Dr Afsar Ahmed completed his Microbiology PhD at La Trobe University where he studied mitochondrial biogenesis and diseases. His PhD research led to new evidence for co-translational protein import into the mitochondria, termed ‘import-associated translational inhibition’, and contributed to a major finding showing that cellular AMPK activation causes mitochondrial diseases. Following his PhD, Dr Ahmed was appointed as a full-time postdoctoral fellow in Prof David Vaux’s Laboratory at La Trobe University, to investigate NF-kappaB and TNF-alpha signalling in both normal and cancer cells. There he made significant contributions to a scientific breakthrough (published in Cell) demonstrating a critical role for inhibitors-of-apoptosis proteins in cancer cell death. His research also led to two more papers, including one first-author paper in the Current Biology journal. After starting his second postdoctoral position at the Centre for Inflammatory Diseases, Monash University (Australia), Dr Ahmed gained industry experience in Cortical Pty Ltd, a Monash spin-off biotechnology company, through the successful development of an in-vitro bioassay system to screen for potential cytokine antagonists as therapeutic targets for inflammatory diseases. In June 2011, Dr Ahmed was awarded the ‘Ron Evans Cancer Research Fellowship’ to pursue his research career at Hudson Institute of Medical Research (Australia), where he established myeloid-ILK-deficient transgenic mouse models. Mentored by Prof Bryan Williams, Dr Ahmed identified ILK as a pro-inflammatory molecule regulating p65 Ser536 phosphorylation via an alternative NF-kappaB signalling pathway (JBC 2014) and myeloid-ILK as an essential regulator of colitis-associated intestinal inflammation (J Immunol 2017). Dr Ahmed's work also has indicated a reduced tumour burden in the myeloid-ILK-deficient mice using mouse models of colitis-associated cancer (CAC) and spontaneous CRC (APCmin/+), demonstrating a reduced infiltration of M2 polarised macrophages and an increased infiltration of cytotoxic T cells into the tumors (manuscript in preparation). Dr Ahmed has been taking a leading role in peer-reviewed journal publications as well as contributing to the project design, training and supervision of Honours, PhD students and other junior scientists. A research paper based on a PhD project, jointly supervised by me, on the role of ILK in leukemia is in preparation for submission. Dr Ahmed is currently involved in supervising PhD projects dedicated to the cross-communications of metabolic, senescence and autophagy pathways in colon cancer as well as to the discovery of molecular targets and drug screening in paediatric high-grade gliomas. A PhD research manuscript entitled ‘A potential role for ILK in the tumour microenvironment and regulation of immune checkpoint ligand PD-L1 in colorectal cancer’ has been recently been submitted to OncoImmunology. Dr Ahmed is currently leading a clinical research project, as a lead scientist and project manager, towards the development of a novel autologous immunotherapy designed to boost cellular immunity. This novel therapeutic approach is currently in the process of being utilized to combat cancer as well as to elevate immune protection via a Phase I Clinical Trial.