Brendan Crabb | |
|---|---|
 Crabb in 2015 | |
| Born | Brendan Scott Crabb 13 September 1966 Australia |
| Alma mater | University of Melbourne |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Immunology |
| Institutions | Burnet Institute |
Brendan Scott Crabb (born 13 September 1966) is an Australian microbiologist, research scientist and director and chief executive officer of the Burnet Institute, based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. [1]
Educated in Papua New Guinea and Australia, Crabb received a Bachelor of Science (Honours) from the University of Melbourne in the Department of Microbiology. In 1992, he completed his PhD in virology with Michael J. Studdert at the School of Veterinary Science also at the University of Melbourne. [2] His PhD project, which explored proteins of equine herpes, led to a diagnostic test which could distinguish horses infected by the lethal equine herpes virus-1 and the less damaging equine herpes virus-4. [3] He then completed a postdoctoral fellowship in the laboratory of Alan Cowman before starting his independent laboratory at the University of Melbourne. [2]
Crabb's main research focus is on the identification of new targets for therapeutic intervention in malaria and the development of a malaria vaccine. More broadly, his interests mirror the mission of the Burnet Institute - to improve the health of poor and vulnerable communities through research, education and public health.
In 2009, Crabb and his research team identified the export protein translocon in malaria. This discovery was published in Nature and solved the mystery of how proteins with an export motif are trafficked out of the infected parasite and into the cytosol of the red blood cell host. This finding has broad impact in biology and also has considerable importance as a major new drug target in malaria. [4]
Together with his principal collaborator Alan Cowman, Crabb is also well known for his development of molecular genetic systems in human malaria, having described the first gene knockout in the causative agent Plasmodium falciparum in a paper published in the journal Cell. [5]
Professor Crabb is a prominent and trusted public communicator on COVID-19. He has led research strategies to support responses in Melbourne and internationally; especially in the areas of diagnostic test and vaccine development, epidemiology and modelling, and through community-based approaches to improve uptake of interventions.
Crabb was appointed director and CEO of Burnet Institute in 2008, [6] [7] a position previously held by Ian Gust AO, John Mills AO, [8] Steve Wesselingh, now executive director of the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute, [9] Ian McKenzie AM, and Mark Hogarth.
Although a molecular scientist by training, Crabb's interests include addressing technical and non-technical barriers to maternal, newborn and child health in the developing world. In recent years, under the banner of Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies, [10] he has established a major research field site in East New Britain in Papua New Guinea, principally to identify the underlying drivers (including malaria) of low birth weight and stunted growth in relatively calorie-rich, yet resource-poor settings. [11] [12]
Under Crabb's leadership, Burnet Institute has continued to focus on improving the health of vulnerable populations through strategic, infrastructure and policy initiatives, especially embedding research as a key pillar of the institute's international development activities. In addition, during Crabb's tenure as director and CEO Burnet has:
As President of the Association of Australian Medical Research Institutes (AAMRI) from 2012 to October 2014, [20] [21] Crabb was a leading advocate for high level policy reform and played critical roles in transformative government policy and funding initiatives, including the generation of the $20b Medical Research Future Fund. [22]
He is a Member of the PATH/Malaria Vaccine Initiative and Vaccine Science Portfolio Advisory Council (VSPAC), USA, [23] and was Co-Founder and Co-Chair of the Inaugural Malaria World Congress [24] in Melbourne, Australia, in 2018. He holds honorary professorial appointments at Monash University and Melbourne University in Australia. [25] Other special appointments include:
WEHI, previously known as the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, and as the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, is Australia's oldest medical research institute. Sir Frank Macfarlane Burnet, who won the Nobel Prize in 1960 for his work in immunology, was director from 1944 to 1965. Burnet developed the ideas of clonal selection and acquired immune tolerance. Later, Professor Donald Metcalf discovered and characterised colony-stimulating factors. As of 2015, the institute hosted more than 750 researchers who work to understand, prevent and treat diseases including blood, breast and ovarian cancers; inflammatory diseases (autoimmunity) such as rheumatoid arthritis, type 1 diabetes and coeliac disease; and infectious diseases such as malaria, HIV and hepatitis B and C.
Sir Gustav Victor Joseph Nossal is an Austrian-born Australian research biologist. He is famous for his contributions to the fields of antibody formation and immunological tolerance.
Michael F. Good was the Director of the Queensland Institute of Medical Research, from 2000 to 2010. He was Chair of the National Health and Medical Research Council.
The Burnet Institute is an Australian medical institute that combines medical research in the laboratory and the field, with public health action to address major health issues affecting disadvantaged communities in Australia, and internationally.
Michael Cowley FTSE is an Australian physiologist. He is best known for his mapping of the neural circuits involved in metabolism and obesity and diabetes treatment. He is a professor in the Department of Physiology at Monash University in the Faculty of Biomedical and Psychological Sciences. He is also a director of the Australian diabetes drug development company, Verva Inc, and director of the Monash Obesity & Diabetes Institute] (modi).
Douglas James Hilton is an Australian molecular biologist. He is the CEO of CSIRO and immediate past Director of the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research in Melbourne, Australia. His research has focused on cytokines, signal transduction pathways and the regulation of blood cell formation (hematopoiesis). Hilton was the President of the Association of the Australian Medical Research Institutes (AAMRI) from 2014-16.
