Simon Koblar

Professor Koblar is a clinician-scientist with a national and international reputation in stroke and regenerative medicine, as well as in other disciplines including genetics, clinical neurology and developmental neurobiology. He has been appointed as the first Professor of Neurology and Neuroscience at the University of Adelaide in recognition of his significant and sustained scientific and clinical contributions.

In 2005 he founded and continues to be Director of the Stroke Research Programme (SRP), which is a unique collaboration between the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI), University of Adelaide, Basil Hetzel Institute for Translational Health Research, and two hospitals, The Queen Elizabeth (TQEH) and Royal Adelaide Hospitals (RAH). In 2015 SAHMRI was successful in being awarded one of four in the country NHMRC Advanced Health Research and Translation Centres, with stroke being one of the key thematic areas in collaboration with the SRP.

Prof. Koblar was instrumental in founding the Adelaide Centre for Neuroscience Research (ACNR) and is its Director. The ACNR has brought together multidisciplinary researchers from many schools and faculties within the University of Adelaide. It also convenes the biannual Mount Lofty Workshop in the Adelaide Hills entitled ‘Frontier Technologies for Nervous System Function and Repair’. The 6th Mt Lofty Workshop was convened in 2014 and over the last decade the workshop has invited many leading neurologists, neurosurgeons, neuropathologists and neuroscientists from around Australia and internationally to participate. The ACNR and Mt Lofty Workshops have promoted leading edge neuroscience research within the University of Adelaide, which has led to national and international collaborations. His vision to bring together clinicians and scientists was fostered from his early academic experiences. His PhD was undertaken at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute (WEHI), University of Melbourne during the directorship of Prof./Sir Gus Nossal and Prof. Koblar’s supervisor Prof. Perry Bartlett (formerly Director Queensland Brain Institute).

He has an outstanding research profile of significant and sustained scientific contributions, having made six seminal discoveries, which are exemplified by several awards:

1. Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS): He was a Clinical Research Fellow at Guy’s Hospital, London, UK (1990-1992) under the mentorship of Prof. Richard Hughes and together they discovered the autoimmune basis of GBS. This led to a direct clinical translation with an antibody blood test now routinely used in the diagnosis of GBS. In 2004 he was sponsored by a co-author of the GBS discovery and then newly appointed director, Prof. Patrick Doherty, to undertake sabbatical leave at the Wolfson Centre for Age-Related Diseases, Guy’s Hospital, to advise as to the nexus of clinical and basic science research in Guy’s newest research institute.

2. Leukaemia Inhibitory Factor Receptor β (LIFRβ): During his PhD at WEHI, where the cytokine LIF had been discovered, Prof. Bartlett provided him an opportunity to investigate the first LIFRβ knockout mouse in collaboration with Immunex Ltd., a biotechnology company in Seattle, USA. From these investigations he discovered the essential role of LIFRβ signalling in neural differentiation.

3. Eph and ephrin family of genes: From 1996 to 1998 he was a Senior Post-doctoral Fellow at the University of Washington, Seattle with Prof. Mark Bothwell, co-discoverer of p75 the low affinity NGF receptor. He commenced research into a newly discovered family of genes the Eph/ephrins. In collaboration with other researchers in the USA he discovered the fundamental roles of a number of Eph/eprhin genes in development of the peripheral nervous system and also found a link to oncology. In 2001 his contribution to neuroscience research by a young neurologist was recognised by the Leonard Cox Award presented by the Australian and New Zealand Association of Neurologists. In 2002 his contribution to neuroscience research in the peripheral nervous system was recognised by the Sunderland Award presented by the University of Melbourne.

