What we do
WIMR's work is saving lives and delivering hope.
WIMR's multidisciplinary and translational approach to medical research enables us to positively improve the health of all Australians and people throughout the world. We are pioneering personalised treatments and cures to solve some of the greatest disease challenges of our time.
We are investigating the use of gene therapy to treat and prevent sudden death from heart rhythm problems. We are looking at ways we can use stem cells to regenerate cardiac muscle damaged by heart attack.
We are studying thousands of breast tissue samples to understand the role of the female hormones oestrogen and progesterone in the development of the normal breast and in breast cancer.
We are studying the interactions between genetic and environmental risk factors that cause auto-immune diseases such as multiple sclerosis.
We are investigating how high grade serious ovarian carcinomas evolve to evade initially effective drug treatment, and ensure patients’ tumours receive molecular testing so their care can be optimised.
We are developing novel brain imaging techniques to help doctors more easily and accurately diagnose and treat mental disorders such as bipolar, ADHD, depression, anxiety and PTSD.
We are investigating the application of new techniques used to develop a successful shingles vaccine, to one day vaccinate against the herpes simplex virus.
We are researching the mechanisms that cause progressive eye cell death in glaucoma and possible treatments to prevent vision loss using already approved drugs.
We are studying the links between our hormone system, skyrocketing rates of type 2 diabetes and obesity. We are also investigating ways to expand our pioneering type 1 diabetes islet cell transplant program to more patients in Westmead Hospital.
We are looking for better ways to manage deadly hospital infections and investigate novel solutions to antibiotic resistance. We are searching for ways to design new drugs to combat devastating fungal infections.
We are using human cells to fight infections suffered by bone marrow transplant recipients and are trialling the use of cells engineered to directly target blood cancers.
We are researching links between disordered breathing during sleep and diseases such as stroke, melanoma and breast cancer.
We are developing ways to remove dormant HIV in patients undergoing treatment. We are also looking at how HIV passes through different tissues in the body so we can develop drugs or medical devices to protect people.
We are researching the complex ways infectious diseases like tuberculosis spread across the world, using new technologies like whole genome sequencing to understand how bacteria mutate in different populations and how drug resistance evolves.
Our research combines pre-clinical laboratory research with clinical trials, aiming to develop new drugs and treatments that prevent kidney failure in these patients.
We are investigating ways to disrupt the growth of acute lymphoblastic leukaemia cells and reduce the need for patients to undergo highly toxic chemotherapies.
We are researching the role of genetics and immune response in liver disease to better identify patients at risk of cirrhosis and cancer. We are also researching the biology of viral hepatitis so we can develop new therapies to cure infection and reduce its complications.
We are undertaking large-scale genomic analyses of thousands of people from the community, including families with a strong history of melanoma, to find the molecular determinants of risk, progression and treatment response to the disease.
Keep up-to-date with the latest news from The Westmead Institute, including research findings, new discoveries and stories of hope.