Dr Nicholas Fletcher

Dr Nicholas Fletcher is driving research programs in radiobiology and radiopharmaceutical development

Dr Fletcher is based within the Centre for Advanced Imaging (CAI) at the Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN) where he is the Radiobiology Theme Leader. He was awarded a 2023 Advance Queensland Industry Research Fellowship to support his projects focussed on understanding biological impacts and immunological responses to radiopharmaceuticals in collaboration with his industry partner Advancell. Dr Fletcher and his growing team work across a range of projects, from devising and producing novel nanomedicines and targeting approaches for nanomedicines through to advanced molecular imaging approaches to probe biological responses to therapeutic interventions at unprecedented scale. To support this, he has worked to establish the Radiobiology Facility at the CAI, bringing together a nationally unique facility with capabilities that sit within only a handful of locations globally. This has enables him and his team to probe nuanced biological responses using approaches simply untenable elsewhere.

Industry

Dr Fletcher’s research spans both traditional academic research outputs and collaborative industry programs. He has multiple active industry partnerships, particularly focused on Australian Pharma companies and his translational work has laid the foundation for the initiation of 3 clinical trials. Key industry partners to date include Advancell, Telix Pharmaceuticals, Clarity Pharmaceuticals, Starpharma, GlyTherix and InterK among others.

Collaborations

Nanomedicine and radiopharmaceutical development are inherently multidisciplinary fields requiring strong teamwork and collaborations between researchers in disparate fields. Dr Fletcher’s own strengths in radiobiology, radiochemistry, preclinical therapeutic and molecular imaging approaches meshes well with that of his collaborators across Australia and internationally. Within Australia I work closely with multiple teams, particularly focused on nanomedicines including Dr Nathan Boase (QUT), Prof Maria Kavallaris (UNSW), Dr Angus Johnston, Prof Nico Volker and Dr Kristian Kempe (Monash). Internationally I have forged strong ties with key researchers including Prof Cameron Alexander (Nottingham University) and Prof Jason Lewis (Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre)

Funding

Dr Fletcher is an emerging MCR academic and has secured >AU$1.2M in competitive grant funding as CI in the past 5 years, comprising his own 2023 Advance Queensland Industry Research Fellowship and an ARC Linkage Grant. These research programs are all aligned with his research focus on nanomedicines, radiopharmaceuticals and radiobiology and serve to further cement his historical successes in growing his own research program and team.

Key Publications

Pre-targeting of polymeric nanomaterials to balance tumour accumulation and clearance FLETCHER, N.* L.;…. Thurecht*, K. J.,. CHEMICAL COMMUNICATIONS 2022, 58 (57), 7912-7915

Modulating Macrophage Clearance of Nanoparticles: Comparison of Small-Molecule and Biologic Drugs as Pharmacokinetic Modifiers of Soft Nanomaterials Mills, J. A.; Humphries, J.; Simpson, J. D.; Sonderegger, S. E.; Thurecht*, K. J.; FLETCHER, N.* L.,. Molecular PHARMACEUTICS 2022 10 (12), 3029-3053

Designed multifunctional polymeric nanomedicines: long-term biodistribution and tumour accumulation of aptamer-targeted nanomaterials FLETCHER, N.; Houston, Z.; Simpson, J.; Veedu, R.; Thurecht, K.,. CHEMICAL COMMUNICATIONS 2018, 54 (82), 11538-11541.

Confinement of therapeutic enzymes in selectively permeable polymer vesicles by polymerization-induced self-assembly (PISA) reduces antibody binding and proteolytic susceptibility Blackman, L. D.;… FLETCHER, N. L.; Thurecht, K. J.;… O’Reilly, R. K., ACS CENTRAL SCIENCE 2018, 4 (6), 718-723.

Targeted Hyperbranched Nanoparticles for Delivery of Doxorubicin in Breast Cancer Brain Metastasis Lim, M.^; FLETCHER, N.^; Saunus, J.; Reed, A.; Chittoory, H.; Simpson, P.; Thurecht, K.; Lakhani, S., MOLECULAR PHARMACEUTICS 2023, 20 (12), 6168-6183

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