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ÐÓ°ÉÖ±²¥ of Adelaide cancer epigenetics and 3D genome biology expert Dr Joanna Achinger-Kawecka has been awarded a 2025 Sylvia and Charles Viertel Senior Medical Research Fellowship.

Dr Achinger-Kawecka leads the 3D Chromatin Organisation Laboratory at the South ÐÓ°ÉÖ±²¥n immunoGENomics Cancer Institute (SAiGENCI) and will receive $1.375 million across five years to support her work.

For Dr Achinger-Kawecka, the funding will allow her to further explore the role of transposable elements (TEs) in cancer.

"Transposable elements are remnants of ancient viral DNAs and comprise more than 50 per cent of the human genome," says Dr Achinger-Kawecka.

"Specific TEs are known to activate, regulate or modify human genes, in both disease and normal physiology, yet they are typically excluded from high throughput genomic analyses and their global contributions to gene regulation remain remarkably underexplored.

"TEs are often hijacked in cancer to drive oncogenic gene expression. Paradoxically, reactivation of TEs in cancer cells can inhibit tumour growth.

"Our research will establish TEs as universal regulatory elements driving genome evolution, uncover how TEs influence gene regulation, 3D chromatin architecture and immune response in cancer.

"We will also explore how they can be therapeutically exploited in cancer therapy, filling a critical gap in the field of systems genome biology."

SAiGENCI Director Professor Christopher Sweeney said he was delighted by Dr Achinger-Kawecka's Fellowship.

"We were honoured when Dr Achinger-Kawecka accepted our offer to join SAiGENCI and commenced in 2024, as her innovative and transformative research and outstanding track record as an early investigator spoke for itself," says Professor Sweeney.

"The Viertel Fellowship further validates her research and greatly enhances her ability to make future advances to understand cancers better which will develop better strategies to prevent and treat cancers."

SAiGENCI Resistance Prevention Program Lead Professor Lisa Butler said Dr Achinger-Kaweka's recognition is a testament to her work.

"We are proud to have Dr Achinger-Kawecka and her exceptional scientific prowess as a Group Leader in our program, and this prestigious Fellowship will undoubtedly amplify her contributions to cancer research," says Professor Butler.

On his passing in 1992, Charles Viertel, one of Queensland’s most successful share market investors, established the Sylvia and Charles Viertel Charitable Foundation to benefit organisations or institutions involved in medical research into diseases, and to alleviate hardship of the aged and the sick.