MECHANISMS OF RESISTANCE TO MENIN INHIBITOR THERAPY AND ACUTE MYELOID LEUKAEMIA
With
Dr Rithin Nedumannil,
Consultant Haematologist and PhD Candidate,
Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre,
Austin Health,
Eastern Health,
Royal Melbourne Hospital
Melbourne, Australia
RESEARCHER PROFILE
Filmed in Melbourne, Australia | June 2025
Dr Rithin Nedumannil (MBBS, MPH, FRACP, FRCPA) is a PhD candidate at the University of Melbourne, undertaking his doctoral studies in collaboration with the Cambridge Stem Cell Institute (Cambridge, UK) and the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre (Melbourne, Australia). He is a clinical haematologist and haematopathologist with current appointments at Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, the Royal Melbourne Hospital, Austin Health and Northern Health.
After completing his medical degree at the University of Adelaide, Dr Nedumannil undertook advanced training in clinical and laboratory haematology across Melbourne’s major tertiary centres. He was awarded dual fellowships (FRACP and FRCPA) and went on to complete a subspecialty fellowship in Acute Leukaemia and Myelodysplastic Syndromes at Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre and the Royal Melbourne Hospital in 2024. He also holds a Master of Public Health from the University of New South Wales.
His interest in translational leukaemia research has been shaped by extensive clinical experience and academic work focusing on measurable residual disease, novel fusion genes and treatment resistance in acute leukaemias. His PhD will explore resistance mechanisms to menin inhibitors in acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) using genome-scale technologies including CRISPR screening, RNA sequencing and epigenomic profiling. His research will be conducted over two years at the Cambridge Stem Cell Institute and one year at Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre.
For this work, Dr Nedumannil has been awarded the 2025 Haematology Society of Australia and New Zealand and Leukaemia Foundation New Investigator PhD Scholarship, supporting his goal of translating molecular insights into improved therapeutic strategies for high-risk AML.
Source: Supplied
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0883-3942
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CASE STUDY Next Generation Condom Contraception
Eudaemon Technologies, an early-stage medtech company with a focus on sexual reproductive health, is developing a hydrogel condom to address the need for a better feeling, next generation condom, with the potential to improve user experience and address issues with traditional latex condoms.
“Over 1 million STI’s being diagnosed every day and up to 120 million unplanned pregnancies every year result in a $60 billion health burden across the globe”, says Co-Founder and Executive Director of Operations, Dr Simon Cook.
Formed in 2018, the company focuses on developing tough hydrogels as an alternative to address issues with odour, colour, and taste commonly associated with latex condoms. This technology can be loaded with small molecule drugs for flavours or anti-STI compounds, and was developed in response to a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to address unplanned pregnancies and STIs.
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Superslayer taking on antibiotic-resistant bacteria
Dr Katharina Richter is a visionary leader in MedTech, acclaimed for innovation and gender diversity. With over 40 awards to her name, including MIT Innovator Under 35 Asia-Pacific, and Prime Minister’s Prize for New Innovator finalist, she has shattered barriers as an entrepreneur, scientist, and ‘superbug slayer.’ Katharina’s groundbreaking work in combating antibiotic-resistant bacteria has resulted in 6 innovative treatments, 3 of which are patented, offering hope against deadly infections.
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Metabolic phenotyping, lipidomics & bioinformatics in dementia
Dr Luke Whiley is a dementia researcher whose work focuses on understanding how the body’s metabolism, particularly the biology of fats known as lipids, influences our health throughout ageing.
His research explores how the body responds to illness, lifestyle, and environmental stress at a chemical level, and how these responses shape longterm disease risk. Using advanced blood-based measurement technologies, Dr Whiley studies thousands of small molecules at once to build a snapshot of a person’s metabolic health. By combining these measurements with data science approaches, his work identifies biological pathways that become disrupted in disease, providing insight into why some people are more vulnerable to conditions such as dementia.
