Viruses pose one of the grand challenges to human and animal health globally and within Australia. Viral disease progression is critically dependent on the formation of specific interaction networks between viral proteins and host cell factors, which enable viral subversion of important processes such as antiviral immunity and cell survival.
The figure shows high resolution confocal images of viral protein targeting of microtubules and sub-nuclear structures within mammalian cells. These interactions enable viral reprograming of host cell biology, including important processes in innate immunity and stress responses.
Research in our laboratory seeks to elucidate these interactions at the molecular level and to understand their functions in diseases caused by highly lethal human viruses, including rhabdoviruses (e.g. rabies virus, Australian bat lyssavirus), paramyxoviruses (e.g. Nipah, Hendra, measles) and filoviruses (e.g. Ebola), as well as a number of agriculturally significant and potentially zoonotic animal viruses.
The overarching aim of the research is to identify novel targets and strategies for the development of new vaccines and therapeutics for currently incurable viral diseases. Our research involves extensive collaborations within Monash University, and with other leading national (e.g. CSIRO-AAHL, The University of Melbourne, The University of Sydney) and international institutes (e.g. The Pasteur Institute and CNRS, Paris; Gifu and Hokkaido Universities, Japan; University of Dundee (UK), enabling access to unique resources and technologies including novel and highly pathogenic viruses.
RESEARCH PROJECTS (including projects available for Honours, Masters and PhD students)
- Molecular basis of Ebola virus pathogenesis
- Virus-STAT interactions: Roles in disease and therapeutic targeting
- Structural analysis (cryo-EM, NMR, crystallography) of virus-host interactions
- Viral interactions with the cytoskeleton in the manipulation of host cell biology
- Characterisation of immune evasion mechanisms in novel and emerging viruses
- The roles of intranuclear viral protein interactions in disease
- Mechanisms of viral reprogramming of host cell signalling
- Can rabies cure Alzheimer's?
- Super-resolution analysis of the virus-host interface
- Understanding the role of the nucleolus in the infection cycle of dangerous viruses.
Techniques used by our team
Molecular cell biology, molecular virology, and molecular immunology approaches, including dynamic live cell imaging (e.g. quantitative confocal laser scanning microscopy, fluorescence recovery after photobleaching [FRAP], bimolecular fluorescence complementation), super-resolution light microscopy (including direct stochastic optical reconstruction microscopy [dSTORM]) and electron microscopy, structural biology (including NMR and crystallography), in vivo microtubule interaction assays (including quantitative imaging of the cytoskeleton), functional genomics and proteomics (including next-generation sequencing, RT-PCR, quantitative mass-spectroscopy), viral reverse genetics and infection, in vivo viral infection/disease models, immune signalling assays, in vitro protein trafficking/interaction assays, in vitro viral replication assays, cell culture and transfection (including stable and inducible cell lines), siRNA knockdown, flow cytometry, immunoprecipitation, recombinant protein expression and purification.
Research Team
Stephen Rawlinson (Post-doc)
Celine Deffrasnes (Post-doc)
Cassandra David (RA)
Aaron Brice (PhD student)
Angela Harrison (PhD student)
Maria Aloi (PhD student)
Cici Zhao (PhD student)
Ericka Tudhope (PhD student)
Lynette Zhang (Masters student)
Co-supervised
Ash Rozario (PhD student)
Alamgir Hossain (PhD student)
Jingyu Zhan (PhD student)
