Faculty of Health, Medicine and Behavioural Sciences
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Prof Karen Moritz is internationally renowned for her work in understanding how early life perturbations contribute to an increased risk of developing cardiovascular, renal and metabolic disease in adulthood. Over the last 5-7 years, her research has focused on determining how prenatal alcohol can result in “developmental programming” of disease. Her research has identified critical windows of susceptibility to alcohol, including the period around conception and prior to implantation. In addition, her work has identified the placenta as playing a key role in the sex-specific offspring outcomes following maternal perturbations. Her research spans both preclinical and clinical domains, highlighted by her appointment as the Director of the Child Health Research Centre in 2016.
Current projects are:
Periconceptional alcohol exposure: Programming long-term health in offspring (with Dr Lisa Akison and Dr James Cuffe)
Emerging therapies for diabetes and complications: Effects on metabolic, cardiovascular and renal function (with Dr Linda Gallo)
Effect of prenatal insults on the developing placenta (with Dr Marloes Nitert Dekker, Prof Vicki Clifton [Mater], Dr David Simmons and Dr James Cuffe)
Effect of prenatal insults on the developing kidney and implications for adult disease (with Dr Peter Trnka [QLD Children's Hospital])
Impact of maternal cannabis and alcohol around conception on development and long-term health of offspring (with Dr David Simmons and Dr Lisa Akison)
Prof Moritz maintains a strong commitment to teaching of students, including lectures and research student supervision in undergraduate programs, supervision of Honours students and supervision of higher degree research students.
Affiliate Senior Research Fellow of Institute for Molecular Bioscience
Institute for Molecular Bioscience
Senior Research Fellow
School of Public Health
Faculty of Health, Medicine and Behavioural Sciences
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Dr Sally Mortlock is a genetic epidemiologist and NECST Research Fellow who leads the Genetic Epidemiology stream at the Australian Women and Girls Health Research (AWaGHR) Centre, University of Queensland. Her research integrates genomics with life course epidemiology to understand how genetic, environmental, and lifestyle factors shape women’s health across the lifespan.
Her work focuses on reproductive and menstrual health, particularly endometriosis and related conditions, with the aim of improving understanding of disease mechanisms, risk, diagnosis, and personalised approaches to care.
Research areas include:
Genetic epidemiology and reproductive genomics
Women’s health across the life course
Endometriosis and reproductive disorders
Longitudinal cohort studies and life course epidemiology
Genetic risk prediction and causal inference methods (including Mendelian randomisation)
Multi-omics and biological pathway analysis
Dr Mortlock previously spent seven years as lead computational biologist within the Genomics of Reproduction Disorders group at the Institute for Molecular Bioscience, contributing to internationally recognised research in reproductive genomics. She now combines this expertise with large-scale longitudinal health data, including genetic resources within the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health, to investigate women’s health trajectories over time.
Faculty of Health, Medicine and Behavioural Sciences
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Bryan is a graduate in medicine from the University of Queensland and holds a BA (Hons) degree in philosophy from the University of Western Australia. A medical specialist in psychiatry, he is a clinician researcher, who is Conjoint Professor at the Queensland Brain Institute, University of Queensland, and Director of Genetics at the Queensland Centre for Mental Health Research. His primary research interest is the molecular genetics of schizophrenia, and holds a MD degree (University of Queensland) in this field. Since 1990, he has conducted studies, with national and international collaborators, to identify susceptibility genes for this disorder. He is the recipient of grants from the Australian NHMRC and the US NIMH.
The primary research goal is to identify and functionally characterise susceptibility genes for schizophrenia and related disorders. A special focus is on the study of large collaborative samples and ethnically homogeneous populations. Key methodologies used in the lab include genome-wide association studies, next-generation sequencing, transcriptome profiling of post-mortem brain samples, neurocognitive and neuroimaging phenotyping and induced pluripotent stem cells.
