Dr Robert Hume
Centre for Heart Failure and Diseases of the Aorta
The Baird Institute for Applied Heart and Lung Research
Research Fellow
Charles Perkins Centre
Sydney School of Medical Sciences
Faculty of Medicine and Health
Dr Hume is a Research Fellow at the University of Sydney and Lead of Translational Research at the Baird Institute for Applied Heart and Lung Research. He undertook his BEng/MEng in Biomaterial Science and Tissue Engineering at the University of Sheffield (UK) and his PhD at the University of Cambridge (UK), before moving to Australia to complete a postdoctoral fellowship with Prof James Chong at the Westmead Institute for Medical Research/University of Sydney. Dr Hume is now leading a program of research at the University of Sydney with Professor Paul Bannon, Associate Professor Sean Lal and Professor John O’Sullivan. He is also a Heart Foundation-funded scientist who has led major translational projects and lead-author publications in Circulation Research, JACC: Basic to Translational Science and Biomaterials, amongst others. Dr Hume’s essential contributions on a range of projects have also resulted in research published within high impact journals, such as Science Translational Medicine and Nature Cardiovascular Research. His work and collaborations have spawned novel intellectual property and therapies that is currently being commercialised and translated to the clinic.
PhD opportunity -In this exciting PhD opportunity, a candidate will investigate the application and analysis of a novel biodegradable blood vessel graft in a large animal model, that aims to be used in future to replace damaged or blocked arteries. It is hypothesized that as the graft degrades it will be replaced by new healthy tissue and thus aims to regenerate damaged vessels.Please contact Dr Robert Hume if you are interested or have any questions:robert.hume@sydney.edu.au. See below for further project information.
Synopsis
Current blood vessel grafts that replace damaged vessels are typically made from materials that are permanent, become blocked at small diameters and are too stiff. In collaboration with biomaterials and tissue engineering experts, you will test a novel blood vessel graft that degrades as new tissue forms, is resistant to blockages and has similar elastic properties to native arteries. Whilst our collaborators have successfully tested the grafts in a mouse model, it has not yet been tested in a large animal model. Therefore, for this first project theme you will focus on the application and analysis of a novel biodegradable blood vessel graft in a large animal model. For the initial in vivo component, you will work closely with a large collaborative team of imaging specialists, surgeons and hybrid theatre technicians to produce functional preclinical data. Following vessel degradation and new tissue formation, you will perform comprehensive in vitro analyses of the grafts, spatially resolving the gene and protein expression of the neovessel, whilst comparing it to native tissue.
Additional information
Throughout this project you will be fully supported by a diverse and prestigious supervisory team. This includes the Baird Institute’s Centre for Heart Failure and Diseases of the Aorta team:
- internationally renowned cardiothoracic surgeon and scientist Professor Paul Bannon,
- imaging specialist Dr Robert Hume (who you will be work closely with on the project)
- highly esteemed clinician scientists Associate Professor Sean Lal and Professor John O’Sullivan.
- collaboration with internationally recognized award-winning biomaterial scientists within Professor Anthony Weiss’s laboratory, who design and synthesise the vessel grafts you will be working with in the aforementioned large animal model.
You therefore have the unique opportunity to learn from a diverse and highly successful group of established scientists within the award-winning Charles Perkins Centre - a building that contains many of the Universities most influential researchers and contains multiple state-of-the-art facilities.
Publications
Book Chapters
- Clayton, Z., Hume, R., Selvakumar, D., Chong, J. (2020). The cardiac stem cell niche during aging. In Susie Nilsson (Eds.), The Stem Cell Niche during Ageing, (pp. 197-242). United Kingdom: Academic Press. [More Information]
Journals
- Taper, M., Carrington, G., Peckham, M., Lal, S., Hume, R. (2024). A comparison of fixation and immunofluorescence protocols for successful reproducibility and improved signal in human left ventricle cardiac tissue. Journal of Microscopy. [More Information]
- Patrick, R., Janbandhu, V., Tallapragada, V., Tan, S., McKinna, E., Contreras, O., Ghazanfar, S., Humphreys, D., Murray, N., Tran, Y., Hume, R., Chong, J., et al (2024). Integration mapping of cardiac fibroblast single-cell transcriptomes elucidates cellular principles of fibrosis in diverse pathologies. Science Advances, 10(25), eadk8501-1-eadk8501-27. [More Information]
- Wang, Z., Paterson, H., Partel, L., Wise, I., Adams, M., Cistulli, D., Ng, D., Qasabian, R., O'Sullivan, J., Lal, S., Weiss, A., Bannon, P., Hume, R. (2024). Preventing Sheep Carotid Artery Spasm for Vascular Graft Surgery and Computed Tomography Angiography. Tissue Engineering Part C: Methods, 30(8), 335-342. [More Information]
2024
