Wayne Tilley

Biography

Professor Tilley is the inaugural Chair of the Dame Roma Mitchell Cancer Research Laboratories, University of Adelaide (2002- current). His research program is broadly focussed on hormonal carcinogenesis, with an emphasis on mechanisms of sex hormone signalling and the emergence of resistance to hormonal therapies used in the treatment of breast and prostate cancer. An undergraduate of the University of Adelaide, he subsequently completed a PhD at Flinders University in Adelaide and then was awarded an NHMRC CJ Martin Fellowship to undertake postdoctoral studies at UT Southwestern in Dallas, Texas, USA, where he cloned the human androgen receptor (AR). He returned to Flinders University in the early 1990s, where he established an independent breast and prostate cancer research program. In collaboration with the Head of Surgery, Professor Villis Marshall, Prof Tilley established the Flinders Cancer Centre at Flinders University / Flinders Medical Centre in the mid 1990’s. During that time at Flinders University he developed an internationally recognized research program on sex steroid hormone action in breast and prostate cancer, making a major contribution to understanding mechanisms of resistance to endocrine therapies. His research has demonstrated the oncogenic potential of the AR in prostate cancer and, conversely, a tumour suppressor role in breast cancer. A current major research focus is the development of novel AR target therapies for both cancers. In prostate cancer, this involves the generation of novel drugs to inhibit constitutively active AR variants that lack the ligand binding domain and are unresponsive to conventional androgen deprivation therapies. In the case of breast cancer, his research has led to new strategies to activate the AR and inhibit the growth of tumours that are driven by estrogen receptor alpha (ER). More recently, his research has highlighted the importance of cross-talk between progesterone, androgen and estrogen receptors in breast cancer to modulate disease outcomes.Prof Tilley convenes the International Breast and Prostate Cancer PacRim Meeting series, and was the recipient of the University of Adelaide’s 2015 Executive Dean’s Award for Research Excellence and the Endocrine Society of Australia 2016 Senior Plenary Award. He recently gave the introductory Plenary Lecture at the 2016 International Congress of Endocrinology in Beijing, China.

Research Interest

Medicine,Medical Education,Research,etc