The tool can reliably identify common and rare cell populations when analysing complex single-cell data sets and has important potential in disease research and precision medicine.

Interpretable deep generative ensemble learning for single-cell omics with Hydra - Molecular Systems Biology Single-cell omics enable the dissection of cellular heterogeneity, yet the high dimensionality, inherent noise, and sparsity present significant challenges. These challenges are amplified for rare cel...

Children's Medical Research Institute's Head of Computational Systems Biology, A/Prof Pengyi Yang, has a new publication out today in Molecular Systems Biology which involved developing a new AI method known as Hydra. @springernature.com

Full pub here: link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Donate to Support Breakthrough Therapy for Kids with ultrarare Disease, organized by Jens Poessel Twenty-one children. A rare disease. A real chance. Emil… Jens Poessel needs your support for Support Breakthrough Therapy for Kids with ultrarare Disease

If you'd like to donate to this world-class research you can do so here: www.gofundme.com/f/twentyone-...

Thank you to Mira and Charlie Taouk for sharing their heartbreaking story and 10 News + for talking to Professor Leszek Lisowski.

You can watch the full story here: 10.com.au/news/nationa...

Sometimes science and art intersect! Congratulations to Leigh Nicholson from CMRI who won an Early-Mid Career Research award for her poster at the recent Light Microscopy Australia Symposium at the University of Sydney (USYD) for her incredible images highlighting our research.

Audrey’s rare cancer grows like a frayed shoelace that can’t be tied Improved treatment for rare and aggressive “ALT cancers” that claim the lives of 5000 to 7000 Australians each year is the focus of $5 million in research funding.

or read the story on our website: www.theage.com.au/national/aud...

Synergy Grant to develop first-in-world treatments for… The project focuses on identifying precision therapies for ALT-dependent cancers.

You can read more here: www.cmrijeansforgenes.org.au/news/synergy...

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We’re very grateful to the National Health and Medical Research Council for awarding CMRI’s Professor Hilda Pickett and a team of cancer researchers $5 million for their work to develop new treatments targeting some of the most aggressive and difficult to treat cancers.

5/5 Children's Medical Research Institute is leading this project in collaboration with Leicester Mesothelioma Research Programme (UK), NETMESO Research Group (France), and Asbestos and Dust Diseases Research Institute (ADDRI, Australia).

4/5 The team will also explore why some patients don’t respond to immunotherapy, paving the way for new therapeutic strategies.

3/5 His research aims to change that by validating a novel proteomic-based signature that he has developed with the team at ProCan and creating a highly accurate lab test that can guide doctors in selecting the right treatment for each patient.

2/5 Dr Aref’s project focuses on improving treatment for people with aggressive asbestos-related pleural mesothelioma. While immunotherapy has offered hope, only a small number of patients benefit, and current tools don’t reliably predict who will respond.

Person wearing a blue blazer and light blue shirt standing in front of a wall decorated with hexagonal plaques.

1/5 We’re proud to announce that Dr Adel Aref has been awarded a $240K, three-year fellowship from the NSW Dust Diseases Board, administered through icare NSW under the Researcher Development Stream Awards Program to advance innovative work in ProCan.

1/Delighted to be part of a team from @cmri.bsky.social, @sydney.edu.au, the University of Wollongong, and SVI (Melbourne) awarded a $5M NHMRC Synergy Grant to explore: “A mechanistic approach to developing precision therapies for ALT-dependent cancers.”

www.nhmrc.gov.au/funding/find...

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CMRI’s study in Nature Communications reveals how cancer cells maintain telomeres, consolidating 7 years of research into one of the most comprehensive resources for exploring this critical aspect of cancer biology.
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-67190-w

Wellcome Sanger Institute Mathew Garnett

A world first for CTNNB1 syndrome. On 10 December 2025, the first child received a gene therapy for this rare condition. CMRI is proud to have contributed to the early research. Read more: www.cmrijeansforgenes.org.au/news/a-world-first-for-c...

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We are grateful to the National Health and Medical Research Council for granting four of our scientists highly sought after Ideas Grants. www.cmrijeansforgenes.org.au/news/cmri-researchers-aw...

