Fields of Research

Cell metabolism
Signal transduction
Endocrinology
Animal physiology - systems
Nanotechnology
Pharmaceutical sciences
Systems physiology
Cardiology (incl. cardiovascular diseases)
Medical biochemistry - lipids
Cellular nervous system
Basic pharmacology
Exercise physiology

Research Objectives

Clinical health
Prevention of human diseases and conditions
Expanding knowledge in the biological sciences
Treatment of human diseases and conditions
Expanding knowledge in the biomedical and clinical sciences
Expanding knowledge in the health sciences
Diagnosis of human diseases and conditions
Overweight and obesity
Women's and maternal health

Career Best Publications

Research Publications

1-deoxysphingolipids, early predictors of type 2 diabetes, compromise the functionality of skeletal myoblasts; Frontiers in Endocrinology
14-3-3ζ regulates the mitochondrial respiratory reserve linked to platelet phosphatidylserine exposure and procoagulant function; Nature Communications
In vitro palmitate treatment of myotubes from postmenopausal women leads to ceramide accumulation, inflammation and affected insulin signaling; PLoS ONE
ABCA1 expression in humans is associated with physical activity and alcohol consumption; Atherosclerosis
Activating HSP72 in rodent skeletal muscle increases mitochondrial number and oxidative capacity and decreases insulin resistance; Diabetes
Adipocyte ceramides regulate subcutaneous adipose browning, inflammation, and metabolism; Cell Metabolism
Adiponectin sparks an interest in calcium
Analysis of the liver lipidome reveals insights into the protective effect of exercise on high-fat diet-induced hepatosteatosis in mice; American Journal of Physiology: Endocrinology and Metabolism
APP deficiency results in resistance to obesity but impairs glucose tolerance upon high fat feeding; Journal of Endocrinology
Blocking IL-6 trans-signaling prevents high-fat diet-induced adipose tissue macrophage recruitment but does not improve insulin resistance; Cell Metabolism
Body composition and metabolic caging analysis in high fat fed mice; Journal of Visualized Experiments
c-Jun NH₂-terminal kinase activity in subcutaneous adipose tissue but not nuclear factor-κB activity in peripheral blood mononuclear cells is an independent determinant of insulin resistance in healthy individuals; Diabetes
Ceramides contained in LDL are elevated in type 2 diabetes and promote inflammation and skeletal muscle insulin resistance; Diabetes
Chaperoning to the metabolic party: The emerging therapeutic role of heat-shock proteins in obesity and type 2 diabetes; Molecular Metabolism
Characterisation of the circulating and tissue-specific alterations to the lipidome in response to moderate and major cold stress in mice; American Journal of Physiology
Complement C5a induces renal injury in diabetic kidney disease by disrupting mitochondrial metabolic agility; Diabetes
CORP: Practical tools for improving experimental design and reporting of laboratory studies of cardiovascular physiology and metabolism; American Journal of Physiology. Heart and Circulatory Physiology
Deficiency in apoptosis-inducing factor recapitulates chronic kidney disease via aberrant mitochondrial homeostasis; Diabetes
Deficiency in mitochondrial complex i Activity Due to Ndufs6 gene trap insertion induces renal disease; Antioxidants and Redox Signaling
Deletion of Trim28 in committed adipocytes promotes obesity but preserves glucose tolerance; Nature Communications
Delineating a role for the mitochondrial permeability transition pore in diabetic kidney disease by targeting cyclophilin D; Clinical Science
Disruption of the class IIa HDAC corepressor complex increases energy expenditure and lipid oxidation; Cell Reports
Distinct lipidomic profiles in models of physiological and pathological cardiac remodeling, and potential therapeutic strategies; Biochimica et Biophysica Acta - Molecular and Cell Biology of Lipids
Distinct patterns of tissue-specific lipid accumulation during the induction of insulin resistance in mice by high-fat feeding; Diabetologia
Effects of the nitric oxide donor, sodium nitroprusside, on resting leg glucose uptake in patients with type 2 diabetes; Diabetologia
Effects of water stably-enriched with oxygen as a novel method of tissue oxygenation on mitochondrial function, and as adjuvant therapy for type 2 diabetes in a randomized placebo-controlled trial; PLoS ONE
Emerging role and characterization of immunometabolism: Relevance to HIV pathogenesis, serious non-AIDS events, and a cure; Journal of Immunology
Enhanced phosphoinositide 3-kinase(p110α) activity prevents diabetes-induced cardiomyopathy and superoxide generation in a mouse model of diabetes; Diabetologia
Evidence against a role for NLRP3-driven islet inflammation in db/db mice; Molecular Metabolism
Fecal microbiota transplantation from high caloric-fed donors alters glucose metabolism in recipient mice, independently of adiposity or exercise status; American Journal of Physiology: Endocrinology and Metabolism
Fine-tuning the cardiac O-GlcNAcylation regulatory enzymes governs the functional and structural phenotype of the diabetic heart; Cardiovascular Research
Fructose stimulated de novo lipogenesis is promoted by inflammation; Nature Metabolism
Genetic manipulation of cardiac Hsp72 levels does not alter substrate metabolism but reveals insights into high-fat feeding-induced cardiac insulin resistance; Cell Stress and Chaperones
Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase contributes to the regulation of glucose uptake in skeletal muscle; Molecular Metabolism
Heat shock proteins and exercise adaptations. Our knowledge thus far and the road still ahead; Journal of Applied Physiology
High fat diet inhibits dendritic cell and T cell response to allergens but does not impair inhalational respiratory tolerance; PLoS ONE
