Boris Novakovic
Boris Novakovic
Details
Role
Team Leader / Senior Research Fellow
Research area
Infection, Immunity and Global Health
Group
Molecular Immunity
Contact
Available for student supervision
Boris Novakovic is the Team Leader within the Infection Immunity and Global Health Theme at MCRI. As an epigeneticist, I am fascinated by the ability of differentiated cells to respond and remember their environment and I published over 100 papers on this topic since 2008.
During my PhD (2009-13) I was involved in human twin research that showed that genetically identical individuals can be epigenetically distinct at birth. This was an important milestone in the field because it showed that small differences in the microenvironment in the uterus can shape human chromatin.
My thesis was the Department of Paediatrics’ nomination for the University of Melbourne Chancellor’s Prize in 2013. In 2014 I was awarded my first Fellowship and used it to join the lab of Prof Henk Stunnenberg (Radboud University, The Netherlands) who at the time was leading the large European Commission BLUEPRINT Project that aimed to profile the epigenomes of all blood cell types.
It was here that I started collaborating with the lab of Prof Mihai Netea (Radboud University), the pioneer of Trained Immunity. A revolutionary idea in immunity, Trained Immunity was introduced in 2012 and explains how innate immune cells, such as monocytes, can remember specific microbial or danger signals by remodeling their epigenome.
My main contribution was to show that beta-glucan, a sugar found in yeast, can be used to reverse sepsis-induced immunological tolerance in vitro. This unique finding was published in Cell and is a proof-of-principle that Trained Immunity compounds can be used as therapeutics. This led to successful industry-academic collaborations to explore how trained immunity can be used to program monocytes in disease.
I decided to return to Australia because I saw an opportunity to apply my unique skills to large paediatric cohorts, which is one area where Australia leads the world.
As a result, I was awarded an Australian NHMRC Project Grant in 2018 and an NHMRC Investigator Grant in 2019 to study epigenetic remodeling in children in response to vaccines, complex disease, and hormonal change. In 2019 I became Team Leader at MCRI and in 2022 I was promoted to Associate Professor at the Department of Paediatrics. I currently lead a team of 6 (3 research assistants, 2 Masters and 1 PhD student) and co-supervise 3 PhD students.
During my PhD (2009-13) I was involved in human twin research that showed that genetically identical individuals can be epigenetically distinct at birth. This was an important milestone in the field because it showed that small differences in the microenvironment in the uterus can shape human chromatin.
My thesis was the Department of Paediatrics’ nomination for the University of Melbourne Chancellor’s Prize in 2013. In 2014 I was awarded my first Fellowship and used it to join the lab of Prof Henk Stunnenberg (Radboud University, The Netherlands) who at the time was leading the large European Commission BLUEPRINT Project that aimed to profile the epigenomes of all blood cell types.
It was here that I started collaborating with the lab of Prof Mihai Netea (Radboud University), the pioneer of Trained Immunity. A revolutionary idea in immunity, Trained Immunity was introduced in 2012 and explains how innate immune cells, such as monocytes, can remember specific microbial or danger signals by remodeling their epigenome.
My main contribution was to show that beta-glucan, a sugar found in yeast, can be used to reverse sepsis-induced immunological tolerance in vitro. This unique finding was published in Cell and is a proof-of-principle that Trained Immunity compounds can be used as therapeutics. This led to successful industry-academic collaborations to explore how trained immunity can be used to program monocytes in disease.
I decided to return to Australia because I saw an opportunity to apply my unique skills to large paediatric cohorts, which is one area where Australia leads the world.
As a result, I was awarded an Australian NHMRC Project Grant in 2018 and an NHMRC Investigator Grant in 2019 to study epigenetic remodeling in children in response to vaccines, complex disease, and hormonal change. In 2019 I became Team Leader at MCRI and in 2022 I was promoted to Associate Professor at the Department of Paediatrics. I currently lead a team of 6 (3 research assistants, 2 Masters and 1 PhD student) and co-supervise 3 PhD students.
Boris Novakovic is the Team Leader within the Infection Immunity and Global Health Theme at MCRI. As an epigeneticist, I am fascinated by the ability of differentiated cells to respond and remember their environment and I published over 100 papers on...
Boris Novakovic is the Team Leader within the Infection Immunity and Global Health Theme at MCRI. As an epigeneticist, I am fascinated by the ability of differentiated cells to respond and remember their environment and I published over 100 papers on this topic since 2008.
During my PhD (2009-13) I was involved in human twin research that showed that genetically identical individuals can be epigenetically distinct at birth. This was an important milestone in the field because it showed that small differences in the microenvironment in the uterus can shape human chromatin.
My thesis was the Department of Paediatrics’ nomination for the University of Melbourne Chancellor’s Prize in 2013. In 2014 I was awarded my first Fellowship and used it to join the lab of Prof Henk Stunnenberg (Radboud University, The Netherlands) who at the time was leading the large European Commission BLUEPRINT Project that aimed to profile the epigenomes of all blood cell types.
