are a series of switches that act like a radio dial. In this way, multiple switches need to be turned off, or the dial turned down low for autoimmune diseases to occur."

This finding, published in Nature Immunology earlier this year, will allow further investigation of autoimmune diseases with the potential to develop improved diagnostics and treatments.

"I am very honoured to receive the inaugural Discovery Award from Research Australia," said Dr Holst. "I have been fortunate to work with talented colleagues, and have had great mentors who have had a profound impact on my career so far."

Dr Holst continues his research in the Gene and Stem Cell Therapy Program, headed by Professor John Rasko, at the Centenary Institute and has turned his focus to cancer.

"I have always been passionate about cancer research," says Dr Holst. "I am currently investigating how prostate cancer cells increase their nutrient supply in order to grow. Cancer cells require more nutrients than normal cells and often increase the number of pumps that bring in nutrients.

"If we can find out how to block these pumps, we can hopefully starve the tumour of its nutrient supply, leading to better treatments for prostate cancer patients."

Professor Matthew Vadas, Centenary Institute Executive Director, says it is important for awards to recognise not only long-term career scientists but also young investigators to encourage their commitment to the field.

"Research takes time, patience and dedication and it can often be a long time going from experiment to experiment before reaching discovery," Professor Vadas said. "I extend my congratulations to Dr Holst for such an outstanding career to date. We are very proud to have him as a member of the Centenary Institute team and look forward to his future discoveries."