Rate My Professor Zacary Germon

Dr. Zacary Germon is a postdoctoral researcher serving as Project Manager at TUNRA and Lead Researcher in the Cancer Signalling Research Group at the University of Newcastle, within the College of Health, Medicine and Wellbeing. He obtained his Doctor of Philosophy in Medical Biochemistry in November 2022 and his Bachelor of Biomedical Sciences (Honours) from the University of Newcastle. His doctoral thesis focused on the influence of oxidative stress and its contribution to the growth and survival of blood cancer cells. Post-PhD, Germon has successfully secured research funding totaling more than $1.4 million, including over $500,000 from Cancer Australia. He also held the position of Casual Lecturer for PHAR4201 (Pharmacogenomics and Personalised Health Care) from 2023. Affiliated with the Hunter Medical Research Institute and the Precision Medicine Research Program, he collaborates under Professor Matt Dun's mentorship, leading projects aimed at impactful clinical outcomes in childhood cancer through preclinical modeling.

Germon's research specializations encompass redox- and phospho-proteomics to uncover cell and molecular drivers of high-risk paediatric cancers, including acute myeloid leukaemia (AML), acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL), and diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG). His fields of research include cancer cell biology (25%), medical biochemistry - proteins and peptides including medical proteomics (25%), solid tumours (25%), and haematological tumours (25%). Key publications feature 'Blockade of ROS production inhibits oncogenic signaling in acute myeloid leukemia and amplifies response to precision therapies' (Science Signaling, 2023), 'PI3K/mTOR is a therapeutically targetable genetic dependency in diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma' (Journal of Clinical Investigation, 2024), 'ONC201 in Combination with Paxalisib for the Treatment of H3K27-Altered Diffuse Midline Glioma' (Cancer Research, 2023), and 'Phospho-heavy-labeled-spiketide FAIMS stepped-CV DDA (pHASED) provides real-time phosphoproteomics data to aid in cancer drug selection' (Clinical Proteomics, 2022). With more than 10 publications in leading journals, he has achieved over 390 citations and an h-index of 9. Awards include the Best Early Career Researcher Presentation at the Australian Society for Medical Research Scientific Meeting (2024), New Investigator Award at the New Directions in Leukaemia Research Conference (2022), and Best Student Poster Award at ASMR (2018).