Supervisor
Project Title/ Description
Proposed
commencement date
Prof Rob Capon
r.capon@uq.edu.au
ph. 334 62979
Microbial biodiscovery by co-cultivation
Co-cultivation of marine bacteria and fungi to activate
cryptic secondary metabolism, to detect, quantify,
prioritize, isolate and identify valuable new bioactive
natural products. Must have a background and interest in
microbiology and organic chemistry
Microbial biodiscovery by the Matrix
Cultivation of bacteria and fungi in an innovative
microbiorector Matrix to activate cryptic secondary
metabolism, to detect, quantify, prioritize, isolate and
identify valuable new bioactive natural products.
Must have a background and interest in microbiology and
organic chemistry
Feb 2016
Nanoscale analysis of amino acids in nature
Optimisation and application of an innovative nanosensitive HPLC-MS chemical analysis technology, to detect
and assign absolute configurations to amino acid residues in
rare and valuable bioactive natural products. Must have a
background and interest in organic chemistry
Metal ion antibiotic complexes and their bioactivity
In this project, it is planned to investigate metal ion binding
Feb 2016
Prof Rob Capon
r.capon@uq.edu.au
ph. 334 62979
Prof Rob Capon
r.capon@uq.edu.au
ph. 334 62979
Dr Zyta Ziora
z.ziora@imb.uq.edu.au
Feb 2016
Anytime in 2016
ph. 334 62067
using titration experiments by isothermal titration
calorimetry (ITC) and NMR. The metal ion-antibiotic
complexes will be submitted for MIC assays to examine the
metal ions role in applied biological systems.
Dr Zyta Ziora
Antibiotic release from magnetic nanoparticles for
z.ziora@imb.uq.edu.au
improved biopotency
ph. 334 62067
Antibiotic-peptide-linker-antibody construct will recognise
bacteria maturation. The enzyme from damaged membrane
will be exposed to the surface of bacteria and it will
recognise the peptidic sequence being in the linker; the
peptide will be enzymatically cleaved releasing free
antibiotic and causing their decease.
Dr Mark Butler
Identification of biologically active natural products
m.butler5@uq.edu.au
As part of an ongoing efforts to identify new anti-infective
ph. 334 62992
leads, we have identified extracts with antifungal and
antibacterial activity. Bioassay-guided isolation will be used
to identify the active components and their structures
determined using spectroscopic techniques that include
NMR and MS.
Prof Matt Cooper / Wanida
Synthesis of novel bacitracin antibiotic probes
Phetsang
This project will prepare Bacitracin analogues with azide
Infogroups at these positions, as useful starting materials for
coopergroup@imb.uq.edu.au generating both fluorescent probes and hybrid antibiotics
ph. 334 62044
visa ‘click’ chemistry. The fluorescent probe(s) will be used
Anytime in 2016
Anytime in 2016
Anytime in 2016
to investigate the Bacitracin A molecular targets.
Prof Matt Cooper / Angie
Synthesis of novel antibiotics to combat drug resistant
Anytime in 2016
Jarrad
Clostridium difficile
InfoThe aim of this project is to prepare novel next generation
coopergroup@imb.uq.edu.au antibiotics that can overcome deficiencies in the current
Ph. 334 62044
treatment options. Compounds prepared by the student will
contribute to an exciting multidisciplinary, drug discovery
program to combat this debilitating human disease.
Prof Matt Cooper / Dr Karl
Hit validation of novel antimicrobial molecules
Anytime in 2016
Hansford
This chemistry based project aims synthesis analogues of hit
Infomolecules as part of the hit validation process to obtain
coopergroup@imb.uq.edu.au structure-activity information.
Ph. 334 62044
Dr Cas Simons
c.simons@imb.uq.edu.au
ph. 334 62080
Characterisation of Zebrafish models of white matter
Anytime in 2016
disorders
Leukodystrophies are inherited diseases that affect myelin
in the central nervous system. These diseases usually
present early in life, are progressive and incurable. Through
whole genome of families affected by rare and undiagnosed
leukodystrophies we have identified mutations in several
novel candidate genes. This project revolves around
characterising the phenotype a zebrafish knock out model
for one of these genes and will likely involve basic molecular
A/Prof Rohan Teasdale
r.teasdale@uq.edu.au
ph. 334 62056
A/Prof Rohan Teasdale
r.teasdale@uq.edu.au
ph. 334 62056
Prof Mark Smythe / Dr
Christina Kulis
c.kulis@imb.uq.edu.au
ph. 334 62368
biology (cloning, in vitro transcription), zebrafish breading,
RNA in situ hybridization, immunofluorescence, qPCR and
imaging of live/fixed zebrafish with fluorescent transgenic
reporters.
Characterisation of the mammalian endosomal protein
Anytime in 2016
complex called the retromer
Retromer is a central regulator of early endosome protein
trafficking that has recently been implicated in the
progressive neurological disorders such as Alzheimer’s and
Parkinson’s disease. This project will examine the properties
of retromer to determine the molecular mechanisms
underlying these disease states.
Defining the Endosomal Network
Anytime in 2016
The endo-lysosomal system of mammalian cells
incorporates highly dynamic endocytic membrane transport
pathways that are fundamental for many cellular processes.
Understanding how the mammalian endosomal system
functions firstly requires its composition to be defined. This
project will combine bioinformatics with classic cell biology
techniques to help define this important biological system.
