Newsletter

Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

www.med.monash.edu.au/biochem

Issue 4: August 2010

NEWS AND EVENTS

Associate Professor Kate Loveland has been awarded the 2010 Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Postgraduate Supervision. The announcement was made at the Research Awards Celebration Dinner as part of the Research Matters annual events. The award recognises excellence in postgraduate supervision in relation to teaching, mentoring, leadership as well as research track record. The award consists of a medallion, a permanent citation on the Records and Archives website, and a grant to benefit her postgraduate supervisory activities.

Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Postgraduate Supervision

Associate Professor Kate Loveland

Seminars

Date: 4pm, Wednesday, 15 September

Speaker: Leann Tilley

Institute: La Trobe University

Title: Light, X-Rays or Electrons for High Resolution Imaging of the Falciparum Malaria Parasite?

Venue: M2, Building 13A

Date: 4pm, Wednesday, 22 September

Speaker: Sharon Tooze

Institute: Cancer Research UK; London Research Institute

Title: Molecular Insights into Autophagy

Venue: M2, Building 13A

Date: 4pm, Wednesday, 23 September

Speaker: Naoko Imamoto

Institute: RIKEN Brain Science Institute

Title: Nucleocytoplasmic Transport Machinery: Relation with Cell Cycle and Stress Response

Venue: M3, Building 13A

Biochem Footy Tipping Competition

Leader Board as it stands after 20 rounds:

Name Alias Score

Craig Don Paul Darkness 106

Natasha Ng NatNatNat 106

Andy Welland Wellanda 105

Alex Rizzitelli dcgirl38 101

Steve Scally sscally 101

Winter Wonderland Movie Night

On Wednesday 4th of August NOTDRS hosted the Winter Wonderland Movie Night. Students and staff alike socialized over drinks and nibbles, while the Academy Award winning documentary “March of the Penguins” played in the background. Later in the evening pizza arrived, and while some continued to mingle, others chose to watch “Happy Feet”, the feature film of the night. The movie night was a great success, and some members of the audience had a certain spring in their step on their way out, just like Mumble the dancing Emperor Penguin. We hope to have an even larger turnout at lawn bowls, our next major event to be held on the 24th of September.

Natalie Rynkiewicz, NOTDRS Committee

Events

Beer ClubDate: 4pm, Friday, 3 September Venue: Level 1R of building 76/77

Lawn BowlsDate: Friday, 24 September Venue: South Oakleigh Bowls ClubPlease contact natalie.rynkiewicz@monash.edu for more details

Please visit the NOTDRS website: http://www.med.monash.edu.au/biochem/student-society.html

NOTDRS (Necessary Outlets for Tertiary Doctoral Research Students)

Page 2Newsletter: August 2010, Issue 4 Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

TALKING LEISURE

Stephanie Kondos (Whisstock Lab)

Scientific research can be mentally exhausting, not to mention a strain on your posture. So rather than going to the gym to keep fit, maintain a good posture or unwind, I use dancing as a recreational release. Not to be confused with the various styles featured on ‘Dancing with the Stars’, I learn two styles under the “Street Latin” umbrella. The more notable of the two is Salsa, which is a style that originated from Cuba and is generally a lively and fast-paced dance with a variety of complex turn patterns. On the other hand, the relatively unknown Zouk-Lambada is a contemporary, smoother and slower version of Lambada – a Brazilian style of dance that was popular in the 1990’s. Originally danced to Zouk music, typical of the French speaking Caribbean Islands, today Zouk-Lambada is also danced to R&B, Latin pop and Arabic music mixed with a Zouk beat. The variety of music Zouk can be danced to, allows for the freedom to use moves from all types of dance including Salsa, Swing and Tango. This also provides for the opportunity to improvise and bring in your own compilation of unique movements – making it a personalised and fun hobby. Learning Salsa and Zouk has also led to opportunities to compete and perform in local and interstate events. Overall, I encourage anyone with a passion for dance, to try Zouk or Salsa, if they’re looking for something which adds a bit of spice to mainstream traditional dance.