Current areas of interest include pharmacogenomics of clozapine treatment response, whole exome sequencing focused on de novo mutations, and the neuroimmunology of schizophrenia
Director, Higher Degrees by Research of School of Pharmacy
School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences
Faculty of Health, Medicine and Behavioural Sciences
Associate Professor
School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences
Faculty of Health, Medicine and Behavioural Sciences
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Dr Moyle’s laboratory (www.moylelab.com) uses cutting edge technologies for the synthesis of peptides, protein expression, and protein semi-synthesis to gain insights into the functional roles played by various biochemical pathways, to engineer better protein and peptide therapeutics, and to improve the delivery characteristics of various therapeutic molecules. Specific current areas of interest are detailed below:
Subunit Vaccine Development: methods to develop improved vaccines through the combination of recombinant and synthetic approaches to improve immunopotency and tailor immune responses (links to reseach articles on semisynthetic vaccines and peptide vaccines; reviews on vaccine development).
Delivery Systems for Nucleic Acid-Based Molecules: multi-component synthetic and recombinant approaches to improve the cellular uptake, and targeted delivery of various oligonucleotide molecules (e.g. siRNA, mRNA, pDNA and CRISPR-Cas9) as an exciting approach to treat or prevent various diseases (links to research articles and reviews).
Deciphering the Roles of Post-Translational Modifications: The combination of peptide synthesis and protein semisynthesis to enable the production of large amounts of site-specifically modified species, that can be used to deconvolute the roles played by various post-translational modifications (links to research articles).
Peptide/Protein Drugs and Delivery: The study of methods to improve the delivery characteristics of peptide/protein drugs (e.g. poor oral absorption, instability to chemical/enzymatic degradation, and the inability to reach their site/s of action) through chemical engineering approaches.
New Approaches for Superbugs: the development of antivirulence approaches, and formulations (e.g. various types of nanoparticles - silver, protein, mesoporous silica), which reduce the ability for microbes to cause disease, and make them more readily treated with antimicrobials, by providing access to synergistic combinations, and reducing the risk of antimicrobial resistance.
Information for Potential Students:
The Moyle lab considers applications from potential students and postdoctoral fellows with an interest in: i)infection control (including subunit vaccine and antimicrobial development); ii)delivery systems for peptide therapeutics; iii)targeted delivery systems; iv) studying the function of posttranslational modifications; and v) delivery systems for nucleic acid-based therapeutics (e.g. siRNA, shRNA, miRNA, mRNA, pDNA and CRISPR-Cas9). If you are interested in working in any of these areas please feel free to contact Dr Moyle (p.moyle@uq.edu.au). Please ensure that you supply an up to date CV; describe why you would like to work in the Moyle lab; provide a listing of publications (preferably with impact factors and citation counts); and indicate what skills you would bring to the lab. Detailed information on our laboratory is available at www.moylelab.com. Preference will be given to students and postdoctoral fellows who have their own funding.
Dr Moyle Biosketch:
Dr Moyle (H-index 30, >2600 citations; >95 publications; 13/8/2024; Google Scholar, ORCID, ResearcherID, and Publons profiles) received a PhD (Dec 2006) and a Bachelor of Pharmacy (Hons I) (Dec 2001) from The University of Queensland (UQ); graduated from the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia pre-registration pharmacist-training course (Nov 2002); and is registered with the Pharmacy Board of Australia. He currently works as an Associate Professor in the UQ School of Pharmacy, where he has been based since 2014.
Dr Moyle works in the fields of medicinal chemistry, chemical biology, and drug formulation, investigating subunit vaccine development, outcomes associated with histone post-translational modifications, and methods to improve the delivery characteristics of oligonucleotide (e.g. siRNA and pDNA), peptide, and protein therapeutics. During his PhD, Dr Moyle developed methods that enabled the synthesis of pure, lipid adjuvanted peptide vaccines, using advanced chemical ligation techniques. In addition, the conjugation of mannose to combined prophylactic/therapeutic human papillomavirus type-16 vaccines, to target dendritic cells, was demonstrated to significantly improve vaccine anti-tumour activity. This work, conducted with leading researchers at the QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute (Prof Michael Good & Dr Colleen Olive), established Dr Moyle’s national and international profile in the field of vaccine development, resulting in 11 peer reviewed papers, including top journals in the field (J Med Chem; J Org Chem), as well as 6 review articles and 2 invited book chapters.
