Overview
Background
Dr Kassianos is a Senior Scientist at the Conjoint Internal Medical Laboratory, Queensland Health. Dr Kassianos has made significant contributions to understanding the cell-cell communication between discrete kidney cell and immune cell populations and the therapeutic potential of targeting this cross-talk in chronic kidney disease (CKD). Dr Kassianos has been integral in the development of innovative tools for CKD analytics: (i) in situ/ex vivo profiling for integrating CKD molecular profiles with histopathology; and (ii) preclinical models for screening novel CKD therapeutics. His research is internationally recognised in the field of CKD pathobiology.
Dr Kassianos has contributed to the fields of nephrology and immunology with 41 publications, >2000 career citations (~48 citations/paper) and invited international keynote lectures. Dr Kassianos has a continued record of success in attracting competitive research funding (>$2M as CI), including an NHMRC Dora Lush Scholarship (2007-2010), an RBWH Foundation Fellowship (2012-2014) and two NHMRC Project Grants as CIA (2016-2019; 2019-2022). Dr Kassianos has publications in high-ranking specialist (nephrology, immunology) and generalist journals, including five editorial commentaries in publication issues. These include 21 publications (~50% of his papers) as first or senior author/co-author – of which, 19 (90%) are in top field-weighted journals (Q1, top 10%), including Kidney Int, J Am Soc Nephrol, Cell Death Dis and J Extracell Vesicles. During this time, Dr Kassianos has supervised 5 Early Career Researchers, 5 PhD students (3 to completion) and 2 Masters students (both to completion). Dr Kassianos is also an Editor at Frontiers in Physiology and has contributed to 3 NHMRC grant review panels (2019-2021).
Availability
- Dr Andrew Kassianos is:
- Available for supervision
Fields of research
Qualifications
- Doctor of Philosophy, The University of Queensland
Works
Search Professor Andrew Kassianos’s works on UQ eSpace
2005
Journal Article
Immunoselection of functional CMRF-56+ blood dendritic cells from multiple myeloma patients for immunotherapy
Radford, Kristen J., Turtle, Cameron J., Kassianos, Andrew J., Vuckovic, Slavica, Gardiner, Damien, Khalil, Dahlia, Taylor, Kerry, Wright, Sue, Gill, Devinder and Hart, Derek N. J. (2005). Immunoselection of functional CMRF-56+ blood dendritic cells from multiple myeloma patients for immunotherapy. Journal of Immunotherapy, 28 (4), 322-331. doi: 10.1097/01.cji.0000163592.66910.e4
Funding
Past funding
Supervision
Availability
- Dr Andrew Kassianos is:
- Available for supervision
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Available projects
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Targeting the ‘wave of death’ check-points of chronic kidney disease (CKD)
Principal Advisor: Dr Andrew Kassianos
Email: Andrew.Kassianos@health.qld.gov.au
Organisational unit: QIMR Berghofer and Royal Brisbane Clinical Unit
Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a worldwide public health burden, defined as decreased kidney function for >3months. In Australia alone, 1 in 3 adults (6 million people) are at risk of developing CKD, with the annual financial cost of CKD >$5 billion. Furthermore, there is no cure for CKD. Understanding the pathological mechanisms of CKD progression will fast-track the development of urgently needed clinical therapeutics.
Our team have established specialised epithelial cells of the kidney proximal tubule (PTEC) as central players in CKD. Under the pathological conditions of CKD, we show that human PTEC:
- Undergo primary cell death;
- Release small extracellular vesicles (exosomes) from their (polarised) apical membrane that directly induce secondary cell death in adjacent healthy PTEC; and
- Produce danger signals (including exosomes) from their (polarised) basolateral membrane that activate local immune cells and indirectly induce secondary cell death in adjacent PTEC.
This project will explore the therapeutic potential of targeting these ‘wave of death’ check-points in established pre-clinical human models of CKD. Outcomes of this proposal will have a major health impact in providing the rationale for innovative, evidence-based therapies for CKD. A PhD scholarship is available for this project.
Supervision history
Current supervision
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Doctor Philosophy
Familial hypercholesterolaemia: towards diagnosis in newborns
Principal Advisor
-
Doctor Philosophy
Therapeutic targeting of wave of death signalling in human kidney disease
Associate Advisor
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Doctor Philosophy
Leveraging complex cellular models and extracellular vesicles to reveal novel druggable targets in polycystic kidney disease
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Monica Ng
Completed supervision
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2023
Doctor Philosophy
Defining the cellular milieu within the clear cell renal cell carcinoma microenvironment
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Quan Nguyen, Dr Andrew Mallett
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2023
Doctor Philosophy
Kidneys on fire: The role of inflammasome signalling in human chronic kidney disease
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Honorary Professor Josephine Forbes
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2022
Doctor Philosophy
Use of Bioactive Compounds of Plants for the Treatment of Chronic Kidney Disease
Associate Advisor
Media
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