Overview
Background
Prof David Ascher is currently an NHMRC Investigator, immediate past Director of the Biotechnology Program, and Deputy Associate Dean (Research Partnerships) in the Faculty of Science at the University of Queensland. He is also Head of Computational Biology and Clinical Informatics at the Baker Institute.
David’s research focus is in modelling biological data to gain insight into fundamental biological processes. One of his primary research interests has been developing tools to unravel the link between genotype and phenotype, using computational and experimental approaches to understand the effects of mutations on protein structure and function. His group has developed a platform of over 40 widely used programs for assessing the molecular consequences of coding variants (>7 million hits/year).
Working with clinical collaborators in Australia, Brazil and UK, these methods have been translated into the clinic to guide the diagnosis, management and treatment of a number of hereditary diseases, rare cancers and drug resistant infections.
David has a B.Biotech from the University of Adelaide, majoring in Biochemistry, Biotechnology and Pharmacology and Toxicology; and a B.Sci(Hon) from the University of Queensland, majoring in Biochemistry, where he worked with Luke Guddat and Ron Duggleby on the structural and functional characterization of enzymes in the branched-chain amino acid biosynthetic pathway. David then went to St Vincent’s Institute of Medical Research to undertake a PhD at the University of Melbourne in Biochemistry. There he worked under the supervision of Michael Parker using computational, biochemical and structural tools to develop small molecules drugs to improve memory.
In 2013 David went to the University of Cambridge to work with Sir Tom Blundell on using fragment based drug development techniques to target protein-protein interactions; and subsequently on the structural characterisation of proteins involved in non-homologous DNA repair. He returned to Cambridge in 2014 to establish a research platform to characterise the molecular effects of mutations on protein structure and function- using this information to gain insight into the link between genetic changes and phenotypes. He was subsequently recruited as a lab head in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of Melbourne in 2016, before joining the Baker Institute in 2019 and the University of Queensland in 2021.
He is an Associate Editor of PBMB and Fronteirs in Bioinformatics, and holds honorary positions at Bio21 Institute, Cambridge University, FIOCRUZ, and the Tuscany University Network.
Availability
- Professor David Ascher is:
- Available for supervision
- Media expert
Fields of research
Research impacts
We have successfully translated our computational tools into the clinic and industry, including:
- Clinical detection of drug resistance from whole-genome sequencing of pathogens, including Tuburculosis and Leprosy
- Genetic counselling for rare diseases and cancers with Addenbrooke's Hospital and Brazilian Ministry of Health
- Patient stratification within clinical trials
- Implementation within industry drug and biologics development programs
The tools we have developed have also been widely adopted within existing academic programs including:
- Integration of intermolecular interaction calculations using our tool Arpeggio in the PDBe, the European resource for the collection, organisation and dissemination of data on biological macromolecular structures.
- Integration of our missense tolerance scores within the widely used VEP tool for variant characterisation.
- Implementation of our resistance prediction tools within the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine's TB-Profiler tool.
Works
Search Professor David Ascher’s works on UQ eSpace
2019
Journal Article
Large expert-curated database for benchmarking document similarity detection in biomedical literature search
Brown, Peter, Tan, Aik-Choon, El-Esawi, Mohamed A., Liehr, Thomas, Blanck, Oliver, Gladue, Douglas P., Almeida, Gabriel M. F., Cernava, Tomislav, Sorzano, Carlos O., Yeung, Andy W. K., Engel, Michael S., Chandrasekaran, Arun Richard, Muth, Thilo, Staege, Martin S., Daulatabad, Swapna V., Widera, Darius, Zhang, Junpeng, Meule, Adrian, Honjo, Ken, Pourret, Olivier, Yin, Cong-Cong, Zhang, Zhongheng, Cascella, Marco, Flegel, Willy A., Goodyear, Carl S., van Raaij, Mark J., Bukowy-Bieryllo, Zuzanna, Campana, Luca G., Kurniawan, Nicholas A. ... RELISH Consortium (2019). Large expert-curated database for benchmarking document similarity detection in biomedical literature search. Database-The Journal of Biological Databases and Curation, 2019 baz085, 1-67. doi: 10.1093/database/baz085