For further Biochemisty news,

please visit our website:

www.med.monash.edu.au/biochem

POSTGRADUATE MATTERS

PhD Graduates

Christine HauserThesis: Characterisation of cell cycle functions of the protein tyrosine phosphatase TCPTP.Supervisor: Professor Tony Tiganis

Upcoming Events

PhD Oration Program (POP) for finishing PhD students

Date: Friday, 10th September, 4pm-5pm Speaker: Allyson CroxfordVenue: Lecture Theatre M2, Building 13A

The next round of scholarship applications will close on October 31, 2010.

All queries on postgraduate matters, please contact Professor Mibel Aguilar.

The 2010 Annual Postgraduate Research Conference for the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology will be held on the 11th and 12th of November.

The Conference provides a platform for all PhD students to present their work to the department. The conference will consist of seminar presentations given by third year PhD students, a poster session for all interested PhD students (November 11) and a trade display (November 12). There will also be plenty of entertainment, delicious food, and fantastic prizes for the best presentations and posters.

The conference is always a lot of fun, so please join us in supporting our department and all our fabulous PhD students!

If you are interested in presenting a poster, please send your abstracts (300 words or less) to Natalie (natalie.rynkiewicz@monash.edu) or Brendan (brendan.wilding@monash.edu) by the 24th of September.

Postgraduate Research Conference

Department of Biochemistry and Molecular BiologyDepartment of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

SPOTLIGHT ON:Dr Kylie Wagstaff

Background

After completing a Bachelor of Biomedical Science Degree here at Monash University I undertook an Honours year in the newly formed Nuclear Signaling Laboratory under the supervision of Prof. David Jans and continued on with the same project into my Ph.D. During this time I was interested in investigating ways to improve the delivery efficiency of non-viral gene therapy vectors by harnessing the cellular nuclear transport machinery. I focused on the development of a novel gene delivery system based on engineered histone proteins and during this time I also spent ~6 months at the John Curtin School of Medical Research at ANU in Canberra under the guidance of A/Prof. David Tremethick. Due to their normal cellular role of packing DNA into the nucleus, histones offer many advantages for gene delivery. In our system, the histones not only bind to and compact the DNA, protecting it from damage, but they also mediate cellular entry of the DNA through non-endocytotic means and through the addition of optimized nuclear localization signals, they target the DNA directly to the nucleus. This results in levels of gene delivery well above that of standard commercial delivery systems. After completing my PhD in 2007 I have continued on in the Jans’ lab, expanding my research group and broadening our interests in exciting new areas.

Projects

Since beginning life as a research fellow I have moved into several new but interrelated fields of research. All of our projects revolve around transport between the nucleus and the cytoplasm, including how this process operates and is regulated, but extends into examining how we can harness this cellular machinery for our own biotechnology applications.

In this context, we have continued on in the gene therapy area, expanding the histone-based delivery system so that it can incorporate additional trafficking signals/modules, which will enable the system to be used to reprogram somatic cells into induced pluripotent stem cells.

In this context we are currently developing (in collaboration with Dr. Helmut Thissen at the CSIRO) a novel transfected-cell microarray platform to enable us to examine/test multitudes of gene delivery vectors at the same time for gene delivery and cell entry efficacy.

Nuclear protein import is central to numerous human diseases, including viral disease, such as that caused by HIV and Dengue virus, where nuclear

import of viral proteins is critical to the viral life cycle; as well as in cancer, where the process of tumourigenesis relies on the nucleo-cytoplasmic transport of numerous transcription factors. Given the huge burden of disease caused by these conditions worldwide, viral/oncogenic protein nuclear import is an attractive target for therapeutic intervention. To this end we are developing a high-throughput screening process aimed at identifying inhibitors of specific viral protein-host protein interactions, particularly those involved with nuclear import. Pilot studies have so far proved extremely successful, identifying several potent and specific inhibitors of nuclear import of proteins from HIV and Dengue virus, as well as general nuclear import inhibitors, which

are interesting in their own right as research tools. These lead compounds are being further developed/improved in collaboration with our biotech partners Karyopharm (Boston, MA) and PerkinElmer R&D (Montreal, Canada).

