Research Profile

Professor Wallach has over 20 years of experience in basic and applied molecular parasitology with a background in both academic and industrial science. Professor Wallach was appointed (Sept. 2002) as the Director of the Institute for the Biotechnology of Infectious Diseases (IBID) at the University of Technology, Sydney. He has spent periods of time working all over the world including in the USA at the Rockefeller University, New York, New York and the USDA, Beltsville, Maryland, in Europe at the University of Bern, Switzerland and the National Veterinary Institute, Uppsala, Sweden and now in Australia at UTS (apart from his period in Israel at the Hebrew University and ABIC Ltd.). Studies on malaria and Leishmania were ground breaking and led to publications in some very prestigious journals (Nature, PNAS).

Prof. Wallach’s current project on Eimeria in chickens (the causative agent of coccidiosis, which is the most economically important disease of any kind in the chicken industry), has led to the development, patenting, registration and marketing of a maternally based subunit vaccine against the disease called CoxAbic®. This work was a global collaborative effort involving scientists, veterinarians, health workers and farmers from 6 continents. The project required a large amount of funding and a large collaborative network, including a collaboration with UTS that commenced 6 years ago as a SPIRT grant (currently known as the ARC linkage program), involved with the production of the genetically engineered version of the coccidiosis vaccine. In addition, studies are currently being carried out in collaboration with Dr. S. Belli and Assoc. Prof. N. Smith on the function of the sexual stage gametocyte antigens in parasite development, which has given insights into the formation of the oocyst wall of Eimeria. This wall is essential for parasite survival in the harsh environment of the chicken house and similar structures are found in all apicomplexan parasites including Toxoplasma and Plasmodium, the causative agent of malaria.

Professor Wallach has been invited to present his work at many international conferences all over the world, as well as to multinational pharmaceutical companies in order to try and find a suitable partner for the marketing of the vaccine against coccidiosis, CoxAbic. He has been awarded various prizes and grants including those from the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA the World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland, the Roche Foundation, Basel, Switzerland and has received the Invited Lectureship Travel Grant, Australian Society for Parasitology in 1996. He has filed 3 patents on the coccidiosis vaccine, one of which was granted worldwide (filed in the USA in1986) and 2 others, which were filed in the USA in 2002 together with Assoc. Professor Smith and Dr. Belli, are currently pending.

Career History

2002-2007     Director of the Institute for the Biotechnology of Infectious Diseases, University of Technology Sydney, Australia

1993-2002      Head and Coordinator of the Coccidiosis Project, ABIC Ltd., Netanya, Israel

1991-1993      Visiting Professor, Institute for Microbiology, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland

1985-1992       Lecturer, Department of Parasitology, The Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical School,  Jerusalem, Israel

1984-1985        Senior Scientist at International Genetic Sciences Partnership Ltd., Jerusalem, Israel

1980-1984        Post-doctoral fellow at the Rockefeller University, New York, N.Y., USA

Awards and Prizes

1996         Invited Lectureship Travel Grant, Australian Society for Parasitology (2 awards given per year)

1991         Fellowship of the Roche Foundation, Basel, Switzerland

1982         Young Investigator Research Award, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA

1979         Sheffield Award in Cancer Research

Selected Publications

1.  Belli SI, Mai K, Skene CD, Gleeson MT, Witcombe DM, Katrib M, Finger A, Wallach MG, Smith NC. (2004) Characterisation of the antigenic and immunogenic properties of bacterially expressed, sexual stage antigens of the coccidian parasite, Eimeria maxima. Vaccine. 22:4316-25.

2.  Witcombe DM, Ferguson DJ, Belli SI, Wallach MG, Smith NC. (2004) Eimeria maxima TRAP family protein EmTFP250: subcellular localisation and induction of immune responses by immunisation with a recombinant C-terminal derivative. Int J Parasitol. 34:861-72.

3. Witcombe, D.M., Belli, S.I., Wallach, M.G., and Smith, N.C. (2003) Molecular characterization of EmTFP250: a novel member of the TRAP protein family in Eimeria maxima, International Journal for Parasitology 33, 691-702

4. Belli, S.I., Wallach, M.G., Luxford, C., Davies. M.J. and Smith, N.C. (2003) Roles of tyrosine rich precursor glycoproteins 3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine-mediated protein cross-linking in the development of the oocyst wall in the coccidian parasite Eimeria maxima. Eukaryotic Cell 2, 456-464.

5. Wallach, M. (2002) The Development of CoxAbic® a Novel Vaccine Against Coccidiosis. World Poultry, 18, 24-26.

Patents

1. Belli, S.I., Smith, N.C. and Wallach, M.G. (2002) Nucleic acids encoding recombinant 56 and 82 kDa antigens from gametocytes of Eimeria maxima and their uses.

2. Witcombe, D., Wallach, M.G. and Smith, N.C. (2002) Nucleic acids encoding a recombinant 230 kDa antigen from sporozoites/merozoites of Eimeria maxima and their uses.

3. Wallach, M., Mencher, D. and Pugatsch, T. (1986) A vaccine against coccidiosis.

Industry links

Abic Veterinary Products Ltd