Associate Professor Nigel McMillan

Associate Professor Nigel McMillan
BSc(Hons). Otago, PhD Otago
Group Leader, Epithelial Cancer Division

Email: n.mcmillan@uq.edu.au
Telephone: +61 7 3176 5392

Biography

Associate Professor McMillan completed his PhD in molecular virology in 1991 at the University of Otago, New Zealand before undertaking postdoctoral studies at the Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Canada and the Cleveland Clinic, USA in the laboratory of Professor Bryan Williams. He set up the Molecular Virology Laboratory in 1995. The laboratory studies the role that viruses play in cancer formation and the use of gene silencing technology as a cancer therapy. He also works on chronic leukemia.

Research Interests

The laboratory focuses on developing gene silenced for the treatment of cancer, particularly cervical cancer and melanoma. We are interested in developing practical ways to implement this new technology and have active programs in two major areas. Firstly, the development and testing of delivery systems for RNAi including liposomes, nanoparticles, dendrimers, nanoneedles and microfiber-based delivery. Secondly, exploring the concept of enhancing RNAi via activation of immune responses, both adaptive and innate so as to improve the potential therapeutic potential of RNAi. A second area of interest is in the area of leukaemia, and specifically chronic lymphocytic leukaemia. CLL is the most common adult leukaemia but the current treatments only reduce disease burden and there is no cure. In collaboration with haematologist’s at the PA hospital we are working on developing novel treatments for CLL. The major problem is the normal tools available to investigate cancers, such as cell lines and animal models, do not exist for CLL.

Research Projects

• Microfilament-based delivery of RNAi
• Dendrimers for RNAI delivery in vivo.
• Investigation of the fate of RNAi-cleaved mRNA
• The role of RNAi in antigen presentation
• Growth factors in CLL
• What do RNA-binding proteins in the cell actually bind too?

10 Most Recent Publications

1. SiRNA and shRNA as anti-cancer agents in a cervical cancer model. Wenyi Gu, Lisa Putral and Nigel AJ McMillan. p159-172, in RNAi: Design and Application, Methods in Molecular Biology 442, Humana Press Inc, 2008.
2. HPV type spectrum in normal skin of frequently sun-exposed and non-frequently sun-exposed individuals Alice Che-Ha Chen, Nigel A.J. McMillan and Annika Antonsson.. J Gen Virol ; 89: 2891 - 2897, 2008
3. Development of a novel method for formulating siRNA-loaded stealth lipid particles. Sherry Y. Wu, Lisa N. Putral, Mingtao Liang, Hsin-I Chang, Nigel M. Davies, Nigel A.J. McMillan. Pharm. Res. 26(3):512-22, 2009.
4. Both treated and untreated tumors are eliminated by short hairpin RNA-based induction of target-specific immune responses., Wenyi Gu, Melanie Cochrane, Graham R. Leggatt, Elizabeth Payne, Allison Choyce, Fang Zhou, Robert Tindle and Nigel A. J. McMillan. PNAS, 106(20):8314-19. 2009
5. Shared and persistent asymptomatic cutaneous human papillomavirus infections in healthy skin. J. Y-C. Hsu, A. C-H. Chen, A. Keleher, N.A.J McMillan and A. Antonsson. J Med Virol. Aug;81(8):1444-92009. IF= 2.8
6. Dendrimer Nanocarriers as Versatile Vectors in Gene Delivery,Tathagata Dutta, Harendra Shantilal Parekh, Narendra K Jain, Nigel A McMillan. Nanomedicine, 2009 doi:10.1016/j.nano.2009.05.005
7. Human papillomavirus DNA detected in peripheral blood samples from healthy Australian male blood donors. Alice Che-Ha Chen, Annie Keleher, Mary-Anne Kedda, Amanda B. Spurdle, Nigel A.J. McMillan and Annika Antonsson. J Med Virol. Oct;81(10):1792-6. 2009 IF= 2.8
8. Lipidic Systems for in vivo siRNA Delivery.Sherry Wu and Nigel A.J. McMillan. The AAPS Journal: Volume 11, Issue 4 (2009), Page 639-52
9. Rational Design of Immunostimulatory siRNAs. Michael P Gantier, Stephen Tong, Mark A Belhke, Aaron T Irving, Martha Lappas, Ulrika W Nilsson, Nigel AJ McMillan and Bryan RG Williams. Accepted, Molecular Therapy, December 2009.
10. Dendrosome Based Delivery of siRNA Against E6/E7 Oncogenes in Cervical Cancer. Tathagata Dutta, Melinda Burgess, Nigel A. J. McMillan, Harendra Shantilal Parekh. In press, Jan 2010, Nanomedicine

Lab Members
 

Legacy

Dr Sherry Wu – Johns Hopkins University, USA.
Dr Aaron Irving – Monash Medical Research Institute.
Dr Tom Fothergill - University of Madison-Wisconsin.
Dr Paula Donaldson - Clinical Oncological Society of Australia.
 

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