Journal of Proteomics and Genomics

Dr Grant Dewson obtained his PhD from the University of Leicester (UK) in 2002 studying the molecular mechanisms of eosinophil persistence in asthma. Following a post-doctoral position investigating chronic lymphocytic leukemia with Prof. Gerry Cohen at the Medical Research Centre Leicester, in 2003, he joined Dr Ruth Kluck at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute to investigate the basic mechanisms of apoptotic cell death. He became an Australian Research Council fellow in 2005 and an ARC Future Fellow in 2010. In 2011 he joined Prof. David Vaux in the Cell Signalling and Cell Death Division at WEHI as laboratory head.

His group utilises multi-disciplinary approaches to clarify the molecular mechanisms regulating apoptosis and mitochondrial dynamics with the ultimate aim of identifying therapeutic avenues to augment or inhibit apoptosis in diseases including cancer, neurodegeneration and stroke.

• Elucidating how Bak and Bax are activated in response to apoptotic stimuli
• Understanding how Bak and Bax damage mitochondria to cause cell death