MEng (Biol), PhD.
Associate Professor Michael Gantier leads the Nucleic Acids and Innate Immunity laboratory in the Centre for Innate Immunity and Infectious Disease at the Hudson Institute of Medical Research. He serves on the Scientific Advisory Boards for both Pharmorage and Noxopharm.
Michael’s research has focused on the definition of how nucleic acids (RNA and DNA) modulate immune responses. He joined Hudson Institute in 2006, working to define the interaction of RNAs with the innate immune system, leading to the discoveries of structural determinants of RNAs which underlie their capacity to activate or inhibit immune responses by Toll-like receptors (TLRs). This is an area he continues to investigate. More recently, his laboratory discovered how immune responses could be engaged in damaged cells, with implications in infection, immunity, and cancer.
Michael was promoted to Associate Professor in 2020, has published 75 peer-reviewed publications, and is an inventor on six PCT patents. Two of these patents were recently licensed to Noxopharm subsidiary Pharmorage.
Michael's work has been recognised and awarded a number of substantial grants, his work attracting over $7 million in total grants. He has been awarded an ARC Future Fellowship and, most recently, a $1.5 million NHMRC grant and a $1.5 million Victorian Government grant for work relating to the Hudson / Pharmorage / Noxopharm collaboration.
He holds a Masters in Biological / Biosystems Engineering from the University of Technology, Compiegne, France and a PhD in Medicine and Therapeutics from University College, Dublin.