WEHI - Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research

18/11/2025

Your donation to WEHI helps bring hope to all of us. Donate today.

https://www.wehi.edu.au/support-us/donate/colorectalcancerappealosm/

17/11/2025

A truly fabulous initiative 👏👏 Citizens of Science gives members of the public a rare chance to learn the basic principles of biomedical research and see science in action. 🧬🧪🔬

Keep an eye on their page for details about the 2026 intake!

17/11/2025

A joint study led by WEHI and the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute has created new detailed 3D images to show how breast cancer cells can grow and spread (metastasise) to the lungs.

Using a technique called optical barcoding, the team was able to ‘tag’ cancer cells with varying colours, allowing them to track how different groups of cancer cells move and grow in the lungs of mice.

They used special 3D imaging tools to look at entire lung lobes and found that the multi-colour metastases tended to grow closer to blood vessels, which might help them survive and spread more easily.

The findings, published in NPJ Imaging (Nature Portfolio), could lead to a powerful new tool to study the complexity of metastatic breast cancer and ways to potentially stop breast cancers from spreading to other organs.

Read the study: https://rdcu.be/eOKdU

📹: A lung lobe acquired via light sheet microscope showing colour-coded breast cancer cell populations (cyan, yellow, green, magenta, purple, orange, white) and blood vessels (grey).

14/11/2025

Watch your immune system in action!

This stunning animation shows how cell-killing T cells transform into virus-fighting assassins - cloning themselves to hunt down infected cells with incredible precision.

🔹Targeted
🔹Powerful
🔹Healthy cells are unharmed

The complexity of the human body never ceases to amaze!

At the Snow Centre for Immune Health, our team has uncovered a powerful new method to assess and monitor what drives immune cell behaviour - helping decode the factors behind strong or weak immune health.

Explore the science: www.snowimmunehealth.org.au



Animation by Etsuko Uno, WEHI.TV

The Royal Melbourne Hospital | Snow Medical

14/11/2025

Fresh insight into driver of severe COVID-19 🦠

While scientists have long known increased inflammation contributes to serious cases of COVID-19, the molecular triggers behind this have remained a mystery.

Apoptosis is a type of programmed cell death that helps the body remove damaged or infected cells. But when this process doesn’t function properly, it can amplify inflammation and lead to severe forms of disease.

In a new WEHI-led study, researchers used unique mouse models to discover a protein, caspase-8, which plays a crucial role in a pathway responsible for apoptosis, causes inflammation in COVID-19 – rather than providing help through the induction of cell death.

The surprise findings are significant as it marks the first time any research group has been able to clarify the underlying causes of inflammation in COVID-19 disease in a living organism.

This knowledge could lead to new treatments to keep the body’s inflammation on a leash – without intervening in essential cell death processes.

Brilliant findings, now published in Nature Communications (Nature Portfolio).

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-65098-z

13/11/2025

It takes a colossal effort to turn a brilliant idea into a new treatment or therapy.

We’re shining a light on some of our indispensable team members and their crucial contributions that help breakthroughs in the lab reach patients sooner.

⭐ Dr Julia Man – Division Coordinator

“I help the brilliant brains stay on schedule! The administrative burden is high in research.”

Dr Man helps researchers with admin, reporting and finance, leaving them more time and headspace for their life saving work.

Learn more: https://www.wehi.edu.au/news/the-powerhouse-behind-the-lab/

Help power our journey, so the discoveries we make in the lab can benefit patients, sooner: https://www.wehi.edu.au/support-us/

13/11/2025

WEHI’s medical research gives hope to rare cancer patients like Jonathan. Donate today.

https://www.wehi.edu.au/support-us/donate/rarecancerappealosm/

12/11/2025

💬 “Finding a drug that can stop the progression of Parkinson’s disease is a holy grail of the field.”

Dr Sylvie Callegari from WEHI’s Parkinson’s Disease Research Centre reflects on the discovery that earned her team the 2025 UNSW Eureka Prize for Scientific Research – a breakthrough that unravels how a key protein associated with early-onset Parkinson’s disease functions.

Australian Museum

We spoke to Dr Sylvie Calligari from the PINK1 Parkinson’s Disease Research Team about the winning team’s findings on early onset Parkinson’s disease.

11/11/2025

New research co-led by WEHI has identified a simple blood test that could better predict the women who are more likely to benefit from a leading ovarian cancer treatment, known as PARP inhibitor therapy.

SOLACE2 – a four-year clinical trial across 15 Australian hospitals – tested strategies to enhance the effectiveness of PARP inhibitor therapy.

The trial, co-led by the University of Sydney NHMRC Clinical Trials Centre, RMIT University and WEHI found the new blood test could potentially even outperform the current gold standard testing method that exists when it comes to accurately predicting ovarian cancer treatment responses.

Researchers hope the promising results of the test will enable more effective screening and identification of eligible patients for PARP inhibitors, allowing this leading treatment to be given to the women who are most likely to benefit from it.

The SOLACE2 trial was coordinated by the Australia New Zealand Gynaecological Oncology Group (ANZGOG) (WomenCan Fundraising). It also received funding and support from ANZGOG and AstraZeneca.

https://www.wehi.edu.au/news/blood-test-offers-hope-for-more-effective-ovarian-cancer-treatment/

New clinical research has identified a blood test that can reveal which women are more likely to respond to particular treatment for ovarian cancer, known as PARP inhibitor therapy.

11/11/2025

Amid the heartbreak, WEHI’s medical research offers hope. Donate today.

https://www.wehi.edu.au/support-us/donate/braincancerappealosm/

07/11/2025

Goodbye gluten challenge, hello breakthrough blood test. 👋🔬🩸

The future is looking less painful for coeliac disease diagnosis thanks to a WEHI discovery.

Right now, getting diagnosed often means weeks of eating gluten (aka the Gluten Challenge) – even though it makes you sick.

WEHI researchers are developing a game-changing blood test that can detect coeliac disease, even when no gluten has been eaten.

This breakthrough could change the lives of millions who go undiagnosed worldwide, largely due to challenges in the current diagnostic process.

👏 Three cheers for Associate Professor Jason Tye-Din and team, helping shape the future of health through pioneering research.

Assoc Prof Tye-Din, a globally recognised leader in immunology and gastroenterology, has now joined the Snow Centre for Immune Health as director to help advance diagnostics and treatment in immune health.

The future of health starts in our labs today.

Read more 👉 https://www.wehi.edu.au/news/landmark-test-for-coeliac-disease/

The Royal Melbourne Hospital
Snow Medical
Coeliac Australia

Imagine having to eat something that makes you sick – just to see what’s making you ill in the first place.