About Associate Professor Janette Burgess
Associate Professor Burgess’s passion is to understand the mechanisms that underlie abnormalities in the lungs with the ultimate goal of developing more targeted therapeutics to treat pathologies that we currently not able to adequately manage.
Associate Professor Janette Burgess is one of the international principal pioneers of the work on the extracellular matrix - its role in airway disease- its interaction with structural lung cells, and the potential for pharmacological intervention. Her particular area of expertise is the molecular and cellular biology of lung disease.
Career Progression Associate Professor Janette Burgess joined the Respiratory Research Group in 1999 and now plays a senior role in the team. She added her molecular biological expertise to the groups’ existing techniques in cell biology and airway pharmacology and has advanced her understanding of the underlying mechanisms of asthma with particular interest in the involvement of the airway smooth muscle. Over the last eight years she has also introduced functional genomics and laser capture microdissection into the group and has forged collaborations with local and international partners.
Awards and Recognition In 2002 she was offered an NH&MRC Peter Doherty Fellowship and an NH&MRC Industry Fellowship for the same period which she declined in favour of the former. In 2006 she was offered an NH&MRC R. Douglas Wright Biomedical Career Development Award. Janette has been the recipient of awards from a range of societies including more recently the TSANZ Ann Woolcock Young Investigator Award (2003), the ASCEPT Denis Wade New Investigator Award (2004), the Institute of Biomedical Sciences, University of Sydney inaugural Rebecca L Cooper Award (2004), and the American Thoracic Society RSF Ann Woolcock Award (2007). She holds grants from the Asthma Foundation of NSW, The Clive and Vera Ramaciotti Foundation, The Rebecca L Cooper Foundation, the University of Sydney Research and Development Grants Scheme and the NH&MRC.
Research Success Her publications are in the top specialty journals in her field. She has published 34 original research communications and reviews, on 22 of which she is first or senior author. She has been invited to present seminars at local, national and international research institutes and has been invited to present her work at Young Investigators’ International Symposiums on Airway Smooth Muscle, the European Respiratory Society symposium “The bronchial smooth muscle in bronchial responsiveness”, the New Zealand / Australia LAM Science Symposium and at the Japanese Respiratory Society annual conference.
Professional Activities Associate Professor Burgess has supervised 2 PhD students to completion. She is currently primary supervisor for 1 PhD student and is Associate supervisor for another 3 PhD students. Janette is committed to a career in biomedical research and eventually hopes to lead her own team within the context of a large multidisciplinary research institution.