Laureate Professor Paul Foster

Paul Foster - Asthma and Respiratory Disease Researcher
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2015 Project Grant
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2014 Project Grant
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2011 Project Grant
HMRI Award for Research Excellence
2010 HMRI Award for Research Excellence
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2010 Project Grant
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2008 Project Grant
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2007 Project Grant
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2007 Project Grant
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2006 Project Grant
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2005 Project Grant

What are your research interests?

I study the cellular and molecular mechanisms that drive the evolution and progression of asthma and respiratory infections. My work aims to provide a solid basis for the discovery of new treatments and understandings of a range of respiratory diseases. 

Why did you get into research?

To discover fundamental information on biological systems, which are relevant to finding new treatments for diseases. Early in my career I received advice from a close friend’s father. He told me a career in research is a very difficult road, which I needed to think hard about taking. 

What would be the ultimate goal for your research?

I work towards the goal of building a platform of knowledge that informs the development of successful treatments. In this translational approach to research, I hope to be able to directly use clinical data to inform basic research studies, which in turn feed into clinical trials and drug developments. This approach to research would ensure new treatments for patients with respiratory diseases.

Another major goal is to continue research in my field through training and mentoring the next generation of researchers. Enabling generational change will ensure our community has excellent researchers in the future and we have a strong health and medical research industry.

Biography

Laureate Professor Paul Foster is an internationally renowned researcher known for his work on the mechanisms of asthma, allergy and respiratory infections. His research career has focused on understanding the molecular and cellular regulation and dysregulation of asthma, respiratory diseases and chronic inflammation.

Laureate Professor Foster is a Professor and Chair of Immunology in the School of Biomedical Sciences & Pharmacy at the University of Newcastle. Since moving to Newcastle in 2002, He is also a visiting Professor at highly prestigious Universities including Harvard Medical School in Boston, USA (2011-2012). 

Laureate Professor Foster works in the field of respiratory research and how conditions such as inflammation, infection, immune responses and genetic factors can affect the functioning of the lungs and airways and ultimately contribute to the development of respiratory system diseases. With his team, Laureate Professor Foster has developed several models of airway diseases so they can interrogate different aspects of inflammation, infection and infection/allergen induced exacerbation. 

Key players in these responses identified so far by Laureate Professor Foster and his group include cells that regulate immune responses known as T-cells, which produce signaling molecules (known as cytokines) that can dramatically increase inflammation, and also gene products that are able to regulate gene expression without actually altering the DNA makeup of cells. These products include factors known as micro-RNAs (miRNA) and non-coding RNAs (ncRNA). 

Another career focus of Laureate Professor Foster is on the translation of basic biomedical science into clinical research, and ultimately to development of new therapeutics.

In conjunction with his colleagues, Laureate Professor Foster holds national grant funding of over $20 million. He has extensive scientific collaborations with leading research investigators, biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies including Cambridge University, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in the USA and the Commonwealth Serum Laboratories in Melbourne. 

He has published extensively in high impact scientific journals such as Nature Medicine, Nature Immunology and the Journal of Experimental Medicine. He is also a sub- editor for the journals of Pharmacology & Therapeutics, Clinical & Experimental Allergy and the Journal Mucosal Immunology. In 2010, he was awarded the prestigious HMRI award for Research Excellence, highlighting his substantial contribution to the research community.  

Laureate Professor Foster has successfully supervised over 15 researchers to completion of their post graduate studies and regularly supervises more than 20 students throughout their PhD studies.

Specialised/Technical Skills 

  • Lecturing
  • Tertiary teaching
  • Preclinical smoking model
  • Inflammatory knockout models
  • Microarrays

 

2015

Exploring Novel Therapies for Cystic Fibrosis
Project Grant
Researchers:

Dr Hock Tay, Dr Maximilian Plank, Dr Steven MaltbyLaureate Professor Paul Foster

Description:

Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a genetic disorder that affects 1 in 2,500 people born in Australia. 

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2014

Virus Infections Change the Bone Marrow: Effects on Immunity, Bone Development and Inflammatory Disease.
Project Grant
Researchers:

Dr Steven Maltby, Dr Maximilian Plank, Dr Hock Tay, Laureate Professor Paul Foster

Description:

Growing evidence suggests viruses can cause serious long term changes throughout the body. 

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2011

Development of novel therapeutic approaches for rhinovirus-induced asthma exacerbation
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2010

Award for Research Excellence - Paul Foster
HMRI Award for Research Excellence
Researchers:
Molecular markers of reversible airway obstruction in early life and correlation with clinical wheezing patterns
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Researchers:

Associate Professor Joerg Mattes, Paul Foster, Bruce Whitehead, Ana Pereira de Siqueira 

2008

MicroRNA and antagomirs in the regulation and suppression of interferon (IFN)-g and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) induced steroid-resistant airways hyper reactivity
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Therapeutic potential of targeting the IL-3/IL-5/GM-CSF common beta receptor to treat allergic inflammation and asthma
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Researchers:

Dr Kelly Asquith, Professor Paul Foster
 

2007

Elucidation of the association between Haemophilus influenza infection & neutrophilic asthma
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Researchers:

Dr Philip HansbroDr Jodie Simpson, Professor Paul Foster, Associate Professor Margaret Dunkley

Respiratory Viral infection induces pulmonary angiogenesis; implications for the development of asthma
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Researchers:

Dr Nicole Hansbro, Dr Simon Phipps, Dr Phil Hansbro, Professor Paul Foster
 

2006

Role of TRAIL on development of atopic dermatitis and T helper type 2 immunity
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2005

Chlamydia infection of dendritic cells drives the development of pro-asthmatic Th2 cells
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Researchers:

Associate Professor Ken Beagley, Professor Paul Foster, Dr Phil Hansbro and Professor Peter Gibson