2019
Journal Article
Nedd8 hydrolysis by UCH proteases in Plasmodium parasites
Karpiyevich, Maryia, Adjalley, Sophie, Mol, Marco, Ascher, David B., Mason, Bethany, van der Heden van Noort, Gerbrand J., Laman, Heike, Ovaa, Huib, Lee, Marcus C. S. and Artavanis-Tsakonas, Katerina (2019). Nedd8 hydrolysis by UCH proteases in Plasmodium parasites. PLoS Pathogens, 15 (10), e1008086. doi: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1008086
2019
Journal Article
ProCarbDB: a database of carbohydrate-binding proteins
Copoiu, Liviu, Torres, Pedro H M, Ascher, David B, Blundell, Tom L and Malhotra, Sony (2019). ProCarbDB: a database of carbohydrate-binding proteins. Nucleic Acids Research, 48 (D1), D368-D375. doi: 10.1093/nar/gkz860
2019
Journal Article
A family of dual-activity glycosyltransferase-phosphorylases mediates mannogen turnover and virulence in Leishmania parasites
Sernee, M. Fleur, Ralton, Julie E., Nero, Tracy L., Sobala, Lukasz F., Kloehn, Joachim, Vieira-Lara, Marcel A., Cobbold, Simon A., Stanton, Lauren, Pires, Douglas E. V., Hanssen, Eric, Males, Alexandra, Ward, Tom, Bastidas, Laurence M., van der Peet, Phillip L., Parker, Michael W., Ascher, David B., Williams, Spencer J., Davies, Gideon J. and McConville, Malcolm J. (2019). A family of dual-activity glycosyltransferase-phosphorylases mediates mannogen turnover and virulence in Leishmania parasites. Cell Host and Microbe, 26 (3), 385-399.e9. doi: 10.1016/j.chom.2019.08.009
2019
Journal Article
Synthesis and structure-activity relationship of 1-(5-isoquinolinesulfonyl)piperazine analogues as inhibitors of Mycobacterium tuberculosis IMPDH
Singh, Vinayak, Pacitto, Angela, Donini, Stefano, Ferraris, Davide M, Boros, Sándor, Illyés, Eszter, Szokol, Bálint, Rizzi, Menico, Blundell, Tom L, Ascher, David B, Pato, Janos and Mizrahi, Valerie (2019). Synthesis and structure-activity relationship of 1-(5-isoquinolinesulfonyl)piperazine analogues as inhibitors of Mycobacterium tuberculosis IMPDH. European Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, 174, 309-329. doi: 10.1016/j.ejmech.2019.04.027
2019
Journal Article
mCSM-PPI2: predicting the effects of mutations on protein–protein interactions
Rodrigues, Carlos H. M., Myung, Yoochan, Pires, Douglas E. V. and Ascher, David B. (2019). mCSM-PPI2: predicting the effects of mutations on protein–protein interactions. Nucleic Acids Research, 47 (W1), W338-W344. doi: 10.1093/nar/gkz383
2019
Journal Article
MTR-Viewer: identifying regions within genes under purifying selection
Silk, Michael, Petrovski, Slavé and Ascher, David B (2019). MTR-Viewer: identifying regions within genes under purifying selection. Nucleic Acids Research, 47 (W1), W121-W126. doi: 10.1093/nar/gkz457
2019
Journal Article
Homogentisate 1,2-dioxygenase (HGD) gene variants, their analysis and genotype-phenotype correlations in the largest cohort of patients with AKU
Ascher, David B, Spiga, Ottavia, Sekelska, Martina, Pires, Douglas E V, Bernini, Andrea, Tiezzi, Monica, Kralovicova, Jana, Borovska, Ivana, Soltysova, Andrea, Olsson, Birgitta, Galderisi, Silvia, Cicaloni, Vittoria, Ranganath, Lakshminarayan, Santucci, Annalisa and Zatkova, Andrea (2019). Homogentisate 1,2-dioxygenase (HGD) gene variants, their analysis and genotype-phenotype correlations in the largest cohort of patients with AKU. European Journal of Human Genetics : EJHG, 27 (6), 888-902. doi: 10.1038/s41431-019-0354-0
2019
Journal Article
Empirical ways to identify novel Bedaquiline resistance mutations in AtpE
Karmakar, Malancha, Rodrigues, Carlos H M, Holt, Kathryn E, Dunstan, Sarah J, Denholm, Justin and Ascher, David B (2019). Empirical ways to identify novel Bedaquiline resistance mutations in AtpE. PloS one, 14 (5) e0217169, e0217169. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0217169
2019
Journal Article
Human LC3 and GABARAP subfamily members achieve functional specificity via specific structural modulations
Jatana, Nidhi, Ascher, David B., Pires, Douglas E.V., Gokhale, Rajesh S. and Thukral, Lipi (2019). Human LC3 and GABARAP subfamily members achieve functional specificity via specific structural modulations. Autophagy, 16 (2), 239-255. doi: 10.1080/15548627.2019.1606636
2019
Journal Article
A 30 kDa polyethylene glycol-enfuvirtide complex enhances the exposure of enfuvirtide in lymphatic viral reservoirs in rats
Kaminskas, Lisa M., Williams, Charlotte C., Leong, Nathania J., Chan, Linda J., Butcher, Neville J., Feeney, Orlagh M., Porter, Christopher J.H., Tyssen, David, Tachedjian, Gilda and Ascher, David B. (2019). A 30 kDa polyethylene glycol-enfuvirtide complex enhances the exposure of enfuvirtide in lymphatic viral reservoirs in rats. European Journal of Pharmaceutics and Biopharmaceutics, 137, 218-226. doi: 10.1016/j.ejpb.2019.03.008
