New US position tempts research leader
World-renowned researcher Professor Nadia Rosenthal, founding Director of the Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute (ARMI) at Monash University has accepted a newly created position as Scientific Director of The Jackson Laboratory (JAX) in Maine.
ARMI, a joint venture between Monash University and the Victorian Government, was established to build on the University’s existing strengths in biomedical research and deliver the next generation of discoveries in regenerative medicine.
Professor Rosenthal launched the $153 million centre in 2009. As a result of her stewardship, ARMI is home to more than 230 scientists and students focusing on key regeneration research themes including in the heart, muscle, and nervous system, stem cells and immunity.
Professor Rosenthal has also been instrumental in gaining membership for Australia as the first country outside Europe to join the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), Europe’s preeminent life science research laboratory,
Professor John Carroll, Dean of the Faculty of Biomedical and Psychological Sciences from Monash University said that Professor Rosenthal’s leadership had ensured ARMI’s success as a global leader in regenerative medicine.
“As the Founding Director, Professor Rosenthal established a clear goal to make ARMI one of the world’s best regenerative medicine and stem cell research centres. ARMI is unique to Australia and in just a few years it has become internationally renowned for the quality of its research.
“Whilst I am disappointed to be losing such an inspirational colleague, the position at JAX is an exciting opportunity for Professor Rosenthal. On behalf of everyone at ARMI and Monash University, I wish Nadia the very best in her new role” said Professor Carroll.
As well as pioneering research, Professor Rosenthal also helped establish a successful national research program in creating EMBL Australia, providing a firm foundation to ensure rich opportunities are available for young scientists in Australia.
The new appointment is in many ways a homecoming for Professor Rosenthal. After gaining her PhD in biochemistry at Harvard Medical School, Professor Rosenthal collaborated with JAX researchers, developing her career-long focus to map the workings of the immune system during the regeneration of heart tissue. Her work has led to developments in innovative cell-based treatments for muscle ageing and heart disease.
Professor Rosenthal sees two major opportunities in her new role.
“One is to build the JAX research staff in Bar Harbor, including students and other early-career scientists, and extend collaborations with international research institutions. The other is to expand powerful new approaches developed by JAX researchers that will deliver mouse models as unique as the patients we need to treat, and make them accessible to biomedical researchers everywhere,” Professor Rosenthal said.
Professor Rosenthal is a Fellow of the UK Academy of Medical Sciences, an EMBO member, a recipient of the Ferrari-Soave Prize in Cell Biology and was awarded Doctors Honoris Causa from the Universite Pierre et Marie Curie in Paris and the University of Amsterdam. She also holds a Chair in Cardiovascular Science at Imperial College London. She has served on numerous international grant review committees and advisory panels and has coordinated several major EU consortia on mouse genetics and disease models. She is a Founding Editor of Disease Models and Mechanisms and Editor-in-Chief of Differentiation.
Professor Rosenthal will join the Jackson Laboratory in May and take up Directorship in Bar Harbor by the end of the year, retaining an honorary post at Monash. The Jackson Laboratory is an independent, non-profit biomedical research institution employs 1600 staff. Its mission is to discover precise genomic solutions for disease and empower the global biomedical community in the shared quest to improve human health.