Benjamin Kile

Benjamin Kile

School of Biomedicine

Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences


Ben is Executive Dean of the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences at the University of Adelaide. His PhD was conducted at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research in Melbourne, Australia, under the supervision of Professors Warren Alexander and Douglas Hilton. Graduating in 2001, Ben pursued postdoctoral studies with Professor Monica Justice at Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, USA. In 2004 he returned to the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, joining the faculty in 2005, and being appointed an independent laboratory head in 2008. After jointly leading the institute's ACRF Chemical Biology Division from 2014-2017, Ben took up the position of Head, Department of Anatomy and Developmental Biology, within the Biomedicine Discovery Institute at Monash University. In October 2019 he moved to the University of Adelaide.

The Kile lab's research has focused primarily on the molecular regulation of blood cell formation and function, at steady state, and in disease settings such as inflammation and leukemia. We have a deep interest in the role programmed cell death pathways play in these processes, and how the cell death machinery mediates the response to pathophysiological insults such as cancer chemotherapy. Our work has contributed to understanding the survival of platelets – the tiny cells that mediate blood clotting – and informed the clinical development of a new class of cancer drugs called the BH3 mimetics. We have identified critical roles for the cell death machinery in suppressing innate immune signalling, suggesting new therapeutic approaches to the treatment of viral infections and cancer.

2018-2021 DHB Foundation managed by ANZ Trustees. The development of small molecule inhibitors of cell death. $800,000. CIA: BT Kile, CIB: G Lessene.

2017-2021 NHMRC Program Grant No. 1113577: Regulation of Haemopoietic and Immune Cells in Health and Disease. $19,924,985. CIA: WS Alexander, CIB: JJ Babon, CIC: MC Cook, CID: DJ Hilton, CIE: BT Kile, CIF: NA Nicola, CIG: AW Roberts, CIH: CG Vinuesa, CII: IP Wicks.

2015-2018 NHMRC Project Grant No. 1077750: The role of apoptotic caspases in regulating type I interferon production. $761,513. CIA: BT Kile, CIB: M Pellegrini.

2014-2018 NHMRC Principal Research Fellowship No. 1063008. $727,610. CI: BT Kile.

2014-2017 DHB Foundation managed by ANZ Trustees. The development of small molecule inhibitors of cell death. $650,000. CIA: BT Kile, CIB: G Lessene.

2013 Leukaemia Foundation of Australia Research Grant-in-aid. Elucidation of the mechanisms involved in the development of erythromegakaryocytic leukaemia driven by the proto-oncogene ETS-related gene ERG. $100,000. CIA: CL Carmichael, CIB: BT Kile.

2012-2016 NHMRC Program Grant No. 1016647: Molecular regulation of blood cell production and function. $17,100,000. CIA: NA Nicola, CIB: WS Alexander, CIC: DJ Hilton, CID: D Metcalf, CIE: AW Roberts, CIF: JG Zhang, CIG: SE Nicholson, CIH: BT Kile, CII: IP Wicks.

2011-2013 NHMRC Project Grant No. 1002426: Defining the role of Nlrp1 and the inflammasome in host defence and inflammatory disease. $612,561. CIA: BT Kile, CIB: B Croker, CIC: SL Masters.

2009-2011 NHMRC Project Grant No. 545906: The role of the ABCA12 transporter in epidermal lipid homeostasis and atherosclerosis. $496,250. CIA: I Smyth, CIB: D Sviridov, CIC: BT Kile.

2009-2011 NHMRC Project Grant No. 575535: Bcl-2 proteins and the regulation of the megakaryocyte lineage. $399,900. CIA: BT Kile, CIB: C James.

2009-2013 Sylvia & Charles Viertel Foundation Senior Medical Research Fellowship. $975,000. CI: BT Kile.

2008-2010 NHMRC Project Grant No. 516726: Role of the Ets family transcription factor Erg in stem cell function and leukemia development. $397,125 CIA: BT Kile.

2008-2010 NHMRC Project Grant No. 516725: The molecular regulation of platelet life span. $521,000. CIA: BT Kile, CIB: SP Jackson, CIC: AW Roberts.

2007-2011 Cancer Council of Victoria Venture Grant No. Scanning the genome for new drug targets in cancer CIA: WS Alexander, CIB: BT Kile, CIC: A Strasser. 2007-2011. $244,500.

2007-2009 NHMRC Project Grant No. 461247: The genetic control of platelet production and function. $537,000 CIA: BT Kile, CIB: WS Alexander, CIC: HH Nandurkar.


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