Rate My Professor Matt Dun

Professor Matthew D. Dun is Professor of Paediatric Haematology/Oncology Research at the University of Newcastle, holding the Bill & Iris Burges Endowed Professorial Chair in Medical Sciences in the School of Biomedical Sciences and Pharmacy, College of Health, Medicine and Wellbeing. He obtained his Bachelor of Biotechnology, Bachelor of Biotechnology (Honours), and PhD in Biological Science from the University of Newcastle in 2012. His over two-decade career in cancer research, proteogenomics, and cell signalling features continuous fellowships, including Cancer Institute NSW Early Career Fellowship since 2013, HMRI Cancer Research Program Chemical Proteomics Postdoctoral Fellowship (2011-2013), and NHMRC Emerging Leadership Fellowship (2020-2024). He leads the Cancer Signalling Research Group, serves as Director of Brain Cancer Research for HMRI's Precision Medicine Research Program, Paediatric Stream Leader at the Mark Hughes Foundation Centre for Brain Cancer Research, and Executive member of the International Pediatric Neuro-Oncology Consortium (PNOC) DMG Therapeutic Advisory Committee.

Dun's research centers on childhood brain cancers, especially diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG) and diffuse midline glioma (DMG), applying pharmaco-phospho-proteogenomic techniques to dissect signalling pathways and therapeutic vulnerabilities. Key discoveries encompass PI3K/mTOR as a targetable dependency with paxalisib (FDA Rare Paediatric Disease Designation 2020; NCT03696355), and metabolic weaknesses to ONC201 (dordaviprone), underpinning PNOC022 trial (NCT05009992) and FDA approval for recurrent DMG (August 2025). Representative publications include Duchatel et al., 'Preclinical and clinical evaluation of German-sourced ONC201 for the treatment of H3K27M-mutant diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma' (Neuro-Oncology Advances, 2021); Findlay et al., 'PHARMACO-PHOSPHO-PROTEO-GENOMICS OF PEDIATRIC HIGH-GRADE GLIOMAS - A PILOT STUDY' (Neuro-Oncology, 2022); Jackson et al., 'PRECLINICAL AND CASE STUDY EXAMINATION OF THE COMBINATION OF THE CLPP AGONIST ONC201 WITH THE PI3K/AKT INHIBITOR PAXALISIB' (Neuro-Oncology, 2022). Among over 38 awards are the Australian Society for Medical Research Medal (2024), Australian Financial Review Higher Education Award – Emerging Leadership (2025), Tall Poppy Science Award (2020), and NSW Premier’s Outstanding Cancer Research Fellow (2019). With AUD $46 million in funding, 194 outputs, and founding RUN DIPG charity, he advances global clinical translation. Dun mentors on Neuro-Oncology's editorial board and NHMRC committees.