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- Cell fate epigenetics
- Cellular reprogramming
- Early embryo models
- Transcription factors’ role in cancer
Jose Maria Polo is the Professor of Epigenetics at the University of Adelaide and Professor in the Department of Anatomy and Developmental Biology at Monash University.
Jose started his scientific career in Buenos Aires, Argentina where he graduated from Buenos Aires University as a Biochemist. In 2002, he was awarded a Fellowship from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York, where he did his PhD under the supervision of Dr. Ari Melnick working on the transcriptional mechanism of the BCL6 repression complex in lymphomagenesis and B-cell maturation. In 2008, he obtained his PhD and moved to Boston to the laboratory of Dr. Konrad Hochedlinger at the Harvard Stem Cell Institute to work on reprogramming of adult cells into induced pluripotent stem cells.
In June 2011, established his independent research group at Monash University, where he holds appointments to the departments of Anatomy and Developmental Biology and to the Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute. In 2012, Jose was awarded a NHMRC Career Development Fellowship, in 2014 a Silvia and Charles Viertel Senior Medical Research Fellowship and in 2018 an ARC Future Fellowship to continue his work in the molecular mechanism governing the reprogramming process and the epigenetic mechanism underpinning cell fate.
Professor’s Polo work has shed light into the mechanism underpinning reprogramming, cell fate changes in ageing and disease, as well as leading to the generation of diverse in vitro models to model human early embryogenesis. In October 2021, Jose was recruited to the University of Adelaide as the inaugural Director of the Adelaide Centre for Epigenetics (ACE) and Program leader of the recently established South Australian Immunogenomics Cancer Institute (SAiGENCI). In Adelaide, he continues his work in epigenetics and its application to reprogramming, early embryogenesis and cancer.
In 2016, Professor Polo co-founded Mogrify Pty Ltd to commercialise and translate cell reprogramming technologies into clinical applications.
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