George Werther
Professor
Cell Biology
Murdoch Childrens Research Institute
Australia
Biography
Professor George Werther, a paediatric endocrinologist, is Director of the Centre for Hormone Research at Murdoch Childrens Research Institute and Director of Endocrinology at the Royal Children's Hospital (RCH) in Melbourne. At the RCH, he oversees a busy clinical practice in childhood diabetes and endocrine disorders. He has been involved in clinical and basic research on growth and development for about 30 years, focusing on growth hormone (GH) and the insulin-like growth factor (IGF) system and mechanisms of regulation of the linear growth in both short and tall stature. His more recent work examines roles of the IGF system in abnormal growth and cancer, as well as in metabolism and obesity. He was a founding Director of Antisense Therapeutics Limited, a publicly listed biotech company with a strong focus on therapeutic regulation of the GH/IGF system, whose original lead drug came from research in his laboratory. He has served on multiple national and international scientific and commercialisation review bodies and editorial boards, and has given many invited national and international lectures and symposia. He is regarded as an international authority on the IGF system in health and disease. His major outside interest is in theatre performance, where he has played a variety of characters, both real (Sigmund Freud, CS Lewis, Ludwig Van Beethoven), and imaginary.
Research Interest
Paediatric Endocrinology and Oncology
Publications
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Pell GS, Lin A, Wellard RM, Werther GA, Cameron FJ, Finch SJ, Papoutsis J, Northam EA. Age-related loss of brain volume and T2 relaxation time in youth with type 1 diabetes. Diabetes care. 2012 Mar 1;35(3):513-9.
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Azar WJ, Zivkovic S, Werther GA, Russo VC. IGFBP-2 nuclear translocation is mediated by a functional NLS sequence and is essential for its pro-tumorigenic actions in cancer cells. Oncogene. 2014 Jan 30;33(5):578-88.
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Yau SW, Henry BA, Russo VC, McConell GK, Clarke IJ, Werther GA, Sabin MA. Leptin enhances insulin sensitivity by direct and sympathetic nervous system regulation of muscle IGFBP-2 expression: evidence from nonrodent models. Endocrinology. 2014 Jun 1;155(6):2133-43.
