Staff profile

Dr Robyn Murphy

Senior Lecturer

Faculty of Science, Technology and Engineering

School of Life Sciences
Department of Zoology

Room 363, Biological Sciences Building 2, room 363, Melbourne (Bundoora)

 

Qualifications

BSc(Hons) (VUT), PhD (Deakin)

Membership of professional associations

Australian Physiological Society (National Secretary)

Area of study

Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Physiology
Zoology

Brief profile

I have a BSC in Chemistry and an Honours degree in Exercise biochemistry, both attained from Victoria University, Footscray, Australia.  My PhD was in the area of creatine metabolism, completed at Deakin University, Burwood, Australia.  I spent my postdoctoral years working with Prof Graham Lamb, Dept of Zoology, LaTrobe University and I was awarded an NHMRC Peter Doherty postdoctoral training fellowship in 2006.  In 2010 I began my academic position in Dept of Zoology, La Trobe University.  I have a small research group focusing on various aspects of skeletal muscle biochemistry.  In particular, we measure proteins in segments of individual fibres obtained from both human and rat skeletal muscle. 

 

Research interests

Muscle cell physiology

- Please contact me to discuss a topic.

Teaching units

MED3MSB - Medical Science B (Neuromuscular disorders)

ZOO3EPA - Moving into Metabolism

Recent publications

 

Mollica JP, Dutka TL, Merry TL, Lamboley CR, McConell GK, McKenna MJ, Murphy RM and Lamb GD. (2012)  S-glutathionylation of Troponin I (fast) increases contractile apparatus Ca2+-sensitivity in fast-twitch muscle fibres in rats and humans. J Physiol, 590 (6): 1443-1463  

Dutka TL, Lamboley CR, McKenna MJ, Murphy RM and Lamb GD. (2012) Effects of carnosine on contractile apparatus Ca2+-sensitivity and sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca2+ release in human skeletal muscle fibers. J Appl Physiol, 112 (5): 728-736  

Larkins NT, Murphy RM and Lamb GD. (2012) Absolute amounts and diffusibility of HSP72, HSP25 and αB-crystallin in fast- and slow-twitch skeletal muscle fibers of rat. Am J Physiol Cell Physiol, 302:C228-C239  

Murphy RM. (2011). Enhanced technique to measure proteins in single segments of human skeletal muscle fibers: fiber type dependence of AMPK alpha1 and beta1. J Appl Physiol 110(3):820-825  

Murphy RM, Mollica JP, Beard NA, Knollmann BC, Lamb GD (2011). Quantification of calsequestrin 2 (CSQ2) in sheep cardiac muscle and Ca2+-binding protein changes in CSQ2-knockout mice. Am J Physiol Heart, 300 (2): H595-604  

Edwards JN, Blackmore D, Murphy RM, Launikonis BS. (2011) Store-operated calcium entry remains fully functional in aged mouse skeletal muscle despite a decline in STIM1 protein expression.  Aging Cell, 10 (4): 675-685    

Murphy RM, Vissing K, Latchman H, Lamboley C, McKenna MJ, Overgaard K, Lamb GD. (2011) Activation of calpain-3 by eccentric exercise in humans does not result in its translocate to the nucleus or cytosol. J Appl Physiol 111:1448-1458

Research projects

  • My main area of research is in understanding the regulation and functional properties of calcium dependent proteases, the calpains, in skeletal muscle.  If an individual has an absent or non-functional muscle specific calpain-3, they develop a type of muscular dystrophy (LGMD2A).
  • A further area of my study with collaborators at Uniersity of Melbourne, is in Type 2 diabetes and understanding how the proteins related to glycogen, AMPK and GLUT4 are involved in this disease.  Importantly, we are trying to understand what the mechanisms are that result in an improvement in this metabolic disease following exercise interventions.