2019
Book Chapter
Exploring protein supersecondary structure through changes in protein folding, stability, and flexibility
Pires, Douglas E. V., Rodrigues, Carlos H. M., Albanaz, Amanda T. S., Karmakar, Malancha, Myung, Yoochan, Xavier, Joicymara, Michanetzi, Eleni-Maria, Portelli, Stephanie and Ascher, David B. (2019). Exploring protein supersecondary structure through changes in protein folding, stability, and flexibility. Protein Supersecondary Structures: Methods and Protocols. (pp. 173-185) edited by Alexander E. Kister. New York, NY, United States: Springer. doi: 10.1007/978-1-4939-9161-7_9
2018
Journal Article
Understanding molecular consequences of putative drug resistant mutations in Mycobacterium tuberculosis
Portelli, Stephanie, Phelan, Jody E., Ascher, David B., Clark, Taane G. and Furnham, Nicholas (2018). Understanding molecular consequences of putative drug resistant mutations in Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Scientific Reports, 8 (1) 15356. doi: 10.1038/s41598-018-33370-6
2018
Journal Article
Structural and biochemical insights into the function and evolution of sulfoquinovosidases
Abayakoon, Palika, Jin, Yi, Lingford, James P., Petricevic, Marija, John, Alan, Ryan, Eileen, Wai-Ying Mui, Janice, Pires, Douglas E.V., Ascher, David B., Davies, Gideon J., Goddard-Borger, Ethan D. and Williams, Spencer J. (2018). Structural and biochemical insights into the function and evolution of sulfoquinovosidases. ACS Central Science, 4 (9), 1266-1273. doi: 10.1021/acscentsci.8b00453
2018
Journal Article
Analysis of a novel pncA mutation for susceptibility to pyrazinamide therapy
Karmakar, Malancha, Globan, Maria, Fyfe, Janet A. M., Stinear, Timothy P., Johnson, Paul D. R., Holmes, Natasha E., Denholm, Justin T. and Ascher, David B. (2018). Analysis of a novel pncA mutation for susceptibility to pyrazinamide therapy. American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, 198 (4), 541-544. doi: 10.1164/rccm.201712-2572le
2018
Journal Article
Kinact: a computational approach for predicting activating missense mutations in protein kinases
Rodrigues, Carlos H.M., Ascher, David B. and Pires, Douglas E.V. (2018). Kinact: a computational approach for predicting activating missense mutations in protein kinases. Nucleic Acids Research, 46 (W1), W127-W132. doi: 10.1093/nar/gky375
2018
Journal Article
Tumour risks and genotype-phenotype correlations associated with germline variants in succinate dehydrogenase subunit genes , and
Andrews, Katrina A, Ascher, David B, Pires, Douglas Eduardo Valente, Barnes, Daniel R, Vialard, Lindsey, Casey, Ruth T, Bradshaw, Nicola, Adlard, Julian, Aylwin, Simon, Brennan, Paul, Brewer, Carole, Cole, Trevor, Cook, Jackie A, Davidson, Rosemarie, Donaldson, Alan, Fryer, Alan, Greenhalgh, Lynn, Hodgson, Shirley V, Irving, Richard, Lalloo, Fiona, McConachie, Michelle, McConnell, Vivienne P M, Morrison, Patrick J, Murday, Victoria, Park, Soo-Mi, Simpson, Helen L, Snape, Katie, Stewart, Susan, Tomkins, Susan E ... Maher, Eamonn R (2018). Tumour risks and genotype-phenotype correlations associated with germline variants in succinate dehydrogenase subunit genes , and . Journal of Medical Genetics, 55 (6), 384-394. doi: 10.1136/jmedgenet-2017-105127
2018
Journal Article
Frequent transmission of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis Beijing lineage and positive selection for the EsxW Beijing variant in Vietnam
Holt, Kathryn E, McAdam, Paul, Thai, Phan Vuong Khac, Thuong, Nguyen Thuy Thuong, Ha, Dang Thi Minh, Lan, Nguyen Ngoc, Lan, Nguyen Huu, Nhu, Nguyen Thi Quynh, Hai, Hoang Thanh, Ha, Vu Thi Ngoc, Thwaites, Guy, Edwards, David J, Nath, Artika P, Pham, Kym, Ascher, David B, Farrar, Jeremy, Khor, Chiea Chuen, Teo, Yik Ying, Inouye, Michael, Caws, Maxine and Dunstan, Sarah J (2018). Frequent transmission of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis Beijing lineage and positive selection for the EsxW Beijing variant in Vietnam. Nature Genetics, 50 (6), 849-856. doi: 10.1038/s41588-018-0117-9
2018
Journal Article
Relapsed acute lymphoblastic leukemia-specific mutations in NT5C2 cluster into hotspots driving intersubunit stimulation
Hnízda, Aleš, Fábry, Milan, Moriyama, Takaya, Pachl, Petr, Kugler, Michael, Brinsa, Vítězslav, Ascher, David B, Carroll, William L, Novák, Petr, Žaliová, Markéta, Trka, Jan, Řezáčová, Pavlína, Yang, Jun J and Veverka, Václav (2018). Relapsed acute lymphoblastic leukemia-specific mutations in NT5C2 cluster into hotspots driving intersubunit stimulation. Leukemia, 32 (6), 1393-1403. doi: 10.1038/s41375-018-0073-5
