Mathew Vadas

Biography

Professor Mathew Vadas is a physician and internationally renowned immunologist who leads a program of vascular research focused on the mechanisms of inflammation in endothelial cells and on the resultant impact of inflammation on endothelial function in various disease states. His program of drug discovery research uses multidisciplinary biotechnological approaches to uncover novel cellular signaling pathways or molecules involved in endothelial inflammation with the objective of developing new therapeutics. He is the Executive Director of the Centenary Institute, Sydney. Professor Vadas has established major research enterprises in Australia. He was founder and inaugural Director of the Hanson Centre for Cancer Research (now the Hanson Institute). He also was involved in establishing two ASX-listed biotechnology companies and consults to the Australian biotechnology sector. Professor Vadas is one Australia’s most highly cited scientists with >25,500 citations (H index = 85). He is an Inaugural (2001) ISI Award Citation Laureate (one of 33 most cited Australian researchers in all disciplines). His work has made seminal contributions to medical science. His early research implicating TNF-alpha inhibitors in endothelial activation (which in turn promotes endothelial inflammation), was the first description of endothelial activation as a necessary precursor in inflammation and spawned the modern-day TNF-alpha inhibitor drugs that are commonly used to manage inflammatory conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis. Professor Vadas is Board Member of Sydney Catalyst, and of the Institute for Creative Health and on the research advisory committee of ACRF. He is an inaugural Fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences (AAHMS). In 2012, he was awarded Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) "for distinguished service to medical and biotechnological research, particularly in the area of human immunology, to higher education, and through contributions to professional organisations”.

Research Interest

Professor Vadas leads a broad program of mechanistic and drug discovery research conducted in collaboration with Professor Jennifer Gamble as part of the Vascular Research program at the Centenary Institute. Together they lead a team of scientists who are using techniques in cell and molecular biology, biochemistry, bioinformatics and genomics to study mechanisms involved in endothelial inflammation in various disease states, with the aim of identifying new anti-inflammatory molecular targets. His team has helped define the role of sphingosine kinase and the role of microRNAs in the endothelial inflammatory process. Professor Vadas was the first to identify sphingosine kinase as a normal gene that behaves as an oncogene (phenomenon of non-oncogene addiction). Many of his laboratory’s discoveries have been patented.