Professor Peter Parsons
Principal Research Scientist (Pre-clinical Development)
Professor Parsons holds a Bachelor of Science (Hons.) and a PhD in Organic Chemistry. He is a Senior Principal Research Fellow at the Queensland Institute of Medical Research and Head of the Drug Discovery Group (majority of activities are QBiotics dedicated). He is also Adjunct Professor in the School of Medicine at the University of Queensland.
Professor Parsons brings to QBiotics extensive knowledge and experience in preclinical drug development especially in the area of oncology. His main research focus is cell signaling induced in skin cells by solar UV, prognostic markers in tumours and on novel therapies for melanoma and other tumours. He has played a major role in GLP-compliant pre-clinical validation at Queensland Institute of Medical Research (QIMR), target identification and development of commercial scale GMP purification of Peplin Biotech’s novel anti-skin cancer product about to enter Phase III trials in the USA. He was the first to demonstrate the specificity of HDAC inhibitors for cycle arrest and killing of human tumour as distinct from normal cells. Professor Parsons has long experience in melanoma biology. He was member and Deputy Chair of a national cancer grant review panel (including National Health and Medical Research Council – NHMRC and three cancer funds) for five years and is reviewer for a number of relevant journals.
Professor Parsons has been awarded numerous prizes and distinctions over the years including:
- Commonwealth Post-graduate Scholarship
- George Murray Overseas Scholarship
- Australian-American Education Foundation Travel Grant (Fulbright)
- Johnson and Johnson Guest Lecturer
- Australian Society of Experimental Pathology National Conference, Adelaide.