Overview
Background
Liam O’Brien is a tumor immunologist whose primary focus is the development of new messenger (m)RNA-based immunotherapies applicable to various cancer types. The goal of this work is to develop a new therapy which increases the frequency and length of patient remissions, occurring within Associate Professor Seth Cheetham's laboratory at the Australian Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN).
Liam has expertise utilizing various preclinical models, multi-color flow cytometry for the functional characterization of tumor-infiltrating immune cells, and has developed in vivo systems to assess immunotherapy efficacy along with T cell exhaustion, proliferation, and killing capacity. He has hands-on experience with development of next-generation humanized NSG models and a wide breadth of in vitro immunological assays.
Availability
- Dr Liam O'Brien is:
- Not available for supervision
Fields of research
Qualifications
- Bachelor (Honours) of Immunology, The University of Queensland
- Doctor of Philosophy of Tumour Immunology, The University of Queensland
Research interests
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T cell reprogramming through targeted mRNA delivery
T cell exhaustion through chronic stimulation of the TCR complex leads to failed infection and tumor control. Exhausted T cells (Tex) display a conserved transcriptional and epigenetic phenotype. In contrast to many upcoming therapies targeting surface-expressed molecules, here we seek to profoundly alter Tex function by delivering mRNA-encoded transcription factors.
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Increasing tumor immunogenicity using mRNA-encoded cytokines
Many tumors remain unresponsive to immunotherapy due to a lack of infiltrating T cells or the presence of suppressive myeloid populations. In this project we are testing delivery of potent inflammatory cytokines specifically to tumors in order to make poorly immunogenic tumors respond.
Research impacts
During his PhD at Mater Research Institute-UQ in Prof. Kristen Radford's laboratory, Liam established several new in vivo cancer models and used these to evaluate novel vaccination strategies. This work led to multiple conference presentations and first-author publications in Journal for the Immunotherapy of Cancer, Oncoimmunology and Experimental Hematology, scholarships and travel awards from Tour de Cure and ASI, and attraction of significant funding from UQ ($1.8m) for the creation of a new facility at the Translational Research Institute, QLD (HIMF), in addition to below.
- OneTRI conference People’s Choice Poster Award 2023
- Mater Higher Degree Research Biomedical Student prize, 2021
- Queensland Fresh Science Finalist, 2021
- 1st Prize; Basic Laboratory Science Poster, Princess Alexandra Hospital (PAH) Health Symposium 2019
- 2nd Prize – UniQuest Research Commercialization workshop pitch 2019
- 3-minute thesis (3MT) University of Queensland Faculty of Medicine Finalist 2019
- First class Honours with Dean’s commendation for Academic Excellence 2017
- Mater Research Honours Scholarship 2017
- Frank Clair Scholarship Recipient 2017
Works
Search Professor Liam O'Brien’s works on UQ eSpace
2025
Journal Article
Harnessing notch signaling to enhance the generation and functionality of human conventional type I dendritic cells for cancer immunotherapy applications
Balan, Sreekumar, O'Brien, Liam, Peros, Ante, Wang, Xuedi, Leal-Rojas, Ingrid, Mcclain, Christopher, Radford, Kristen J. and Bhardwaj, Nina (2025). Harnessing notch signaling to enhance the generation and functionality of human conventional type I dendritic cells for cancer immunotherapy applications. Cancer Immunology Research, 13 (9), 1328-1341. doi: 10.1158/2326-6066.cir-25-0034
2025
Journal Article
Human cDC1 enhance cytotoxic function of CD226+ terminally exhausted tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes
O’Brien, Liam, Buckle, Irina, Leal-Rojas, Ingrid M., Rosendahl, Nikita and Radford, Kristen J. (2025). Human cDC1 enhance cytotoxic function of CD226+ terminally exhausted tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes. OncoImmunology, 14 (1) 2521391, 2521391. doi: 10.1080/2162402x.2025.2521391
2024
Journal Article
Characterization of human engraftment and hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis in NSG-SGM3 neonate mice engrafted with purified CD34+ hematopoietic stem cells
Liam, O'Brien, Carina, Walpole, Leal-Rojas, Ingrid M., Svetlana, Shatunova, Andrew, Moore, Winkler, Ingrid G, Camille, Guillerey and Radford, Kristen J. (2024). Characterization of human engraftment and hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis in NSG-SGM3 neonate mice engrafted with purified CD34+ hematopoietic stem cells. Experimental Hematology, 130 104134, 104134. doi: 10.1016/j.exphem.2023.11.008
2022
Other Outputs
Establishing humanized mouse models to evaluate immunotherapy
O'Brien, Liam (2022). Establishing humanized mouse models to evaluate immunotherapy. PhD Thesis, Mater Research Institute-UQ, The University of Queensland. doi: 10.14264/d2273fa
2021
Journal Article
Human CD141+ dendritic cells (cDC1) are impaired in patients with advanced melanoma but can be targeted to enhance anti-PD-1 in a humanized mouse model
Lee, Yoke Seng, O'Brien, Liam J., Walpole, Carina M., Pearson, Frances E., Leal-Rojas, Ingrid M., Masterman, Kelly-Anne, Atkinson, Victoria, Barbour, Andrew and Radford, Kristen J. (2021). Human CD141+ dendritic cells (cDC1) are impaired in patients with advanced melanoma but can be targeted to enhance anti-PD-1 in a humanized mouse model. Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer, 9 (3) e001963, 1-12. doi: 10.1136/jitc-2020-001963
2020
Journal Article
Human CLEC9A antibodies deliver NY-ESO-1 antigen to CD141+ dendritic cells to activate naïve and memory NY-ESO-1-specific CD8+ T cells
Masterman, Kelly-Anne, Haigh, Oscar L., Tullett, Kirsteen M., Leal-Rojas, Ingrid M., Walpole, Carina, Pearson, Frances E., Cebon, Jonathon, Schmidt, Christopher, O'Brien, Liam, Rosendahl, Nikita, Daraj, Ghazal, Caminschi, Irina, Gschweng, Eric H., Hollis, Roger P., Kohn, Donald B., Lahoud, Mireille H. and Radford, Kristen J. (2020). Human CLEC9A antibodies deliver NY-ESO-1 antigen to CD141+ dendritic cells to activate naïve and memory NY-ESO-1-specific CD8+ T cells. Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer, 8 (2) e000691, 1-11. doi: 10.1136/jitc-2020-000691
2020
Conference Publication
Human CD141+dendritic cells (cDC1) are impaired in advanced melanoma patients but can be targeted to increase efficacy of anti-PD-1 checkpoint inhibitor therapy
O'Brien, Liam, Lee, Yoke Seng, Walpole, Carina, Rojas, Ingrid Leal, Masterman, Kelly-Anne, Atkinson, Victoria, Barbour, Andrew and Radford, Kristen (2020). Human CD141+dendritic cells (cDC1) are impaired in advanced melanoma patients but can be targeted to increase efficacy of anti-PD-1 checkpoint inhibitor therapy. AACR Special Conference on Tumor Immunology and Immunotherapy, Boston, MA, United States, 17-20 November, 2019. Philadelphia, PA, United States: American Association for Cancer Research.
2019
Journal Article
Can Dendritic Cell vaccination prevent leukemia relapse?
O’Brien, Liam J., Guillerey, Camille and Radford, Kristen J. (2019). Can Dendritic Cell vaccination prevent leukemia relapse?. Cancers, 11 (6) 875, 875. doi: 10.3390/cancers11060875
Media
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