High-density lipoprotein delivered after myocardial infarction increases cardiac glucose uptake and function in mice; Science Translational Medicine
High-density lipoprotein modulates glucose metabolism in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus; Circulation
HSP72 is a mitochondrial stress sensor critical for Parkin action, oxidative metabolism, and insulin sensitivity in skeletal muscle; Diabetes
Hsp72 preserves muscle function and slows progression of severe muscular dystrophy; Nature
HSP72 protects against obesity-induced insulin resistance; Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Impaired oxidative metabolism and inflammation are associated with insulin resistance in ERα-deficient mice; American Journal of Physiology: Endocrinology and Metabolism
Increased glucose metabolic activity is associated with CD4⁺ T-cell activation and depletion during chronic HIV infection; AIDS
Interleukin-6-deficient mice develop hepatic inflammation and systemic insulin resistance; Diabetologia
Intravascular Follistatin gene delivery improves glycemic control in a mouse model of type 2 diabetes; FASEB Journal
Male-lineage transmission of an acquired metabolic phenotype induced by grand-paternal obesity; Molecular Metabolism
Maternal obesity and diabetes induces latent metabolic defects and widespread epigenetic changes in isogenic mice; Epigenetics
MCL-1 is essential for survival but dispensable for metabolic fitness of FOXP3⁺ regulatory T cells; Cell Death and Differentiation
Metabolic control and sex: A focus on inflammatory-linked mediators; British Journal of Pharmacology
Metabolically active CD4+ T cells expressing Glut1 and OX40 preferentially harbor HIV during in vitro infection; FEBS Letters
Muscle-specific overexpression of AdipoR1 or AdipoR2 gives rise to common and discrete local effects whilst AdipoR2 promotes additional systemic effects; Scientific Reports
Myeloid-specific estrogen receptor α deficiency impairs metabolic homeostasis and accelerates atherosclerotic lesion development; Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Nanoporous metal-phenolic particles as ultrasound imaging probes for hydrogen peroxide; Advanced Healthcare Materials
Oral nitrate therapy does not affect glucose metabolism in healthy men; Clinical and Experimental Pharmacology and Physiology
Over-expressing the soluble gp130-Fc does not ameliorate methionine and choline deficient diet-induced non alcoholic steatohepatitis in mice; PLoS ONE
p32 protein levels are integral to mitochondrial and endoplasmic reticulum morphology, cell metabolism and survival; Biochemical Journal
Protein kinase C epsilon deletion in adipose tissue, but not in liver, improves glucose tolerance; Cell Metabolism
Respiratory syncytial virus co-opts host mitochondrial function to favour infectious virus production; eLife
Scriptaid enhances skeletal muscle insulin action and cardiac function in obese mice; Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism
Serine administration as a novel prophylactic approach to reduce the severity of acute pancreatitis during diabetes in mice; Diabetologia
Sex-specific adipose tissue imprinting of regulatory T cells; Nature
Single or combined ablation of peripheral serotonin and p21 limit adipose tissue expansion and metabolic alterations in early adulthood in mice fed a normocaloric diet; PLoS One
Skeletal muscle-specific overexpression of heat shock protein 72 improves skeletal muscle insulin-stimulated glucose uptake but does not alter whole body metabolism; Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism
Skeletal muscle-specific overproduction of constitutively activated c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) induces insulin resistance in mice; Diabetologia
The E3 ligase MARCH5 is a PPARγ target gene that regulates mitochondria and metabolism in adipocytes; American Journal of Physiology: Endocrinology and Metabolism
The effect of oxygen in Sirt3-mediated myocardial protection: A proof-of-concept study in cultured cardiomyoblasts; Journal of Thrombosis and Thrombolysis
The effect of the nitric oxide donor sodium nitroprusside on glucose uptake in human primary skeletal muscle cells; Nitric Oxide
The omics of obsesity; Adiposity: Omics and molecular understanding
The relationship between heat shock protein 72 expression in skeletal muscle and insulin sensitivity is dependent on adiposity; Metabolism
The small-molecule BGP-15 protects against heart failure and atrial fibrillation in mice; Nature Communications
The sphingosine-1-phosphate analog FTY720 reduces muscle ceramide content and improves glucose tolerance in high fat-fed male mice; Endocrinology
The transcription factor IRF4 is essential for TCR affinity-mediated metabolic programming and clonal expansion of T cells; Nature Immunology
The zinc transporter Zip7 is downregulated in skeletal muscle of insulin-resistant cells and in mice fed a high-fat diet; Cells
Tissue-specific expression of Cas9 has no impact on whole-body metabolism in four transgenic mouse lines; Molecular Metabolism
Transcription factor IRF4 Promotes CD8⁺ T cell exhaustion and limits the development of memory-like T cells during chronic infection; Immunity
Treatment of type 2 diabetes with the designer cytokine IC7Fc; Nature
Yap regulates skeletal muscle fatty acid oxidation and adiposity in metabolic disease; Nature Communications

Research Projects

Activating ACAD10 to improve metformin performance.; Diabetes Australia Research Program (DARP)
Does ACAD10 mediate the metabolic effects of Metformin?; Diabetes Australia Research Program (DARP)
What drives the regulation of the zinc transporter ZIP7 in insulin-resistant skeletal muscle? Implications for the treatment of insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes.; Clifford Craig Foundation (CCFoundation)

Research Candidate Supervision