2023-24 Premier’s Awards for Health and Medical Research - Dr Sarah Garnish 

2023-24 Premier’s Awards for Health and Medical Research
Dr Sarah Garnish
Winner, Basic Science Researcher Award
PhD Project: Profiling a killer: MLKL-mediated death and it's role in human disease.
Inflammation is an important component of your body’s immune system; however, excessive, or ongoing inflammation can lead to the development of disease. As a result, approximately one in three Australians suffer from a chronic inflammatory disorder. One of the main drivers of inflammation is cell death, a fundamental process that occurs in our body every second, which is designed to protect us against disease or infection.
An explosive and inflammatory form of cell death, called necroptosis, has been shown to contribute to the progression of diseases such as inflammatory bowel disease or arthritis. However, no therapeutics targeting necroptosis have reached the clinic. Dr Sarah Garnish recognised the need to increase our understanding of the mechanisms that control necroptosis to enable the design of much needed new therapeutics.
Her research uncovered new signalling checkpoints that turn necroptotic cell death ‘on’ and ‘off’. Dr Garnish’s research revealed that 2-3 per cent of the population carry a gene variant that makes them less responsive to the body’s stop signals for necroptosis. This research suggests that this common genetic change, in combination with a person’s lifestyle, infection history, and broader genetic makeup may increase their risk of developing inflammatory disease.
Through her research, Dr Garnish has advanced our understanding of the underlying events that occur during cell death and how when these go wrong, they can contribute to the development of disease. Her work can be strategically leveraged in the design of new drugs to help the thousands of Australians living with inflammatory disorders.