Chetan Eknath Chitnis is an Indian scientist in the field of malaria research. He is the head of the Malaria Parasite Biology and Vaccines Unit at the Institut Pasteur in Paris and an elected fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences (2009) as well as Indian National Science Academy (2014). He received the Shanti Swaroop Bhatnagar Award in 2004 and the Infosys Prize in Life Sciences 2010. Chitnis is the former principal investigator of the malaria research group at the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB) in New Delhi.
Josephine Forbes is an Australian scientist specialising in the study of glycation and diabetes. She has been studying diabetes since 1999 and has worked at Royal Children's Hospital, University of Melbourne and Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute in Melbourne Australia. Since 2012 she has led the Glycation and Diabetes team at Mater Research which is a world-class medical research institute based at South Brisbane, and part of the Mater Group. Josephine is program leader for Mater's Chronic Disease Biology and Care theme, building greater understanding of the biological basis of a broad range of chronic diseases, and developing preventative strategies and innovative treatments to improve patient outcomes. Josephine and her team focus on how advanced glycation contributes to the pathogenesis of diabetes and its complications such as kidney disease.
David James Kemp was an Australian plant geneticist and parasitologist.
Melissa Helen Little is an Australian scientist and academic, currently Theme Director of Cell Biology, heading up the Kidney Regeneration laboratory at the Murdoch Children's Research Institute. She is also a Professor in the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, University of Melbourne, and Program Leader of Stem Cells Australia. In January 2022, she became CEO of the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Stem Cell Medicine reNEW, an international stem cell research center based at University of Copenhagen, and a collaboration between the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, Australia, and Leiden University Medical Center, The Netherlands.
David Joshua Handelsman, (AO) is trained in Medicine and Endocrinology. His expertise is in testicular function and androgen physiology, pharmacology, and toxicology. His experience spans basic, clinical, and public health domains including a recent focus on genetic models of androgen action, steroid mass spectrometry, and anti-doping science. He was Australia's first Professor in Reproductive Endocrinology and Andrology. He has worked in the US, Australia, and Germany. His professional involvement includes the World Health Organization (WHO) Human Reproduction Programme's Male Task Force, the United Nations Fund for Population Activities, Endocrine Society of Australia, World Anti-Doping Agency's Health, Medicine and Research Committee, and Australian Drug Evaluation Committee.
Alan Frederick Cowman AC, FRS, FAA, CorrFRSE, FAAHMS, FASP, FASM is an internationally acclaimed malaria researcher whose work specialises in researching the malaria-causing parasite, Plasmodium falciparum, and the molecular mechanisms it uses to evade host responses and antimalarial drugs. As of May 2024, he is the deputy directory and Laboratory Head of the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research (WEHI) in Melbourne, and his laboratory continues to work on understanding how Plasmodium falciparum, infects humans and causes disease. He was elected as a fellow of the Royal Society in 2011 and awarded the Companion of the Order of Australia in 2019 for his "eminent service to the biological sciences, notably to molecular parasitology, to medical research and scientific education, and as a mentor."
Anne Kelso is an Australian biomedical researcher specialising in immunology and influenza. She is the Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Government's National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC).
Lisa Maher is Professor and head of Viral Hepatitis Epidemiology, at the Kirby Institute for Infection and Immunity, at the University of New South Wales and was made Member of the Order of Australia in 2015. She was awarded an Elizabeth Blackburn Fellowship, in Public Health from the NHMRC, in 2014. She is a fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences.
Wai-Hong Tham is a Malaysian professor at the University of Melbourne and the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research (WEHI), and joint head of the division of Infectious Disease and Immune Defense. She researches the molecular biology of the malaria parasite Plasmodium vivax.
Laura K. Mackay is an Australian immunologist and Professor of Immunology at the University of Melbourne. Mackay is the Theme Leader in Immunology and Laboratory Head at the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity. In 2022, she was the youngest Fellow elected to the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences.
Susan Evelyn Dorsch is an Australian physician and educator. She became the first female appointed to Professorship in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Sydney. She is Emeritus Professor at the University of Sydney.
Emily Banks is an Australian epidemiologist and public health physician, working mainly on chronic disease. She is a Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health and Head of the Centre for Public Health Data and Policy at the Australian National University, and a visiting professor at the University of Oxford.
Julie Bines, is a clinician and researcher working in Melbourne, Australia. Alongside being a professor and deputy head of the Department of Paediatrics at the University of Melbourne, she is also a paediatric gastroenterologist at the Royal Children's Hospital Melbourne and is the leader of the Enteric Diseases group at the Murdoch Children's Research Institute. Bines is the joint head of the WHO Collaborative Centre for Child Health and founding member of Women in Global Health Australia.
Louise E. Purton is an Australian biologist who is Professor of Medicine and head of the Stem Cell Regulation Laboratory at St. Vincent's Institute of Medical Research in Melbourne. Her research considers the stem cells responsible for the production of blood cells and the regulations of haematopoietic diseases. She was awarded the International Society for Experimental Hematology McCulloch & Till Award in 2022. She has experienced profound bilateral hearing loss since the age of three and has been recognised for her work supporting Equity and Diversity, particularly amongst women and people with disability, and is a member of the AAMRI Gender, Equity and Diversity and Inclusion group GEDI.