Parker laboratory: Metabolic Proteomics & Signal Transduction
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Head of Laboratory
Dr Benjamin Parker+61 3 8344 2925
Research Overview
View Dr Parker's latest PubMed publications listing here
The Metabolic Proteomics and Signal Transduction Group is focused on understanding how signal transduction regulates metabolism with the goal of identifying new therapeutic targets to treat disease. We are particularly interested in studying dynamic changes in proteins and their post-translational modifications, and understanding how these are regulated by genetic variants and metabolic insults to ultimately shape cellular physiology. We primarily focus on metabolic tissues such as liver and adipose with a strong emphasis on muscle.
There are numerous diseases that involve defective muscle metabolism. These include sarcopenia or cachexia that are one of the most debilitating consequences of ageing and cancer, cardiomyopathies that form a significant fraction of cardiovascular disease, and also type 2 diabetes characterised by a major defect in the ability of muscle to take up glucose in response to insulin. It is crucial to develop better approaches to investigate the many functions of muscle, including how it develops, how it is regenerated, how it is effected by physical activity, how defects in muscle function contribute to disease, and the identification and development of novel therapeutics targeted to muscle.
We use a multi-disciplinary approach to answer these questions incorporating proteomics, cell biology, molecular biology, and physiology, and have a vast collaborative network of computational biologists, geneticists, tissue engineers, stem cell biologists and experts in molecular therapies.
Staff
Dr Benjamin Parker, Research Fellow and Head of Laboratory
Dr Ronnie Blazev, Research Assistant
Dr Jeffrey Molendijk, Postdoctoral Researcher
Dr Mriga Dutt, Postdoctoral Researcher
Yaan Kit-Ng, PhD student
Helen Liao, Masters student
Collaborators
A/Prof Paul Gregorevic, University of Melbourne
Prof Matt Watt, University of Melbourne
Prof Gordon Lynch, University of Melbourne
Prof Stephen Wilton, Murdoch University
Prof David James, University of Sydney
Prof Jake Lusis, UCLA
Prof Karen Reue, UCLA
Dr Marcus Seldin, UCLA
Dr Anna Calkin, Baker IDI
Dr Brian Drew, Baker IDI
Prof Erik Richter, University of Copenhagen
Prof Jurgen Wojtaszewski, University of Copenhagen
Dr Thomas Jensen, University of Copenhagen
Dr Lykke Sylow, University of Copenhagen
Dr James Hudson, QIMR
Dr Richard Mills, QIMR
Dr Morten Thaysen-Andersen, Macquarie University
Prof Richard Payne, University of Sydney
Prof Stephen Simpson, University of Sydney
Prof Joel Mackay, University of Sydney
A/Prof. Carsten Schmitz-Peiffer, Garvan Institute
Dr Hayley O’Neill, Bond University
A/Prof Jon Oakhill, SVI
Dr Joseph Brozinick, Eli Lilly
Dr Christian Pehmoller, Pfizer
Funding
2017-2019 NHMRC Project Grant. Skeletal muscle signal transduction related to exercise, metabolic disease and human health (APP1122376)
2019-2021 NHMRC Project Grant. Developing a novel class of therapeutics for muscle wasting and frailty (APP1156562)
2020-2022 NHMRC Ideas Grant. Genetic regulation of signal transduction and metabolic flexibility (APP1184363)
2019-2023 University of Melbourne Driving Research Momentum Fellowship