Tony Cesare

Congratulations to Professor Leszek Lisowski for receiving a grant from Cure Alzheimer’s Fund in the US for his work trying to develop a gene therapy that could be used to treat Alzheimer’s and other brain disorders, including those that impact children.

Congratulations to Professor Tracy Bryan and Dr Ashley Harman for their work understanding how cancer cells keep their chromosomes intact to become “immortal’’.

Person wearing a white lab coat standing in a bright laboratory with arms crossed. Laboratory benches and scientific equipment are visible in the background.

Cancer researchers hope that a major new discovery, out in scientific journal Nature Communications today, could make chemotherapy much more effective. @natcomms.nature.com @natureportfolio.nature.com

Read more here: cmrijeansforgenes.org.au/news/major-d...

Group of five people standing in front of a branded Cancer Institute NSW backdrop, dressed in formal attire with name tags visible.

Person speaking at a podium during the NSW Premier’s Awards for Outstanding Cancer Research. The podium displays event branding, and a Cancer Institute NSW banner and Aboriginal flag are visible in the background.

Three people standing together at an indoor event, dressed in formal attire with name tags visible. The background shows a large room filled with seated attendees and wooden ceiling panels.

Person seated at a table holding an award certificate for the NSW Premier’s Awards for Outstanding Cancer Research. Other attendees and presentation screens are visible in the background.

Children’s Medical Research Institute was proud to see Professor Hilda Pickett, Dr Rebecca Poulos and Dr Radek Szmyd nominated for the NSW Premier’s Awards for Outstanding Cancer Research, presented by the Cancer Institute NSW, on Tuesday night.

Tony’s pioneering work in live-cell imaging is transforming how the world understands DNA repair, cancer cell death, radiotherapy and immunotherapy. His discoveries are reshaping global research and bringing us closer to better, more effective cancer treatments for children.

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Huge congratulations to Professor Tony Cesare, winner of the University of Sydney’s 2025 Makers and Shapers Award for Outstanding Research. @sydney.edu.au @thecesarelab.bsky.social

Four people dressed in formal business attire stand together indoors near a glass door. Each person is wearing a suit with a name badge and a purple flower pinned to the lapel. Framed artwork is visible on the wall behind them.

Professor Phil Robinson was honoured to be a keynote speaker at a recent biomedical conference in Seoul, South Korea. Prof Robinson was chosen as a cancer proteomics expert to discuss the latest technological trends and global models that encourage collaboration in proteome research.

Person in a dark blazer standing in a bright laboratory with shelves and equipment in the background.

Promising news from our cancer labs today! CMRI scientists have found a new way to treat very aggressive cancers like neuroblastoma and glioblastoma that can be very hard to cure. Read more here: www.cmrijeansforgenes.org.au/news/new-approach-to-tre...

Our researchers have become the first in the world to use stem cells to study one of the genetic causes of blindness. Their work on Leber Congenital Amaurosis is out in Stem Cell Reports today. Read more here: https://ow.ly/4Wnc50XuuUJ

Cell Press #StemCell #Blindness #CMRI

We would like to say thank you to the Osteosarcoma Institute in the US for their support of our research and we’re excited to see what this project achieves for a disease of the bones that often impacts children and teenagers.

Two researchers in white lab coats working in a laboratory. One is holding up a clear plastic multi-well plate while the other observes. The lab bench is covered with scientific equipment, including pipettes, bottles, and containers. Shelves in the background hold various lab supplies and chemical bottles, and the setting is brightly lit with a clean, organized workspace.

We are pleased to announce that Professor Hilda Pickett has been awarded an Osteosarcoma research grant for her work to slow the growth of cancer cell targeting telomeres.

Well done to both CMRI labs. A fantastic collaboration to advance understanding in this critical area of research.

Frontiers | Aging-dependent immunological changes in multiple sclerosis Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic inflammatory and neurodegenerative disease in which immune dysregulation plays a central role. As the life expectancy of...

In this work they studied how the immune systems of people with multiple sclerosis were impacted as they aged to assist in clinical management and therapeutic strategies.

Full study here: www.frontiersin.org/journals/imm...