Associate Professor Patrick Bertolino

Patrick Bertolino is a Faculty member at the Centenary Institute (CI) where he leads the Liver Immunology Group. He is a leader in the field within Australia, and is considered one of the leading world experts in Liver Immunology. He trained as an immunologist in distinguished research institutes (WEHI, CI, Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon) where he worked with first class scientists including Jacques F.A.P Miller, recipient of the 2019 Lasker award for his discovery of T and B cells.

Associate Professor Bertolino’s research for the last 25 years has focused on understanding the parameters that determine the balance between tolerance and immunity in the liver, an organ known for its ability to induce tolerance. More recently, he has extended his research interest to liver macrophages. By developing and establishing unique transgenic mouse models and tools to analyse the liver immune response, he has built an original and productive research program that is unmatched in this discipline. The pioneering concepts contributed by his research program have shaped the nascent liver immunology discipline and promoted his leading international reputation in this discipline.

Funding: A/Prof Bertolino has had consistent success in securing competitive research grants as a main investigator, illustrating his independence and leadership: He has held continuous NHMRC research funding since 2000: 2 Program Grants (PI 2005-9, CI 2010-4), and 9 project grants: 6 as CIA (1 current awarded in 2018) and 3 as co-CI. He has also obtained highly competitive international funding (Roche Foundation). He was awarded an NHMRC SRF (2008-2014). Overall total funding brought by his competitive research grants is approximately $17.8 million, with ~$3.5 million as CIA. He has also participated as a PI or CI in many University Sydney NHMRC Major Equipment Grants.

Research Outputs: A/Prof Bertolino’s track record in reputable journals reflects his consistent productivity. He has published 95 manuscripts in total, with 54/95 published in the last 10 years. He is first/last author of 50/95 articles and 2nd/2nd last author in 10/95 articles, reflecting his intellectual input in these works. Reflecting the high quality of the research work under his leadership, he is senior author of many publications in top journals (including Immunity, J Clin Invest, PNAS, and Gastroenterology). The total number of citations for his papers reflect their high impact in the field, more than doubling in the last 5 years (5,128 citations in 2019 versus 2,159 2014). 16 articles have been cited>100 times and 28 more than 50 times.