Members
Program Leaders
Professor Mathew Lewsey
I am a hands-on lab biologist turned data-crunching genome scientist. My lab studies how plants perceive the world around them and interact with their environments by regulation of their genomes. We apply this work with commercial partners who grow a range of agricultural crops including cannabis, opium poppies, barley, oats and peas.
Associate Professor Kim Johnson
Dr Johnson is a senior lecturer in the School of Agriculture, Biomedicine and Environment and located in the AgriBio building. Dr Johnsons research within the La Trobe Institute for Sustainable Agriculture and Food aims to optimize crops for different environments. Her work looks at the cell wall, the 'skeleton' of the plant that influences how plants are used for food, fuel and textiles. Dr Johnson studies the pathways that change the cell wall in response to physical signals that arise during growth and/or in response to environmental stress. Dr Johnson graduated from the University of Melbourne, has worked in leading plant research institutes in the UK, and is passionate about communicating the importance of STEM in agriculture to make the way we eat more sustainable and enjoyable.
Members
Dr David Hoxley
I am interested in the surfaces of semiconductor crystals, particulaly diamond, and how they react to the world around and within us. My research involves coating these surfaces with organic and metallo-organic compounds observing the change their electrical and optical properties, particularly in ways which can be useful for engineering implantable biosensors for medical assays.
My other interest springs from a deep commitment to the dissimenation of knowlege through teaching, which I regard as a process of coaching. This includes research into ways of making this coaching possible (and efficient) in a mass tertiary education system, primarily through combining the modern educational psychology with information technology.
Professor Evan Robertson
Evan Robertson is an expert in molecular spectroscopy, having published 100 peer-reviewed papers. His group exploits powerful light sources such as infrared, visible and ultraviolet lasers, or the Australian Synchrotron's infrared beamline, to study molecules relevant to pharmaceutics, atmospheric and aerosol chemistry and even the interstellar medium.
Evan Robertson’s PhD at Monash University (1993-95) was followed by postdoctoral work at University of Oxford (1996-2000), Logan and ARC research fellowships (2001-2005) and a lectureship (2006-2009) at Monash University, and appointment as an academic at La Trobe University in 2009.
Professor Marc Kvansakul
My research is centered on understanding the interplay of pathogens with their hosts. This includes pathogens affecting humans and plants as well as those affecting animals. We examine the way how key effector molecules from pathogen and host engage with each other, and how this molecular dance shapes disease trajectory and outcomes. We use imaging methods to understand how these events occur at the atomic level, including cryo electron microscopy and x-ray crystallography. Ultimately we aim to deliver insights into molecular mechanisms that inform strategies for treatment and prevention of pathogen induced disease.
1. We are interested in how small proteins called defensins act as first line of defence against microbial threats such as fungal infections. We have shown that defensins recognize specific phospholipid markers in the membranes of pathogens, and often assemble oligomeric assemblies that destroy pathogen membranes.
2. Cell polarity enables cells to determine direction and thus is pivotal for assembling complex 3D tissue architecture. Scribble is a master regulator of this process, and we are interested in understanding how Scribble is regulated, and how Scribble interacts with other effectors to control tissue architecture. Many viruses hijack Scribble signalling, and this impacts viral infection and proliferation, and we are interested in exploring this for the development of novel antiviral therapeutics.
3. Viruses such as Epstein-Barr virus and Kaposi sarcoma herpesvirus use proteins belonging to the family of Bcl-2 to subvert host cell suicide signalling programs. Dysfunction of these pathways in virus infected cells can give rise to cancer, and we study how virus encoded Bcl-2 proteins contribute to tumourigenesis. Ultimately we aim to develop new therapeutics to treat Epstein-Barr virus associated tumours such as Burkitt lymphoma or nasopharyngeal carcinoma, or Kaposi sarcoma which is caused by Kaposi sarcoma herpesvirus.
Professor Patrick Humbert
Professor Patrick Humbert is the Director of the La Trobe Institute for Molecular Sciences (LIMS). Patrick is a recognized international leader in cancer research with PhD training in immunology at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute for Medical Research, Melbourne, Australia, and postdoctoral training in genetics and cancer research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston, USA. Patrick led a lab for over 15 years at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Melbourne, before becoming La Trobe University’s inaugural Professor of Cancer Biology in 2016. In 2018, Patrick established and became Director of the Research Centre for Molecular Cancer Prevention at La Trobe University. Patrick has received multiple awards including a Merck Fellowship, Special Fellowship of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of America, and consecutive Career Development Fellowships and Senior Research Fellowship from the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia.
Patrick’s current research include investigating the molecular mechanisms of tissue architecture in cancer and regeneration, developing the therapeutic targeting of tissue disorganisation for cancer prevention, identifying the evolutionary origins of cancer in the first multicellular animals, and characterising the effects of space and microgravity environments on regeneration and cancer progression.