Frances L Byrne Lowy Cancer Symposium 2015

Frances L Byrne

Associate Professor Frances Byrne is a cancer researcher and lab head in the School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences at UNSW Sydney. She completed her undergraduate degree in biotechnology at Flinders University (South Australia), followed by a PhD at the Children’s Cancer Institute in Sydney, and postdoctoral training at the University of Virginia (USA). Her research focuses on understanding the links between obesity and cancer, with the goal of developing new therapies for obesity-associated liver and endometrial cancers. Her work has led to the identification of novel metabolic drug targets for cancer, such as the glucose transporter GLUT6, and the development of new molecules that exploit metabolic vulnerabilities in cancer cells. She has also played a key role in collaborative research that led to the discovery of BAM15, a first-in-class mitochondrial uncoupler with ‘fat-burning’ properties. Her research has been supported by the Hope Funds for Cancer Research, Cancer Institute New South Wales, Cancer Council NSW and Box Rallies.