Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research

WEHI was founded in 1915 in Parkville, Melbourne, and is best known in cancer for the discovery by David Vaux, Suzanne Cory, Jerry Adams and Andreas Strasser that BCL-2 blocks programmed cell death, which after decades of work with Genentech and AbbVie produced venetoclax, the first BH3-mimetic drug, tested in Melbourne under Andrew Roberts and John Seymour. The institute also discovered colony-stimulating factors (Donald Metcalf) that underpin G-CSF supportive care, and has strong programmes in blood cancer, colorectal cancer, breast cancer stem cells (Jane Visvader, Geoffrey Lindeman), structural biology and cancer immunology. WEHI runs clinical translation with the Royal Melbourne Hospital and Peter MacCallum through the Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre alliance.