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Australian Biochemist The Magazine of the Australian Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Inc. August 2019, Volume 50, Number 2 VOLISSN 50 NO 2 AUGUST 1443-0193 2019 AUSTRALIAN BIOCHEMIST PAGE 1 Be inspired during the 3- da y progra m including a fa nta stic lineup of industry lea ding interna tiona l plena ry spea kers, a nd hea r from our society specia lty lectures, be enga ged with poster presenta tions a nd lea rn a t the E/MCR mini- symposium. For more informa tion on our spea kers, progra m a nd to register, visit our website www.a sbmb2019.com.a u REGISTER NOW! PAGE 2 AUSTRALIAN BIOCHEMIST VOL 50 NO 2 AUGUST 2019 Table of Contents 4 Editorial Committee 5 Editorial 7 Publications with Impact Distinct Mechanisms Govern Recognition of Viral and Host Ligands by an Innate Immune Receptor Buying Time for Contractile Signaling Genetic Stutters, Gut Feelings and Neurodegenerative Disease 11 Off the Beaten Track Why it Sometimes Pays to Work for Money 14 ASBMB Education Feature Glycogen Builder: the Game Making a Drama Out of Biochemistry From the Whiteboard to the Conference: Scaffolding Conference-style Poster Presentations 18 SDS Page The Importance of Blue Sky Research 19 Competition: Unscramble 20 ASBMB 2019 International Plenary Speaker Profiles 22 ASBMB 2019 Symposium Speakers 23 Melbourne Protein Group: an ASBMB Special Interest Group 24 ASBMB Shimadzu Education Award Report 26 Intellectual Property Patenting Inventions in the Microbiome Space 29 Queen’s Birthday Honours for ASBMB Members 31 ASBMB Awards 2020 33 Election of Council 2020 33 Annual General Meeting of ASBMB 34 New ASBMB Members 35 Forthcoming Meetings 36 Our Sustaining Members 41 ASBMB Council 42 Directory Front Cover Bachelor of Biomedicine students from the University of Melbourne participating in an acting skills workshop with Rinske Ginsberg, VCA Theatre, as part of the Performing Sciences program, where students devise short performances embodying biochemical concepts. The program has been running since 2018 and is the brainchild of Terry Mulhern, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. Photo credit: Paul Burston, University of Melbourne. Australian Biochemist – Editor Tatiana Soares da Costa, Editorial Officer Liana Friedman © 2019 Australian Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Inc. All rights reserved. VOL 50 NO 2 AUGUST 2019 AUSTRALIAN BIOCHEMIST PAGE 3 Australian Biochemist Editorial Committee Members Editor Editorial Officer Dr Tatiana Soares da Costa Liana Friedman Department of Biochemistry and Email: [email protected] Genetics La Trobe Institute for Molecular Science La Trobe University Bundoora VIC 3086 Email: [email protected] Phone: (03) 9479 2227 Dr Doug Fairlie Dr Sarah Hennebry Olivia Newton-John Cancer FPA Patent Attorneys Research Institute and La Trobe 101 Collins Street University Melbourne VIC 3000 Heidelberg VIC 3084 Email: sarah.hennebry@ Email: [email protected] fpapatents.com Phone: (03) 9496 9369 Phone: (03) 9288 1213 Joe Kaczmarski Associate Professor Tracey Kuit Research School of Chemistry School of Chemistry and Molecular Australian National University Bioscience Canberra ACT 0200 University of Wollongong Email: joe.kaczmarski@ Wollongong NSW 2522 anu.edu.au Email: [email protected] Phone: (02) 4221 4916 Dr Erinna Lee Dr Nirma Samarawickrema La Trobe Institute for Molecular Department of Biochemistry and Science and Olivia Newton-John Molecular Biology Cancer Research Institute Monash University Heidelberg VIC 3084 Clayton VIC 3800 Email: [email protected] Email: nirma.samarawickrema@ Phone: (03) 9496 9369 monash.edu Phone: (03) 9902 0295 Dr Gabrielle Watson Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute Monash University Clayton VIC 3800 Email: gabrielle.watson@ monash.edu Phone: (03) 9902 9227 PAGE 4 AUSTRALIAN BIOCHEMIST VOL 50 NO 2 AUGUST 2019 Editorial It is with great pleasure that I bring you the August 2019 issue of our magazine as the sole Editor. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Suresh Mathivanan for helping me as the Co-Editor in the past couple of years! I still remember reading the Australian Biochemist for the first time as a first year PhD student and being amazed at the achievements of our members. It is fantastic that I get to run the magazine that has been part of my life for so long. So, what’s in store this issue? We highlight high impact publications from our members covering innate immune systems, cell signalling and gut microbiota. We also discuss how performing arts and science education come together (Education Feature), the importance of blue-sky research (SDS Page) and patenting inventions in the microbiome space (Intellectual Property). If you ever thought about a career in science communications, then check out our Off the Beaten article by Chloe Warren. We also highlight the profiles of our ASBMB members who received Queen’s Birthday Honours and the ASBMB 2019 international plenary speakers. This issue would not have come together without the