Justine Mintern laboratory

Research Overview

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photo of Dr Justine Mintern
Prof Mintern is a Senior Lecturer and Laboratory Head in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. She investigates mechanisms of vaccine biology.
Mintern lab group in May 2016

Advancing vaccine design is important for the treatment and prevention of infectious disease and cancer. We investigate the fundamental cell biology of how an immune response begins and apply innovative bioengineered tools to probe mechanisms of vaccine biology.

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The projects use a wide range of experimental approaches including:

  • application of novel DNA-based fluorescent probes
  • immunofluorescent microscopy
  • flow cytometry
  • CRISPR-cas9
  • proteomics
  • experimental models of inflammation, infection and cancer

For more information about the Mintern laboratory, please download this information sheet (PDF 9.7 MB).

Staff

Haiyin Liu receiving the award for Best 2nd year PhD poster at the 2016 ASMR Victorian Student Research Symposium

Research staff

Joanne Pooley, Laboratory Manager
Christophe Macri, Postdoctoral Fellow
Haiyin Liu, Postdoctoral Fellow
Patrick Schriek, Postdoctoral Fellow

Research Students

Kayla Wilson, PhD student
Annabelle Blum, PhD student
Devi Jenika, PhD student
Ashleigh Firth, PhD student
Pharvinderjit Singh, Masters of Biomedical Sciences student
Charles Tantuco, Honours student
Yong Yan, Honours student

photo of Charlee Bickers
Charlee Bickers presenting her talk at the 2016 ASMR Victorian Student Research Symposium. Charlee was awarded the prize for Best Honours talk.
photo of Patrick Schriek
Patrick Schriek competing in the Biochemistry and Molecular Biology 3MT competition.
Mintern lab members enjoying a game of bubble soccer

Collaborators

Professor Jose Villadangos, University of Melbourne
Dr Angus Johnston, Monash University
Dr Georgina Such, University of Melbourne
Associate Professor Marco Herold, WEHI
Professor Satoshi Ishido, Hyogo College of Medicine, Japan
Dr Elodie Segura, Institut Curie, France

Funding

Fellowships
2019-2023  Australian Research Council Future Fellowship FT180100521. Novel tools and nanotechnology to navigate intracellular trafficking. $858,125, four years.  
2010-2013National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Career Development Award (Level 1) 637374. "Characterisation of antigen cross-presentation in dendritic cells". $377,000.
2008-2010CR Roper Fellowship. Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, University of Melbourne.  
2003-2007  National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC)  CJ Martin Overseas Training Fellowship 251758. "Viral subversion of the immune system". $318,494.

NHMRC Ideas Grant
2021-2023 National Health Medical Research Council (Australia) Ideas Grant. Identifying molecular machinery in dendritic cells. $686,000. Sole Chief Investigator. ID2000683.

NHMRC Project Grants
2019-2021 National Health Medical Research Council (Australia) Project. MARCH ubiquitin ligases in immunity and infection. $574,920, 3 years. Sole Chief Investigator. APP1161101.
2017-2019 National Health Medical Research Council (Australia) Project Grant. Improving therapeutic delivery by understanding nanoparticle interactions with cells. $553,152. Chief Investigator B (CIA A. Johnston) ID1129672.
2014-2016 National Health Medical Research Council (Australia) Project Grant. Improving drug delivery with nanotechnology. $604,890, 3 years. Chief Investigator B (CIA A. Johnston). ID062549.
2011-2013 National Health Medical Research Council (Australia) Project Grant. Autophagy: a new pathway for presenting antigen in dendritic cells. $537,390, 3 years. Chief Investigator A. (was CIB, replaced J. Villadangos as CIA in 2011) ID1010231.
2011-2013 National Health Medical Research Council (Australia) Project Grant. Characterisation of the antigen cross-presentation pathway in dendritic cells. $429,615, 3 years. Chief Investigator B. (CIA J. Villadangos). ID1009307.
2008-2010 National Health Medical Research Council (Australia) Project Grant. Cytolytic mechanisms required for virus elimination. $473,250. Sole Chief Investigator. ID508905.

