Dr Mitchell Lawrence is a Group Leader and Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Anatomy and Developmental Biology and Biomedicine Discovery Institute, Monash University. He graduated with a PhD focusing on prostate cancer research from Queensland University of Technology in 2009, before joining the Prostate Cancer Research Group at Monash University in 2010. His expertise includes the use of human preclinical models to study tumour biology, pathology, and novel therapies. In particular, Dr Lawrence uses patient-derived xenografts (PDXs) and organoids from the Melbourne Urological Research Alliance (MURAL) (https://t.co/GcC0osoUiK; https://doi.org/10.1002/path.5652; https://doi.org/10.1177/24725552211020668). These models represent the clinico-pathological and genomic spectrum of prostate cancer, from treatment-naïve primary tumors to castration-resistant metastases. Dr Lawrence’s research also focusses on the tumour microenvironment of prostate cancer, particularly the features of cancer-associated fibroblasts. For these multidisciplinary studies, Dr Lawrence works with a diverse team of collaborators, including urologists, oncologists, pathologists, bioinformaticians and patient advocates.

Dr Lawrence is the recipient of funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council (Early Career Fellowship, project grants), the Victorian Government through the Victorian Cancer Agency (Early Career Seed Grant, Mid-Career Fellowship), the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia (Movember Young Investigator Grant) and several philanthropic organisations.