help of all the contributors and my fantastic Editorial team, particularly Liana Friedman, our Editorial Officer. We also welcome Gabrielle Watson as the new travel reports coordinator. I hope you enjoy our magazine and feel free to contact me with feedback or ideas for future issues! Tatiana Soares da Costa Editor, Australian Biochemist [email protected] @Tatiana_Biochem VOL 50 NO 2 AUGUST 2019 AUSTRALIAN BIOCHEMIST PAGE 5 PAGE 6 AUSTRALIAN BIOCHEMIST VOL 50 NO 2 AUGUST 2019 Publications with Impact Publications with Impact profiles recent, high impact publications by ASBMB members. These short summaries showcase some of the latest research by presenting the work in a brief but accessible manner. If your work has recently been published in a high profile journal, please contact us at [email protected]. Distinct Mechanisms Govern Recognition of Viral and Host Ligands by an Innate Immune Receptor Balaji GR, Aguilar OA, Tanaka M, Shingu-Vazquez MA, Fu Z, Gully BS, Lanier LL, Carlyle JR, Rossjohn J, Berry R*. Recognition of host Clr-b by the inhibitory NKR-P1B receptor provides a basis for missing-self recognition. Nat Commun 2018;9:4623. *Corresponding author: [email protected] Within the innate immune system, the prototypical NK cell receptor ligands, thereby alerting NK cells to NKR-P1 receptor family plays a critical role in the presence of a virus via a process termed ‘missing- regulating the activity of natural killer (NK) cells. self’ recognition. For example, the down-regulation of Now, an international team led by Dr Richard host C-type lectin related-b (Clr-b), which serves as Berry (Monash University) has determined the first a ligand for the inhibitory NKR-P1B receptor, renders structure of an inhibitory NKR-P1 receptor bound infected cells susceptible to missing self-recognition. to a self-ligand. Their findings provide new insights The importance of this pathway is highlighted by our into the processes governing immune cell activation recent discovery that cytomegalovirus subverts innate and reveal that distinct mechanisms underpin immunity by encoding a surrogate NKR-P1 ligand, m12, recognition of viral- and self-derived ligands by that replaces Clr-b and thereby protects infected cells NKR-P1 receptors. from NK cell-mediated lysis (Aguilar OA, Berry R, et al., NK cells are fast-acting innate lymphocytes that form Cell 2017:169;58–71). While we have demonstrated part of the body’s front-line of defense against several that m12 targets NKR-P1B using a polar claw style pathological conditions including viral infection and mechanism, the molecular basis for the NKR-P1B:Clr-b cellular transformation. Within this context, NK cells interaction remained unknown. are key guardians that detect and ultimately eliminate To address this fundamental gap in our knowledge, we stressed/damaged/infected cells via the integration determined the crystal structure of NKR-P1B bound to of signals received from an array of activating and Clr-b, which revealed that the C-type lectin-like domains inhibitory cell surface receptors that include the of receptor and ligand interacted via a head-to-head NKR-P1 family. Under normal conditions, the interaction docking mode. However, surprisingly, we were unable to of inhibitory NK cell receptors with ‘self’ molecules detect binding of NKR-P1B to Clr-b using any solution- protects heathy tissues from NK cell attack. However, based approach. Turning to the structure for clues, we viral infection triggers the down-regulation of inhibitory identified an unconventional NKR-P1B homo-dimer that Model outlining the mechanisms governing recognition of distinct host (Clr-b) and viral (m12) ligands by the NKR- P1B receptor. m12 binds to all NKR-P1B species with high affinity, while Clr-b binding requires additional avidity effects conferred by oligomerisation of the NKR-P1B lectin-like domains. Membrane proximal stalks and disulphide bonds are depicted by dashed and solid lines, respectively. VOL 50 NO 2 AUGUST 2019 AUSTRALIAN BIOCHEMIST PAGE 7 Publications with Impact cross-linked two NKR-P1B:Clr-b complexes to form mechanisms govern the response of a single receptor a hexameric arrangement (see figure, left). While our towards host- and virus-encoded ligands (see figure). recombinant NKR-P1B was monomeric in solution, Richard Berry and Gautham Balaji native full length NKR-P1B resides on the cell surface Department of Biochemistry and as disulfide-linked homodimers due to the presence of Molecular Biology, Monash University cysteines within the membrane proximal stalk regions. Thus, we hypothesised that the interaction of monomeric NKR-P1B with Clr-b was extremely weak. To investigate this further, alongside the Carlyle lab in Toronto, we generated several point mutants designed to disrupt the NKR-P1B homodimer, and observed abrogated binding to Clr-b as assessed by cellular staining experiments and reporter cell assays. Altogether, these data indicated that productive NKR-P1B:Clr-b interactions require additional avidity effects conferred by the non- classic NKR-P1B homodimer.