This newsletter outlines key HIRi achievements, collaborations and projects from the second half of 2012. It also includes the list of semester 1 2013 seminars, to which you are invited.

This year HIRi has continued to grow. It now has 31 core members and 62 members spanning six schools across RMIT University. Key appointments to the Institute in 2012 include Professor Peter McIntyre (from the University of Melbourne), who is the new Deputy Director of HIRi; Professor Tony Paolini (from LaTrobe University), who is Professor of Psychology, School of Health Sciences; and Dr Sarah Spencer (from Monash University), who received an RMIT Vice Chancellor’s Senior Research Fellowship in the School of Health Sciences.

Congratulations to HIRi recipients of the recent National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) and Australian Research Council (ARC) grants for funding starting in 2013. Recipients include Professor Peter McIntyre, Professor David Pow and Dr Sarah Spencer. This funding totals $2.3 million. Overall core member research income for 2012 was approximately $4.3 million. The support HIRi gives to its members, including advice on industry connections, writing workshops and mentoring on grant applications and publications, has significantly contributed to its increased funding.

It is especially pleasing to report on RMIT University’s strong performance in the recent Excellence in Research for Australia

(ERA) rankings. RMIT University achieved a rating of 4 (above world standard) for the Medical and Health Sciences two digit Field of Research (FoR); two ratings of 5 (outstanding performance well above world standard) for the four digit FoRs Clinical Sciences and Human Movement, and Sports Science; and two ratings of 4 for the four digit FoRs Pharmacology and Pharmaceutical Sciences, and Medical Physiology. These results reflect RMIT University’s investment in, and commitment to, research, and HIRi in particular.

Season’s Greetings and best wishes for a safe and successful 2013!

HEALTH INNOVATIONS NEWSTranslating fundamental science into better health outcomes

Issue 2, December 2012

Director’s message

Welcome to the second issue of the Health Innovations Research Institute’s newsletter.

In this issue

Forging industry partnerships at home and abroad

Profile: Professor Peter McIntyre

HIRi Research Day 2012

Selection of recent grants received

Selection of recent refereed publications

Upcoming events

HIRi is actively pursuing partnerships with global pharmaceutical companies to help with drug discovery and development.

In August 2012, Dr Craig Neylon secured a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Japanese pharmaceutical company Shionogi & Co., Ltd. This MoU outlines HIRi’s intention to collaborate with Shionogi to research, develop and commercialise promising drug leads and technologies.

As part of this collaboration, HIRi will participate in the Shionogi 2012 Science Program. This highly competitive funding program was set up to foster collaboration with academic institutions. HIRi members have submitted 10 outstanding project proposals to the 2012 program. We hope that at least some of these projects will be seen by the company as suitable for future collaborations.

HIRi is also exploring partnerships with other companies, to help drive development of its most exciting drug candidates.

HIRi is strengthening its international research activities and collaborations to help maintain its world-class standards of research and innovation. Asia is the fastest growing region for biotechnology in the world, making it a key regional partner.

To extend HIRi’s presence in Asia, Dr Craig Neylon, Commercialisation and Industry Linkage Manager, travelled to Singapore to visit Eu Yan Sang International Limited (EYSI) in August 2012. HIRi has been discussing business proposals with representatives from this company for some time.

Craig met senior company executives in the EYSI offices in Singapore’s vibrant Chinatown district. He outlined specific HIRi projects and discussed the Institute’s plans for securing funding. The executives were particularly excited by the Australian government’s incentives for their company to do business with HIRi in Australia.

After a very successful day in Singapore, Craig travelled to Macau to attend the 11th Meeting of the Consortium for Globalization of Chinese Medicine. RMIT University is a founding member of this consortium and it is highly regarded in the traditional and complementary medicine (TCM) community.

The meeting was held at the magnificent Venetian Hotel and featured 14 forum sessions spanning the full spectrum of TCM research. It was a great opportunity to meet many local companies involved with TCM and explore the possibility of them partnering with HIRi’s TCM program. The industry forum was particularly insightful and uncovered a number of potential partners.

