Scaling research heights
by Vincent Ciccarello
Dangling
by a rope hundreds of metres above the ground hardly sounds like the
best way to relieve stress. But for Professor Doug Brooks, recently
appointed leader of the molecular medicine sector in the Sansom
Institute, rock climbing is the ideal way to unwind.
"You’d think it would generate more stress than it removes, but it’s just the opposite," he says. "It teaches you to focus; it teaches you a lot about your inner self."
Adventure sports (a career as a competitive windsurfer beckoned once) tap into Prof Brooks’ broader life and career objectives.
"One of my philosophies is that you don’t ever bring enthusiasm to research without being really fit and healthy. It gets rid of your stress, it keeps you fit, and it keeps you mentally active," he says.
It seems the distinguished NHMRC Senior Research Fellow’s thirst for life ("work hard, play hard") has been enhanced, rather than diminished, by the nature of his pioneering research over more than 20 years into lysosomal storage disorders - a range of very severe clinical conditions resulting from the inability of cells to eliminate waste materials. The disorders affect mainly children, leading to devastating physical and physiological abnormalities. Most patients die in their early teens.
Adelaide born, bred and researched, Prof Brooks earned his PhD in
immunology at Flinders University and Flinders Medical Centre. His
early work resulted in the development of a number of B cell
reagents that are considered state-of-the-art materials in the
diagnosis of cancer. Since 1982, he has been a member of the
world-leading Lysosomal Diseases Research Unit (LDRU) at the Women’s
and Children’s Hospital. It is a relationship he will maintain in
his new role.
"The group at the LDRU is something I’m proud to be integrated with, to have as a flagship in SA and to be linked with the molecular medicine sector," Prof Brooks says.
"What I’d like to bring to the University is a bridging of research institutions, to interact between major teaching hospitals and major research institutes."
Molecular medicine is considered a relatively new scientific discipline, covering a range of medical studies and biochemistry. Prof Brooks says that with a number of broad research themes addressing major disease states, the molecular medicine sector will feed into other parts of the Sansom Institute.
"The sector has a number of research themes which include early origins of adult health, infection and immunity, autism, molecular genetics and cell biology, cancer and those major research themes still fit with lysosomal biology," he says.
"The Sansom’s molecular medicine sector will be a support base that will provide the research in new drug discovery, new diagnostics, new therapeutics, and new screening technologies - the whole gamut of things that you’d want to apply to different disease states."
Taking time out from working on multiple research grant applications, Prof Brooks says he aims to break down the silo mentality that exists in some research fields and to try and get a "cross-fertilisation" of research.
"I think there’s a great skill base here at UniSA and a great attitude. The people are fantastic; it’s a great place to work. It’s lifted my morale immensely, in relation to my research career."
His mission at the Sansom Institute, he says, is "to foster success".
"I think the Sansom is about facilitating technological advances that result in research and health outcomes that really benefit the health of all Aust-ralians. That’s it in a nutshell."