Pre-Institute : I obtained my undergraduate medical training (M.B.B.S (Hons), B.Med.Sc.) at the University of Melbourne in 1998. From 1999-2002, I completed my internship and basic specialist training in paediatrics.

Degree and Project Title : PhD, "The evolution of mammalian noncoding RNAs and their expression in development and immunity"

Expectations : Despite receiving offers at the WEHI, Peter MacCallum Institute and University of Melbourne, I decided to commence a Ph.D in 2003 at the Ludwig Institute for a number of reasons. First, my earlier experience as a B.Med.Sc student at LICR highlighted to me the collegial and supportive environment that existed within the Institute. Secondly, the Institute showed enormous faith by allowing me to pursue a potentially risky project, which was not only in a fledgling research field of my choosing but also required significant supervision from interstate. Finally, I was swayed by the readily apparent wisdom, enthusiasm and congeniality of my eventual LICR supervisor, Weisan Chen.

Life after Ludwig : After completing the lab-based phase of my Ph.D in 2006, I temporarily returned to clinical medicine for the next 2 years to finish my advanced training in paediatrics, while simultaneously completing my Ph.D thesis. In 2008, I am moving to Harvard University to undertake postdoctoral research with Professor Craig Hunter, in whose lab I will study the role and significance of intercellular RNA transport in mammals. This work will be supported by a C J Martin Fellowship from the NHMRC, a CSL Fellowship in Medical Research from the Royal Australasian College of Physicians, and a Fulbright Postdoctoral Scholarship.

First author publications (** denotes shared first authorship)

1. Pang, K.C.**, Stephen, S.**, Dinger, M.E., Engstrom, P.G., Lenhard, B., and Mattick, J.S. RNAdb 2.0 - an expanded database of mammalian noncoding RNAs. Nucleic Acids Res 35, D178-82 (2007)
2. Pang K.C. Junk DNA? What a load of rubbish! Australasian Science. 28(10): 16-8 (2007).
3. Pang, K.C., Sanders, M.T., Monaco, J.J., Turner, S.J., Doherty, P.C. and Chen, W. Immunoproteasome subunit deficiencies impact differentially upon antigen presentation of immunodominant CD8+ T cell epitopes and their responding T cell repertoires following viral infection. J Immunol 177, 7680-7688 (2006).
4. Pang, K.C.**, Frith, M.C.** and Mattick, J.S. Rapid evolution of noncoding RNAs: lack of conservation does not mean lack of function. Trends Genet 22, 1-5 (2006).
5. Furuno, M.**, Pang, K.C.**, Ninomiya, N., Fukuda, S., Frith, M.C., Bult, C., Mattick, J.S. and Suzuki, H. Clusters of internally-primed transcripts reveal novel long noncoding RNAs. PLoS Genetics 2, 537-53 (2006).
6. Ravasi, T.**, Suzuki, H.**, Pang, K.C.**, Katayama, S.**, Furuno, M.**, Okunishi, R., Fukuda, S., Ru, K., Frith, M.C., Gongora, M.M., Grimmond, S.M., Hume, D.A., Hayashizaki, Y. and Mattick, J.S. Experimental validation of the regulated expression of large numbers of non-coding RNAs from the mouse genome. Genome Res 16, 11-9 (2006).
7. Pang, K.C., Wei, J.Q. and Chen, W. Dynamic quantification of MHC class I-peptide presentation to CD8+ T cells via intracellular cytokine staining. J Immunol Methods, (2006).
8. Pang, K.C., Stephen, S., Engstrom, P.G., Tajul-Arifin, K., Chen, W., Wahlestedt, C., Lenhard, B., Hayashizaki, Y. and Mattick, J.S. RNAdb--a comprehensive mammalian noncoding RNA database. Nucleic Acids Res 33, D125-30 (2005).

Click Here For More

Pre-Institute : BSc.(Hons), University of Melbourne, Department of Pathology/Ludwig Institute Honours

Degree and Project Title : PhD, "Targeting tumours using the humanised 3S193 antibody directed against the Lewis Y cancer associated carbohydrate antigen"

Expectations :After completing my undergraduate science degree, I wished to undertake honours at an established institute outside the normal university environment. The Ludwig Institute, with its focus on translational cancer research and well resourced laboratories, suited my research aims. The many new and varied techniques I have performed as part of my project and studies performed in collaboration with other groups led to a challenging and varied PhD, which certainly fulfilled my expectations.

Life after Ludwig : After completing my time at the Melbourne Centre for Clinical Sciences, I am taking up a Post-Doctoral position at the New York Branch of the Ludwig Institute, in association with the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Institute. My work there will involve identifying novel cancer associated antigens and developing novel therapies to target these antigens.