After the main meeting, Craig toured the Macau University of Science and Technology (MUST) and Macau University’s Department of TCM Research. Both facilities were very impressive, with considerable funding obviously invested in state-of-the-art equipment. Interestingly, many laboratories have National Association of Testing Authorities, Australia, accreditation, which reflects their appreciation of Australian regulatory standards.

Craig made many connections that will help HIRi build links with these important institutions. Macau University in particular offers many opportunities to collaborate and access to outstanding research students to help HIRi achieve its research objectives.

Page 02

Building collaboration with Asia

Above: Official ribbon-cutting ceremony: 11th Meeting of the Consortium for Globalization of Chinese Medicine

Partnering with international pharmaceutical company Shionogi & Co., Ltd

Forging industry partnerships at home and abroad

Dr Craig Neylon represented HIRi at the Life Science sector of the Victorian Government’s 2012 Super Trade Mission to China in September. This was the largest trade mission to ever leave Australian shores, involving 650 delegates from more than 400 Victorian businesses and organisations across 12 industry groups. The program was intensive and gruelling, comprising business matching meetings, forums, tours of facilities, presentations and networking sessions.

The Life Science sector covered four major cities in one week: Beijing, Nanjing, Shanghai and Shenzheng. Victorian delegates were warmly received at each host city. After the busy daily schedules, they were treated with celebratory events, including a lavish Premier’s Gala dinner at the magnificent Mission Hills Resort at Dongguan.

RMIT University enjoyed an open playfield in the Life Science sector, because no other major Melbourne university was

represented. Craig was overwhelmed by RMIT University’s strong reputation in China and the enthusiasm companies have for establishing new links with the University. Craig made future plans with a host of Chinese companies, from top tier to start up, and established a presence in China’s burgeoning biotechnology network.

The mission was invaluable for HIRi, helping the Institute build on its existing solid links with China and forge new opportunities and relationships. This trade mission will be a landmark in the Institute’s growing relationship with Chinese biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries.

Left: The Life Sciences delegation with Minister for Technology, Gordon Rich-Phillips (eighth from left) and Dr Craig Neylon (fourth from left)

Super Trade Mission to China

Tell us a little about your past. I completed my Bachelor of Science and PhD just down the road, at LaTrobe University’s Department of Biochemistry. I received a Postdoctoral Fellowship from the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, then did another Postdoctorate at Cancer Research UK in London.

After studying, I set up my own laboratory in a Novartis-funded institute at University College, London. I stayed in London for nearly 20 years, before returning to Australia in 2005 to be Chairman and Head of the Department of Pharmacology at the University of Melbourne.

I started working at RMIT University in July 2012.

What do you hope to achieve at RMIT? I’d like to help build RMIT’s research strengths in the areas of membranes and ion channels. I’d also like to contribute to understanding how we can control ion channels that are responding inappropriately to signals and causing conditions like chronic pain and cardiovascular disease.

In the big picture, I would like to help HIRi be better recognised as a great Melbourne institute and a great place to do research.

Tell us a bit about your research and what attracted you to this field? My research group studies how and why ion channels open to let electrical signals pass through nerve and other excitable cells in the body.

In particular, we study a class of ion channels called ‘TRP channels’, which also sense the hot chemicals in chilli, wasabi, mustard and ginger, and the cooling chemicals found in eucalyptus oil. These ion channels appear to be very important in pain sensation and many other sensory processes. They are the switches that turn on many important sensory processes, making them good potential targets for drugs that treat diseases involving disturbed ion channel activity.

I started working in this area when I led a group looking for chilli-activated TRP channel blockers, which was a new

approach to pain therapy. I have been fascinated by TRP channels ever since, because they play key roles in normal and pathological physiology. A better understanding of how they work will affect approaches to discovering new drugs to treat conditions like pain, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and obesity.

