women in science
Pancreatic cancer researcher is
NSW Woman of the Year Pancreatic cancer researcher Professor Minoti Apte has been announced 2015 NSW Woman of the Year by Premier Mike Baird and Minister for Women Pru Goward. This is not the first significant honour for Professor Apte, who was last year awarded the Order of Australia Medal (OAM) for her services to medical research, tertiary education and the Indian community.
A
is currently leading preclinical studies that are anticipated to create a new combination therapy to help improve treatment outcomes for pancreatic cancer patients. professor at UNSW’s South Western
Accepting the award, Professor Apte called on
Sydney Clinical School and research group leader at
state and federal governments to make increased
the Ingham Institute for Applied Medical Research,
funding in medical research a higher priority. She
Professor Apte is investigating pancreatic cancer at
also called for better support for women seeking
a cellular level to find out how and why the deadly
to balance family and career, praising UNSW for
cancer is so aggressive and spreads so quickly. She
providing “family-friendly workplace arrangements
was the first in the world to develop a method to
and supporting women who want to balance family
isolate pancreatic stellate cells (PSCs), providing a
with pursuing a career in science, academia or
much-needed research tool for studying the path
medical research”.
that pancreatic fibrosis (scarring of the pancreas) takes.
Professor Apte plays an active role in research training through her supervision and mentorship
Her group established that PSCs were
of PhD, masters and honours students. She is the
responsible for producing the prominent scar
editor-in-chief of the journal Pancreatology and is
tissue in pancreatic cancer and that there was a
also an active member of the Marathi Association
close communication between PSCs and cancer
of Sydney, a community organisation that serves a
cells. This proved that cancer cells ‘recruit’ normal
large section of Sydney’s Indian diaspora.
pancreatic cells to help the cancer grow and spread to distant parts of the body. The next phase of Professor Apte’s work is to stop PSCs working with normal cells. She
www.LabOnline.com.au | www.LifeScientist.com.au
Professor Apte was described by the Premier as “a highly respected researcher and member of the community [whose] achievements inspire other women to follow in her footsteps”.
LAB+LIFE SCIENTIST - April 2015 | 25