About
Dr Lachlan Harris performed his PhD in Associate Professor Michael Piper’s lab at The University of Queensland (2013-2017) on NFI transcription factor regulation of neural stem cells, uncovering how these genes promote nerve cell production. After completing his PhD, he was driven to move internationally, and obtained a four-year Crick Postdoctoral Training Fellow position, where he studied the regulation of adult neural stem cell quiescence. Here, he discovered that adult brain stem cells deepen their quiescence during aging to preserve lifelong nerve cell production. In the process, he also helped to define the molecular pathways controlling this process. He came to understand that quiescence was a major disease obstacle in adult brain cancer and that the biological insights from neuroscience research could be used to help patients. To this end, in June 2021 he returned to Australia to QIMR Berghofer to develop strategies to target these cells to improve outcomes for these patients, beginning his own Cancer Neuroscience Laboratory at QIMR Berghofer in January 2023.