What do you like about RMIT? RMIT is rapidly improving its biological research profile, making great strides in the fields of health, biomolecular and nano sciences. Scientists here seem very willing to help each other succeed and there’s a feeling that we can achieve great things. The open-mindedness and support to succeed make me feel pleased to be part of the RMIT research community, which is typified by HIRi.

I am also originally from Melbourne and think it’s a great place to work. The city itself has a great, supportive scientific community and culture (and good coffee!).

Professor Peter McIntyre School of Medical Sciences and Deputy Director, HIRi

Profile

Page 03Issue Two • Summer 2012Health Innovations News

This year, the HIRi annual Research Day was held on Friday 29 June.

Professor Peter Brook’s keynote presentation ‘Lost in Translation: Why the health system needs reform’ was a highlight of the day. Professor Brook gave a thought-provoking insight into the future of our health system in the face of an ageing population. He outlined future challenges for the delivery of health care and the need to link health education with workforce issues. He also discussed how the new collaboration between HIRi and the Northern Hospital is a tremendous opportunity for researchers and clinicians to help solve the most critical health issues affecting many Australians.

Speakers from each of HIRI’s four programs also presented their latest research and findings.

The Metabolism, Exercise and Disease presentations looked at skeletal muscle

in health and disease; leukocyte– platelet interaction and cardiovascular disease; the role of GAG-synthesising enzymes in preventing atherosclerosis; transthyretin; and regulation of thrombus growth and stability.

Traditional and Complementary Medicine Program members spoke about translational research; medicinal plants, DNA technology and bioactive honey production; analysis and synthesis of phytochemicals in Salvia miltiorrhiza; the cardioprotective effects of tanshinones; discovery and development of new therapies from natural products; and computational platforms for predicting effects of particle drug delivery.

The Biophysics and Bioengineering Program’s presentations covered X-ray, neutron and light-scattering tools; membrane charge transport mechanisms and applications; proteins under stress;

microfluidics and haemodynamics research; biomicrofluidics and tissue engineering; and designing and developing target-specific theronostics.

The Ion Channels as Therapeutic Targets Program finished the day, talking about Nedd4 and Nedd4-2 in central nervous system function; what controls brain nerve excitement; how analgesic -conotoxins inhibit Cav2.2 calcium channels; and ligand selectivity and ion channel gating.

This year’s Research Day was a great opportunity to hear about the broad range of research associated with the Institute and RMIT University. We encourage HIRi members, staff and students from RMIT University and other universities, and any interested members of the public to join us for the next Research Day, which will be held mid next year.

HIRi Research Day 2012

Selection of recent grants received

Professor David Adams ‘GABAB Receptor Modulation of Gastrointestinal Function in Health and Disease by α-Conotoxins’ (NHMRC Project Grant, $665,267, 2013–2015)

Professor Peter McIntyre ‘Targeting TRPV4 activation mechanisms to reveal novel pain therapies’ (NHMRC Project Grant, $560,972, 2013–2015)

Professor Peter McIntyre ‘The calcium channel TRPV4 in skeletal development and arthritis’ (Administered by Murdoch Childrens Research Institute, NHMRC Project Grant, $659,925, 2012–2014)

Professor David Pow ‘The transportome: a coordinate complex regulating brain excitation and inhibition’ (NHMRC Project Grant, $592,142, 2013–2015)

Professor Irene Yarovsky ‘Centre of Research Excellence, Electromagnetic Bioeffects Research’ (Based at the University of Wollongong, NHMRC, $500,000 (given to RMIT), 2012–2016)

Professor David Adams ‘New Conus-derived α-conotoxin analgesics for the treatment of chronic pain: structure mode of action, delivery and disposition’ (Administered by Monash University, ARC Linkage grant with partners Polychip Pharmaceuticals, $148,000 (given to RMIT), 2012–2013)

Dr Sarah Spencer ‘Optimising growth rates by postnatal programming of brain pathways regulating metabolism’ (ARC Discovery Project Grant, $390,000, 2013–2015)

