EMBL Australia Scientific Head Professor James Whisstock was one of the 31 newly elected Fellows of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences (AAHMS) for 2024 for his outstanding contributions to immunology.
Prof Whisstock is Deputy Dean Research of Monash Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences and a structural biologist at the Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute. Throughout his career, he has been supported by a series of fellowships, including a National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Senior Principal Research Fellowship, an Australian Research Council (ARC) Laureate Fellowship and an ARC Federation Fellowship. His leadership roles have included Scientific Head of EMBL Australia and Director of the ARC Centre for Excellence in Advanced Molecular Imaging. In 2019 and again in 2024, Professor Whisstock was appointed as a Distinguished Honorary Professor of the Australian National University, a position associated with the John Curtin School of Medical Research.
Professor Whisstock is recognised for discovering that perforin belongs to the cholesterol-dependent cytolysin class of bacterial pore-forming toxins. These initial, completely unexpected findings answered a long-standing question in immunology and revealed how perforin-like proteins function to form pores, how certain mutations in patients result in diseases such as haematological cancers and hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis, and how the function of perforin-like molecules is tightly controlled. This work has been published across 42 papers, including in journals Nature, Science, Nature Communications and PNAS and has been recognised globally with >4500 citations, 7 invited reviews and 10 invited talks at international meetings.
Professor Whisstock’s work has informed other fields of immunology, for example in understanding the mechanism of function of the pore-forming Gasdermin pyrotopic death effectors. His work has been highly cited, has led to the updating of immunology textbooks and has collectively provided a long sought after molecular framework for studying and understanding cell killing by immune cells. These discoveries have also provided a clear path for the ongoing development of perforin and related molecules.
The significance of his research on perforin and related molecules was recognised with the award of an ARC Federation Fellowship in 2008, an ARC Laureate Fellowship in 2018 and the Australian Academy of Science Gottschalk Medal in 2010.
As head of the Whisstock Laboratory, Professor Whisstock has mentored and supported numerous early and mid-career researchers, including 27 PhD candidates and 48 Honours students. Members of his team have been awarded 6 ARC Discovery Early Career Research Awards, 11 NHMRC Early Career Fellowships, an NHMRC Senior Research Fellowship and two ARC Future Fellowships, and have gone on to hold significant leadership positions nationally and internationally.
Over the course of his career, Professor Whisstock has been a chief investigator on 77 grants valued at more than $126m, with 43 as lead chief investigator. His program leadership includes directing two multi-CI NHMRC program grants and leading and directing the $40 million ARC Centre of Excellence in Advanced Molecular Imaging. In 2022 Professor Whisstock led the team that received a $1million Ramaciottti Medal to build the Monash Ramaciotti Electron Microscopy (EM) Centre. Established in 2015, the centre was Australia’s first high throughput electron microscopy facility and is now a node of the Microscopy Australia national research capability. The centre has attracted over $50 million of investment and will serve Australian scientists for decades to come.
In 2016, Professor Whisstock was appointed as Scientific Head of EMBL Australia, following which he won long-term National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy funding for the EMBL Australia associate membership, and led the drive to double the size of the Partner Lab Network. Through his efforts, EMBL Australia has financially supported over 200 young researchers to visit EMBL headquarters in Europe to facilitate the creation of a highway of international collaboration.
For a full list of 2024 AAHMS New Fellows, visit their website.