National Science Week runs from the 14 – 22 August in Australia and is an annual celebration of science and technology in this country.

This week we are going to meet some of the amazing Mater Research team to hear about what they do and why they chose to pursue a career in science.

Dr Camille Guillerey is a Senior Research Officer and Career Track Fellow in the Cancer Immunotherapies Group at Mater Research. She leads a small team of young scientists and students performing research on blood cancers.

Camille believes that understanding how the immune system responds to cancer, will help inform researchers to design better immune-based therapies for cancer patients.

In 2020 she was the recipient of the 2020 Mater Research Strategic Grant for Outstanding Women which is funded by Mater Foundation and aims to showcase the ingenuity that women play in research.

“I am so grateful for the support of Mater Foundation as this grant has allowed me to focus on designing better immune-based treatments for blood cancer patients using a particular type of immune cells called ‘natural killer’ cells,” said Dr Guillerey.

“Natural Killer cells are a population of immune cells that recognise and kill cancer cells. I am interested in understanding how Natural Killer cells interact with other immune cells to develop protective immune responses.

“We are improving our knowledge of immunological processes which will help design new therapies for various human pathologies such as cancer, infectious disease or autoimmune disorders.”  

In addition to this, Camille aims to identify mechanisms that may prevent Natural Killer cells from eliminating cancer cells and apply these findings to develop new treatments for childhood leukemia.

“Working with a grant from Queensland Children’s Hospital in combination with the Outstanding Women’s Grant from Mater Research, will allow me to see meaningful results faster in my current work in researching children’s leukaemia,” said Dr Guillerey.

“I am motivated by the idea that my work will improve people’s life and I believe that every single step in research, even the tiniest one, will pave the way to a cure for cancer.

“I have always been interested in science, as a child I loved the cartoon Once upon a time life which showed how cells in our body work together to keep us alive, as an immunologist, I still picture immune cells as small characters fighting for our health.”

Through this research, Camille has made integral contributions to improve knowledge on immune responses to blood cancers. She has already identified an  immune molecule as promising target in immune multiple myeloma, an incurable blood cancer.