Matt Dun

Professor Matt Dun is a National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Emerging Leadership Fellow and Deputy Director of the HMRI Precision Medicine Research Program at the University of Newcastle. He specializes in pediatric oncology, focusing on brain cancers like diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG) and leukaemia. His research integrates proteomics, phosphoproteomics, and clinical translation to identify therapeutic targets.

Education: PhD (Biological Science), University of Newcastle (2012); BSc (Biotechnology) and BSc (Biotechnology Honours), University of Newcastle.

Research Interests: Medical biochemistry, cancer cell biology, proteogenomics, and translational medicine. His DIPG research, driven by personal motivation following his daughter's diagnosis, has led to groundbreaking work in drug discovery and combination therapies, including clinical trials involving ONC201 and paxalisib.

Awards: Over 35 national/international awards, including the 2024 Australian Society for Medical Research Medallist and 2023 Mid-Career Researcher of the Year.

Grants/Leadership: Secured >$19.7M in research funding, including NHMRC Investigator Grants. Leads the Cancer Signalling Research Group (CSRG) and collaborates internationally with consortia like PNOC and ANZCHOG.

Labs/Teams: CSRG focuses on phosphoproteomic profiling and drug target validation. Collaborations include the Pacific Neuro-Oncology Consortium (PNOC) and global DIPG research networks.