Dr Moyle undertook his postdoctoral training in the laboratory of one of the world’s premier chemical biologists, Professor Tom Muir (the Rockefeller University, NY, USA; now at Princeton University, NJ, USA). During this time he developed an extensive knowledge of techniques for protein expression, bioconjugation, bioassays, and proteomics, which represent an essential skill set required for this proposal. As part of this work, Dr Moyle developed novel synthetic routes to generate site-specific ADP-ribose conjugated peptides and proteins. This research was hailed as a major breakthrough in the field, leading to several collaborations, and an exemplary publication in the prestigious chemistry journal JACS. This vast body of work identified the enzyme (PARP10) responsible for mono-ADP-ribosylation of histone H2B, and demonstrated interactions between this modification and several proteins, including BAL, which is associated with B cell lymphomas. In addition, a number of robust chemical methods were developed to enable the synthesis of a complete library of methyl-arginine containing histones, which were incorporated into synthetic chemically-defined chromatin to investigate the site-specific effects of arginine methylation on histone acetylation. This work led to a collaboration with colleagues at Rockefeller to investigate the effects of histone arginine methylation on transcription.
Teaching:
Dr Moyle teaches into the following subjects in the UQ School of Pharmacy.
PHRM3011 (Quality Use of Medicines) - course coordinator
PHRM4021 (Integrated Pharmaceutical Development)
PHRM3021 (Dosage Form Design)
PHRM2040 (Drug Discovery)
Awards:
2016 - Health and Behavioural Sciences (HABS) faculty commendation for Early Career Citations for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning (ECCOSL)
2015 - ChemMedChem top 10 cited article of 2013 (link)
2014 - Highest ranked NHMRC development grant (2013; APP1074899)
2013 - Institute for Molecular Biology (IMB) Division of Chemistry and Structural Biology Prize
Affiliate of Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation Science
Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation Science
Faculty of Science
Professorial Research Fellow
School of the Environment
Faculty of Science
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Peter began his career helping to design MPAs in Belize, Central America. On realising how little science was available to guide this he moved to the University of Sheffield to undertake a PhD on the use of remote sensing for mapping coral reefs, seagrass beds and mangroves. After his PhD, Peter won a NERC Post-doctoral Fellowship to study ecological processes on coral reefs and moved to the University of Newcastle to join the Centre for Tropical Coastal Management Studies. He was then awarded a Royal Society Fellowship to integrate empirical ecological data into models of coral reefs with a view to studying how changes in human activity can affect the health of reefs. At this point he moved to the University of Exeter where he was made Professor at the age of 34. In 2010, Peter moved closer to coral reefs when he moved to the University of Queensland to take up an ARC Laureate Fellowship. He loves living in Australia! Peter was awarded a Pew Fellowship in Marine Conservation in 2010, and is also winner of the Rosenstiel Award for excellence in marine biology and fisheries, and the Marsh Award for contributions to marine conservation.
I am a marine ecologist research fellow at UQ, specialising in global and regional marine ecosystem modelling, particulalry focused on the Southern Ocean. My research uses mathematical models to understand and predict how climate change and fishing impact marine ecosystems.
Current research focus:
Leading development of the Zooplankton Model of Size Spectra (ZooMSS) for an ARC Discovery Project on zooplankton and the ocean carbon cycle
Enhancing models of fish population dynamics, fishing impacts, and temperature-dependent physiology
Improving representation of mesopelagic ecosystems in climate projections
I co-coordinate the Southern Ocean Working Group of FishMIP (Fisheries and Marine Ecosystem Model Intercomparison Project), facilitating international collaboration on marine ecosystem projections under global change. My expertise in size-structured food web modelling has advanced understanding of cephalopod ecology and improved biological realism in marine ecosystem models.
Affiliate of Centre for Chemistry and Drug Discovery
Centre for Chemistry and Drug Discovery
Institute for Molecular Bioscience
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Associate Professor Muttenthaler is a medicinal chemist working at the interface of chemistry and biology with a strong passion for translational research. His research focuses on bioactive peptides and exploring Nature's biodiversity to develop advanced molecular tools, diagnostics, and therapeutics. His background in drug discovery and development, as well as his interdisciplinary training in the fields of chemistry, molecular biology and pharmacology, assist him in characterising these often highly potent and selective compounds to study their interactions with human physiology for medical innovations in pain, cancer, gut disorders and neurological diseases.
