# Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research

Source: https://onco.cc/institutions/wehi/  
OnCo record `wehi` (Institution). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

Australia's oldest medical research institute, where the BCL-2 family of cell-death proteins was discovered, leading to venetoclax.

## Summary

WEHI was founded in 1915 in Parkville, Melbourne, and is best known in cancer for the discovery by David Vaux, Suzanne Cory, Jerry Adams and Andreas Strasser that BCL-2 blocks programmed cell death, which after decades of work with Genentech and AbbVie produced venetoclax, the first BH3-mimetic drug, tested in Melbourne under Andrew Roberts and John Seymour. The institute also discovered colony-stimulating factors (Donald Metcalf) that underpin G-CSF supportive care, and has strong programmes in blood cancer, colorectal cancer, breast cancer stem cells (Jane Visvader, Geoffrey Lindeman), structural biology and cancer immunology. WEHI runs clinical translation with the Royal Melbourne Hospital and Peter MacCallum through the Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre alliance.

## Fields

- Kind: Institution
- Last checked: 2026-09-09
- Also known as: WEHI; Walter and Eliza Hall Institute
- City: Melbourne, AU
- Type: research-institute
- Website: https://www.wehi.edu.au

## Sources

- WEHI: https://www.wehi.edu.au
- Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre: https://www.viccompcancerctr.org

## Connected records

- technologies: [CRISPR functional genomics](https://onco.cc/technologies/crispr-screens/), [Growth factors: G-CSF and febrile neutropenia prevention](https://onco.cc/technologies/g-csf-growth-factors/), [Patient-derived organoids](https://onco.cc/technologies/organoids/)
- cancers: [Acute myeloid leukaemia](https://onco.cc/cancers/aml/), [Chronic lymphocytic leukaemia](https://onco.cc/cancers/cll/), [Colorectal cancer](https://onco.cc/cancers/colorectal/), [HR-positive / HER2-negative breast cancer](https://onco.cc/cancers/breast-hr-positive/)
- fronts: [Drug Discovery Platforms](https://onco.cc/fronts/drug-discovery/), [Targeted Therapy](https://onco.cc/fronts/targeted-therapy/)
- targets: [BCL-2](https://onco.cc/targets/bcl2/)
- drugs: [Venetoclax](https://onco.cc/drugs/venetoclax/)
- companies: [AbbVie (incl. ImmunoGen, Capstan)](https://onco.cc/companies/abbvie/), [Roche / Genentech](https://onco.cc/companies/roche-genentech/)
- institutions: [Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre](https://onco.cc/institutions/peter-mac/)
- people: [Andrew H. Wei](https://onco.cc/people/andrew-wei/), [Jeanne Tie](https://onco.cc/people/jeanne-tie/), [Ken Smith](https://onco.cc/people/ken-smith/), [Marco Herold](https://onco.cc/people/marco-herold/)
- key papers: [Circulating tumor DNA analysis detects minimal residual disease and predicts recurrence in patients with stage II colon cancer](https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-tie-ctdna-minimal-residual-disease-stage-ii-colon-sci-transl-med-2016/), [DYNAMIC: a blood test safely halved chemotherapy use after surgery for stage II colon cancer](https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-dynamic-nejm-2022/)

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