Development of New Spin Label Probes
Anytime in 2016
Electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy is a
powerful technique for studying the structure and dynamics
of proteins. However its effectiveness is limited by the spin
Prof Mark Smythe / Dr
Christina Kulis
c.kulis@imb.uq.edu.au
ph. 334 62368
Dr Michele Bastiani
m.bastiani@uq.edu.au
Ph. 334 62335
labels employed, which are either too flexible or bulky and
do not resemble natural amino acids. This project is focused
on the development and synthesis of amino acid based spin
label probes to improve EPR measurements in biological
systems
Development of LPGDS Inhibitors for Inflammation
This project is focused on the development of small
molecule inhibitors to modulate the lipocalin prostaglandin
D2 synthase (LPGD2S) enzyme. This project will involve the
chemical synthesis and biological activity of these
compounds.
How does the extracellular environment shape the plasma
membrane
Mechanical cues can impact cellular behaviour affecting the
cell’s morphology and fate. This project will make use of
synthetic smart surfaces to investigate how caveolae,
invaginations of the plasma membrane which respond to
membrane tension and stretch, are affected by changes to
the mechanical properties of the extracellular environment.
These studies will be a collaborative project between the
Institute of Molecular Bioscience (IMB) and the Australian
Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN),
presenting the opportunity to work on different cellular
biology techniques with emphasis on high-resolution
Anytime in 2016
Anytime in 2016
microscopy.
A/Prof Lachlan Coin / Dr
Analysing bacterial antibiotics resistance with real-time
Anytime in 2016
Minh Duc Cao
MinION sequencing
m.cao1@uq.edu.au
The latest high-throughput sequencing technology, the
ph. 334 62178
Oxford Nanopore MinION platform, presents many
innovative features opening up potential for many
applications not previously possible. Among these, the
ability to sequence in real-time provides a unique
opportunity for many time-critical applications. This project
will develop computational methods to take advantages of
the ability to sequence long reads in real-time of this
technology, and to overcome its high error rates. These
methods will be applied to characterise bacterial antibiotics
resistance genomics from clinical collected samples, thereby
identify genotypes associated with the development of
antimicrobial resistance.
Suitable for a student with a background in computational
and a desire to work at the interface of computing and
biology.
A/Prof Lachlan Coin / Dr Alan The rapid identification of antibiotic resistant bacteria
Anytime in 2016
Robertson
from clinical samples with MinION
a.robertson@imb.uq.edu.au With the rise of antibiotic resistant microbes, the need to
ph. 334 62178
quickly identify the source of an infection and prescribe the
correct treatment is essential. The current method used to
Dr Markus Muttenthaler
m.muttenthaler@uq.edu.au
ph. 334 62985
identify the bacterial species present in a sample takes
upwards of 48 hours, a time-scale too long for many
patients. We have recently used minion, a novel next
generation sequencing platform (Oxford Nanopore) to
identify the species of bacteria in a mixed sample and
characterise their antibiotic resistance profile. This project
will apply our approach to clinical samples and investigate
the capacity of our tool to identify specific species and
strains of bacteria as well as report the presence of
antibiotic resistance phenotypes.
Ideal for a student with wet-lab experience.
Endosomal escape for quantum dots using cell-penetrating Anytime in 2016
peptides
Cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs) have become a mainstay
technology for facilitating the delivery of a wide variety of
nanomaterials to cells and tissues. Currently, the library of
CPPs to choose from is still limited, with the HIV TAT-derived
motif still being the most used. In this project we want to
synthesise and characterise novel CPP motifs for their ability
to facilitate delivery of luminescent semiconductor quantum
dots (QDs) in a model cell culture system. The synthesis will
be carried out using solid-phase peptide synthesis. Potential
applications include diagnostic tools, selective cell labelling,
and therapeutic applications.
Dr Markus Muttenthaler
m.muttenthaler@uq.edu.au
ph. 334 62985
Dr Markus Muttenthaler
m.muttenthaler@uq.edu.au
ph. 334 62985
Towards a complete molecular toolbox for the Oxytocin
Anytime in 2016
and Vasopressin receptors
The oxytocin (OT)/vasopressin (VP) G protein coupled
receptors are part of a 600-million-year-old signalling
system responsible for reproduction, water balance and
complex social behaviour. They form viable yet
underexplored targets for high-profile indications such as
autism, schizophrenia, stress, depression, anxiety, cancer
and pain. Therapeutic development has been hampered by
a lack of receptor subtype-selective ligands suitable for
rodent and human studies. Understanding the structureactivity relationship of OT/VP is important for the design of
better probes and drug candidates. In this project we want
to probe the highly conserved proline position of OT/VP to
gauge if it can be used to tune selectivity and potency. The
ligands will be synthesised by solid-phase peptide synthesis.
Total chemical synthesis of a trefoil factor peptide
Anytime in 2016
Trefoil factor (TFF) peptides are secreted into the gut as part
of the inflammatory response and are responsible for gut
protection and gastrointestinal wound healing. Their
compact structure makes TFFs extremely stable to
proteolytic degradation and enables them to function in the
hostile environment of the gastrointestinal tract. No
receptor has been linked to the signalling of these peptides
and understanding the mechanism of action is of
fundamental importance for this class of molecules.
Achieving the total chemical synthesis (using solid-phase
peptide synthesis) would allow us to produce enhanced
probes to study the mechanism of action in greater detail.