Our Achievements over 2000- 2006

Organisational Achievements

• Completion of ANZAC Research Institute new building on time and within budget
• Commissioning of two laboratories immediately and all laboratories within 1st year
• Recruiting Professor Markus Seibel from Germany to head Bone Biology Laboratory
• BioFirst award in inaugural round to Dr Colin Dunstan recruited from AMGEN (leading US Biotech company) as Senior Scientist in Bone Biology Laboratory
• Recruiting Professor Robert Cumming as Professor of Epidemiology and Geriatic Medicine to CERA
• Recognition by NHMRC and by NSW Health as an independent medical research institute
• Recognition of ANZAC Research Institute building design as state-of-the-art for efficient and economical modular laboratory design at Construction Industry Seminars and its adoption as a design standard for re-fit of University of Sydney's Medical Foundation Building

Research Achievements
Andrology

• Developed several unique transgenic mouse models and a generic platform for evaluation of such models of hormonal action
• Completion of the 1st contraceptive efficacy study of a hormonal male contraceptive study using a depot or a combination hormonal approach
• Publication of the 1st two placebo-controlled randomized clinical trials of novel non-testosterone based androgen therapy in male ageing. One trial used DHT, the most potent natural androgen, and another recombinant human chorionic gonadotropin, a genetically engineered peptide suitable for self-administration. Both studies were published in Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, the leading international clinical endocrinology journal [PMID: 11549629 & PMID: 12107212]
• DHT study featured on US Endocrine Society's website as the paper of the month for November 2001 and provides basis for a treatment to reduce human prostate growth
• Clinical Fellow Dr Peter Liu invited to participate in clinical trials presentations and press conference (one of 4 oral presentations from >2000 abstracts) two years in a row (2001, 2002) at the highlight Clinical Trials Symposium of the US Endocrine Society Scientific Meeting.
• NHMRC Neil Hamilton Fairley Fellowship awarded to Dr Peter Liu in 2003

Biogerontology/CERA

• Publication in Lancet of a new hypothesis linking vascular defects in the ageing liver (hepatic pseudocapillarisation) with accelerated atherosclerosis in ageing via impaired hepatic lipoprotein clearance and hyperlipidemia [PMID: 12047987]
• Characterisation of cellular changes in ageing human liver responsible for pseudocapillarisation
• Developed animal models in ageing rat and baboon to study hepatic pseudocapillarisation in parallel with human studies
• Developed experimental models in perfused rat liver to study chylomicron clearance
•  The Sydney Old Persons Study continues to make major contributions to improved understanding of Alzheimer's disease and other dementias
• Development and operation of world's largest Brain Donor Program with detailed prospective collection of pre-mortem clinical and neuropsychological features collected during life to be correlated with postmortem neuropathology

Neurobiology

• Publication in Nature Genetics identifying the gene for hereditary sensory neuropathy [PMID: 11242114]
• Development of the first diagnostic test for hereditary sensory neuropathy
• First application to prenatal genetic diagnosis leading to the birth of 4 healthy unaffected babies to couples affected by the disease
• Identification and developing clinical diagnostic tests for of novel genetic mutations responsible for a variety of neurodegenerative diseases (familial Parkinson's disease, acoustic neuroma, Friedrich's ataxia, motor neuron disease)
• Professor Garth Nicholson promoted to a Personal Chair by the University of Sydney in recognition of research achievements

Bone Biology

• Dr Colin Dunstan appointed as a senior research scientist under BioFirst Award (previously senior research scientist, Amgen Inc., USA)
• Mrs. Karen Brennan appointed as laboratory manager (previouly at EMBL, Heidelberg, Germany)
• Dr. Chris Meier appointed as a Research Fellow under Swiss National Foundation sponsorship (previously University of Basel, Switzerland)
• Mr. John Sommer appointed as TO to the applied sciences program
• Established new laboratory for studies in bone metabolism
• Established collaborative research relationships with:

- Oncology Research Centre at University of New South Wales, Sydney
- Garvan Institute for Medical Research, Sydney
- Institute of Bone and Joint Research, Royal North Shore Hospital, Sydney
- St. Vincent's Institute for Medical Research, Melbourne