Faculty of Health, Medicine and Behavioural Sciences
Director Research Infrastructure HMBS of Faculty of Health Medicine & Behavioural Sciences
Faculty of Health, Medicine and Behavioural Sciences
Director of Research of School of Biomedical Sciences
School of Biomedical Sciences
Faculty of Health, Medicine and Behavioural Sciences
Affiliate of Centre for Motor Neuron Disease Research
Centre for Motor Neuron Disease Research
Faculty of Health, Medicine and Behavioural Sciences
Affiliate of Centre for Cardiovascular Health and Research
Centre for Cardiovascular Health and Research
Faculty of Health, Medicine and Behavioural Sciences
Associate Professor
School of Biomedical Sciences
Faculty of Health, Medicine and Behavioural Sciences
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I am an Associate Professor in the School of Biomedical Sciences (SBMS) at The University of Queensland, where I teach physiology and lead research that explores how cells respond to stress, injury and disease. My work aims to better understand the molecular and cellular processes that influence health and disease, with a particular focus on areas relevant to cancer, heart disease, neurological conditions and emerging cell-based therapies.
I completed my doctorate at the University of Western Australia in Biochemistry and Cell Biology, where I studied how heart cells respond to signals that can drive abnormal tissue growth. I then undertook postdoctoral training in Singapore at the Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, part of A*STAR, where my research expanded into understanding how the cytoskeleton, internal structures of cells, help control development and disease.
After returning to Australia, I was supported by national fellowships from the NHMRC and ARC, which enabled me to establish an internationally connected research program. My research brings together cell biology, imaging, computational approaches and emerging technologies to uncover how cells make critical decisions, including whether to survive or die under stress.
Alongside my research and teaching, I contribute to leadership within SBMS as Director of Research and support major research infrastructure initiatives across the Faculty of Health, Medicine and Behavioural Sciences (HMBS) as Academic Director of Research Infrastructure. I also serve on steering committees for UQ’s Viral Vector Core (VVC) and the Centre for Cardiovascular Health and Research (CCVHR), helping to strengthen the platforms and partnerships that support biomedical discovery and translation.
Affiliate of ARC Training Centre for Environmental and Agricultural Solutions to Antimicrobial Resis
ARC Training Centre for Environmental and Agricultural Solutions to Antimicrobia
Institute for Molecular Bioscience
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Australian Centre for Water and Environmental Biotechnology
Faculty of Engineering, Architecture and Information Technology
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Dr Lyman Tze Kin Ngiam is a bacteriophage biologist and Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Australian Centre for Water and Environmental Biotechnology, The University of Queensland. His research focuses on understanding bacteriophage–bacterial pathogen interactions, particularly involving ESKAPE pathogens, with the goal of developing effective phage-based biocontrol and therapeutic strategies to combat the global antimicrobial resistance (AMR) crisis. Central to Dr Ngiam’s work is the study of bacteriophage biology, including phage-bacteria interactions and bacterial defence mechanisms against bacteriophage.
His current research aims to translate fundamental phage biology that can be applied as novel antimicrobial agent. This includes investigating phage optimisation strategies, such as phage training and the use of adjuvants including antibiotics and antimicrobial peptides, to improve phage efficacy and therapeutic potential. In parallel, Dr Ngiam is actively exploring the biotechnological applications of bacteriophages as sustainable bicontrol agent and diagnostics within the agricultural and livestock sectors.
Alongside his phage-based research, Dr Ngiam is also engaged in industry-based multidisciplinary and translational projects within CeASTAR, with strong emphasis on addressing antimicrobial resistance. These projects include development of surveillance tool to monitor AMR in the environment, investigation of novel compounds for disinfection of animal shed and eradication of biofilms in water distrbibution system.
Faculty of Health, Medicine and Behavioural Sciences
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I completed a PhD in Neuroscience with Jack Pettigrew (FRS) at Vision, Touch & Hearing Research Centre followed by an NHMRC Clinical Research Fellowship at Alfred Health & Monash University.
