Molecular Proteomics Research
Exploring intercellular signaling and advanced omics in the context of the heart. This division seeks to understand cell signalling through nanovesicles as a therapeutic strategy and integrate multi-disciplinary technologies to understand cardiac remodelling and its repair.
This division is based at the Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute, Melbourne. This division seeks to improve understanding of heart remodelling, multi-omic strategies to provide insights into cardiac physiology and repair, and cell signaling. The team has a strong expertise in extracellular vesicles (EVs) as mediators of intercellular communication and function and focused on therapeutic strategies for delivery and remodelling of the heart. To achieve our research goals, the laboratory uses advanced proteomics, phosphoproteomics, lipidomics, stem cell models, nanomaterials, regenerative cell biology, and experts in molecular therapies with the goal of identifying new deliverable therapeutic targets for next generation cell-free therapy.
Current Research Projects
Cardiac cell surface proteins are drug targets and useful biomarkers for discriminating among cellular phenotypes and disease states. This strategu will develop a cell membrane surface barcode (surfaceome) through combination of chemical proteomics, mass spectrometry applied to understand the cardiac vascular and carduiac cell surface network using analytical pipelines established in our team
We investigate how to specifically load and deliver a biological payload in nano-carriers for the targeted and selective delivery to the heart, to better understand the mechanisms of proteome reprogramming target cardiac cells in cardiac dysfunction, and engineering strategies to modify EV targeting capacity.
Circulating nano-sized extracellular vesicles (EVs) hold tremendous potential to diagnose and treat CVDs. EVs carry specific information and are responsible for efficient intercellular communication that is important in many physiological processes and their content perturbed in the progression of several diseases, including CVD. Coronary artery disease (CAD) is the leading cause of death worldwide. This project will develop our unique strategies to define circulating EVs, their proteome and phosphoproteome landscape, and their utility as biomarkers in the context of CAD progression.
Team members
Associate Professor David Greening (Division Head)
Dr Alin Rai (Senior Post-doctoral Fellow, Group Leader)
Dr Bethany Claridge (PhD Student and Research Assistant)
Auriane Drack (PhD Student)
Haoyun Fang (PhD Student and Research Assistant)
Iasmin Inocencio (PhD Student)
Jonathan Lozano (PhD Student)
Jonathon Cross (Research Assistant)
Qi Hui Poh (PhD Student)
Sadegh Eslami (PhD Student)