Professor Nilmini Wickramasinghe ‘Improving tuberculosis surveillance in low resource settings using the Ledger Shredder’ (Administered by Moi University, Kenya, CAD Bold Ideas for Humanity Grand Challenge Grant, $113,000, November 2012–April 2014)

Professor Nilmini Wickramasinghe ‘An investigation into the role for a pervasive technology solution to support gestational diabetes patient care’ (Australian Technology Network-German Academic Exchange Service (ATN-DAAD), $25,000, 2013–2014)

Professor David Adams and Dr Martin Stebbing ‘Developing biotechnology high-throughput screening for compounds that prevent microglia activation in chronic brain disease’ (ATN-DAAD, $24,000, 2013–2014)

Professor Peter Smooker ‘Platform vaccine technology: Creating new vaccines from a registered cold-attenuated influenza vaccine’ (Biodiem Limited, $15,000, 2012–2013)

Page 04Issue Two • Summer 2012Health Innovations News

Adams DJ, Callaghan B, Berecki G (2012). Analgesic conotoxins: block and G protein-coupled receptor modulation of N-type (Cav2.2) calcium channels. British Journal of Pharmacology 166(2):486–500.

Dworak M, Stebbing M, Kompa AR, Rana I, Krum H, Badoer E (2012). Sustained activation of microglia in the hypothalamic PVN following myocardial infarction. Autonomic Neuroscience 169(2):70–76.

Cuny H, de Faoite A, Huynh TG, Yasuda T, Berecki G, Adams DJ (2012). γ-Aminobutyric Acid Type B (GABAB) Receptor Expression Is Needed for Inhibition of N-type (Cav2.2) Calcium Channels by Analgesic α-Conotoxins. Journal of Biological Chemistry 287(28):23948–23957.

Knapp O, Nevin ST, Yasuda T, Lawrence N, Lewis RJ, Adams DJ (2012). Biophysical properties of Nav1.8/Nav1.2 chimeras and inhibition by µO-conotoxin MrVIB. British Journal of Pharmacology 166(7):2148–2160.

Lee A, Anderson AR, Barnett NL, Stevens MG, Pow DV (2012). Alternate splicing and expression of the glutamate transporter EAAT5 in the rat retina. Gene 506(2):283–288.

Unkles SE, Karabika E, Symington VF, Cecile JL, Rouch DA, Akhtar N, Cromer BA, Kinghorn JR (2012). Alanine scanning mutagenesis of a high-affinity nitrate transporter highlights the requirement for glycine and asparagine residues in the two nitrate signature motifs. Journal of Biological Chemistry 447(1):35–42.

Veldhuis NA, Lew MJ, Abogadie FC, Poole DP, Jennings EA, Ivanusic JJ, Eilers H, Bunnett NW, McIntyre P (2012). N-glycosylation determines ionic permeability and desensitization of the TRPV1 capsaicin receptor. Journal of Biological Chemistry 287(26):21765–21772.

Burch ML, Osman N, Getachew R, Al-Arvahi S, Poronnik P, Zheng W, Hill MA, Little PJ (2012). G protein-coupled receptor transactivation: Extending the paradigm to include serine/threonine kinase receptors. International Journal of Biochemistry and Cell Biology 44(5):722–727.

Cheong F, Cheong C, Jie F (2012). Re-purposing Google maps visualisation for teaching logistics systems. Journal of Information Technology Education: Innovations in Practice 11:1–19.

Gibala MJ, Little PJ, MacDonald MJ, Hawley J (2012). Physiological adaptations to low-volume, high-intensity interval training in health and disease. Journal of Physiology 590(5):1077–1084.

Kosari S, Badoer E, Nguyen JC, Killcross AS, Jenkins TA (2012). Effect of Western and high-fat diets on memory and cholinergic measures in the rat. Behavioural Brain Research 235(1):98–103.

