Prof David Waugh

Prof David Waugh

Pro Vice Chancellor: Health and Medical Research and Engagement

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Professor David Waugh is the Inaugural Pro-Vice Chancellor for Health and Medical Research and Engagement at University of South Australia, a role focused on developing inter-disciplinary and impactful research programmes that provide transformative solutions to inform improved patient outcomes and future healthcare practice. He was formerly the Head of School for Biomedical Sciences at Queensland University of Technology and prior to emigrating to Australia, he served as Director of the Patrick G Johnston Centre for Cancer Research at Queen’s University and the CRUK Belfast Cancer Centre, developing an ecosystem that integrated academic discovery science with entrepreneurial biotech research and development and finally implementation in innovative early-phase clinical trials.
A Professor of Molecular Oncology and Therapeutics, David is an internationally-respected prostate cancer researcher focusing on using scientific discoveries to inform the use of new therapies in treating men with prostate cancer. He was the Founding Director of the FASTMAN Movember/PCUK Centre of Excellence (2013-2018) between Queen’s University Belfast and the University of Manchester in the UK, a programme delivering biomarkers and a series of translational studies to improve the outcomes of prostate cancer patients being treated for high-risk disease using radiotherapy protocols. His own research has focused on disrupting the inflammatory storms driven by chemokine signalling that underpin the aggressive and life-threatening behaviour of specific, genetically-defined subtypes of prostate cancer.

