13 Oct 2023
Million-dollar fellowship set to enhance the functionality of cells that fight cancer
University of Melbourne’s Dr Daniel Utzschneider, Laboratory Head at the Doherty Institute, has been awarded a CSL Centenary Fellowship worth $1.25 million for his research aiming at improving immune responses against cancer.
An NHMRC Investigator Fellow, Dr Utzschneider said while immunotherapy is transforming cancer outcomes, it is succeeding in only a third of the patients because certain white blood cells called T cells are too exhausted.
“The CSL fellowship will allow me, for the next five years, to drive and accelerate our research program to target these exhausted T cells and enhance their functionality,” said Dr. Utzschneider.
“I look forward to developing an internationally renowned research program that not only pushes boundaries but improves existing immunotherapies and accessibility to all patients who need them. I am deeply humbled and grateful to CSL for enabling me to do this,” he added.
University of Melbourne’s Professor Sharon Lewin, Director of the Doherty Institute, congratulated Dr. Utzschneider.
“I am thrilled to see CSL’s recognition of Dr Utzschneider as an outstanding young research leader working at the current edge of immunotherapy. Daniel’s work is a testament to the need to improve immunotherapies and we hope his critical work will help to revolutionise how we treat cancer,” she said.
CSL, a global biotech company developing treatments and vaccines for rare and severe diseases, has funded Australia’s top biomedical researchers since 2016.
Dr Utzschneider, who completed his PhD at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland, in 2014 before pursuing his postdoctoral studies at the University of California San Diego and joining the Doherty Institute in 2018, joins ten active CSL Centenary Fellows from various medical research institutes and institutions of higher learning from across Australia.