Little PJ, Getachew R, Rezaei R, Sanchez-Guerrero E, Khachigian L, Wang H, Liao S, Zheng W, Ballinger M, Osman N (2012). Genistein inhibits PDGF-stimulated proteoglycan synthesis in vascular smooth muscle without blocking PDGFß receptor phosphorylation. Archives of Biochemistry and Biophysics 525(1):25–31.

Piva TJ, Davern CM, Hall PM, Winterford CM, Ellem KA (2012). Increased activity of cell surface peptidases in HeLa cells undergoing UV-induced apoptosis is not mediated by caspase 3. International Journal of Molecular Sciences 13(3):2650–2675.

Rezaei HB, Kamato D, Ansari G, Osman N, Little PJ (2012). Cell biology of Smad2/3 linker region phosphorylation in vascular smooth muscle. Clinical and Experimental Pharmacology and Physiology 39(8):661–667.

Hao XA, Xue CC, Dong L, Zheng Z (2012). Factors Associated with Conflicting Findings on Acupuncture for Tension-Type Headache: Qualitative and Quantitative analyses. Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine 18:1–13.

Hügel HM, Jackson N, May BH, Xue CC (2012). Chinese Herbs for Dementia Diseases. Mini Reviews in Medicinal Chemistry 12(5):371–379.

Lenon GB, Li KX, Chang YH, Yang AW, Da Costa C, Li CG, Cohen MM, Mann N, Xue CC (2012). Efficacy and safety of a Chinese herbal medicine formula in the management of simple obesity: Randomised placebo-controlled clinical trial. Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine: eCAM 2012(2012):1–11.

Mantri N, Olarte A, Li CG, Xue C, Pang ECK (2012). Fingerprinting the asterid species using subtracted diversity array reveals novel species–specific sequences. PLoS One 7(4):e34873.

May BH, Lu C, Bennett L, Hügel HM, Xue CC (2012). Evaluating the traditional Chinese literature for herbal formulae and individual herbs used for age-related dementia and memory impairment. Biogerontology 13(3):299–312.

Myers SP, Xue CC, Cohen MM, Phelps KL, Lewith GT (2012). The legitimacy of academic complementary medicine. Medical Journal of Australia 197(2):69–70.

Ren LP, Chan SMH, Zeng XY, Laybutt DR, Iseli TJ, Sun RQ, Kraegen EW, Cooney GJ, Turner N, Ye JM (2012). Differing endoplasmic reticulum stress response to excess lipogenesis versus lipid oversupply in relation to hepatic steatosis and insulin resistance. PLoS ONE 7(2):e30816.

Zeng XY, Zhou X, Xu J, Chan SM, Xue CC, Molero JC, Ye JM (2012). Screening for the efficacy on lipid accumulation in 3T3-L1 cells is an effective tool for the identification of new anti-diabetic compounds. Biochemical Pharmacology 84(6):830–837.

Zhang AL, May BH, Xue CC (2012). Herbal medicines, probiotics and functional foods for Allergic rhinitis. Medicine Today 13(10):57–64.

Selection of recent refereed publications

Almansour N, Pirogova E, Coloe P, Cosic I, Istivan I (2012). Investigation of cytotoxicity of negative control peptides versus bioactive peptides on skin cancer and normal cells: a comparative study. Future Medicinal Chemistry 4(12):1553–1565.

Bhosale S, Langford SJ (2012). Recent developments in utilising yoctowells for investigations in nanospace. Chemical Society Reviews 41(5):1637–1651.

Chrimes AF, Khoshmanesh K, Stoddart PR, Kayani AA, Mitchell A, Daima H, Bansal V, Kalantar-Zadeh K (2012). Active control of silver nanoparticles spacing using dielectrophoresis for surface-enhanced Raman scattering. Analytical Chemistry 84(9):4029–4035.

Glass NR, Shilton RJ, Chan P, Friend JR, Yeo LY (2012). Miniaturized Lab-on-a-Disc (miniLOAD). Small 8(12):1881–1888.

