Dr Lionel Hebbard is a scientist, employed as a Senior Research Fellow in the Sydney Medical School and the Storr Liver Unit, Westmead Millennium Institute. He completed his PhD in Germany and for his postdoctoral time he worked at the University Hospital Zurich, Switzerland and the Burnham Institute for Medical Research, La Jolla, USA. He returned from the USA in 2008 to continue his research in Australia. His current research focuses on the role of adiponectin and its receptors in cancer, liver injury and fibrosis and metabolism. [More...]

Dr Lionel Hebbard is a scientist, employed as a Senior Research Fellow in the Sydney Medical School and the Storr Liver Unit, Westmead Millennium Institute. He completed his PhD in Germany and for his postdoctoral time he worked at the University Hospital Zurich, Switzerland and the Burnham Institute for Medical Research, La Jolla, USA. He returned from the USA in 2008 to continue his research in Australia. His current research focuses on the role of adiponectin and its receptors in cancer, liver injury and fibrosis and metabolism.

His current work employs a combination of mouse models, molecular biology, cell biology and histology. The work will be based in the Storr Liver Unit which has the advantage of being able to draw on patient data and samples to further support experimental data.

Dr Hebbard completed his PhD in 1999 at the Institute for Genetics, Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe, Germany. His doctoral studies dealt with the role of CD44 in mouse and rat mammary gland development (J Cell Sci.,113, 2619-30; 2000). In his first Postdoctoral position at the University Hospital Zurich, Switzerland under Professor Roman Klemenz, he was part of the team who found T-cadherin to be upregulated on the vasculature of mouse tumours (Cancer Research, 60, 4682-4688, 200). In 2001 he moved to the Burnham Institute of Medical Research in La Jolla, California, to continue his work with Professor Barbara Ranscht. There Dr Hebbard characterized the function of T-cadherin in angiogenesis and mammary cancer (Cancer Research, 64, 169-179, 2004). He characterized knock-out T-cadherin mice and created transgenic mice and used them to functionally determine that the interaction of adiponectin and T-cadherin is an important mediator of angiogenesis and mammary tumour growth and progression (Cancer Res 68, 1407-16, 2008, Clin Cancer Res, 2009;15:3256-3264).

To learn about cancer stem cells Dr Hebbard worked with Professor Robert Oshima at the Burnham Institute from February 2007 to May 2008. There, using mouse models he tested new chemical inhibitors (Oncogene 2011, 30(3):301-12) and elucidated the role of MELK (mammalian embryonic leucine kinase) in mouse mammary mammary models (Cancer Res 2010;70:8863-8873).

AWARDS AND HONOURS

Fellowship from the Royal Australian College of Physicians for MPhil studies (1992-3).

PhD Fellowship for doctoral work from the Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe, Germany (1995-99).

Travel fellowship from the Keystone Conference Foundation (2004).

Career development award from the Fishman Fund (2005).

NSW Cancer Council Innovation Grant (2011). [Hide detail]