Robert Baxter

Biography

 Rob Baxter is head of the Hormones and Cancer laboratories at the Kolling Institute, University of Sydney/Royal North Shore Hospital, where he was formerly the institute director until January 2012. Since then he has concentrated on his research in translational cancer biology and proteomics. His research has contributed to understanding both the regulation of normal tissue and body growth, and the aberrant cellular growth in cancer and overgrowth syndromes. His group’s achievements include characterising the protein complexes that carry insulin-like growth factors (IGFs) in the circulation, and discovering how IGF binding proteins affect cancer growth and survival by modulating cell signalling pathways. His collaborative clinical studies have significantly advanced understanding of the role of these proteins in a variety of conditions including pregnancy, tumour-related hypoglycemia, and critical illness. He also established the laboratory for Cellular and Diagnostic Proteomics in the Kolling Institute, and is involved in biomarker discovery studies in breast and pancreatic cancers, and growth disorders. Rob has a PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Sydney, became a Fellow of the Australasian Association of Clinical Biochemists (FAACB) in 1987, was awarded a DSc (Sydney) in 1990, and was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science (FAA) in 2004. He has over 300 research publications, cited over 26,000 times, and an h-index of 83 (Google Scholar). He has given keynote plenary lectures in Australia, Asia, Europe, South America and the USA, and has received major research awards including the Dale Medal (Society for Endocrinology, UK), Wellcome (now GSK) Australia Medal, Lemberg Medal (ASBMB), Ramaciotti Medal for Excellence in Biomedical Research, and ICCNS-Springer Award (International). He was a member of NHMRC Research Committee from 1997-2003, chaired the National Committee for Biomedical Sciences of the Australian Academy of Science from 2006-2009, and is currently Vice-President of the International Society for IGF Research.

Research Interest

Current projects focus on the development of new treatments to overcome chemotherapy resistance in women with triple-negative breast cancer. These treatments target pathways that are activated by IGF binding protein-3 (IGFBP-3) in these cancers: EGF receptor signalling, sphingosine kinase activation, and DNA damage repair. Using both in vitro and in vivo models, the group has proven the efficacy of a novel combination therapy that is now being developed for testing in early clinical trials. Current competitive project grant funding is from the National Breast Cancer Foundation and Cancer Council NSW.