2015 Metcalf Prizes awarded to exceptional stem cell researchers

The National Stem Cell Foundation of Australia has recognised Professor Ryan Lister and Associate Professor Christine Wells with the annual Metcalf Prize. The $50,000 award was named for the late Professor Donald Metcalf AC, who helped transform cancer treatment and transplantation medicine and paved the way for potential stem cell therapy in the treatment of many other conditions.

Professor Ryan Lister.

Professor Lister, from The University of Western Australia (UWA), generated the first comprehensive maps of the human epigenome, finding that the chemical signposts that comprise the epigenome differ between embryonic stem cells and specialised adult cells. He also discovered that when specialised human cells were converted into adult stem cells, the reprogrammed adult stem cells retained a memory of the cell they once were. He believes it is possible to make these cells forget their past lives, enabling them to be used for other purposes.

“We want to create a tool that will allow us to understand, edit and correct any ‘memories’ that might result in cell behaviour that we want to avoid,” Professor Lister said. “Ultimately, this could lead to new stem cells derived from adult cells that can be safely used to treat patients, for example, new cardiac cells to heal damaged heart tissues.”

Associate Professor Wells, from The University of Queensland (UQ), is revolutionising the way stem cell researchers and bioinformaticians share information and interact. She leads the Stemformatics initiative - an online encyclopaedia of detailed scientific information on how thousands of different genes shape people. This has enabled the discovery of a new type of pluripotent stem cell - only the second type that can be grown in the lab from adult tissues.

Dr Wells will use her Metcalf Prize to expand Stemformatics for the worldwide stem cell research community. She said, “This will allow researchers to interrogate their own data more deeply, compare it with the data of other researchers, gain new insights and perhaps even discover other classes of stem cells with therapeutic potential.”