It was here that I started collaborating with the lab of Prof Mihai Netea (Radboud University), the pioneer of Trained Immunity. A revolutionary idea in immunity, Trained Immunity was introduced in 2012 and explains how innate immune cells, such as monocytes, can remember specific microbial or danger signals by remodeling their epigenome.
My main contribution was to show that beta-glucan, a sugar found in yeast, can be used to reverse sepsis-induced immunological tolerance in vitro. This unique finding was published in Cell and is a proof-of-principle that Trained Immunity compounds can be used as therapeutics. This led to successful industry-academic collaborations to explore how trained immunity can be used to program monocytes in disease.
I decided to return to Australia because I saw an opportunity to apply my unique skills to large paediatric cohorts, which is one area where Australia leads the world.
As a result, I was awarded an Australian NHMRC Project Grant in 2018 and an NHMRC Investigator Grant in 2019 to study epigenetic remodeling in children in response to vaccines, complex disease, and hormonal change. In 2019 I became Team Leader at MCRI and in 2022 I was promoted to Associate Professor at the Department of Paediatrics. I currently lead a team of 6 (3 research assistants, 2 Masters and 1 PhD student) and co-supervise 3 PhD students.
During my PhD (2009-13) I was involved in human twin research that showed that genetically identical individuals can be epigenetically distinct at birth. This was an important milestone in the field because it showed that small differences in the microenvironment in the uterus can shape human chromatin.
My thesis was the Department of Paediatrics’ nomination for the University of Melbourne Chancellor’s Prize in 2013. In 2014 I was awarded my first Fellowship and used it to join the lab of Prof Henk Stunnenberg (Radboud University, The Netherlands) who at the time was leading the large European Commission BLUEPRINT Project that aimed to profile the epigenomes of all blood cell types.
It was here that I started collaborating with the lab of Prof Mihai Netea (Radboud University), the pioneer of Trained Immunity. A revolutionary idea in immunity, Trained Immunity was introduced in 2012 and explains how innate immune cells, such as monocytes, can remember specific microbial or danger signals by remodeling their epigenome.
My main contribution was to show that beta-glucan, a sugar found in yeast, can be used to reverse sepsis-induced immunological tolerance in vitro. This unique finding was published in Cell and is a proof-of-principle that Trained Immunity compounds can be used as therapeutics. This led to successful industry-academic collaborations to explore how trained immunity can be used to program monocytes in disease.
I decided to return to Australia because I saw an opportunity to apply my unique skills to large paediatric cohorts, which is one area where Australia leads the world.
As a result, I was awarded an Australian NHMRC Project Grant in 2018 and an NHMRC Investigator Grant in 2019 to study epigenetic remodeling in children in response to vaccines, complex disease, and hormonal change. In 2019 I became Team Leader at MCRI and in 2022 I was promoted to Associate Professor at the Department of Paediatrics. I currently lead a team of 6 (3 research assistants, 2 Masters and 1 PhD student) and co-supervise 3 PhD students.
Top Publications
- Chen, H, Wang, S-H, Li, H-L, Zhou, X-B, Zhou, L-W, Chen, C, Mansell, T, Novakovic, B, Saffery, R, Baker, PN, et al. The attenuation of gut microbiota-derived short-chain fatty acids elevates lipid transportation through suppression of the intestinal HDAC3-H3K27ac-PPAR-γ axis in gestational diabetes mellitus.. J Nutr Biochem 133: 109708 2024 view publication
- Zhu, Y, Gao, Q, Zhang, J, Cheng, Y, Yang, S, Xu, R, Yuan, J, Novakovic, B, Netea, MG, Cheng, S-C. Persistent bone marrow hemozoin accumulation confers a survival advantage against bacterial infection via cell-intrinsic Myd88 signaling.. Cell Rep 43(10) : 114850 2024 view publication
- Shepherd, R, Angus, LM, Mansell, T, Arman, B, Kim, BW, Lange, K, Burgner, D, Kerr, JA, Pang, K, Zajac, JD, et al. Impact of Distinct Antiandrogen Exposures on the Plasma Metabolome in Feminizing Gender-affirming Hormone Therapy.. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 109(11) : 2857 -2871 2024 view publication
- Badii, M, Nica, V, Straton, AR, Kischkel, B, Gaal, O, Cabău, G, Klück, V, Hotea, I, HINT Consortium, Novakovic, B, et al. Downregulation of type I interferon signalling pathway by urate in primary human PBMCs.. Immunology 2024 view publication
- Flores-Gomez, D, Hobo, W, van Ens, D, Kessler, EL, Novakovic, B, Schaap, NPM, Rijnen, WHC, Joosten, LAB, Netea, MG, Riksen, NP, et al. Interleukin-1β induces trained innate immunity in human hematopoietic progenitor cells in vitro.. Stem Cell Reports 2024 view publication
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