Kevin Lee

I am a mid-career postdoctoral researcher since 2015 at the Department of Medicine, University of Melbourne (UoM). The main focus of my research has been in understanding how inflammatory mediators control the function of immune cells in facilitating the development of arthritis and pain using various in vivo approaches and immunology-related techniques, for example, flow cytometry and single-cell RNAsequencing. My recent interest is to explore potential therapeutic targets for osteoarthritis pain and disease. Osteoarthritis is a major cause of disability but as yet no disease-modifying therapy exists. With increasing prevalence expected due to the accelerating prevalence of obesity and ageing, therapeutic modifiers of this major cause of disability are urgently needed and my translational research addresses this acute clinical need. I have discovered a molecule CCL17 and its importance for OA pain and disease using several animal models. Research in targeting CCL17 is currently in progress. I have worked on several commercially funded projects to investigate the role of the colony stimulating factor family and CCL17 in inflammatory arthritis and osteoarthritis using in vivo approaches, including animal models and antibody-based neutralizing targeting strategy. This body of work, co-led by me, has attracted research support from Arthritis Australia, as well as from industry (including CSL, GSK and Janssen).
The main focus of my research program is to explore any potential therapeutic targets for osteoarthritis-associated pain and disease, given that in the last decade there has been no advancement in the field of therapeutics. Using various animal models of OA and immunological analysis, including flow cytometry, RNAseq and multiplex ELISA, we have discovered a novel molecule and its targeting represents a novel approach for managing osteoarthritis pain and ameliorating disease progression.