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Megan Munsie

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Professor - Emerging Technologies (Stem Cells) at The University of Melbourne and Group Leader - Stem Cell Ethics & Policy at the Murdoch Children's Research Institute, The University of Melbourne

Professor Munsie is an internationally recognised leader in the stem cell research community. She holds an appointment at the University of Melbourne’s Melbourne Medical School where she heads a research program into the ethical, legal and social implications of stem cell research and is a Group Leader in Stem Cell Ethics & Policy at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute. In 2022 she joined the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Stem Cell Medicine.

Findings from her interdisciplinary research have influenced policy reforms at a national and international level and informed the design and delivery of educational resources for patients, healthcare professionals and the general public. She has led public education and policy activities for a series of major Australian Government funded programs in stem cell science since 2007 and currently heads Stem Cells Australia, an online education initiative that provides information to Australians curious about stem cells and their role in medicine.

She serves on advisory committees to peak national and international bodies including the International Society for Stem Cell Research and the International Society for Cell and Gene Therapy. Professor Munsie is the Vice President of the Australasian Society for Stem Cell Research and non-executive director of the National Stem Cell Foundation of Australia. She also has extensive experience in biotechnology and has also worked for over ten years as a clinical embryologist in Australian IVF clinics.

Experience

  • 2019–present
    Professor, The University of Melbourne
  • 2022–present
    Group Leader, Murdoch Children's Research Institute
  • 2011–2019
    Head - Education, Ethics, Law & Communit Awareness Unit, Stem Cells Australia
  • 2011–2019
    Associate Professor , The University of Melbourne
  • 2007–2011
    Senior Manager - Research & Government, Australian Stem Cell Centre
  • 2001–2006
    Scientific Development Manager, Stem Cell Sciences Ltd
  • 1990–2000
    Clinical Embryologist, Melbourne IVF

Education

  • 2000 
    Monash University, PhD
  • 1995 
    Monash University, Masters Rep Sci
  • 1987 
    QUT, B App Sci

Publications

  • 2021
    Regulating autologous stem cell interventions in Australia: An updated review of the direct-to-consumer advertising restrictions., Australian Health Review
  • 2021
    Ethical issues and public communication in the development of cell-based treatments for COVID-19: Lessons from the pandemic, Stem Cell Reports
  • 2021
    Developing a Reflexive, Anticipatory, and Deliberative Approach to Unanticipated Discoveries: Ethical Lessons from iBlastoids., American Journal of Bioethics.
  • 2021
    Academic physician specialists’ views towards the unproven stem cell intervention industry: areas of common ground and divergence., Cytotherapy
  • 2021
    ISSCR guidelines for stem cell research and clinical translation: the 2021 update., Stem Cell Reports
  • 2020
    Australian regulation of autologous human cell and tissue products: implications for commercial stem cell clinics., Regenerative Medicine
  • 2020
    The direct-toconsumer market for stem cell-based interventions in Australia: Exploring the experiences of patients., Regenerative Medicine
  • 2020
    Towards guidelines for research on human embryo models formed from stem cells., Stem Cell Reports
  • 2019
    ‘Contact us for more information’: an analysis of public enquiries about stem cells., Regenerative Medicine
  • 2017
    Ethical issues in human organoid and gastruloid research., Development
  • 2017
    Stem Cell Tourism and the Political Economy of Hope., Palgrave Macmillan
  • 2017
    Open for business: a comparative study of websites selling autologous stem cells in Australia and Japan., Regenerative Medicine
  • 2017
    Marketing of unproven stem cell-based interventions: A call to action., Science Translational Medicine
  • 2017
    No one here's helping me, what do you do?': addressing patient need for support and advice about stem cell treatments., Regenerative Medicine
  • 2015
    What if stem cells turn into embryos in a dish?, Nature Methods
  • 2014
    Therapeutic journeys: the hopeful travails of stem cell tourists, Sociology of Health and Illness
  • 2014
    A question of ethics: Selling autologous stem cell therapies flaunts professional standards., Stem Cell Research
  • 2014
    Regulatory loophole enables unproven autologous cell therapies to thrive in Australia., Stem Cells and Development
  • 2012
    Tempering hope with realism: induced pluripotent stem cells in regenerative medicine, MJA
  • 2009
    Isolation and production of cells suitable for human therapy: challenges ahead, Cell Stem Cell
  • 2008
    New ISSCR guidelines underscore major principles for responsible translational stem cell research, Cell Stem Cell
  • 2000
    Isolation of pluripotent embryonic stem cells from reprogrammed adult mouse somatic cell nuclei., Curr Biol

Grants and Contracts

  • 2022
    Center for Stem Cell Medicine
    Role:
    Chief Investigator
    Funding Source:
    Novo Nordisk Foundation
  • 2021
    Improving decisions about access to stem cell interventions
    Role:
    Chief Investigator
    Funding Source:
    Medical Research Future Fund Stem Cell Therapies Mission
  • 2019
    Stem Cells for Sight: Building the pathway from the lab to the clinic
    Role:
    Chief Investigator
    Funding Source:
    Medical Research Future Fund Accelerated Research
  • 2017
    ARC Training Centre for Personalised Therapeutics Technologies
    Role:
    Chief Investigator
    Funding Source:
    Australian Research Council
  • 2015
    Regulating Autologous Stem Cell Therapies
    Role:
    Chief Investigator
    Funding Source:
    Australian Research Council
  • 2012
    High hopes, high risk? A sociological study of stem cell tourism
    Role:
    Investigator
    Funding Source:
    Australian Research Council
  • 2011
    Special Research Initiative in Stem Cell Science - Stem Cells Australia
    Role:
    Associate Investigator
    Funding Source:
    Australian Research Council
  • 2008
    Reproducible production of patient-specific human embryonic like stem cell lines from SCNT
    Role:
    Investigator
    Funding Source:
    NSW/VIC Government Stem Cell Research Grant Progra

Professional Memberships

  • International Society for Stem Cell Research
  • International Society for Cell and Gene Therapy
  • Australasian Society for Stem Cell Research

Research Areas

  • Bioethics (Human And Animal) (220101)
  • Ethical Use Of New Technology (E.G. Nanotechnology, Biotechnology) (220103)
  • Regenerative Medicine (Incl. Stem Cells And Tissue Engineering) (100404)