Brendan Crabb

Brendan Scott Crabb AC PhD FAHMS[1] FASM [2] (born 13 September 1966) is an Australian microbiologist, research scientist and Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Burnet Institute, based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.[3]

Professor

Brendan Crabb

AC
Born
Brendan Scott Crabb

(1966-09-13) 13 September 1966
NationalityAustralian
Alma materUniversity of Melbourne
Scientific career
FieldsImmunology
InstitutionsBurnet Institute

Background and early career

Educated in Papua New Guinea and Australia, Crabb received a Bachelor of Science (Honours) from the University of Melbourne in the Department of Microbiology. In 1992, he completed his PhD in virology with Michael J. Studdert at the School of Veterinary Science also at the University of Melbourne.[4] His PhD project, which explored proteins of equine herpes, led to a diagnostic test which could distinguish horses infected by the lethal equine herpes virus-1 and the less damaging equine herpes virus-4.[5] He then completed a postdoctoral fellowship in the laboratory of Alan Cowman before starting his independent laboratory at the University of Melbourne.[4]

Scientific Career

Research focus

Crabb's main research focus is on the identification of new targets for therapeutic intervention in malaria and the development of a malaria vaccine. More broadly, his interests mirror the mission of the Burnet Institute - to improve the health of poor and vulnerable communities through research, education and public health.

In 2009, Crabb and his research team identified the export protein translocon in malaria. This discovery was published in Nature and solved the mystery of how proteins with an export motif are trafficked out of the infected parasite and into the cytosol of the red blood cell host. This finding has broad impact in biology and also has considerable importance as a major new drug target in malaria.[6]

Together with his principle collaborator Alan Cowman, Crabb is also well known for his development of molecular genetic systems in human malaria, having described the first gene knockout in the causative agent Plasmodium falciparum in a paper published in the journal Cell.[7]

Burnet Institute

Crabb was appointed Director and CEO of Burnet Institute in 2008,[8][9] a position previously held by Ian Gust AO, John Mills AO,[10] Steve Wesselingh, now Executive Director of the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute,[11] Ian McKenzie AM, and Mark Hogarth.

Although a molecular scientist by training, Crabb's interests include addressing technical and non-technical barriers to maternal, newborn and child health in the developing world. In recent years, under the banner of Healthy Mothers Healthy Babies,[12] he has established a major research field site in East New Britain in Papua New Guinea, principally to identify the underlying drivers (including malaria) of low birth weight and stunted growth in relatively calorie-rich, yet resource-poor settings.[13][14]

Under Crabb’s leadership, Burnet Institute has continued to focus on improving the health of vulnerable populations through strategic, infrastructure and policy initiatives, especially embedding research as a key pillar of the Institute’s international development activities. In addition, during Crabb’s tenure as Director and CEO Burnet has:

  • expanded its infrastructure with the completion of the Alfred Centre Stage 2 doubling the capacity of Burnet’s laboratory facilities and floor space
  • refocused its international development and research programs across the Asia Pacific with a priority on addressing the health issues of Papua New Guinea [15] and Myanmar [16]
  • restructured with a programmatic focus on issues of maternal, child [17] and adolescent health, disease elimination [18], health security [19], and behaviours and health risks [20]
  • focused attention on addressing issues of gender equity, and embracing and encouraging diversity within the workplace
  • developed commercial activities in Australia and in China (360Biolabs [21] and Nanjing BioPoint Diagnostic Technologies) supporting the Institute's long-term sustainability

Special appointments

As President of the Association of Australian Medical Research Institutes (AAMRI) from 2012 to October 2014,[22][23] Crabb was a leading advocate for high level policy reform and played critical roles in transformative government policy and funding initiatives, including the generation of the $20b Medical Research Future Fund. [24]

He is a Member of the PATH/Malaria Vaccine Initiative and Vaccine Science Portfolio Advisory Council (VSPAC), USA, [25] and was Co-Founder and Co-Chair of the Inaugural Malaria World Congress [26] in Melbourne, Australia, in 2018. He holds honorary Professorial appointments at Monash University and Melbourne University in Australia. [27] Other special appointments include:

  • Member, National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) [28]
  • Member, Victorian Medical Research Strategic Advisory Committee
  • Member, Scientific Advisory Board, Centre for Cancer Biology, UniSA and SA Pathology, from 2015 [29]
  • Chair, Victorian Chapter of the Association of Australian Medical Research Institutes (VicAAMRI), 2014–ongoing
  • Chair, Gordon Conference on Malaria, Tuscany, Italy, 2013 [30]
  • Member, Health Exports Advisory Committee, 2013
  • Member, Alfred Medical Research & Education Precinct Council, 2013 [31]
  • Member, Scientific Advisory Board, Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences (MIPS), from 2012
  • Board Member, AMREP AS Pty Ltd
  • Board of Management, Gene Technology Access Centre
  • Member, Scientific Advisory Board, Malaria Program, Wellcome Trust, Sanger Institute, UK
  • NHMRC Senior Principal Research Fellow, 2007–08
  • Editor-in-Chief, International Journal for Parasitology, 2006–09 [32]
  • NHMRC Principal Research Fellow, 2004–07
  • NHMRC Senior Research Fellow, 2003–04
  • International Research Scholar, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, USA, 2000–08 [33]

Awards and honours
  • GSK Award for Research Excellence, 2019 [34]
  • Australian True Leader in Medical Research, Australian Financial Review, Boss Magazine, 2016 [35]
  • Companion of the Order of Australia for eminent service to medical science as a prominent researcher of infectious diseases, particularly malaria, and their impact on population health in developing nations, as an advocate, mentor and administrator, and through fostering medical research nationally and internationally, 2015 [36]
  • Fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences, 2015 [37]
  • Bancroft–Mackerras Medal, Australian Society for Parasitology, 2009 [38]
  • Melbourne Top 100 Most Influential People, The Age Magazine, 2007
  • David Syme Research Prize, The University of Melbourne, 2006
  • Melbourne Achiever Award, Committee for Melbourne, 2001 [39]
  • International Scholar Award, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, USA, 2000 & 2005
  • Young Tall Poppy Award (Victoria), Australian Institute of Political Science, 1999 [40]
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References
  1. "Fellowship | AAHMS – Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences". www.aahms.org. Retrieved 25 June 2018.
  2. "Fellowship ASM". www.theasm.org.au. Retrieved 13 January 2020.
  3. "Department of Microbiology and Immunology". Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences. University of Melbourne. Retrieved 27 June 2012.
  4. Irwin Sherman (2011). Reflections on a Century of Malaria Biochemistry. pp. 251–252. ISBN 9780080921839.
  5. "Leading role for former Veterinary Science PhD student". University of Melbourne. Retrieved 5 March 2013.
  6. Crabb, Brendan; Tania D. de Koning Ward; Paul R Gilson; Justin A. Boddey; Melanie Rug; Brian J. Smith; Anthony T. Papenfuss; Paul R. Sanders; Rachel J. Lundie; Alexander G. Maier; Alan F. Cowman (18 June 2009). "A newly discovered protein export machine in malaria parasites". Nature. 459 (7249): 945–949. doi:10.1038/nature08104. PMC 2725363. PMID 19536257.
  7. Crabb, Brendan; Brian M. Cooke; John C. Reeder; Ross F. Waller; Sonia R. Caruana; Kathleen M. Davern; Mark E. Wickham; Graham V. Brown; Ross L. Coppel; Alan F. Cowman (18 April 1997). "Targeted Gene Disruption Shows That Knobs Enable Malaria-Infected Red Cells to Cytoadhere under Physiological Shear Stress". Cell. 89 (2): 287–296. doi:10.1016/S0092-8674(00)80207-X. PMID 9108483.
  8. "Prof Brendan Crabb to head Burnet Institute, Australia". BioSpectrum. Retrieved 5 March 2013.
  9. Fannin, Penny. "Professor Brendan Crabb appointed Director and CEO of the Burnet Institute". Walter and Eliza Hall Institute. Archived from the original on 29 March 2012. Retrieved 5 March 2013.
  10. "Prof John Mills". GBS Venture Partners. Archived from the original on 9 April 2013. Retrieved 5 March 2013.
  11. "Professor Steve Wesselingh". South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute. Archived from the original on 30 March 2013. Retrieved 5 March 2013.
  12. "Healthy Mothers Healthy Babies (HMHB)". www.burnet.edu.au. Retrieved 13 January 2020.
  13. "Professor Brendan Crabb AC". burnet.edu.au. Retrieved 13 January 2020.
  14. "History". burnet.edu.au. Retrieved 13 January 2020.
  15. "Burnet Institute, Countries, Papua New Guinea". www.burnet.edu.au. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
  16. "Burnet Institute, Countries, Myanmar". www.burnet.edu.au. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
  17. "Burnet Institute, Programs, Maternal and Child Health". www.burnet.edu.au. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
  18. "Burnet Institute, Programs, Disease Elimination". www.burnet.edu.au. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
  19. "Burnet Institute, Programs, Health Security". www.burnet.edu.au. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
  20. "Burnet Institute, Programs, Behaviours and Health Risks". www.burnet.edu.au. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
  21. "360Biolabs". www.360biolabs.com. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
  22. "AAMRI President". AAMRI. Retrieved 27 October 2014.
  23. "Professor Doug Hilton to lead peak medical research advocacy body". Walter and Eliza Hall Institute. Archived from the original on 8 December 2014. Retrieved 30 October 2014.
  24. "The Australian: Scientists cheer vow to establish 20bn medical research fund". aamri.org.au. Retrieved 13 January 2020.
  25. "Vaccine Science Portfolio Advisory Council". Malaria Vaccine Initiative. Malaria Vaccine Initiative. Archived from the original on 11 May 2012. Retrieved 27 June 2012.
  26. "Malaria World Congress/Our Vision". www.malariaworldcongress.org. Retrieved 15 January 2020.
  27. "Parasitology". Faculty of 1000. Faculty of 1000. Retrieved 27 June 2012.
  28. "NHMRC Members". www.nhmrc.org. Retrieved 15 January 2020.
  29. "Scientific Advisory Board". Centre for Cancer Biology. Retrieved 13 January 2020.
  30. "Malaria". The Malaria Gordon Research Conference. Gordon Research Conferences. Retrieved 27 June 2012.
  31. "AMREP Council".
  32. "Brendan Crabb". F1000Prime. Retrieved 5 March 2013.
  33. "HHMI Alumni International Scholars". Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Retrieved 5 March 2013.
  34. "GSK Award for Research Excellence". GSK. Retrieved 13 January 2020.
  35. "True Leaders 2016". Australian Financial Review. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
  36. "Companion (AC) of the Order of Australia in the General Division" (PDF). Official Secretary to the Governor-General of Australia. 26 January 2015. p. 2. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 26 January 2015.
  37. "AAHMS Fellowship Professor Brendan Crabb". Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
  38. "ARC/NHMRC Research Network for Parasitology" (PDF). ARC/NHMRC Research Network for Parasitology. Retrieved 28 August 2009.
  39. "The Melbourne Achiever Awards". Committee for Melbourne. Archived from the original on 30 May 2012. Retrieved 5 March 2013.
  40. "Past VIC Tall Poppy Winners". Australian Institute of Policy and Science. Retrieved 5 March 2013.
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