Back in QLD I'm continuing a transdisciplinary research & innovation program to Bring Discoveries of the Brain to Life!
I'm currently focused on developing novel MedTech Biotech diagnostics & therapeutics for enhancing human performance, recovery & resilience with the following projects:
[1] Precision Pain Medicine — the largest genetic study of persistent (chronic) pain in Australia, in collaboration with QIMR Berghofer & Monash University, aims to identify pharmacogenomics causal pathways for the design of personalised therapeutics & effective early intervention approaches (e.g., screening, education, prevention).
[2] Brain Switcha — A digital transdiagnostic biomarker and cloud-based large-scale population phenotyping & analytics platform to improve early intervention strategies in sleep & mental health conditions (esp. at-risk youth cohorts) and recruitment screening for Defence forces.
[3] VCS — vestibulocortical stimulation: A simple, inexpensive, non-invasive & non-pharmacologic neurotherapeutic treatment technique for fibromyalgia (with US colleagues) and other centralised pain syndromes, sleep apnoea, dementia & mental health conditions (e.g., depression, PTSD, bipolar disorder).
I also have >5 years professional services experience providing specialist research performance evaluation, consultation, reporting & training workshops that successfully delivered several major strategic priorities to a large internal & external client base — such as organisational unit leaders/managers at multiple levels (e.g., Centre/Department) and senior executive business missions for national/international strategic partnerships. This work includes mapping, monitoring & benchmarking of research capacity, capabilities/strengths, gaps & collaboration networks (e.g., clinical, corporate & government) across diverse disciplines for Annual & Septennial Departmental Reviews (e.g., patent, policy & clinical guideline citations; external stakeholder engagement including media); ARC Engagement & Impact assessments; and workforce capability development (e.g., recruitment for senior leadership positions and ranking of NHMRC/ARC funding applicants).
In particular, I enjoy meeting & connecting people with a shared vision & commitment towards building innovative & sustainable public-private partnerships to deliver meaningful solutions for the wider community.
Faculty of Health, Medicine and Behavioural Sciences
Centre Director of Centre for Motor Neuron Disease Research
Centre for Motor Neuron Disease Research
Faculty of Health, Medicine and Behavioural Sciences
Affiliate of Centre for Extracellular Vesicle Nanomedicine
Centre for Extracellular Vesicle Nanomedicine
Faculty of Health, Medicine and Behavioural Sciences
Principal Research Fellow
Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology
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I completed my PhD in Neuroscience at UQ in 2009. After this, I undertook postdoctoral training in motor neuron disease/amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (MND/ALS) under the mentorship of neurologists at Royal Brisbane & Women's Hospital. In 2012, I received a MND Research Australia Bill Gole Fellowship to develop a research focus to study metabolic dysfunction in MND/ALS. I started my independent research group at UQ in 2015, after receiving the Scott Sullivan MND Research Fellowship to lead a translational program to define the contribution of altered metabolic homeostasis to MND/ALS pathophysiology. In 2017, I relocated my laboratory to the Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology to introduce the use of human stem cells for disease modelling into my reserach program. In 2020, I was awarded a FightMND Mid-Career Research Fellowship to transition into clinical trials.
My current research integrates studies in MND/ALS patients with studies in human-derived cell models (stem cell-derived neurons, human primary myosatellite cells, human myotubes) and mouse models of MND/ALS. I have served as lead investigator or co-investigator on several projects aimed at defining the mechanisms that drive MND/ALS and identifying therapeutic strategies for the disease. Projects have led to the expediting of clinical trials (NCT03506425; NCT04788745, NCT05959850). In 2021, I established the MND at UQ Collective to enhance national and international collaboration, and to facilitate community consultation to drive scientific and clinical discoveries in ALS and FTD (www.uq.edu.au/mnd-collective).