2018
Journal Article
DynaMut: predicting the impact of mutations on protein conformation, flexibility and stability
Rodrigues, Carlos H.M., Pires, Douglas E.V. and Ascher, David B. (2018). DynaMut: predicting the impact of mutations on protein conformation, flexibility and stability. Nucleic Acids Research, 46 (W1), W350-W355. doi: 10.1093/nar/gky300
Supervision
Availability
- Professor David Ascher is:
- Available for supervision
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Supervision history
Current supervision
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Doctor Philosophy
Computational approaches to engineer and modulate G protein-coupled receptors
Principal Advisor
-
Doctor Philosophy
Exploring Cardiotoxicity Risk Factors
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Thanh-Binh Nguyen
-
Doctor Philosophy
Developing structure-based deep learning methods to predict mutation effects on proteins
Principal Advisor
-
Doctor Philosophy
Exploring Cardiotoxicity Risk Factors
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Thanh-Binh Nguyen
-
Master Philosophy
Explore the dark spots in PDB
Principal Advisor
-
Doctor Philosophy
Post-transcriptional gene regulation: towards a better understanding of pathogenesis and medical applications
Principal Advisor
-
Doctor Philosophy
Exploring Cardiotoxicity Risk Factors
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Thanh-Binh Nguyen
-
Doctor Philosophy
Computational approaches to engineer and modulate G protein-coupled receptors
Principal Advisor
-
Doctor Philosophy
Personalising treatments for genetic diseases
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Stephanie Portelli
-
Doctor Philosophy
Deep Learning Algorithms for Polygenic Genotype-Phenotype Predictions and the development of genetics computation tools
Principal Advisor
-
Doctor Philosophy
Computer-aided drug design: predicting and mitigating drug toxicity
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Stephanie Portelli
-
Doctor Philosophy
Towards the accurate functional characterisation of protein coding mutations
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Stephanie Portelli, Dr Thanh-Binh Nguyen
-
Doctor Philosophy
Improving rational antibody design using machine learning
Principal Advisor
-
Doctor Philosophy
Harnessing AlphaFold and explainable AI to better characterise human missense variants and diseases
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Stephanie Portelli, Dr Thanh-Binh Nguyen
-
Doctor Philosophy
Machine Learning for Protein Dynamics: Predicting Post-Translational Modifications and Mutation Effects
Principal Advisor
-
Doctor Philosophy
Using Deep Learning in Cell & Gene Therapy
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Stephanie Portelli
-
Doctor Philosophy
Protein structure guided precision medicine
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Phil Hugenholtz, Dr Stephanie Portelli
-
Master Philosophy
Explore the dark spots in PDB
Principal Advisor
-
Doctor Philosophy
Rational protein engineering and inhibition
Principal Advisor
-
Doctor Philosophy
Post-transcriptional gene regulation: towards a better understanding of pathogenesis and medical applications
Principal Advisor
-
Doctor Philosophy
Unravelling the Physicochemical Drivers of Biomolecular Self-Assembly though Multiscale Simulations
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Evelyne Deplazes, Professor Megan O'Mara
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Doctor Philosophy
Breaking the chain of inflammation through targetting NLR proteins
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Avril Robertson
-
Doctor Philosophy
Therapeutic Resolution of Inflammation in the Central Nervous System for Neuroprotection in Parkinson's Disease
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Avril Robertson
-
Doctor Philosophy
Use of structural phylogeny and reconciliation in molecular phylogenetics
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Kate Bowerman, Professor Phil Hugenholtz
-
Doctor Philosophy
Therapeutic Resolution of Inflammation in the Central Nervous System for Neuroprotection in Parkinson's Disease
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Avril Robertson
-
Doctor Philosophy
Computational design of targeted lipid technologies
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Megan O'Mara
Completed supervision
-
2025
Doctor Philosophy
Computational approaches to engineer and modulate G protein-coupled receptors
Principal Advisor
Media
Enquiries
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