The Snow Medical Research Foundation has awarded its prestigious 2025 Snow Fellowship to Dr Alisa Glukhova from WEHI, providing $8 million in funding over eight years to support her groundbreaking cancer research. This long-term backing gives Dr Glukhova and her team the security and freedom to focus on tackling one of the biggest challenges in cancer treatment, finding new ways to stop the disease at its source.
Dr Glukhova's work looks at how cells communicate and what happens when those signals go wrong, leading to diseases like cancer. By using advanced imaging techniques, her research hopes to uncover new ways to develop more precise and effective cancer treatments with fewer side effects. The Fellowship provides the stability needed to drive this research forward, offering real hope for new breakthroughs in cancer treatment.
Chair of Snow Medical, Tom Snow, highlighted the Foundation's commitment to funding researchers willing to take bold steps toward innovation.
"The Snow family believes in backing exceptional minds who take risks and challenge the limits of scientific discovery. Alisa's research is exactly the kind of high-impact, world-changing work that needs long-term support to thrive. She has consciously chosen to apply her outstanding structural biology skills in an area often avoided by others due to its complexity and degree of challenge. Alisa is aware of the risks, however, with this Fellowship, she will have the independence and stability to push the boundaries of biomedical science and deliver real outcomes for patients," Mr Snow said.
Over five years since it began, the Snow Medical Research Foundation has now committed over $260 million to biomedical innovation in Australia, supporting 14 Fellows and their teams to drive discovery in fields ranging from genomics to immunology and now, cutting-edge cancer research, amongst other philanthropic giving. The Foundation was established by the Snow family with the vision of transforming healthcare through sustained, long-term investment in exceptional research leaders.
Professor Ken Smith, Director of WEHI, welcomed the investment in Dr Glukhova's research and praised the Snow Fellowship program for providing scientists with the security to focus on ambitious, pioneering projects.
"Groundbreaking discoveries in medical research don't happen overnight. They require sustained commitment, resources, and the freedom to explore complex problems. The Snow Medical Fellowship allows scientists like Alisa to do exactly that, giving them the best chance to turn their research into life-changing medical advances. This Fellowship and the collaborations fostered through it will not only benefit cancer patients but also the broader biomedical research community here in Australia and globally," Professor Smith said.
Dr Glukhova expressed her gratitude for the opportunity and the long-term support provided by Snow Medical.
"I am incredibly honoured to be selected as a Snow Fellow. My research focuses on understanding how cells respond to external signals and communicate with one another, and what happens when these processes go wrong, leading to diseases like cancer. By visualising key signalling events at the molecular level, my team and I aim to uncover new drug targets and develop precision therapies tailored to different cancers. This Fellowship provides the critical support needed to advance this research towards real-world treatments that can make a tangible difference for patients. I am deeply grateful to the Snow family for their belief in fundamental research and their commitment to fostering the next generation of scientific leaders," Dr Glukhova said.
Dr Alisa Glukhova is a structural biologist and Laboratory Head at WEHI, specialising in imaging molecular interactions at an atomic level. Born and initially educated in Russia, she later trained at the University of Michigan and Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences (MIPS). Her research focuses on understanding cell signalling processes to unlock new treatment avenues for diseases such as cancer. She has been recognised with numerous accolades, including the L'Oréal-UNESCO Women in Science Fellowship, the Gottschalk Medal from the Australian Academy of Science, and a CSL Centenary Fellowship.
The next Snow Fellowship grant round opens on Monday 31 March 2025.
About us:
About the Snow Medical Research Foundation The Snow Medical Research Foundation is at the forefront of philanthropic efforts to advance biomedical research in Australia. With a commitment now totalling $260 million, Snow Medical supports the development of outstanding biomedical research leaders and their teams, driving innovation and excellence in healthcare solutions for the future. About WEHI (Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research) WEHI is where the world's brightest minds collaborate and innovate to make life-changing scientific discoveries that help people live healthier for longer. Our medical researchers have been serving the community for more than 100 years, making transformative discoveries in cancer, infection and immunity, and lifelong health.
