Professor Hilton is one of Australia's leading medical researchers. He has made seminal discoveries in the molecular regulation of blood cell development and pursued their translation into clinical studies by collaborations with industry. Following his discovery of Leukemia Inhibitory Factor (LIF), two phase II clinical studies were performed, one in cancer and one in reproductive biology. In the case of IL-13Ra1, antibodies have been licensed to Merck for evaluation in inflammatory disease. Hilton is a founder of Murigen Pty Ltd, has consulted to the biopharmaceutical industry and led the successful CRC for Cellular Growth Factors.