John Lock Email & Phone Number

Sydney, Nsw, Au

Wallace-Wurth Building, Kensington Campus, Sydney

I established and lead the Cancer Systems Microscopy (CSM) lab at the University of New South Wales (UNSW), Sydney. We develop and apply imaging-based single-cell systems biology research techniques, termed Systems Microscopy, for cancer research. Our research spans three key areas that interact to advance the field of precision (or personalised) cancer medicine. First, we investigate fundamental mechanisms of cancer plasticity and therapy resistance. Second, we develop next-generation precision diagnostics using non-invasive liquid biopsies (blood sampling) to guide personalised therapy selection for each patient at each stage of disease. Third, we have established novel tools for accelerated drug discovery.These efforts build on pioneering work in conceiving Systems Microscopy as a research field while a postdoc at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm. Since that time, I have enjoyed building and leading teams with multidisciplinary expertise and diverse collaborations spanning clinical, biological, engineering, robotics, statistical and artificial intelligence (AI) domains. I've trained >30 researchers across undergraduate, postgraduate and postdoctoral levels, and collaborated with clinical and commercial partners to develop novel capabilities for precision cancer medicine research, from commercial software to drug discovery tools for the pharmaceutical industry.In the last 5 years, I have led research on new AI techniques to enhance imaging-based research, resulting in invited roles at the UNSW AI Institute, the UNSW Data Science Hub (uDASH), and the Tyree Foundation Institute for Health Engineering. I also co-organise the Functional High-Throughput Technologies Australia Network.I've raised >$13M in research funding, am a UNSW Scientia Research Fellow, and am the Associate Director of Research for the UNSW School of Biomedical Sciences (SBMS) as well as Deputy Chair of the SBMS Research Strategy Committee.

Stockholm, Sweden

Position funded by the Swedish Cancer Society Postdoctoral Research Fellowship (2009-2012) and by the Systems Microscopy Network of Excellence (www.systemsmicroscopy.eu, 2011-2015).Having conceived a unique "Systems Microscopy" framework for the quantitative analysis of single cell migration via fluorescence imaging (also see Postdoc period, 2006-2010), my position as leader of this multifaceted project was formalised by early promotion to an Assistant Professorship. A critical component of this major research program was motivating scientists to challenge dogma and think differently - more systematically - across a spectrum of issues associated with complex biological processes. This has lead to recruitment of a highly motivated team internally, and broad support externally in the form of numerous collaborations as well as large scale funding from both national and European funding sources, including, for example, funding for: 4 confocal and spinning-disc confocal microscopes; automated liquid handling robotics; and ~9 researcher salaries, totalling several million Euros.I am now responsible for extending the development and application of the Systems Microscopy framework, and for managing the design, integration and communication of numerous sub-projects associated with this novel research project. This currently includes the leadership and management of a team of 9 "in house" researchers (biologists, mathematical statisticians, control engineers, microscopy specialists). Notably, this project encompasses the contribution of the coordinating laboratory for a new pan-European Network of Excellence funded by the European Union (www.systemsmicroscopy.eu). This is a globally significant project focused on creating and applying a comprehensive intellectual, hardware, software and collaborative infrastructure that enables a new, spatiotemporally resolved branch of Systems Biology for single cells - termed Systems Microscopy.

Stockholm, Sweden

Position funded by Axel Wenner-Gren Foundation Postdoctoral Research Fellowship (2006-2008) and Swedish Cancer Society Postdoctoral Research Fellowship (2008-2011).Original conception, motivation, design, implementation and application of an automated, quantitative, multi-parametric data production and analysis pipeline addressing the fundamental mechanisms of cell migration, from simple two parameters relationships to complex, emergent, self-assembling networks defined by hundreds of parameters. Assembly, leadership and management of a multidisciplinary team of researchers including cell biologists, mathematical statisticians, control engineers and software developers. Mentoring and direct supervision of multiple PhD students and postdoctoral researchers associated with the Systems Microscopy team. During this period I also collaborated with a software development company to create two commercially available image analysis softwares, while also incorporating diverse data analysis and visualisation tools for the interrogation of multi-parametric data by biologists. In addition, I established a long-term collaboration with statistical experts for the ongoing development of specialised data analysis tools.

Phd, Cell Biology

Activities and Societies: President of Students of the Institute of Molecular Bioscience Association (2005). Member of Students.

Bsc (Honours 1St Class), Biochemistry, Genetics, Cell Biology

Activities and Societies: Representative of University of Queensland at Australian National University Games (Volleyball - 1997-2000)..