Professor Stuart Tangye

Professor Stuart Tangye completed his PhD on B cell leukaemia under the supervision of Professor Bob Raison at the University of Technology Sydney in 1995 and then undertook postdoctoral training at the DNAX Research Institute for Molecular and Cellular Biology (Palo Alto California, USA; 1996-1999) in the laboratories of Drs Jan de Vries, Joe Phillips and Lewis Lanier.

It was during this time that his passion for human immunology, cell biology and immune deficiencies was ignited. He returned to Australia in 2000 as a University of Sydney Research Fellow to work with Dr Phil Hodgkin at the Centenary Institute of Cancer Medicine and Cell Biology (University of Sydney). He established his own independent research lab in 2002, and was recruited to the Garvan Institute of Medical Research in 2006.

Stuart currently leads the the Immunology & Immunodeficiency Lab and is a Senior Principal Research Fellow at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research. He is also Professor (conjoint) in the Faculty of Medicine & Health, UNSW Sydney, and the recipient of an NHMRC Investigator Grant (Leadership Level 3).

He has 25+ years of experience, expertise and an international reputation in the fields of human cellular and molecular immunology and inborn errors of immunity (IEI). His research focuses on the biology of human immune cells in health and disease and understanding how defects in single genes result in various immune diseases. His research outcomes include elucidating critical roles for specific genes in human lymphocyte differentiation, determining intrinsic vs extrinsic defects in lymphocyte function in distinct immune dysregulatory conditions, and delineating functional requirements for effective host defense against infectious diseases. He is regularly invited to present his latest findings at numerous international immunology conferences.

Professor Tangye has published ~255 peer-reviewed articles, been funded by the NHMRC, Cancer Council NSW, NIAID/NIH, Jeffrey Modell Foundation, the Job Research Foundation, XLP Research Trust, and the AICR. He holds positions on editorial boards of J Exp Med, and J Clin Immunol, and is currently the chair of the International Union of Immunological Societies Expert Committee of Inborn Errors of Immunity. Since 2018, he has been a Highly Cited Researcher (Clarivate/Web of Science), recognised for “publishing multiple highly cited papers, defined as those ranking in the top 1% by citations for a publication field”.

His contributions to research have been recognised by being awarded the 2011 Gottschalk Medal from the Australian Academy of Sciences (‘outstanding research in the medical sciences by scientists under 40 years’), the Faculty of Science UTS Alumni Award (2013), a Fulbright Senior Scholarship (2015/16), a Fulbright Senior Fellowship (2015), and the Presidential Award from the Clinical Immunology Society (USA, 2019; "outstanding long-term high-impact contributions to the science and/or clinical practice of clinical immunology, including current up to date knowledge and/or perspective”). He was also awarded a Research Excellence Award from NHMRC in 2020. When he is not at work, he enjoys surfing, cycling, swimming and most of all being a Dad to his three beautiful children.