Barbara Fazekas de St Groth

Professor Barbara Fazekas de St Groth is a Professor in the School of Medical Sciences, Discipline of Pathology, within the Faculty of Medicine and Health at the University of Sydney. She earned her MBBS and BSc(Med) degrees and completed her PhD under the supervision of JFAP Miller at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute in Melbourne. As Head of the Translational Immunology Laboratory at the Charles Perkins Centre, University of Sydney, her research centers on immunology, with a particular emphasis on T cell and B cell responses, dendritic cell function, regulatory T cells, and high-dimensional immune profiling using mass cytometry. Her work bridges preclinical models and clinical applications, focusing on immune tolerance, cancer immunotherapy, and monitoring patient responses in clinical trials for cancers such as melanoma and myeloma. Over her more than 40-year career in immunology, the past 20 years have concentrated on cancer research. Previously affiliated with the Centenary Institute of Cancer Medicine and Cell Biology, she has held NHMRC Principal Research Fellowships and a Wellcome Trust Senior Research Fellowship. She serves as Project Node Leader for immune therapies in the Integrative Systems and Modelling program at the Charles Perkins Centre.

Professor Fazekas de St Groth has authored or co-authored 191 research works, amassing over 15,000 citations. Notable publications include 'Phenotypic differences between αβ versus γδ T-cell receptor transgenic mice undergoing negative selection' (Nature, 1989), 'Rescue of self-reactive B cells by provision of T cell help in vivo' (Journal of Experimental Medicine, 2004), 'Effects of storage time and temperature on highly multiparametric flow cytometry and mass cytometry panels' (Bioscience Reports, 2021), and 'MHCII restriction demonstrates B cells have very limited capacity to present tumor antigen' (OncoImmunology, 2023). Her contributions have advanced understanding of immune cell competition, suppression mechanisms, and predictors of response to checkpoint inhibitors. She has secured competitive grants, including from Cancer Council NSW for vital cancer research and NHMRC for T cell biology studies investigating immune tolerance development. Her influence extends to editorial contributions and supervision of PhD students in immunology and cancer immunotherapy.

Professional Email: barbara.fazekas@sydney.edu.au