I have received invitations to contribute to high impact review articles (i.e., Brain, Nat Rev Neurol), and have received >20 invitations to speak at conferences including: 33rd International ALS/MND Symposium (2022, Plenary), 64th Japanese Society of Neurology Meeting (2023, Tokyo; Plenary), 3rd International Pan-Asian Consortium for Treatment and Research in ALS (PACTALS) Congress (2023, Kuala Lumpur), 18th International Congress on Neuromuscular Diseases (2024, Perth).
Affiliate of Centre for Motor Neuron Disease Research
Centre for Motor Neuron Disease Research
Faculty of Health, Medicine and Behavioural Sciences
Affiliate of Centre for Population and Disease Genomics
Centre for Population and Disease Genomics
Institute for Molecular Bioscience
Senior Research Fellow & Group Leader
Institute for Molecular Bioscience
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Dr Quan Nguyen is a Group Leader at the Institute for Molecular Bioscience (IMB), The University of Queensland, where he leads the Genomics and Machine Learning (GML) Laboratory. His research focuses on understanding pathological processes within tissues to identify biomarkers for early diagnosis, patient stratification, and prediction of treatment response. His work integrates statistical machine learning techniques with advanced genomic technologies, combining single-cell and spatiotemporal sequencing data with tissue imaging to uncover causal links between genotypes and phenotypes across biological scales, from single cell, to tissue microenvironment, organ, multi-organ and population level. By studying cell-cell interactions, his research also contributes to the discovery of novel drug targets and improved understanding of drug mechanisms and toxicity. The GML Laboratory also develops spatiotemporal experimental platforms for large-scale biomarker profiling and validation in preclinical models and patient cohorts.
Dr Nguyen completed a PhD in Bioengineering at the University of Queensland in 2013, postdoctoral training in Bioinformatics at RIKEN institute in Japan in 2015, a CSIRO Office of Chief Executive (OCE) Research Fellowship in 2016, an IMB Fellow in 2018, an Australian Research Council DECRA fellowship, 2019-2021), and is a National Health and Medical Research Council Leadership Fellow (EL2 2022-2026 and L1 2027-2031). He has authored 86 publications in top-tier journals, like Cell, Nature Genetics, and Nature Method, averaging ~45.5 citations per paper, and led the development of 14 software tools with over 250,000 downloads. His recognised expertise is demonstrated through 14 national/international awards, numerous invited talks (21 international, 42 national), invited grant reviews for funding bodies in nine countries, and active editorial roles for BMC Cancer and Genome Medicine. His commitment to propelling the field forward is evident in leading roles within key consortia and forums and his dedication to organise training workshops and conferences. He has secured over $31 million in grant funding as a chief investigator from national and international funding agencies (e.g., ARC, NHMRC, MRFF, DoD, NCI) and from industry partners, with approximately $11million directly supporting his lab's groundbreaking work.
Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation
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Dr Loan Nguyen is an applied genomics researcher focused on discovering genomic insights and translating them into practical tools for sustainable agriculture and livestock production. Her expertise integrates long-read sequencing, genome assembly, transcriptomics, molecular biology, bioinformatics and animal science.
Her pioneering contributions include developing an epigenetic clock for age prediction in cattle, and implementing portable sequencing for livestock traceability in Australia. She applies genomic approaches to address key challenges in agriculture, including genetic improvement, causative variant discovery, low-coverage sequencing, SNP array development and on-farm genomic decision-making.
Dr Nguyen’s achievements have been recognised through a prestigious ARC Industry Fellowship. Her work is advancing applied genomics to improve productivity, traceability, sustainability and food security in Australia and internationally.
Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology
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Professor Lars Nielsen is leading the development of experimental and computational tools to analyse and design complex biological systems. His expertise in metabolic modelling and flux analysis is available nowhere else in Australia – and in few labs across the world. Professor Nielsen’s studies of biological systems as diverse as bacteria, baker's yeast, sugarcane, insects and mammals has attracted industrial partnerships with companies including Dow, Metabolix, Amyris, LanzaTech, Boeing, Virgin Australia and GE. These metabolic engineering partnerships have focussed on developing new ways of producing aviation fuel, various materials and bioactives (antibiotics, biopesticides, monoclonal antibodies). Professor Nielsen is also applying system analysis and design approaches to tissue engineering including novel strategies for generating microtissues for drug screening and using stem cells to produce red and white blood cells for transfusion.