4. Genetics of Stroke: In 2004 he discovered that a genetic variation in the tPA gene was a risk for small vessel stroke (Ref. 9 and Patents in CV below). This was made in collaboration with one of his early PhD students, A/Prof. Jim Jannes, and also co-director of the SRP, A/Prof. Anne Hamilton-Bruce. From 2005 to 2010 the University of Adelaide and TQEH established a start-up biotechnology company – Atherogen Biotechnology Ltd. with inventors (Jannes, Koblar and Hamilton-Bruce). Atherogen Ltd. used this discovery to develop the concept of a genetic biomarker for small vessel cerebral disease. This initial genetic stroke research led to a strong collaboration with Prof. Christopher Levi, University of Newcastle, and together they set up the Australian Stroke Genetics Collaborative (ASGC). This collaboration subsequently led to a significant genetic discovery of a genetic risk for large vessel stroke, which was verified with collaborators from the International Stroke Genetics Consortium.

5. Npas4: In 2004 he published his second genetic discovery, isolating the gene Nxf (later renamed Npas4) using newly developed DNA microarray technology and found its association with neurological disease in collaboration with Prof. Grant Sutherland, an eminent Australian geneticist. From this research he collaborated with A/Prof. Yingxi Lin, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA and this led to further significant scientific contributions on the function of Npas4 in stroke and stem cell biology.

6. Dental Pulp Stem Cells (DPSC): In collaboration with Prof. Stan Granthos, who discovered DPSC in 2000, he hypothesized DPSC were a neural stem cell which he has established through published seminal discoveries demonstrating their ability to become neurons, influence neural plasticity and successfully treat a preclinical stroke model. In 2012 Mesoblast Ltd. in collaboration with the University of Adelaide patented the use of DPSC for the treatment of stroke. In 2011 his innovative research in regenerative medicine was recognised by the Leopold Dintenfass Award from the Rebecca L. Cooper Medical Research Foundation Ltd., NSW. Through his scientific and community leadership and industry interactions he proposed translating his basic stem cell research into a ‘first in human’ Phase 1 clinical trial in stroke patients using autologous DPSC in Australia. This has involved support from various groups: philanthropic organisations, the Peter Couche Foundation and Stroke SA, and industry, Mesoblast Ltd. and Boehringher-Ingelheim Corp., as well as research institutions SAHMRI and the University of Adelaide.

He has been principal or co-investigator on research grants of over $16.8 M, which includes funding from the NHMRC, ARC and various philanthropic foundations. He is an author of more than 100 refereed scientific articles, book chapters, patents and expert reports with a H index of 23 (Google Scholar) and over 2500 citations. He has been a supervisor of 57 higher degree research students (2015 figure) with a strong track record of completion on time.

His national and international profile is exemplified by invited presentations to over 80 local, national and international conferences and academic meetings. Two highlights in his career have been the plenary lecture on ‘Stem Cell Therapy in Stroke’ at the World Congress in Neurology 2011 (biannual conference) and he convened the 22nd Stroke Society of Australasia Conference in Adelaide SA in 2011. He is on the Editorial Boards of the high impact journals: International Journal of Stroke and Stem Cell Research and Therapy. He is regularly invited as an international reviewer of grant applications for the National Science Foundation (USA), Welcome Trust (UK), the Medical Research Council (UK) and medical research institutions in New Zealand. He was a member of the NHMRC Neuroscience Project Grant Review Panel from 2008 to 2012.

He has a strong track record in medical education. He developed an innovative Neurology Teaching program at the University of Adelaide, which was recognised by the Allan Kerr Grant Award for Outstanding Teacher in 2003 and the Derek Frewin Citation for Clinical Teaching in 2010 and 2011. He established and chairs the MBBS Research Committee in the medical program at the University of Adelaide, which coordinates and innovates new approaches to stimulate medical student interaction and involvement in research. He has been an active member of the MBBS Curriculum Committee since 2011.

Prof. Koblar has contributed significantly to the broader community in the field of stroke. In 2010 he helped establish the The Peter Couche Foundation, with Peter Couche and Mr Stephen Gerlach (Chancellor of Flinders University, SA), which is a philanthropic foundation having raised over $500,000 to fund innovative research in stroke. Since 2008 he has coordinated and provided media input during National Stroke Week, which has led to regular national media coverage, and increasing community awareness about stroke. He regularly provides local and national comment in the print, radio and television media on stroke related-issues.