Dr Lorraine O'Reilly

I have expertise in cellular and tumour immunology, particularly in areas relating to apoptosis, NF-κB and JAK-STAT signalling together with murine models of autoimmunity and cancer. I studied immunology (BSc Hons) at the University of Glasgow and my PhD at University College London, which was completed at the Department of Pathology University of Cambridge, England.

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Following additional post-doctoral training at the University of Cambridge, I joined WEHI (the Walter and Eliza Institute of Medical Research) in 1995 as a Wellcome Trust Fellow with Prof. Andreas Strasser in the Molecular Genetics of Cancer Division. Currently I’m a Senior Scientist at WEHI, based within the inflammation Division. My current mission is to understand how inflammation driven upper gastrointestinal cancers (stomach, oesophageal, head and neck (oral)) develop and to improve early diagnosis using new imaging technology. In addition, I'm investigating the inflammatory signalling pathways leading to autimmunity and upper gastrointestinal cancers and testing new treatments for these diseases.

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As a researcher, I collaborate extensively, locally; University of Melbourne Dental School, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre and the Burnet Institute and also internationally; the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Institute (USA). I also have collaborative projects with industry partners, locally; OptiScan (Melbourne) and internationally: Immunetarget (USA), Summit Biomedical (USA) and Apogenix (Germany). I am also the president of MIN (Melbourne Immunotherapy Network) a society which brings together clinicians and immunologists with a common interest in immunotherapy across many Institutes/Universities/Hospitals in and around Melbourne. I am also passionate about consumer involvement in our research and have been active member of the WEHI Consumer Advisory Panel (CAP) since 2018.

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