International links
Professor Nielsen collaborates with some of the world’s pre-eminent metabolic engineers. A joint project with Prof Sang Yup Lee (KAIST, Korea) enabled several extended mutual visits to explore use of sugar for higher value products. A separate project focused on producing synthetic aviation fuel based on isoprenoids involves Professor Nielsen collaborating with global synthetic biotechnology company Amyris and leading isoprenoid metabolic engineer Professor Jay Keasling, from UC Berkeley. Professor Nielsen has secured $8million since 2006 from industry through research grants with US, European, Japanese, Korean, New Zealand and Australian companies.
Michael Noad graduated with a Bachelor of Veterinary Science from UQ in 1990. After working primarily as a small animal vet in Queensland and the UK, Mike returned to Australia to undertake a PhD in humpback whale acoustic behaviour at the University of Sydney in 1995. In 2002, after finishing his PhD, Mike became a postdoctoral fellow in the School of Integraitve Biology at UQ. In 2003 he was employed as a lecturer in the School of Veterinary Science. He is currently a professor at UQ, dividing his time between veterinary science, where he teaches anatomy, and marine science, the focus of his research. In 2019 he became the Academic Director of the Moreton Bay Research Station, and in 2022 the Director of the Centre for Marine Science while still retaining a substantive apointment in the School of Veterinary Science.
Research:
The key areas of Mike's research are the effects of anthopogenic underwater noise on whales, the evolution and function of humpback whale song, social learning and culture in animals, and marine mammal population ecology. With regards to the effects of anthropogenic underwater noise on whales, there is currently a great deal of concern about how anthropogenic noise such as military sonar, oil and gas exploration activity and commercial shipping traffic, may adversely affect marine mammals. Mike has been involved in several large collaborative projects in this area, the largest being BRAHSS where the team studied the behavioural changes of humpback whales in response to powerful seismic airguns. His work on the evolution and function of humpback whale song is focused on how the animals themselves use sound to communicate. The songs of these whales is one of the most complex acoustic displays of any animal known. The songs are not static, but constantly change, and although the songs are almost certainly used as a sexual signal, the changing nature of the song makes understanding how this works challenging. His work on social learning and culture in animals also involves humpback whale songs, but focuses on how the whales learn the songs from each other, both within and between populations. As the patterns are usually unique to a population but can be transmitted over time to other populations, humpback song is the most extreme example of a vocal cultural trait in any species as well as an excellent model for studying social learning, the process whereby the whales perceive and learn new songs. Mike's last research area is marine mammal population ecology, and the primary project is the population ecology of the east Australian humpback whales. This population was almost completely extirpated in the early 1960s through hunting, but has since undergone a rapid recovery. Its long term trajectory, however, is uncertain due to a number of factors including possibly overshooting the natural carrying capacity of the population, and climate change.
Affiliate Professor of School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences
School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences
Faculty of Science
Affiliate of ARC COE for Innovations in Peptide and Protein Science
ARC COE for Innovations in Peptide and Protein Science
Institute for Molecular Bioscience
Professorial Research Fellow and Group Leader
Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology
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Megan O’Mara is a Professor and Group Leader at the Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN), UQ. Her group uses multiscale modelling techniques to understand how changes in the biochemical environment of the cell membranes alters membrane properties and modulates the function of membrane proteins. She has research interests in multidrug resistance, computational drug design and delivery, biopolymers, and personalized medicine. Megan completed her PhD in biophysics at the Australian National University in 2005 before moving to the University of Calgary, Canada, to take up a Canadian Institutes of Health Research Postdoctoral Fellowship. In 2009, she returned to Australia to join University of Queensland’s School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences as a UQ Postdoctoral Fellow, before commencing an ARC DECRA in 2012 where she continued her computational work on membrane protein dynamics. In 2015, Megan joined the Research School of Chemistry, Australian National University in 2015 as Rita Cornforth Fellow and Senior Lecturer. In 2019 she was promoted to Associate Professor and was Associate Director (Education) of the Research School of Chemistry ANU in 2019-2021. In April 2022 she relocated to AIBN.