Year Citation
2025 Hindes, M. T., McElligott, A. M., Best, O. G., Ward, M. P., Selemidis, S., Miles, M. A., . . . Brooks, D. A. (2025). Metabolic reprogramming, malignant transformation and metastasis: Lessons from chronic lymphocytic leukaemia and prostate cancer. Cancer Letters, 611(217441), 217441-1-217441-18.
DOI Scopus7 WoS7 Europe PMC3
2025 Grist, E., Dutey-Magni, P., Parry, M. A., Mendes, L., Sachdeva, A., Proudfoot, J. A., . . . Attard, G. (2025). Tumor transcriptome-wide expression classifiers predict treatment sensitivity in advanced prostate cancers.. Cell, 188(20), 1-29.
DOI Scopus2 WoS2 Europe PMC1
2025 Lam, G., Martini, C., Sorvina, A., Hickey, S., Hindes, M., Waugh, D., . . . Logan, J. (2025). Implications of Altered Endosomal-Lysosomal Biogenesis in Melanoma Pathogenesis. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 26(20, article no. 10113), 1-15.
DOI
2025 Bessot, A., Medeiros Savi, F., Gunter, J., Mendhi, J., Amini, S., Waugh, D., . . . Bock, N. (2025). Humanized in vivo bone tissue engineering: in vitro preculture conditions control the structural, cellular, and matrix composition of humanized bone organs. Advanced Healthcare Materials, 14(2, article no. 2401939), 1-22.
DOI
2025 Bessot, A., Röhl, J., Emmerich, M., Klotz, A., Ravichandran, A., Meinert, C., . . . Bock, N. (2025). ECM-mimicking hydrogel models of human adipose tissue identify deregulated lipid metabolism in the prostate cancer-adipocyte crosstalk under antiandrogen therapy. Materials Today Bio, 30(101424), 1-17.
DOI
2024 Nturubika, B. D. D., Logan, J., Johnson, I. R. D., Moore, C., Li, K. L., Tang, J., . . . Brooks, D. A. (2024). Components of the endosome-lysosome vesicular machinery as drivers of the metastatic cascade in prostate cancer. Cancers, 17(1), 1, article no. 43-31.
DOI Scopus2 WoS2 Europe PMC1
2023 Bessot, A., Gunter, J., Waugh, D., Clements, J. A., Hutmacher, D. W., McGovern, J., & Bock, N. (2023). GelMA and biomimetic culture allow the engineering of mineralized, adipose, and tumor tissue human microenvironments for the study of advanced prostate cancer in vitro and in vivo. Advanced Healthcare Materials, 12(14, article no. 2201701).
DOI
2023 Guo, C., Sharp, A., Gurel, B., Crespo, M., Waugh, D., & de Bono, J. S. (2023). Targeting myeloid chemotaxis to reverse prostate cancer therapy resistance. Nature, 623(7989), 1053-1061.
DOI
2022 Mak, B., Lin, H. -M., Kwan, E. M., Fettke, H., Tran, B., Davis, I. D., . . . Horvath, L. G. (2022). Combined impact of lipidomic and genetic aberrations on clinical outcomes in metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer. BMC Medicine, 20(1), 112-1-112-14.
DOI Scopus16 WoS18 Europe PMC18
2021 Hanna, C., Dunne, V. L., Walker, S. M., Butterworth, K. T., McCabe, N., Waugh, D. J. J., . . . Prise, K. M. (2021). ATM kinase inhibition preferentially sensitises pten-deficient prostate tumour cells to ionising radiation. Cancers, 13(1, article no. 79), 1-17.
DOI
2021 Amoroso, F., Glass, K., Singh, R., Liberal, F., Steele, R. E., Maguire, S., . . . Mills, I. G. (2021). Modulating the unfolded protein response with ONC201 to impact on radiation response in prostate cancer cells. Scientific Reports, 11(1, article no. 4252), 1-16.
DOI
2020 Murphy, R. G., Roddy, A. C., Srivastava, S., Baena, E., Waugh, D. J., O Sullivan, J. M., . . . LaBonte, M. J. (2020). Prostate cancer heterogeneity assessment with multi-regional sampling and alignment-free methods. NAR Genomics and Bioinformatics, 2(3, article no. lqaa062), 1-7.
DOI
2019 Gilmore, A. R., Alderdice, M., Savage, K. I., O Reilly, P. G., Roddy, A. C., Dunne, P. D., . . . McArt, D. G. (2019). ACE: A workbench using evolutionary genetic algorithms for analyzing association in TCGA. Cancer Research, 79(8), 2072-2075.
DOI
2019 Di Mitri, D., Mirenda, M., Vasilevska, J., Calcinotto, A., Waugh, D., & Alimonti, A. (2019). Re-education of tumor-associated macrophages by CXCR2 blockade drives senescence and tumor inhibition in advanced prostate cancer. Cell Reports, 28(8), 2156.e5-2168.e5.
DOI
2018 Jain, S., Lyons, C. A., Walker, S. M., McQuaid, S., & Waugh, D. J. (2018). Validation of a Metastatic Assay using biopsies to improve risk stratification in patients with prostate cancer treated with radical radiation therapy. Annals of Oncology, 29(1), 215-222.
DOI
2018 Ong, C. W., Maxwell, P., Alvi, M. A., McQuaid, S., Waugh, D., Mills, I., & Salto Tellez, M. (2018). A gene signature associated with PTEN activation defines good prognosis intermediate risk prostate cancer cases. Journal of Pathology: Clinical Research, 4(2), 103-113.
DOI
2018 Sumanasuriya, S., Omlin, A., Armstrong, A., Attard, G., Chi, K. N., Bevan, C. L., . . . de Bono, J. S. (2018). Consensus Statement on Circulating Biomarkers for Advanced Prostate Cancer. European Urology Oncology, 1(2), 151-159.
DOI
2018 McCann, C., Crawford, N., Majkut, J., Holohan, C., Armstrong, C. W. D., Maxwell, P. J., . . . Longley, D. B. (2018). Cytoplasmic FLIP(S) and nuclear FLIP(L) mediate resistance of castrate-resistant prostate cancer to apoptosis induced by IAP antagonists. Cell Death and Disease, 9(11, article no. 1081), 1-13.
DOI
2017 Walker, S. M., Knight, L. A., McCavigan, A. M., Logan, G. E., Waugh, D. J., & Kennedy, R. D. (2017). Molecular subgroup of primary prostate cancer presenting with metastatic biology. European Urology, 72(4), 509-518.
DOI
2016 Bingham, V., Ong, C. W., James, J., Maxwell, P., Waugh, D., Salto Tellez, M., & McQuaid, S. (2016). PTEN mRNA detection by chromogenic, RNA in situ technologies: a reliable alternative to PTEN immunohistochemistry. Human Pathology, 47(1), 95-103.
DOI
2016 Armstrong, C. W. D., Maxwell, P. J., Ong, C. W., Redmond, K. M., McCann, C., Neisen, J., . . . Waugh, D. J. J. (2016). PTEN deficiency promotes macrophage infiltration and hypersensitivity of prostate cancer to IAP antagonist/radiation combination therapy. Oncotarget, 7(7), 7885-7898.
DOI
2016 Dunne, P. D., McArt, D. G., Bradley, C. A., O'Reilly, P. G., Barrett, H. L., Cummins, R., . . . Van Schaeybroeck, S. (2016). Challenging the cancer molecular stratification dogma: intratumoral heterogeneity undermines consensus molecular subtypes and potential diagnostic value in colorectal cancer. Clinical Cancer Research, 22(16), 4095-4104.
DOI
2015 Ong, C. W., Chong, P. Y., McArt, D. G., Chan, J. Y., Tan, H. T., Kumar, A. P., . . . Salto Tellez, M. (2015). The prognostic value of the stem-like group in colorectal cancer using a panel of immunohistochemistry markers. Oncotarget, 6(14), 12763-12773.
DOI
2015 McFarlane, S., McFarlane, C., Montgomery, N., Hill, A., & Waugh, D. J. J. (2015). CD44-mediated activation of α5β1-integrin, cortactin and paxillin signaling underpins adhesion of basal-like breast cancer cells to endothelium and fibronectin-enriched matrices. Oncotarget, 6(34), 36762-36773.
DOI
2015 McFarlane, S., Coulter, J. A., Tibbits, P., O'Grady, A., McFarlane, C., Montgomery, N., . . . Waugh, D. J. J. (2015). CD44 increases the efficiency of distant metastasis of breast cancer. Oncotarget, 6(13), 11465-11476.
DOI

  • Targeting Inhibitory kappa B kinase α (IKKα): a new treatment paradigm for inflammatory-driven cancers, Medical Research Council - Developmental Pathway Funding Scheme, 28/08/2024 - 27/08/2027

  • Position: Pro Vice Chancellor: Health and Medical Research and Engagement
  • Email: david.waugh@adelaide.edu.au
  • Alternative Contact: EA.PVCHealth@unisa.edu.au

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