Dr Etienne Masle-Farquhar
Conjoint Senior Lecturer
2015 PhB Science
2015 Hons (1st Class)
2021 PhD (UNSW Dean's Award)
Medicine & Health
School of Clinical Medicine
Dr. Etienne Masle-Farquhar runs the "Arthritis Immunogenomics" Team, as a senior postdoc at the Garvan Institute in Sydney, a Conjoint Lecturer at UNSW and Principal Investigator of the Exceptional Responders Program. Since 2017, Etienne has published 12 manuscripts, supervised 9 students, received 11 CIA grants and selected talks at 12 national and 10 international conferences, for his work on acquired and germline immune dysregulation. Etienne’s interests include monogenic immune diseases caused by germline or acquired variants in STAT3, KMT2D, CARD11, UBA1 – and more recently, a primary focus on studying and treating major forms of arthritis and their comorbidities.
Etienne obtained Hons (1st Class; Alexander McTaggart Scholarship) at the ANU, with A/Prof Anselm Enders and Prof Stefan Broer. After completing his PhD with Prof Chris Goodnow and A/Prof Joanne Reed in August 2021 (UNSW Dean's Award for Outstanding Thesis), Etienne completed a postdoc with A/Prof Owen Siggs and in October 2024, joined Prof Joseph Powell’s laboratory as a senior postdoc.
In 2022, Etienne has launched a national collaborative network to collect, biobank and study precious tissue samples from individuals with autoimmune or inflammatory diseases – ERAD. To date, ERAD has consented >250 individuals from 9 hospitals across Australia, including >200 individuals with arthritis who have donated synovial fluid, tissue, bone marrow, bone during joint aspirations and joint replacement surgeries. Within the Powell Lab, and supported by a 2024-2027 NSW OHMR Grant, 2025 Arthritis Australia and 2026-2030 NHMRC Fellowships, Etienne currently runs a 7 person “Arthritis Immunogenomics” team investigating mechanisms and treatments of arthritis, inflammatory and hematological diseases.
E-mail
Location
Garvan Institute of Medical Research
- Publications
- Media
- Grants
- Awards
- Research Activities
- Engagement
- Teaching and Supervision
2026: NHMRC Investigator Grant (EL1) ($688,405); 'Blood and bone: pathogenic leukocytes and acquired mutations within arthritic joints'.
2025: Australia and New Zealand Society of Immunology (ASI) Breakthrough Award ($50,000): 'Understanding synovial inflammation in osteoarthritis and identifying prognostic biomarkers for pain and loss of mobility'.
2025: Arthritis Australia Fellowship; Chief Investigator A: 'Leukocytes, acquired mutations and biomarkers in osteoarthritis.'
2025: St Vincent's Clinic Research Foundation (SVCRF) Grant ($50,000); Chief Investigator C: 'Cellular and molecular drivers of osteoarthritis: from Bedside to Bench'.
2024: NSW Office for Health and Medical Research (OHMR) Grant ($500,000): Chief Investigator A: 'Blood and bone: single-cell genomics to reveal disease mechanisms, inform treatment selection and monitoring of inflammatory arthritides.'
2024: AIFA Early Career Research Grant ($10,000); Chief Investigator A: 'Revealing the B cell intrinsic effects of pathogenic KMT2D mutations in Kabuki syndrome (KS) and Cold Agglutinin Disease (CAD)'.
2024: Exceptional Responders Seed Grant ($50,000); Chief Investigator A: 'Studying synovial inflammation and identifying novel biomarkers in osteoarthritis'.
2024: St Vincent's Clinic Research Foundation (SVCRF) Grant ($50,000); Chief Investigator A: 'Multiomic study of synovial fluid to reveal molecular and cellular triggers of arthritic flares'.
2024: NHMRC Ideas Grant ($1,094,640); Associate Investigator: 'Harnessing pathogenic immune cells to develop a new diagnostic for non-responders and refractory conditions in Celiac Disease'.
2024: Australia and New Zealand Society of Immunology (ASI) Career Advancement Award: 'Genomic and single-cell study of acquired variants in Cold Agglutinin Disease'.
2022: Triple I Sphere Grant ($75,000); Chief Investigator B: 'Elucidating Cellular and Molecular drivers of Rheumatoid Arthritis disease flares'.
2021: Millenium Science Spatial Pioneers Fellowship; Chief Investigator: 'Spatial transcriptomics to elucidate mechanisms driving Inclusion Body Myositis'.
2018-ongoing: Philanthropic support (Inclusion Body Myositis; Rheumatoid Arthritis; Systemic Sclerosis).
2018-ongoing: >15 travel awards to present at international and national conferences.
2024: Breakthrough Award, Australia and New Zealand Society of Immunology (ASI)
2023: Publication of the Quarter, UNSW St Vincent's Clinical School; Travel Award, Federation of Clinical Immunology Societies (FOCIS) Annual General Meeting, Boston, USA.
2022: Triple I Sphere Grant to study Rheumatoid Arthris Flares; ICIS-Pfizer Junior Investigator Award; Travel Award for the B cell-T cell Keystone 2022, Hannover, Germany; Travel Award for the ASI Annual General Meeting, Melbourne, Australia.
2021: Dean’s Award for Outstanding Thesis, UNSW, Sydney; Oral Presentation Prize, Federation of Immunological Societies of Asia-Oceania (FIMSA), FIMSA Annual Meeting, Seoul, Korea; Travel Award, FIMSA Annual Meeting 2021, Seoul, Korea; Best Postdoc Oral Presentation, St Vincent’s Campus Postdoc Symposium, Sydney, Australia.
2020: Best Student Oral Presentation, St Vincent’s Campus Research Symposium, Sydney, Australia.
2019: Travel Award, 2nd Human & Translational Immunology Conference, Kos Island, Greece; Travel Award, 2019 ThymE Conference, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel; Travel Award, World Congress on Inflammation, Sydney, Australia.
2018: Stuart Furler Travel Award, Garvan Institute of Medical Research; Travel Award, Australian and New Zealand Society of Immunology (ASI) Annual Scientific Meeting.
2017: Shortlist for 2017 Writing NSW Writer & Scientist Grant, “Is winter coming? Immunology as a game of thrones”; 3rd place, 3 Minute Thesis (3MT), Garvan Institute of Medical Research.
2016: Australian Postgraduate Award (APA) scholarship, for full duration of PhD undertaken at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research; Chancellor’s Letter of Commendation for Outstanding Academic Performance in 2015, Australian National University, Canberra.
2015: Awarded the Alexander McTaggart Memorial Scholarship, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia.
2011: French Baccalauréat Mention Très Bien (equivalent ATAR: 98).
2009: "Dux" of Telopea Park School, Canberra, Australia: Best Overall Academic Performance over the course of Secondary Education.
Etienne's team studies the molecular and cellular mechanisms driving major forms of arthritis (RA, PsA, SpA, Gout, OA), leveraging a unique Biobank of blood and affected tissues from hundreds of individuals with autoimmune, inflammatory and/or hematological conditions - with a major emphasis on arthritis and its comorbidities.
The team's studies focus on:
- Molecular and cellular mechanisms by which germline and particularly somatic (=acquired) mutations drive autoimmune, inflammatory and hematological diseases.
- Interplay between stress ligands and cytotoxic T cells within tissues.
- Cross-talk between immune and non-immune cells in driving variable levels of pain and tissue damage.
- Cutting-edge single cell, immunology (eg high parameter flow and microscopy) and genomics methods to reveal molecular and cellular mechanisms of disease.
- Close clinical parternships to provide unique samples, clinical metadata, rapid ability to translate findings - and preclinical mouse models to test new mechanisms and treatment modalities.
Student, research assistant and postdoc submissions are strongly encouraged. This team has grown from 2 to 7 people between 2023 and 2025.
Available projects include:
- Expanded, persistent CD8 cytotoxic T cell clones driving unpredictable flares and joint damage in rheumatoid arthritis (RA).
- CHIP-mutant myeloid cells in the pathogenesis of gout and OA.
- New roles for inflammation and acquired mutations in OA pathogenesis, variable levels of joint pain and comorbidities.
- Pre-clinical testing of novel biologics, created in parnership with Garvan Biologics Platform, in mouse models of arthritis.
- Cell-intrinsic and -extrinsic effects of CARD11 and KMT2D mutations in BENTA, Kabuki Syndrome and primary Cold Agglutinin Disease.
- Muscle CD8 T cell infiltration and disease mechanisms in Inclusion Body Myositis.
My Research Supervision
Current primary supervisions and direct line manager for:
2 x Honours students
1 x PhD student
1 x research assistant
1 x project coordinator
2 x clinical trials coordinators
2 x research interns
Current secondary supervisions:
1 x PhD student