1. Lee FT, Mountain AJ, Kelly MP, Hall C, Rigopoulos A, Johns TG, Smyth FE, Brechbiel MW, Nice EC, Burgess AW, Scott AM. Enhanced efficacy of radioimmunotherapy with 90Y-CHX-A''-DTPA-hu3S193 by inhibition of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) signaling with EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor AG1478. Clin Cancer Res. 2005 Oct 1;11(19 Pt 2):7080s-7086s.
2. Kelly MP, Lee FT, Smyth FE, Brechbiel MW, Scott AM. Enhanced Efficacy of 90Y-Radiolabeled Anti-Lewis Y Humanized Monoclonal Antibody hu3S193 and Paclitaxel Combined-Modality Radioimmunotherapy in a Breast Cancer Model. J Nucl Med. 2006 Apr;47(4):716-725.
3. Kelly MP, Lee FT, Tahtis K, Smyth FE, Brechbiel MW, Scott AM. Radioimmunotherapy with alpha particle emitting 213Bi-CHX-A"-DTPA- hu3S193 is enhanced by combination with Paclitaxel chemotherapy. Clin Cancer Res. 2007 Sep15;13(18 Pt 2):5604s-5612s.
4. Kelly MP, Lee FT, Tahtis K, Power BE, Smyth FE, Brechbiel MW, Hudson PJ, Scott AM. Tumour targeting by a multivalent single-chain Fv (scFv) anti-Lewis Y antibody construct. Cancer Biotherapy & Radiopharmaceuticals. In press

Pre-Institute : I obtained a B.Sc. degree at the University of Melbourne (1999), and then completed my Honours at the Ludwig Institute For Cancer Research and the Dept of Pathology, University of Melbourne (2000).

Degree and Project Title : PhD, "Therapeutic efficacy and intracellular trafficking of anti-epidermal growth factor receptor antibodies"

Expectations :I joined the Ludwig Institute as an Honours student and continued in the same lab for my PhD studies. I was very excited to work on a project which we believe could have immediate relevance to treatment of cancer patients. During this time I received a great deal of support and encouragement from all the staff. The teamwork and camaraderie made it a pleasure to come to work every day! No doubt, many of the skills I learned while at the Ludwig helped me transition easily from PhD to postdoc life.

Life after Ludwig : After finishing my PhD studies at the Ludwig in Aug 2004, I began a postdoc in the Department of Cell Biology at Yale University in Connecticut USA, where I still am today. I am currently using advanced microscopy techniques such as Total Internal Reflection Fluorescence Microscopy (TIRFM) and 4D Spinning Disk Confocal Microscopy to analyze the spatial and temporal dynamics of proteins important for clathrin-mediated endocytosis; a process important for synaptic vesicle recycling in neurons and one of the major routes of entry into cells. While this area of research is somewhat different from what I studied at the Ludwig, it has allowed me to develop new skills and broaden my knowledge of cell biology as a whole. Indeed, after finishing my postdoc at Yale, I hope to apply these skills to research problems which are more closely related to cancer progression.

1. Johns TG, Perera RM, Vernes SC, Vitali AA, Cao DX, Cavenee WK, Scott AM and Furnari FB. The efficacy of EGFR specific antibodies against glioma xenografts is influenced by receptor levels, activation status and heterodimerization. Accepted for publication in Clin. Cancer Res (Dec 2006). (contributed cover image; March 15, 2007 issue)
2. Perera RM, Narita Y, Furnari FB, Gan HG, Murone C, Ahlkvist M, Luwor RB, Burgess AW, Stockert E, Jungbluth AA, Old LJ, Cavenee WK, Scott AM and Johns TG. Treatment of Human Tumor Xenografts with mAb 806 in Combination with a Prototypical EGFR-Specific Antibody Generates Enhanced Anti-Tumor Activity. Clin Cancer Res., 11:6390-6399, 2005.
3. Luwor RB, Zhu H-J, Walker F, Vitali AA, Perera RM, Burgess AW, Scott AM and Johns TG. The Tumor Specific de2-7 Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR) Promotes Cell Survival and Heterodimerizes with the Wild Type EGFR. Oncogene 23(36):6095-104, 2004.
4. Johns TG, Luwor RB, Murone C, Walker F, Weinstock J, Vitali AA, Perera RM, Jungbluth AA, Stockert E, Old LJ, Nice EC, Burgess AW and Scott AM. Anti-tumor efficacy of cytotoxic drugs and the monoclonal antibody 806 is enhanced by the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) inhibitor AG1478. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A, 2003 Dec;100(26):15871-15876