
PhD, Australian National University
MSc (Distinction), University of Otago, New Zealand
BSc, The University of Auckland, New Zealand
Dr Shafagh Waters (BSc, MSc (Disc.), PhD) is a Scientia senior lecturer at UNSW and an honorary senior scientist at Sydney Children’s Hospital. A productive PhD (2012; ANU) and postdoctoral fellowships (2013-2016; UNSW) helped her secure international training fellowships in gene therapy and organoid medicine, establishing her independent lab in 2016. Dr Waters lead an NHMRC funded research program on adult-stem-cell biology for cystic fibrosis (CF) that is supported by 32 grants; 21 as CIA including international and national industry partnerships. Dr Waters has developed an Australian national biobank of stem-cell-derived airway and gut organoids, and has built a platform for high-throughput therapy-testing on patients organoids. She combines her unique strengths in organoid disease modelling, multi-omic molecular profiling and computational research with clinical data to improve individualised outcomes for patients with CF. She is regularly invited to media interviews and present at community, and as a keynote speaker at national and international meetings, on two occasions, and was the recipient of the best ECR research award at the 2019-Australian Academy of Science, Precision Medicine Conference. In 2020, the latter (co-culture airway organoid with pathogens) was pivoted to COVID-19 to delineate the innate immune response to SARS-CoV2 infection.
Scheme: Ideas Grants
Funding agency: National Health & Medical Research Council
Grant name: Towards Personalised Cystic Fibrosis Medicine: Functional characterisation and targeted therapies for rare CF Transmembrane Regulator (CFTR) mutations using patient-derived organoids
Role: CIA, UNSW Grant number: RG191611 Start date: 1 January 2020
Scheme: 2019 Gene Therapy Innovation Grant
Funding agency: Cystic Fibrosis Community Care
Grant name: Nanoparticle nanoparticle gene addition therapy in primary differentiated CF airway cell models.
Role: Sole CI, UNSW Grant number: RG194254 Start date: 1 January 2020
Scheme: Orphan Disease Center Million Dollar Bike Ride Grant Program
Funding agency: Penn Medicine Orphan Disease Centre | University of Adelaide
Grant name: Airway Cell Therapy for Cystic Fibrosis Nonsense Mutations
Role: co-CI, UNSW Grant number: RG192792 Start date: 1 June 2019
Scheme: DAVID MILLAR GILES INNOVATION GRANT
Funding agency: CYSTIC FIBROSIS AUSTRALIA
Grant name: an australian alliance of personalised lab grown mini-organs to save the rarest of them all
Role: Sole CI, UNSW Grant number: RG191126 Start date: 1 August 2019
Scheme: TSANZ VERTEX PAEDIATRIC CYSTIC FIBROSIS AWARD
Funding agency: THORACIC SOCIETY OF AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND (TSANZ)
Grant name: a novel compound for cystic fibrosis therapy, targeting proteostasis network.
Role: Sole CI, UNSW Grant number: RG192793 Start date: 17 July 2019
Scheme: NSW HEALTH PAEDIATRIC PRECISION MEDICINE SHARED GRANT
Funding agency: PAEDIATRIO LIMITED
Grant name: ppm 1: centralized capacity to develop functional genomics for paediatric precision medicine
Role: CIB, UNSW Grant number: RG192369, Start date: 1 June 2019
Scheme: REBECCA L. COOPER MEDICAL PROJECT GRANTS
Funding agency: REBECCA L. COOPER MEDICAL RESEARCH FOUNDATION
Grant name: personalised lab grown mini-lungs to predict effect of therapies in patients with cystic fibrosis
Role: Sole CI, UNSW Grant number: RG182229, Start date: 1 January 2019
Scheme: CONTRACT RESEARCH
Funding agency: PAEDIATRIO LIMITED
Grant name: microscope funding for drug discovery and efficacy testing
Role: CIB, UNSW Grant number: RG182726, Start date: 24 October 2018
Scheme: VERTEX INNOVATION AWARDS
Funding agency: VERTEX PHARMACEUTICALS (CH)
Grant name: exo-cf; exosomal biomarkers for early prediction of cystic fibrosis related diabetes (cfrd)
Role: CIA, UNSW Grant number: RG181847, Start date: 22 March 2019
Scheme: ACFRT INNOVATION GRANT
Funding agency: CYSTIC FIBROSIS RESEARCH LIMITED QLD
Grant name: Rna therapeutics: novel paradigm in mutation independent cf therapy
Role: CIA, UNSW Grant number: RG173352, Start date: 5 March 2018
Scheme: BOOSTING BUSINESS INNOVATION PROGRAM
Funding agency: NSW DEPARTMENT OF INDUSTRY
Grant name: in vitro investigation of the potential efficacy of thiols to treat cystic fibrosis - techvoucher
Role: CIA, UNSW Grant number: RG161881-T Start date: 23 June 2018
Scheme: CONTRACT RESEARCH
Funding agency: BIOSPECIALTIES AUSTRALIA PTY LTD
Grant name: in vitro investigation of the potential efficacy of thiols to treat cystic fibrosis
Role: CIA, UNSW Grant number: RG181150, Start date: 4 June 2018
Awards
Best EMCR Poster Award |
Australian Academy of Science | AU-China Precision Medicine Symposium |
2019 |
EMCR Travel Award |
Australian Academy of Science | AU-China Precision Medicine Symposium |
2019 |
Travel Award |
Australian Academy of Science | Science at the Shine Dome Early-and Mid-Career Researchers Program |
2018 |
Finalist |
Annual Quality and Innovation Awards | The Sydney Children’s Hospital Network |
2018 |
Travel Award |
SIDRA Functional Genomics Towards Precision Medicine Symposium. Doha Qatar |
2017 |
Travel Award |
Vice-Chancellor's HDR | Australian National University (ANU) |
2012 |
Best PhD Candidate Talk Award |
Genetics Society of Australasia Conference 2010 |
2010 |
Travel Award |
University of Otago, New Zealand |
2008 |
Best Poster Presentation Award |
Molecular Basis of Cancer and Development Meeting 2007 |
2007 |
Fellowships
Bridging Fellowship |
UNSW, Australia |
2020- 2023 |
Visiting Scientist Fellowship |
City of Hope Medical Centre for Gene Therapy, USA |
March-2016 |
Visiting Researcher ECFS Fellowship |
University of Lisbon (ULisboa), Portugal |
June-2016 |
PhD Scholarship |
Australian National University (ANU) |
2008 |
PhD Supplementary Scholarship |
Australian National University (ANU) |
2008 |
Summer Research Fellowship |
Australian National University (ANU) | Graves Lab |
2007 |
Summer Research Fellowship |
University of Otago, New Zealand | Markie Lab |
2006 |
Memberships
UNSW Australian Centre for NanoMedicine (ACN |
2021 |
Australian Living Organoid Alliance (ALOA) |
2020 |
The Thoracic Society of Australia and New Zealand (TSANZ) |
2018 |
Early- & Mid – Career Research Forum, Australian Academy of Science |
2018 |
Australian Society for Medical Research |
2017 |
Women in Research Network member, UNSW |
2017 |
Genetic Society of AustralAsia (GSA) |
2012 |
My current research has a strong translational focus in three key areas of
(i) stem cell biology involving disease modeling and regenerative medicine
(ii) prognostic and diagnostic exosomal biomarker discovery for CF related diabetes,
(iii) CFTR restoring therapeutics in patient derived organoids using a variety of delivery approaches including viral and nanoformulations.
(iv) host-pathogen interactions for viral and bacterial infections.
Memberships