- Taper, M., Carrington, G., Peckham, M., Lal, S., Hume, R. (2024). A comparison of fixation and immunofluorescence protocols for successful reproducibility and improved signal in human left ventricle cardiac tissue. Journal of Microscopy. [More Information]
- Patrick, R., Janbandhu, V., Tallapragada, V., Tan, S., McKinna, E., Contreras, O., Ghazanfar, S., Humphreys, D., Murray, N., Tran, Y., Hume, R., Chong, J., et al (2024). Integration mapping of cardiac fibroblast single-cell transcriptomes elucidates cellular principles of fibrosis in diverse pathologies. Science Advances, 10(25), eadk8501-1-eadk8501-27. [More Information]
- Wang, Z., Paterson, H., Partel, L., Wise, I., Adams, M., Cistulli, D., Ng, D., Qasabian, R., O'Sullivan, J., Lal, S., Weiss, A., Bannon, P., Hume, R. (2024). Preventing Sheep Carotid Artery Spasm for Vascular Graft Surgery and Computed Tomography Angiography. Tissue Engineering Part C: Methods, 30(8), 335-342. [More Information]
2023
- Murtha, L., Hardy, S., Mabotuwana, N., Bigland, M., Bailey, T., Raguram, K., Liu, S., Ngo, D., Sverdlov, A., Tomin, T., Hume, R., Chong, J., et al (2023). Fibulin-3 is necessary to prevent cardiac rupture following myocardial infarction. Scientific Reports, 13(1). [More Information]
- Hume, R., Shim, W., Malecki, C., Li, M., Harney, D., Slaughter, E., Wang, X., Nguyen, L., Cole, L., O'Sullivan, J. (2023). Human hearts have an intrinsic regenerative potential following myocardial infarction. Research Square. [More Information]
- Hume, R., Deshmukh, T., Doan, T., Shim, W., Kanagalingam, S., Tallapragada, V., Rashid, F., Marcuello, M., Blessing, D., Selvakumar, D., Raguram, K., Pathan, F., Graham, J., Kizana, E., Chong, J., et al (2023). PDGF-AB Reduces Myofibroblast Differentiation Without Increasing Proliferation After Myocardial Infarction (In Press). JACC: Basic to Translational Science. [More Information]
2021
- Hume, R., Berry, L., Reichelt, S., D'Angelo, M., Gomm, J., Cameron, R., Watson, C. (2021). An Engineered Human Adipose/Collagen Model for In Vitro Breast Cancer Cell Migration Studies. Tissue Engineering - Part A, 24(17-18), 1309-1319. [More Information]
- Rashid, F., Clayton, Z., Ogawa, M., Perdomo, J., Hume, R., Kizana, E., Chong, J. (2021). Platelet derived growth factor-A (Pdgf-a) gene transfer modulates scar composition and improves left ventricular function after myocardial infarction. International Journal of Cardiology, 341, 24-30. [More Information]
2020
- Thavapalachandran, S., Grieve, S., Hume, R., Le, T., Raguram, K., Hudson, J., Pouliopoulos, J., Figtree, G., Dye, R., Barry, A., Coffey, S., Rashid, F., Kizana, E., Asli, N., Chong, J., et al (2020). Platelet-derived growth factor-AB improves scar mechanics and vascularity after myocardial infarction. Science Translational Medicine, 12(524), 1-11. [More Information]
- Hume, R., Chong, J. (2020). The Cardiac Injury Immune Response as a Target for Regenerative and Cellular Therapies. Clinical Therapeutics, 42(10), 1923-1943. [More Information]
- Clayton, Z., Hume, R., Selvakumar, D., Chong, J. (2020). The cardiac stem cell niche during aging. In Susie Nilsson (Eds.), The Stem Cell Niche during Ageing, (pp. 197-242). United Kingdom: Academic Press. [More Information]
2018
- Hume, R., Pensa, S., Brown, E., Kreuzaler, P., Hitchcock, J., Husmann,, A., Campbell, J., Lloyd-Thomas, A., Cameron, R., Watson, C. (2018). Tumour cell invasiveness and response to chemotherapeutics in adipocyte invested 3D engineered anisotropic collagen scaffolds. Scientific Reports, 8(1), 12658. [More Information]
2017
- Campbell, J., Husmann, A., Hume, R., Watson, C., Cameron, R. (2017). Development of three-dimensional collagen scaffolds with controlled architecture for cell migration studies using breast cancer cell lines. Biomaterials, 114, 34-43. [More Information]
2016
- Stokes,, C., Kaur, R., Edwards, M., Mondhe, M., Robinson, D., Prestwich, E., Hume, R., Marshall, C., Perrie, Y., O’Donnell, V., et al (2016). Human rhinovirus-induced inflammatory responses are inhibited by phosphatidylserine containing liposomes. Mucosal Immunology, 9(5), 1304-1316. [More Information]
Selected Grants
2023
- A biodegradable blood vessel replacement that regrows damaged aortas, Hume R, Bannon P, Weiss A, Wang Z, National Heart Foundation of Australia/Vanguard Grant
2019
- Modulating cardiac scar formation and physical properties to treat heart failure: investigation of Tropoelastin as a novel therapeutic, Chong J, Hume R, National Heart Foundation of Australia/Vanguard Grant
In the media
In 2023, Robert published a paperin the journal Circulation Research (doi/10.1161/CIRCRESAHA.122.321123) using tropoelastin to treat heart attacks. Robert took part in a number of media interviews to describe the research:
- 9 News, evening news, https://www.9news.com.au/national/heart-attack-australia-sydney-trial-to-reduce-scarring-could-improve-heart-function-health-news/5cb59e34-c2d0-43d8-9c81-3ec53b4964f9
- 2SM radio, https://protect-au.mimecast.com/s/DA33CQnMBZf6QyV7QtMbA4X?domain=url4195.isentia.com
- Canberra Times (Australian Associated Press) https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/8047076/science-finds-way-to-heal-scarred-hearts/
- Cosmos magazine, https://cosmosmagazine.com/health/how-to-mend-a-broken-heart-rat-study-heals-heart-attack-scars/
In 2020, Robert was a co-author on a publication using the protein platelet derived growth factor-AB to treat heart attacks that also received media attention: