My Expertise
Autoimmune disease
Autoinflammation
Somatic mutations
Cytotoxic T lymphocytes
B lymphocytes
Keywords
Biography
Dr Etienne Masle-Farquhar is a Research Officer (postdoctoral scientist) at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research, with A/Prof Owen Siggs and Prof Chris Goodnow, and a Conjoint Lecturer at St Vincent's School of Clinical Medicine, UNSW Medicine & Health.
Etienne co-leads the Exceptional Responders in Autoimmune/Inflammatory Diseases (ERAD) program.
Etienne completed Hons (First Class) with A/Prof Anselm Enders and Prof Stefan Broer at the...view more
Dr Etienne Masle-Farquhar is a Research Officer (postdoctoral scientist) at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research, with A/Prof Owen Siggs and Prof Chris Goodnow, and a Conjoint Lecturer at St Vincent's School of Clinical Medicine, UNSW Medicine & Health.
Etienne co-leads the Exceptional Responders in Autoimmune/Inflammatory Diseases (ERAD) program.
Etienne completed Hons (First Class) with A/Prof Anselm Enders and Prof Stefan Broer at the John Curtin School of Medical Research (ANU, Canberra) and completed his PhD (UNSW Dean's Award for Outstanding PhD Thesis) with Prof Chris Goodnow and A/Prof Joanne Reed at the Garvan Institute.
Supported by the Garvan ERAD and HOPE programs, Etienne leads several projects utilising multi-omics and genomics to reveal mechanisms and improve treatments for autoimmune and autoinflammatory diseases.
My Grants
2022: Triple I Sphere Grant: 'Elucidating Cellular and Molecular drivers of Rheumatoid Arthritis disease flares'
2022: Equity Trustees Funding: 'Rheumatoid and Psoriatic Arthritis Project'
2021: Millenium Science Spatial Pioneers Fellowship: 'Spatial transcriptomics to elucidate mechanisms driving Inclusion Body Myositis'
2018-ongoing: Philanthropic support (Inclusion Body Myositis; Rheumatoid Arthritis; Systemic Sclerosis).
My Qualifications
2015 PhB Science
2015 Hons (1st Class)
2021 PhD (UNSW Dean's Award)
My Awards
2023: Publication of the Quarter, UNSW St Vincent's Clinical School; Travel Award, Federation of Clinical Immunology Societies (FOCIS) Annual General Meeting, Boston, USA.
2022: Triple I Sphere Grant to study Rheumatoid Arthris Flares; ICIS-Pfizer Junior Investigator Award; Travel Award for the B cell-T cell Keystone 2022, Hannover, Germany; Travel Award for the ASI Annual General Meeting, Melbourne, Australia.
2021: Dean’s Award for Outstanding Thesis, UNSW, Sydney; Oral Presentation Prize, Federation of Immunological Societies of Asia-Oceania (FIMSA), FIMSA Annual Meeting, Seoul, Korea; Travel Award, FIMSA Annual Meeting 2021, Seoul, Korea; Best Postdoc Oral Presentation, St Vincent’s Campus Postdoc Symposium, Sydney, Australia.
2020: Best Student Oral Presentation, St Vincent’s Campus Research Symposium, Sydney, Australia.
2019: Travel Award, 2nd Human & Translational Immunology Conference, Kos Island, Greece; Travel Award, 2019 ThymE Conference, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel; Travel Award, World Congress on Inflammation, Sydney, Australia.
2018: Stuart Furler Travel Award, Garvan Institute of Medical Research; Travel Award, Australian and New Zealand Society of Immunology (ASI) Annual Scientific Meeting.
2017: Shortlist for 2017 Writing NSW Writer & Scientist Grant, “Is winter coming? Immunology as a game of thrones”; 3rd place, 3 Minute Thesis (3MT), Garvan Institute of Medical Research.
2016: Australian Postgraduate Award (APA) scholarship, for full duration of PhD undertaken at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research; Chancellor’s Letter of Commendation for Outstanding Academic Performance in 2015, Australian National University, Canberra.
2015: Awarded the Alexander McTaggart Memorial Scholarship, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia.
2011: French Baccalauréat Mention Très Bien (equivalent ATAR: 98).
2009: "Dux" of Telopea Park School, Canberra, Australia: Best Overall Academic Performance over the course of Secondary Education.
My Research Activities
Etienne studies the molecular and cellular mechanisms by which germline and particularly somatic (=acquired) mutations drive immune-mediated diseases, with a specific focus on autoimmune disease and autoinflammatory diseases. This research is primarily performed directly on blood and affected tissue samples from patients, with the aim to identify gene, protein and cellular pathways driving clinical pathology - which may be therapeutically targeted to benefit patients.
Specific projects include: rheumatoid and psoriatic arthritis, gout, VEXAS, inclusion body myositis, atherosclerotic heart disease.
Student or research assistant applications are welcomed.
My Research Supervision
Supervision keywords
Areas of supervision
Immunology, autoimmune and inflammatory diseases.
Specific ongoing projects:
- Multiomic studies of the synovial fluid and blood from individuals with arthropathies: rheumatoid and psoriatic arthritis, gout, osteoarthritis.
- Multiomics and genomics to understand the mechanisms and reveal possible treatments for the autoinflammatory disease VEXAS.
- Single-cell resolution study of acquired genetic variants in Cold Agglutinin Disease.
Currently supervising
Co-primary supervisor: Honours student x 2.
Co-primary supervisor: Undergraduate student x 1.
Secondary supervisor: PhD student x 1.
Direct line manager: Research Assistant x 1.
Co-manager: Clinical Trials Coordinator x 1.
Contact
ORCID as entered in ROS
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9355-8027