About Terry
It’s all about the power of the team
Prof Terrance Johns has a PhD from Monash University and is currently the Head of Research at Epigenes Australia (Melbourne) and the Oncogenic Signalling Laboratory at Telethon Kids Institute (Perth). Most recently, Prof Johns was a National Health and Medical Research Council Principal Research Fellow (2017-21) and Director of the Telethon Kids Cancer Centre (2018-22). He currently holds Professorships at University of Western Australia and La Trobe University. Throughout his career, Prof. Johns has focused on brain research, including studying pathological conditions such as multiple sclerosis and cancer. He is recognised globally as a leader in novel therapeutics for treating brain cancer, with his patented discoveries advancing to phase 3 clinical trials. He continues to be actively involved in brain cancer research but more recently has applied his skills to behavioural neuroscience, looking for new treatments for mental health conditions.
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My PhD showed that IFN-β, not the clinically preferred IFN-α2, is more potent in melanoma. Also described the first IFN receptor binding assay. J Natl Cancer Inst (1992) 84: 1185 (First author, 136 Scopus citations)
Joined Neuroimmunology Laboratory as a Postdoctoral Fellow.
During my post-doc, demonstrated the induction of a multiple sclerosis-like disease with a defined antigen that remains the gold standard animal model. J Immunol (1995) 154: 5536 (First author, 172 cites)
To conduct Brain Cancer Research and established the Oncogenic Signalling Laboratory.
Developed an anti-EGFR antibody mAb 806 (ABT-414) as a cancer therapy (18 papers [e.g. PNAS (2009) 106: 5082] and 5 patents [e.g. WO/2005/081854]), proving that cancer-specific antibodies can target cell surface receptors. MAb 806 showed therapeutic efficacy in a Phase 2 trial in relapsed high-grade glioma (HGG), which advanced to a Phase 3 clinical trial (NCT02573324).
A US$10M upfront payment and an additional milestone payment of US$5M have been received.
Continued to develop new treatments for HGG including targeting CDK7 in Oncogenesis (2017) 6: e336 (Senior author, 49 cites), EGFRvIII Oncogene (2015) 34: 5277 (Senior author, 39 cites) and OLIG2 (submitted
Based on my EGFR research, I developed an ectopic pregnancy treatment (patent US8858939B2). My Phase 2 trial shows this oral treatment is effective for large non-tubal ectopic pregnancies, Hum. Reprod (2014) 29: 1375 (Senior author, 17 cites) and helped move this research into an active Phase 3 clinical trial (ISRCTN67795930).
Received NHMRC Principal Research Fellowship.
Appointed inaugural Head, Telethon Kids Cancer Centre (TKCC)
Grew the TKCC to nearly 90 people. Established a Centre-wide research program in immunotherapy for children’s cancer and successfully secured over $6M in funding for this program alone.
After establishing a new research program in 2018 focused on ion channels in brain cancer, I have just filed my first patent related to this work.
In 2022, I commenced as Head of Research, Epigenes Australia.
terrance.johns@epigenes.com.au