Finally, despite the heavy biotechnology focus of the group, we are also interested in the basic biology of nuclear import and its regulation, as well as the critical role it plays in processes such as development. To this end, we are examining a novel member of the import family of nuclear transport receptors, Imp13, which is able to mediate nuclear transport in both the import and export directions. We are investigating how one protein can perform both roles in regulated fashion and how this relates to a novel truncated form of Imp13 found only in the testis. In similar fashion, we are also investigating a novel class of proteins that negatively regulate the nuclear transport of other proteins, whereby we are trying to understand both their mechanism of action and the fundamental role this may play in development.

Aside from these key areas, we have several mini-projects and collaborations on the go in the fields of nuclear transport and platform development and are always keen to expand our fields of expertise and discuss new and exciting projects.

The Research Team

Research assistant: Rebecca Davies PhD student: Michael Nastasie Visiting PhD Student: Alejandra Limeta

Dr Kylie Wagstaff

Newsletter: August 2010, Issue 4 Page 3

Page 4Department of Biochemistry and Molecular BiologyNewsletter: August 2010, Issue 4

PAPERS PUBLISHED IN JULY 2010

No Publications

1Du, A.T., Onan, D., Dinh, D.T., Lew, M.J., Ziogas, J., Aguilar, M.I., Pattenden, L.K., and Thomas, W.G., Ligand supported purification of the Urotensin-II receptor. Mol Pharmacol 2010. E-pub Category: Pharmacology & Pharmacy Impact Factor: 4.531 Ranking: 28/236 [BCH]

2

Crellin, P.K., Vivian, J.P., Scoble, J., Chow, F.M., West, N.P., Brammananth, R., Proellocks, N.I., Shahine, A., Le Nours, J., Wilce, M.C., Britton, W.J., Coppel, R.L., Rossjohn, J., and Beddoe, T., Tetrahydrolipstatin inhibition, functional analyses and three dimensional structure of a lipase essential for mycobacterial viability. J Biol Chem 2010. E-pub Category: Biochemistry & Molecular Biology Impact Factor: 5.328 Ranking: 48/283 [BCH,MICRO]

3Croxford, A.M., Crombie, D., McNaughton, D., Holmdahl, R., Nandakumar, K., and Rowley, M.J., Specific antibody protection of the extracellular cartilage matrix against collagen antibody-induced damage. Arthritis Rheum 2010. E-pub Category: Rheumatology Impact Factor: 7.332 Ranking: 2/26 [BCH]

4Fernandes, S., Dringen, R., Lawen, A., and Robinson, S.R., Neurones express glutamine synthetase when deprived of glutamine or interaction with astrocytes. J Neurochem 2010. 114(5): p. 1527-1536 Category: Biochemistry & Molecular Biology Impact Factor: 3.999 Ranking: 73/283 [BCH]

5Foo, J.H., Culvenor, J.G., Ferrero, R.L., Kwok, T., Lithgow, T., and Gabriel, K., Both the p33 and p55 subunits of the Helicobacter pylori vacuolating cytotoxin VacA are targeted to mammalian mitochondria. J Mol Biol 2010. E-pub Category: Biochemistry & Molecular Biology Impact Factor: 3.871 Ranking 81/283 [BCH]

6Friedman, L., The history of the Australian Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. IUBMB Life 2010. 62(7): p. 486-491 Category: Biochemistry & Molecular Biology Impact Factor: 3.578 Ranking: 89/293 [BCH]

