Rate My Professor Ben Dwyer

Dr Ben Dwyer serves as Senior Research Fellow in the Curtin Medical Research Institute and Curtin Medical School at Curtin University. He leads the Patient-Derived Organoid Platform, directs the Western Australian Organoid Innovation Hub, and heads the Liver Cancer Collaborative Patient-Derived Organoid Platform. His research centers on patient-derived organoid models to investigate liver pathophysiology, including liver cancer such as cholangiocarcinoma and hepatocellular carcinoma, macrophage biology, and chronic liver disease. Dwyer develops precision bio-printed organoids and tumour organoids from patient samples, enabling the simulation of cancer growth, immune interactions, and drug responses in vitro. This approach facilitates screening for therapeutic targets, optimization of treatments, and personalized predictions of therapy efficacy, addressing the poor prognosis of liver cancer where five-year survival stands at 23 percent due to late-stage diagnosis and limited surgical options.

In recognition of his contributions, Dwyer received the WA Near-Miss Awards Emerging Leaders 2025-26 Fellowship, one of two top mid-career researchers in Western Australia, with funding approaching $1 million to advance organoid-based liver cancer research. This follows a $500,000 award from the Future Health Research and Innovation Fund's Enabling Scheme in 2024 to establish the Organoid Innovation Hub at Curtin MRI. His work has garnered over 2,400 citations according to Google Scholar. Notable publications include 'TWEAK/Fn14 signalling promotes cholangiocarcinoma niche formation and progression' (Journal of Hepatology, 2021), 'Patient-derived organoid models to decode liver pathophysiology' (Trends in Endocrinology & Metabolism, 2025), 'TWEAK and LTβ Signaling during Chronic Liver Disease' (Frontiers in Immunology, 2014), 'Divergent Inflammatory, Fibrogenic, and Liver Progenitor Cell Dynamics in Two Common Mouse Models of Chronic Liver Injury' (American Journal of Pathology, 2016), and 'The intrahepatic signalling niche of hedgehog is defined by primary cilia positive cells during chronic liver injury' (Journal of Hepatology, 2014). Dwyer contributes to educational efforts, including the EuroStemCell factsheet on chronic liver disease and regenerative medicine potential, and supervises PhD students in translational cancer research.