Dr Misty Jenkins, Laboratory Head at Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, is a cancer immunologist working in the exciting area of research of white blood cells and cancer treatments.
These are the white blood cells or killer cells, of our immune system that zoom around our bodies to protect us from wayward invaders like viruses and also from cancer. For a good 15 years, Dr Jenkins has been looking at understanding how these killer cells recognise invaders or pathogens in the body and then in turn, how they mount their army and kill the enemy. Dr Jenkins is honoured to receive grant funding from Carrie's Beanies 4 Brain Cancer. In this two-year project Dr Jenkins worked with Dr Jordan Hansford from the Royal Children's Hospital. Their research is investigating how the killer cells in the immune system could be modified to develop a new treatment for childhood brain cancer.