Areas of interest

Blood cancer Inflammation and cancer Lung cancer Ovarian cancer

Research group

Signal Transduction in Cancer Biology

Biography

Dr Daniel Garama is a protein chemist and mass-spectrometry specialist at Hudson Institute of Medical Research. He has dedicated his career to the use of protein chemistry and proteomic approaches to elucidate and understand fundamental biological mechanisms that lead to clinical and commercial outcomes. He specialises in proteomic techniques, particularly the design and use of mass spectrometry to identify protein interactions, function and post translational modifications. Dr Garama has over 15 years of experience in this field and has undertaken training at specialist international facilities to become an expert in both qualitative and quantitative techniques, along with specialist training in native-MS, hydrogen-deuterium exchange-MS, label free-MS and post translational modification analysis. His current research interest surrounds mitochondrial proteomics, particularly those involved in mitochondrial biogenesis and the import, modification and interactions of non-MTS tagged proteins into the mitochondria.

Next Generation PDT program developing new non-invasive cancer treatments

There is a desperate need for improved and less invasive treatments for cancers. Dr Daniel Garama and his research team have developed naturally derived Next Generation Photodynamic Therapy (NG-PDT) compounds that are able to target and kill tumour cells in melanoma, ovarian cancer, lung cancer, blood cancer, prostate cancer and pancreatic cancer, in both invitro and pre-clinical models, and also clinically in melanoma.

This collaborative program supported by RMW Cho has led to the development of a next generation Photodynamic Therapy Photodynamic drug that uses far UV light and kill tumour cells via oxygen generation. These next generation targeted drugs offer a new and non-invasive approach to cancer, with the hope to revolutionise cancer treatment and patient outcomes both here in Australia and Worldwide.

RMW Cho is a key partner in this program, their passion for wanting new cancer treatments for a better world has been inspiring and lead to us developing these new exciting compounds. RMW Cho have been able to bring together key academic and industry partners to ensure this research programme moves forward freely with all necessary support.  Advanced molecular Technologies (Medicinal Chemistry), AB technologies (Light Technologies) and Invion (Commercialisation).

These compounds have been developed, tested and produced locally in Victora, and are 100 per cent Australian Made and 100 per cent a product of Australian Research. These developed NG-PDT compounds have greatly increased stability, selectivity, potency and to date are the best compounds discovered.

The next step is to move into clinical trial stages using these NG-PDT compounds with the aim of developing new non-invasive cancer treatment pathways for some of the deadliest cancers.

Team | Dr Daniel Garama, Lethica Low, Luhith Dimantha, Anurag Yadav, Dr Donald Murphy

Affiliates | Associate Professor Seb Marcuccio, Scott Carpenter, Michael Cho, Hon Cho, Alex Bennett