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Professor

Jeremy Crook

Professorial Fellow - Biomedical Engineering

Intelligent Polymer Research Institute, Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences

Orcid identifier0000-0002-6415-1639
  • Professorial Fellow - Biomedical Engineering
    Intelligent Polymer Research Institute, Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences
  • 02 85140705
  • University of Wollongong, Intelligent Polymer Research Institute, Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences, Squires Way, AIIM Facility, Innovation Campus;, Wollongong, New South Wales, 2500, Australia

BIO

Jeremy is Director of the Arto Hardy Family Biomedical Innovation Hub at Chris O'Brien Lifehouse Hospital, conjoint Arto Hardy Family Chair and Professor of Biomedical Innovation in the School of Medical Sciences at the University of Sydney (UOS), and Professorial Fellow - Biomedical Engineering at the University of Wollongong (UOW) and the Illawarra Health and Medical Research Institute (Hon).

Jeremy attained his Doctor of Philosophy (PhD - Medicine; NHMRC Postgraduate Scholarship awardee) at UOM followed by a US National Institutes of Health (NIH) Fogarty International Centre Fellowship. Jeremy’s discoveries from his PhD (Crook, J. M. (1998) A possible role for muscarinic cholinergic receptors in the pathology and treatment of schizophrenia. Ph.D. thesis. University of Melbourne) opened up new treatment possibilities for people with schizophrenia, leading to the recent (September 2024) approval by the US Food and Drug Administration of the first antipsychotic drug (KarXT) that targets muscarinic cholinergic receptor defects. At NIH, Jeremy was awarded the NIH Fellows Award for Research Excellence (2001). From 2002-2007 Jeremy was Program Manager in the stem cell biotech ES Cell International (ESI), followed by Group Leader in Singapore's A*STAR Institute of Medical Biology (IMB). At ESI and IMB Jeremy and his team developed the worlds first clinical-grade pluripotent stem cell lines for human therapies, including methods for clinically compliant stem cell culture, scale-up and banking, with the cells and methods widely adopted and patented. Jeremy's contributions to human stem cell research also include seminal published guidances and standards for stem cell derivation, culture and differentiation, with the latter extending to pioneering neural cell modelling of neuropsychiatric disease. Jeremys experience in academia and industry, together with leading roles on international advisory boards and committees, including the International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) Standards Task Force, International Stem Cell Banking Initiative, UK Medical Research Council Molecular and Cellular Medicine Board Committee of Review, and Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering Stem Cell Research Review Committee, puts him at the forefront of stem cell education and research both in Australia and abroad.

At UOW, Jeremy's team is making award winning (Research Australia 2019 Health and Medical Research Frontiers Research Award) discoveries through next generation tissue building for drug and disease modelling, and regenerative medicine. Their research integrates front-line technologies stem cells, innovative biomaterials, 3D bioprinting and bioelectronics, and is establishing Australia's position as a global leader in innovative tissue engineering and electroceuticals for advanced research and medicine.

As the Director of the Arto Hardy Family Biomedical Innovation Hub at Chris O`Brien Lifehouse and conjoint Arto Hardy Family Chair and Professor of Biomedical Innovation at UOS Jeremy is extending his leadership in applied research, with a vision to accelerate biomedical advances within a clinical setting. An initial priority activity is collaborating with clinician researchers to further innovate electrical stimulation for advanced human tissue building and within-body electroceuticals for regenerative medicine and cancer therapeutics.

UNIVERSITY OF WOLLONGONG APPOINTMENTS

  • Professorial Fellow - Biomedical Engineering
    University of Wollongong, Intelligent Polymer Research Institute, Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences, Wollongong, Australia2022 - present

ACADEMIC POSITIONS

  • Arto Hardy Family Professor and Chair of Biomedical Innovation
    University of Sydney, School of Medical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health, Camperdown, Australia2021 - present

NON-ACADEMIC POSITIONS

  • Director of Biomedical Innovation
    Chris O'Brien Lifehouse, Arto Hardy Family Biomedical Innovation Hub, Camperdown, Australia2021 - present

DEGREES

  • Ph.D. Doctor of Philosophy
    University of Melbourne, Department of Pathology1998 - 1998
  • B.Sc. Bachelor of Science
    University of Tasmania

AVAILABILITY

  • Masters Research or PhD student supervision

FIELDS OF RESEARCH (FOR)