Scientific Advisory Board

Dr John J Rossi

John J Rossi, Ph.D., Beckman Research Institute of the City of Hope, Duarte, CA.

Dr. Rossi is the Lidow family Professor and Chair of the Division of Molecular Biology, Beckman Research Institute of the City of Hope, and Dean, Graduate School of Biological Sciences, Beckman Research Institute of the City of Hope. Dr. Rossi received his doctoral training in genetics at the University of Connecticut in Storrs and postdoctoral training in molecular genetics at Brown University. His research has focused on RNA biology and clinical applications of small RNAs. His group was the first to demonstrate that hammerhead ribozymes could be used for inhibition of HIV replication. This research program led to two clinical trials in which ribozyme genes have been transduced into hematopoietic stem cells for autologous transplant in HIV infected individuals. He is the recipient of an NIH Merit award for his work on ribozymes and HIV. Work in the laboratory continues to focus upon mechanisms of small RNA mediated inhibition of gene expression and RNA based therapeutics, with recent emphasis on function and applications of RNA interference and expressed short hairpin RNAs for therapeutic treatment of HIV and cancers. He has published over 200 peer reviewed articles and numerous reviews and commentaries on RNAi based therapeutics.

Professor Cy Stein, MD, PhD

Cy Stein is Head of Medical Genitourinary Oncology and Professor of Medicine, Urology and Molecular Pharmacology at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York. He also serves as an Attending Physician at the Montefiore Medical Center and is a Diplomate of nearly 20 years' standing of both the American Board of Internal Medicine and the American Board of Oncology. Professor Stein's distinguished career in research and treatment of cancers has seen him involved for the past 15 years with leading preclinical and clinical trials of nucleic acid therapies for cancers, with increasing emphasis in recent years on RNA interference.

Professor Bryan Williams PhD Hon FRSNZ

Professor Williams was appointed the Director of the Monash Institute of Medical Research on January 1 2006 and also heads up the Centre for Cancer Research at the Institute. Prior to this appointment, Professor Williams was the Chairman of the Department of Cancer Biology at the Lerner Research Institute of the Cleveland Clinic Foundation in Cleveland, Ohio, USA, a position he had held since 1991. He was also an Associate Director of the Case Comprehensive Cancer Centre at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. He has previously worked in New Zealand, England, Canada and America. His research interests have included molecular biology of tumour suppression and focusing on the role tumour suppressor genes may play in regulating cell growth, differentiation and apoptosis. His research on Wilms Tumour (a cancer of the kidney that primarily affects children) continues, as does his work on protein kinase R, an important cellular signalling molecule and other projects on innate immunity. In 1990 Bryan was the recipient of the Milstein Award from the International Society for Interferon Research in recognition for his outstanding contributions to advancing interferons for treatment of human disease.

Dr David Crump

Dr Crump is a qualified medical practitioner with comprehensive and diverse experience in drug discovery, preclinical development, clinical research, and strategic drug development from a period of almost 15 years with Amrad Corporation Ltd. (subsequently Zenyth Therapeutics Limited.) where until early 2007 he was Medical Director and Head of Development. He has been responsible for leading project teams successfully progressing drug candidates from the identification of a suitable drug development candidate through manufacture, formal preclinical testing, obtaining regulatory approval and into Phase I and Phase II clinical trials in Australia, Europe and North America. He has drug development experience in a diverse range of therapeutic areas including inflammatory diseases, oncology, neurology, pain medicine and virology, and has particular experience in the strategic development of drugs within the context of the Australian commercial and biotechnology environments.