7Gras, S., Chen, Z., Miles, J.J., Liu, Y.C., Bell, M.J., Sullivan, L.C., Kjer-Nielsen, L., Brennan, R.M., Burrows, J.M., Neller, M.A., Khanna, R., Pur-cell, A.W., Brooks, A.G., McCluskey, J., Rossjohn, J., and Burrows, S.R., Allelic polymorphism in the T cell receptor and its impact on immune responses. J Exp Med 2010. 207(7): p. 1555-67 Category: Immunology Impact Factor: 14.505 Ranking: 5/128 [BCH]

8Gras, S., Kedzierski, L., Valkenburg, S.A., Laurie, K., Liu, Y.C., Denholm, J.T., Richards, M.J., Rimmelzwaan, G.F., Kelso, A., Doherty, P.C., Turner, S.J., Rossjohn, J., and Kedzierska, K., Cross-reactive CD8+ T-cell immunity between the pandemic H1N1-2009 and H1N1-1918 influenza A viruses. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2010. 107(28): p. 12599-604 Category: Multidisciplinary Sciences Impact Factor: 9.432 Ranking: 3/48 [BCH]

9Heffernan, C., Whiley, P.A., Milionis, A., Verma, P.J., Holland, M.K., Jans, D.A., and D’Cruz, N.T., Lineage-specific expression of heterochromatin protein 1gamma in post-compaction, in vitro-produced bovine embryos. Reprod Fertil Dev 2010. 22(6): p. 1022-31 Category: Developmental Biology Impact Factor: 2.379 Ranking: 21/35 [BCH]

10Hewitt, V., Alcock, F., and Lithgow, T., REVIEW: Minor modifications and major adaptations: The evolution of molecular machines driving mitochondrial protein import. Biochim Biophys Acta 2010. E-pub Category: Biochemistry & Molecular Biology Impact Factor: 3.998 Ranking: 74/283 [BCH]

11Hewitt, C.A., Ling, K.H., Merson, T.D., Simpson, K.M., Ritchie, M.E., King, S.L., Pritchard, M.A., Smyth, G.K., Thomas, T., Scott, H.S., and Voss, A.K., Gene network disruptions and neurogenesis defects in the adult Ts1Cje mouse model of Down syndrome. PLoS One 2010. 5(7): p. e11561.1-15 Category: Biology Impact Factor: 4.351 Ranking: 9/73 [BCH]

12Hutton, M.L., Kaparakis-Liaskos, M., Turner, L., Cardona, A., Kwok, T., and Ferrero, R.L., Helicobacter pylori exploits cholesterol-rich microdomains for induction of NF-{kappa}B-dependent responses and peptidoglycan delivery in epithelial cells. Infect Immun 2010. E-pub Catetory: Immunology Impact Factor: 4.205 Ranking: 27/128 [MICRO,BCH]

13Mijaljica, D., Prescott, M., and Devenish, R.J., Mitophagy and mitoptosis in disease processes, in Methods Mol Biol, P Bross & N Gregersen, Editor. 2010, Humana Press: UK. p. 93-106. Book Chapter [BCH]

14Mijaljica, D., Prescott, M., and Devenish, R.J., Autophagy in disease, in Methods Mol Biol, P Bross & N Gregersen, Editor. 2010, Humana Press: uk. p. 79-92. Book Chapter [BCH]

15Robertson, A.L. and Bottomley, S.P., Towards the Treatment of Polyglutamine Diseases: The Modulatory Role of Protein Context. Curr Med Chem 2010. 17(27): p. 3058-3068 Category: Biochemistry & Molecular Biology Impact Factor: 4.708 Ranking: 59/283 [BCH]

16Tye-Din, J.A., Stewart, J.A., Dromey, J.A., Beissbarth, T., van Heel, D.A., Tatham, A., Henderson, K., Mannering, S.I., Gianfrani, C., Jewell, D.P., Hill, A.V., McCluskey, J., Rossjohn, J., and Anderson, R.P., Comprehensive, quantitative mapping of T cell epitopes in gluten in celiac disease. Sci Transl Med 2010. 2(41): p. 41ra51 [BCH]

