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Dr. Janin Chandra
Dr. Janin Chandra received her PhD at the University of Zurich in Switzerland in 2011. She joined Prof. Ian Frazer’s lab at The University of Queensland (UQ) in 2012 for postdoctoral research training, where she investigated mechanisms of immune resistance in human papillomavirus (HPV) transformed epithelium, a hallmark of cervical cancer and a dominant type of head and neck cancers.
In 2015, Dr Chandra joined the Brisbane-based immunotherapy-developing biotech company Admedus Vaccines Pty Ltd, located at the Translational Research Institute. As Senior Scientist, she led the R&D program of therapeutic DNA vaccines for the treatment of genital herpes and HPV+ cancers, and tested these in clinical trials, including in patients with advanced HPV+ head and neck cancers.
Dr Chandra returned to UQ in 2019, where she leads research programs elucidating mechanisms of immune modulation in clinical studies and in preclinical models of oral cancers, with a focus on antigen-presenting cells in tumour immune initiation and mechanisms of tumour immune cell exclusion. With a recent promotion to Senior Research Fellow, an increasing international recognition for her work and support from the GPRWMF, Dr Chandra’s vision as GPRWMF Mid-Career Fellow is to restore the functionality of immune cells to increase tumour inflammation and responsiveness to T cell targeted immunotherapies.
| Other GPRWMF awards received by awardee | Year | |
|---|---|---|
| Mid-Career Fellowship | Targeting cancer associated fibroblasts to overcome immune cell exclusion in head and neck cancer | 2023 |