Hudson Institute of Medical Research

Hudson Institute of Medical Research is an independent, not-for-profit medical research institute, based in the Melbourne suburb of Clayton in Victoria.

The Institute hosts approximately 450 researchers, postgraduate students and support staff. Research at Hudson Institute works to understand, prevent and treat women’s and baby health, cancer, innate immunity and infectious diseases, and reproductive health.^[1]

The current director and CEO is distinguished researcher and international authority on innate immunity and cancer biology, Professor Bryan Williams.^[2]

The Institute is partnered with Monash University and Monash Health, and is co-located with both organisations at the Monash Health Translation Precinct in Clayton.^[3]

Purpose

The Institute’s purpose is stated as ‘unravelling the mysteries of nature to cure disease’.^[4]

Organisation

Hudson Institute of Medical Research is organised into six specialist research centres :

• Cancer
• Innate Immunity and Infectious Diseases
• Reproductive Health
• Endocrinology and Metabolism
• Genetic Diseases
• The Ritchie Centre

Within these centres, 48 research groups undertake basic, translational and clinical research into a range of diseases.

Research

Hudson Institute scientists examine

• The body’s innate immune responses and their role in cancer, autoimmune diseases and inflammation; infectious diseases including HIV, herpes and influenza.^[5]
• Fetal and neonatal health from conception to a baby’s first breath of life to prevent and treat adverse events such as birth asphyxia, premature lung disease and ectopic pregnancy.^[6]
• The human placenta, embryo implantation and a woman’s endometrium to improve reproduction and development and better treat and diagnose women’s health conditions such as endometriosis.^[7]
• The molecular,^[8] genetic,^[9] endocrine^[10] and mitochondrial^[11] processes underlying cancer tumour development to identify and develop more effective cancer diagnostics and treatments.^[12]

Health areas and diseases include

• Autoimmune diseases
• Birth asphyxia
• Brain cancer (glioma, medulloblastoma)
• Breast cancer
• Bronchopulmonary dysplasia
• Cardiovascular disease
• Cerebral Palsy
• Childhood cancer
• Colorectal cancer
• Contraception
• Diabetes
• Embryo implantation
• Emphysema
• Endometriosis
• Gastric cancer
• Gut microbiota
• Herpes
• HIV
• Infectious diseases
• Infertility
• Influenza
• Intersex
• IVF
• Lung cancer
• Mitochondrial diseases
• Multiple sclerosis
• Neonatal lung disease
• Osteoperosis
• Ovarian cancer
• Parkinson’s Disease
• Pancreatic cancer
• Pre-eclampsia
• Pregnancy
• Pre-term brain injury
• Premature birth
• Prostate cancer
• Sleep disorders
• Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS)

History

Hudson Institute of Medical Research was formed in January 2014 through a merger of the Monash Institute of Medical Research and Prince Henry's Institute of Medical Research.^[1]

Hudson Institute of Medical Research was named in honour of the late Professor Bryan Hudson, the founding Professor of Medicine at Monash University and first director of the Prince Henry’s Hospital Medical Research Centre, which later became Prince Henry’s Institute of Medical Research.^[13]

Professor Hudson was one of Australia’s leading endocrinologists, and a renowned physician-scientist responsible for early work on the male reproductive hormone, Inhibin.^[14]

Education

The Institute has a large student population, predominantly enrolled through Monash University, and hosted 168 postgraduate (Honours, Masters, BmedSci, and PhD) students in 2015.^[15]

Facilities

A new federally-funded $87.5 million Monash Health Translation Precinct Translational Research Facility (TRF) was officially opened by the Australian Health Minister Sussan Ley MP in March 2016.^[16]

The facility contains research laboratory space, a platform technologies floor and a dedicated clinical trials centre, with eight beds and 21 chairs for the purpose of translating research into patient treatments.^[16]

The Institute’s scientists and students have access to the MHTP Technology Platforms, which contain the following capabilities:^[17]

• Medical Genomics
• Mass Spectrometry
• Flow Cytometry
• Histology
• Micro Imaging
• Bioinformatics
• Cell Therapies
• Monash Biobank
• Immunoassay Facility

See also

• Health in Australia

References

External links

• Official website
• Hudson Institute of Medical Research annual reports