Thomas Tu

Adjunct Associate Professor

Ph.D.

Thomas.tu@wimr.org.au

The Storr Liver Centre

Viral Hepatitis Pathogenesis Group

Currently open to PHD and Honours students in the topic areas of:

Liver Cancer

Chronic Hepatitis B infection

Thomas Tu

Biography

A/Prof Thomas Tu research group focuses on persistent forms of the Hepatitis B virus, developing ways to measure and eliminate them. He is particularly passionate about developing an HBV cure and mitigating the associated liver cancer, as he himself lives with chronic Hepatitis B. This provides him with unique perspectives on the disease as a researcher, patient, and advocate. He has won multiple awards for his research and outreach, including the 2022 Young Tall Poppy Science Award and the Paul and Valeria Ainsworth Precision Medicine Fellowship.

Research interests

Molecular mechanisms of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection persistence and HBV DNA integration, Long-term host-virus interactions and their roles in disease progression during chronic HBV infection, Early stages of liver cancer initiation and the clonal expansion of altered hepatocytes, The broader impacts of chronic hepatitis B from the perspective of the affected community

Adjunct roles

Adjunct Associate Professor University of Sydney, Westmead Clinical School

Current grants

Paul & Valeria Ainsworth 2023-2026 Precision medicine approaches to prevent the impacts of chronic hepatitis B
NHMRC 2023-2026 Optimising treatment of Hepatitis B with novel predictive biomarkers
ACH4 2022-2023 Building active surveillance systems to track hepatitis C virus epidemiology and antiviral resistance
GESA 2022-2023 Curing chronic hepatitis B by targeting virus reservoirs
Gilead Sciences 2022-2023 HBV train the trainer online program
Excision Biosciences 2022-2023 Use of designer nucleases for cccDNA degradation
Gilead Sciences 2022-2023 Investigating Treatment Engagement and Monitoring in Hep B-affected communities (ITEM-B)
NHMRC 2021-2023 Inhibiting host TM6SF2 to cure Hepatitis B
Stephan Urban Foundation 2023 The BRIGHTEST project (Blood Result Interpreter, Getting Hep-B Tests into Everyday Simple Terms)

Affiliations

University of Sydney, Sydney Infectious Diseases

Professional Associations and Organisations

2020-present Australian Centre for Hepatitis Virology President since 2021; Secretary 2020-2021)
2022-present Hepatitis B Voices Australia Co-founder, Deputy Chair, Secretary and Director
2020-2022 Hepatitis Australia Board Director
2020- present HepBcommunity.org Founder and Executive Director
2022-present Westmead Research Hub Mentoring Program Founder and Program Coordinator
2023-present Early Career Researcher Workshop for the International meeting for the Molecular Biology of Hepatitis B Viruses Founder and lead organiser
2021-present Westmead Research Hub EMCR committee Deputy Chair and Executive member
2023-present National WHOCC Research Advisory Group Committee member
2023-present NSW Hepatitis B Strategy Implementation program Committee member
2021-2023 NSW Hepatitis B Strategy Consultation group, Department of Health Committee member
2022-present Hepatitis B Forum for Collaborative Research, USA Advisory member
2022-present WIMR Scientific Faculty and Career Development Committee Steering committee member
2022- present Australian National Hepatitis B Strategy Targets Workshop Committee member
2022- present Australian Centre for HIV and Hepatitis Virology Research Committee member
2022-present Hepatitis B Foundation, USA Executive Committee member
2021-present Hepatitis B Foundation, USA Community Advisory Board Member
2021-present Hepatitis B Foundation, USA Emerging Scientific and Medical Advisory Board Member
2021-present “Hep B University” Train the Trainer resource for HBV Anti-Discrimination Working Group Committee member
2020-2021 Hepatitis B Information and Support List (HBlist.net) Lead coordinator
2020-present International Coalition to Eliminate HBV Administrator
2019-2020 National HBV Consensus Statement Stakeholder Consulting Group Committee member
2019-2020; 2022-present Viruses Journal Community Oversight Group Member
2020-present Hepatoma Research Guest editor
2019-present Frontiers in Microbiology (Virology) Editorial board member
Editorial board member

Awards and recognition

Recipient of the New South Wales 2022 Young Tall Poppy Science Award