Associate Professor Kevin Pfleger is Head of Molecular Endocrinology and Pharmacology at the Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research and his team studies how hormones and medicines act in the body.

Perkins Director Professor Peter Leedman said that the Mid-Career Research Award was well-deserved.

“Associate Professor Pfleger is an outstanding mid-career researcher who has an impressive history of innovation,” he said.

“He and his team are recognised worldwide for their technology development and application to understanding disease mechanisms at the molecular level. His primary focus is currently a treatment for chronic kidney disease, but he is also studying mechanisms underlying cardiovascular disease and cancer, as well as rare diseases”.

Associate Professor Pfleger holds patents for both technological innovations and a novel therapy for chronic kidney disease. These are being commercialised by spin-out company Dimerix Bioscience Limited that has recently been acquired by ASX-listed Sun Biomedical Limited.

Sun Biomedical has just announced that the first patient has been enrolled in a Phase II clinical trial of the innovative new treatment for chronic kidney disease, DMX-200.

Professor Leedman said the Vice Chancellor’s award was also a recognition of Associate Professor Pfleger’s contributions to the broader scientific community, including his extensive advocacy, mentoring and transdisciplinary activities.

Originally published by the Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research on 16 September 2015