Go DP, Hung A, Gras SL, O’Connor AJ (2012). Use of a short peptide as a building block in the layer-by-layer assembly of biomolecules on polymeric surfaces. Journal of Physical Chemistry B 116(3):1120–1133.

Griffin MD, Yeung L, Hung A, Todorova N, Mok YF, Karas JA, Gooley PR, Yarovsky I, Howlett GJ (2012). A cyclic peptide inhibitor of ApoC-II peptide fibril formation: Mechanistic insight from NMR and molecular dynamics analysis. Journal of Molecular Biology 416(5):642–655.

Khoshmanesh K, Baratchi S, Tovar-Lopez F, Nahavandi S, Wlodkowic D, Mitchell A, Kalantar-Zadeh K (2012). On-chip separation of Lactobacillus bacteria from yeasts using dielectrophoresis. Microfluidics and Nanofluidics 12(1–4):597–606.

Li LB, Vorobyov I, Allen TW (2012). The role of membrane thickness in charged protein–lipid interactions. BBA Biomembranes 1818(2):135–145.

Sriram S, Bhaskaran M, Chen S, Jayawardhana S, Stoddart PR, Liu JZ, Medhekar NV, Kalantar-Zadeh K, Mitchell A (2012). Influence of electric field on SERS: frequency effects, intensity changes, and susceptible bonds. Journal of the American Chemical Society 134(10):4646–4653.

Taylor M, Dunn L, Kron T, Height F, Franich R (2012). Determination of peripheral underdosage at the lung–tumor interface using Monte Carlo radiation transport calculations. Medical Dosimetry 37(1):61–66.

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Ion Channels and Transporters as Therapeutic Targets Program

Metabolism, Exercise and Disease Program

Traditional and Complementary Medicine Program

Biophysics and Bioengineering Program

Issue Two • Summer 2012Health Innovations News

www.rmit.edu.au/research/institutes/healthinnovations

To be included on our mailing list, please email healthinnovations@rmit.edu.au.

Contact Health Innovations Research Institute RMIT University PO Box 71 Bundoora VIC 3083

T +61 3 9925 6606 E healthinnovations@rmit.edu.au

Upcoming events

Health Innovations Research Institute Seminar Series, Semester One 2013

When and presenter

26 February, 4 pm with Professor Rodney J Croft (University of Wollongong)

19 March, 4 pm with Professor Jens R Coorssen (University of Western Sydney)

23 April, 4 pm with Professor Mark Connor (Macquarie University)

14 May, 4 pm with Dr Ron Balnave (The University of Sydney)

28 May, 4 pm with Associate Professor Dirk Van Helden (The University of Newcastle)

25 June, 4 pm with Professor Walter (Wally) Thomas (The University of Queensland)

Where

Lecture Theatre Building 207, Level 3, Room 1 RMIT Bundoora West Campus Plenty Road, Bundoora, VIC 3083

RSVP

healthinnovations@rmit.edu.au or (03) 9925 6606

Associate Professor Toby Allen has been invited to speak at the Biophysical Society 2013 Thematic Meeting ‘Membrane Protein Folding’, held from 19–22 May 2013 at the Korea Institute for Advanced Study, Seoul, South Korea.

Toby is an RMIT University Vice-Chancellor’s Senior Research Fellow in the School of Applied Sciences and a member of HIRi’s Biophysics and Bioengineering Program. His research involves quantitative descriptions of biological activity using physical and chemical principles. It aims to improve understanding of biological function and membranes that surround living cells.

Other speakers at the meeting include leading researchers from around the world, with Toby the only speaker from Australia. The meeting will focus on fundamental aspects of how membrane proteins fold. Topics include physical chemistry (in vitro and in silico), aspects of folding in the cell and practical implications of protein folding, such as protein design, stabilisation, and misfolding in disease.

For more information about the conference, registration and abstract submission, please visit www.biophysics.org/2013korea.

HIRi member represents Australia at Biophysical Society 2013 meeting