ARC Linkage Grant
2017-2019 Australian Research Council Linkage Project Grant. The cell biology of FcRn receptor recycling system. $471,000. Chief Investigator (CI P. Gleeson, PI A. Verhagen, PI S. Downer). LP160101373.

ARC Discovery Projects
2019-2021 Australian Research Council Discovery Project Grant DP190101242. Trafficking inside the cell for effective immunity. $474,000. Sole Chief Investigator.
2018-2020 Australian Research Council Discovery Project. Engineering the trafficking of nanoparticles within cells. $438,161. Chief Investigator (CI G. Such, CI A. Johnston). DP180100844.

Research Publications

Click here for the results of a PubMed search of Justine's publications.

Click here for the results of a Google Scholar analysis of Justine's publications.

  1. Liu H, Wilson KR, Schriek P, Macri C, Blum AB, Francis L, Heinlein M, Nataraja C, Harris J, Jones SA, Gray DHD, Villadangos JA, Mintern JD. 2020. "Ubiquitination of MHC Class II Is Required for Development of Regulatory but Not Conventional CD4+ T Cells." 205:1207-1216.
  2. H. Liu, J.D. Mintern, J.A. Villadangos. 2019 "MARCH ligases in immunity". Current Opinion Immunology. 58: 38-43.
  3. Wilson KR, Liu H, Healey G, Vuong V, Ishido S, Herold MJ, Villadangos JA, Mintern JD. 2018. "MARCH1-mediated ubiquitination of MHC II impacts the MHC I antigen presentation pathway." Plos One 13: e0200540.
  4. D. Urbanavicius, T. Alvarez, G.K. Such, A.P.R. Johnston, J.D. Mintern. 2018 "The potential of nanoparticle vaccines as a treatment for cancer". Molecular Immunology 98: 2-7.
  5. Dumont C, Czuba E, Chen M, Villadangos JA, Mintern JD. 2017. "DNA-based probes for flow cytometry analysis of endocytosis and recycling." Traffic 18: 242-249.
  6. Liu H, Jain R, Guan J, Vuong V, Ishido S, La Gruta NL, Gray DH, Villadangos JA, Mintern JD. 2016. "Ubiquitin ligase MARCH 8 cooperates with CD83 to control surface MHC II expression in thymic epithelium and CD4 T cell selection." Journal of Experimental Medicine 213: 1695-703.
  7. C. Macri, J.D. Mintern. 2016. "Targeting dendritic cells: a promising strategy to improve vaccine effectiveness". Clinical and Translational Immunology 18: e66.
  8. Londrigan SL, Tate MD, Job ER, Moffat JM, Wakim LM, Gonelli CA, Purcell DF, Brooks AG, Villadangos JA, Reading PC, Mintern JD. 2015. Endogenous murine BST-2/tetherin is not a major restriction factor of influenza A virus infection. Plos One 13: e0142925.
  9. Reuter A, Panozza SE, Macri C, Dumont C, Li J, Liu H, Segura E, Vega-Ramos J, Gupta N, Caminschi I, Villadangos JA, Johnston AP, Mintern JD. 2015. Criteria for dendritic cell receptor selection for efficient antibody-targeted vaccination. Journal of Immunology 194: 2696-705.
  10. Mintern JD, Percival C, Kamphuis MM, Chin WJ, Caruso F, Johnston AP. 2013. Targeting dendritic cells: the role of specific receptors in the internalisation of polymer capsules. Advanced Healthcare Materials. 2: 940-4.

Research Projects



Faculty Research Themes

Infection and Immunology

School Research Themes

Infection & Immunity, Molecular Mechanisms of Disease



Key Contact

For further information about this research, please contact Head of Laboratory Prof Justine Mintern

Department / Centre

Biochemistry and Pharmacology

Unit / Centre

Justine Mintern laboratory

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