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Associate Professor David Booth is co-chair of the MS Research Australia-funded research platform – The ANZgene Consortium for MS genetics – and is a pivotal member of the International MS Genetics Consortium. Over the last few years he has contributed enormously to our understanding of the genetic basis for susceptibility to MS. In recognition of this, and to support his continued contribution to this field of research, he was awarded the inaugural Senior Research Fellowship from MS Research Australia and was appointed as an Associate Professor of the University of Sydney in January 2010.
David gained his PhD from Imperial College London, in 1992. He then studied the genetic basis of Amyloidoisis and Familial Mediterranean Fever at The Royal Free Hospital in London, before returning to Australia in 2001 to investigate which genes cause susceptibility to Multiple Sclerosis and why.
Associate Professor Booth’s group were the first to identify that variations in the gene that codes for the Interleukin-7 Receptor (IL7R) are associated with MS, and to identify the possible mechanisms. He has made significant contributions to the International Multiple Sclerosis Genetics Consortium (IMSGC) and the Australia and New Zealand Multiple Sclerosis Genetics Consortium (ANZgene). These large-scale collaborations have together identified the genes conferring the largest effect on susceptibility to MS. His main task is now to determine why these genes contribute to MS disease. Associate Professor Booth is also working to identify biomarkers – molecules that can easily be screened for in blood or cerebrospinal fluid for clinical use in MS diagnosis and prognosis.
Associate Professor Booth’s other research interests also include studies into the genetic basis for differing responses to treatment for other immune conditions, notably hepatitis C and HIV.
Over the course of his Senior Research Fellowship, Associate Professor Booth has published over 60 papers in prestigious medical journals, including Nature, Nature Genetics, Nature Communications, Journal of Immunology, and Multiple Sclerosis Journal. Associate Professor Booth has 3 patent family applications in process, on genetic variants to predict treatment response, and on fibrosis rate.
During this time he has won 5 NHMRC grants worth more than $2.5 million: on the genes IFNL3, IL7R, CYP27B1, CD40 and the PHOCIS clinical trial. Associate Professor Booth has used preliminary data obtained from my work in 3 more applications for NHMRC project grant funding, with a further value over $2.5 million. He been involved in successful grants from MS Research Australia worth $400,000 genetics, immunity and the Epstein Barr Virus and MS. Associate Professor Booth has also been awarded an NHMRC Senior Research Fellowship for 2015-2019, and funding from the Ainsworth Foundation.
The Senior Research Fellowship has also allowed Associate Professor Booth to mentor a number of junior researchers. This includes supervision of four successful PhD students since 2010 and he is currently supervising an M.Phil student and an MD honours student. Associate Professor Booth’s team also includes postdoctoral scientists and research scientists. These scientists are all authors on publications and are developing their careers partially as a direct result of this fellowship.
Associate Professor Booth also holds an MS Research Australia project grant on MS genes and function, which commenced in 2011. Read more about the project grant here.
2015
2014
2013
2012
2011
2010
Updated: 30 April 2015
Associate Professor David Booth
$650,000
2010
5 years
Past project
