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
2011
Journal Article
Crystallization and preliminary X-ray analysis of the N-terminal domain of human thioredoxin-interacting protein
Polekhina, Galina, Ascher, David Benjamin, Kok, Shie Foong and Waltham, Mark (2011). Crystallization and preliminary X-ray analysis of the N-terminal domain of human thioredoxin-interacting protein. Acta Crystallographica. Section F: Structural Biology Communications, 67 (Pt 5), 613-617. doi: 10.1107/S1744309111010347
2011
Journal Article
Regulation of insulin-regulated membrane aminopeptidase activity by its C-terminal domain
Ascher, David B, Cromer, Brett A, Morton, Craig J, Volitakis, Irene, Cherny, Robert A, Albiston, Anthony L, Chai, Siew Yeen and Parker, Michael W (2011). Regulation of insulin-regulated membrane aminopeptidase activity by its C-terminal domain. Biochemistry, 50 (13), 2611-22. doi: 10.1021/bi101893w
2008
Journal Article
Development of cognitive enhancers based on inhibition of insulin-regulated aminopeptidase
Chai, Siew Yeen, Yeatman, Holly R., Parker, Michael W., Ascher, David B., Thompson, Philip E., Mulvey, Hayley T. and Albiston, Anthony L. (2008). Development of cognitive enhancers based on inhibition of insulin-regulated aminopeptidase. BMC Neuroscience, 9 Suppl 2 (Supplement 2) S14. doi: 10.1186/1471-2202-9-S2-S14
2008
Journal Article
Identification and characterization of a new cognitive enhancer based on inhibition of insulin-regulated aminopeptidase
Albiston, Anthony L, Morton, Craig J, Ng, Hooi Ling, Pham, Vi, Yeatman, Holly R, Ye, Siying, Fernando, Ruani N, De Bundel, Dimitri, Ascher, David B, Mendelsohn, Frederick A O, Parker, Michael W and Chai, Siew Yeen (2008). Identification and characterization of a new cognitive enhancer based on inhibition of insulin-regulated aminopeptidase. FASEB Journal, 22 (12), 4209-17. doi: 10.1096/fj.08-112227
2008
Journal Article
Identification of modulating residues defining the catalytic cleft of insulin-regulated aminopeptidase
Ye, Siying, Chai, Siew Yeen, Lew, Rebecca A, Ascher, David B, Morton, Craig J, Parker, Michael W and Albiston, Anthony L (2008). Identification of modulating residues defining the catalytic cleft of insulin-regulated aminopeptidase. Biochemistry and Cell Biology, 86 (3), 251-61. doi: 10.1139/o08-037
Supervision
Availability
- Professor David Ascher is:
- Available for supervision
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Supervision history
Current supervision
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Doctor Philosophy
Exploring Cardiotoxicity Risk Factors
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Thanh-Binh Nguyen
-
Doctor Philosophy
Protein structure guided precision medicine
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Phil Hugenholtz, Dr Stephanie Portelli
-
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
Towards the accurate functional characterisation of protein coding mutations
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Stephanie Portelli, Dr Thanh-Binh Nguyen
-
Doctor Philosophy
Exploring Cardiotoxicity Risk Factors
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: 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
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Doctor Philosophy
Machine Learning for Protein Dynamics: Predicting Post-Translational Modifications and Mutation Effects
Principal Advisor
-
Doctor Philosophy
Post-transcriptional gene regulation: towards a better understanding of pathogenesis and medical applications
Principal Advisor
-
Doctor Philosophy
Using Deep Learning in Cell & Gene Therapy
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Stephanie Portelli
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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
Computer-aided drug design: predicting and mitigating drug toxicity
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Stephanie Portelli
-
Doctor Philosophy
Computational approaches to engineer and modulate G protein-coupled receptors
Principal Advisor
-
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
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
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Doctor Philosophy
Therapeutic Resolution of Inflammation in the Central Nervous System for Neuroprotection in Parkinson's Disease
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Avril Robertson
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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
Computational design of targeted lipid technologies
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: 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
Completed supervision
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2025
Doctor Philosophy
Computational approaches to engineer and modulate G protein-coupled receptors
Principal Advisor
Media
Enquiries
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