STEM CELL THERAPIES FOR ENTERIC NEUROPATHIES
Dr Lincon Stamp,
Senior Research Fellow & Group Leader,
Department of Anatomy and Physiology,
School of Biomedical Sciences,
The University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
RESEARCHER PROFILE
Filmed in Melbourne, Australia | October 2025
Dr Stamp is a Group Leader in the Department of Anatomy and Physiology at the University of Melbourne, Australia. Dr Stamp’s PhD research (with Prof Martin Pera, Monash University) focused on the derivation of hepatopancreatic progenitors from human embryonic stem cells. He then joined the lab of Dr Don Newgreen at the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute where he began working on development of the enteric nervous system (ENS), before joining Prof Heather Young’s lab at the University of Melbourne, where he focused on developing a stem cell therapy to treat gut motility disorders such as the paediatric enteric neuropathy Hirschprung disease.
His lab, which he runs together with Dr Marlene Hao, is now focused on the development, plasticity, and cell and gene therapies for the digestive system, with a particular focus on the enteric nervous system.
Dr Stamp has a strong national and international network of collaborators, including key clinical and consumer connections, and has published high impact studies in top tier journals including Gastroenterology, JCI and Nature Reviews Gastroenterology and Hepatology.
He has had success at securing significant government (ARC, MRFF), philanthropic (NSCFA, REACH Foundation) and industry (Takeda Pharmaceuticals) funding, has strong ties within the Australian and international stem cell communities, and is the currently the President of the Australasian Society for Stem Cell Research (ASSCR).
Source: Supplied
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8925-7894
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Liver cancer & patient-derived tumour organoids
Dr Benjamin Dwyer is a translational cancer researcher driven by a clear purpose: to ensure discoveries made in the laboratory genuinely improve outcomes for patients.
Based at Curtin University, he established and now leads the organoid platform within the Liver Cancer Collaborative and directs the WA Organoid Innovation Hub, working at the intersection of biology, medicine and biotechnology to accelerate new treatments for liver cancer.
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Muscle Cell Communication and Repair
Dr. William Roman is a Group Leader at the Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute (ARMI) at Monash University. He obtained his PhD from Paris Descartes University and Freie University of Berlin, focusing on nuclear positioning during skeletal muscle development. Dr. Roman’s research journey has taken him across the globe, including postdoctoral work in Barcelona, tissue engineering in Lisbon, and a brief stint at Stanford University.
At ARMI, Dr. Roman leads innovative research on intercellular communication within muscle organs. His work involves growing human muscles on chips to understand how skeletal muscle cells interact with neurons and tendons. This research aims to develop better models for studying muscle diseases, drug screening, and even applications in cellular agriculture and biorobotics.
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Next-generation NK cell-based immunotherapies for hard-to-treat cancers
Associate Professor Fernando Guimaraes is an internationally recognised leader in cancer immunotherapy and natural killer (NK) cell biology. Based at The University of Queensland, he leads innovative research focused on developing next-generation NK cell-based immunotherapies for hard-to-treat cancers, including sarcomas and neuroblastoma.