17Webb, C.T. and Lithgow, T., DISPATCHES: Mitochondrial biogenesis: sorting mechanisms cooperate in ABC transporter assembly. Curr Biol 2010. 20(13): p. R564-R567 Category: Biochemistry & Molecular Biology Impact Factor: 10.992 Ranking: 15/283 [BCH]

18Zhang, Y., Schyvens, C.G., Cole, T.J., McKenzie, K.U., Vickers, J.J., and Whitworth, J.A., The glucocorticoid receptor is required for experimental ACTH-induced hypertension in mice. Clin Exp Pharmacol Physiol 2010. E-pub Category: Pharmacology & Pharmacy Impact Factor: 1.936 Ranking: 143/236 [BCH]

Department of Biochemisty: First Aiders and Floor Wardens

Floor/Building First Aiders Floor Wardens

G/F

Building 76

Alex Theodossis Irene Hatzinisiriou Alex Theodossis Irene Hatzinisiriou

Nicole Pendini Fasseli Coulibaly Margaret Bills Simone Beckham

1/F

Building 77

Christina Mitchell David Sheffield Leon Caly Mary Vail

Reena Ghildyal Guillaume Morin Kylie Wagstaff Lisa Ooms

2/F

Building 77

Elaine Pearson Monica Prakash Elaine Pearson Sheena McGowan

Iresha Hanchapola Josie Lawrence Cathy Bird Lakshmi Wijeyewickrema

Page 5Department of Biochemistry and Molecular BiologyNewsletter: August 2010, Issue 4

Department of Biochemisty: List of First Aiders and Floor Wardens

Floor/Building First Aiders Floor Wardens

G/F

Building 13B

Samara Bennett Minh Pho Steven Clavant Minh Pho

1/F

Building 13B

John Price Ekta Rawal

1/F

Building 13D

John Price John Price Benjamin Lang

2/F

Building 13D

Gavin Higgins Lan Gong Gavin Higgins Craig Don Paul

Xuelei Li Dalibor Mijaljica

3/F

Building 13D

Julie Hickey Sue Connell

Page 6Newsletter: August 2010, Issue 4 Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Department of Biochemisty: List of First Aiders and Floor Wardens

Floor/Building First Aiders Floor Wardens

G/F

Building 13A

Teaching Lab

Oanh Ho Lina D’Agruma Oanh Ho

1/F

Building 16

Noelene Quinsey Danuta Maksel Noelene Quinsey Nikolaos Sotirellis

QUICK OVERVIEW OF WHAT TO DO WHEN AN EMERGENCY ARISES:

1. Remain CALM…

2. Yell out for a First Aider (don’t go looking for one yourself, get someone else to go looking)

3. First Aiders: Read MSDS before treating any chemical injury

4. First Aiders: Call Med Centre if necessary ext. 53175

5. First Aiders: Call the Safety Officer and/or Safety Representative as soon as possible

Page 7Newsletter: August 2010, Issue 4 Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

NEW MEMBERS OF STAFF - JULY AND AUGUST

Lab Head New Staff Name Position

Georg Ramm Benjamin Padman Research Assistant

Melanie Pritchard Alicia Corlett Research Fellow

Steve Bottomley Anja Knaupp Research Assistant

Jackie Wilce Henry Kim Research Assistant

Ian Smith Oded Kleifeld Research Fellow

Ana Traven Yue Qu Research Fellow

CONTACT US:

Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Monash University, Ground Floor, Building 77, Wellington Road, Clayton, VIC 3800, Australia

Website: www.med.monash.edu.au/biochem

Tel: +61 3 990 29400 Fax: +61 3 990 29500

Content: Yvonne Dooley Layout: Ico Ma