Jason McArthur

Lecturer

35.107A

02 4221 5650

jasonm@uow.edu.au

Research Interests

Post infectious kidney disease

Bacterial activators of human plasminogen

Bacterial pathogenesis

Representative Publications

McArthur JD, McKay FC, Ramachandran V, Shyam P, Cork AJ, Sanderson-Smith ML, Cole JN, Ringdahl U, Sjobring U, Ranson M, Walker MJ (2008) Allelic variants of streptokinase from Streptococcus pyogenes display functional differences in plasminogen activation. FASEB J. 22 3146-53. (IF 6.791).

Sanderson-Smith, M.L., Dinkla, K., Cole, J.N., Cork, A.J., Maamary, P.G., McArthur, J.D., Chhatwal, G.S., Walker, M.J. (2008) M protein mediated plasminogen binding is essential for the virulence of an invasive Streptococcus pyogenes isolate. FASEB J. 22, 2715-22. (IF 6.791).

Walker MJ, Hollands A, Sanderson-Smith M, Cole JN, Kirk J, Henningham A, McArthur JD, Dinkla K, Aziz R, Kansal R, Simpson A, Buchanen J, Chhatwal G, Kotb M, Nizet V. (2007). DNase-mediated resistance to neutrophil killing provides selection pressure for a genetic and phenotypic switch promoting invasive group A streptococcal infection. Nat Med 13(8): 981-5. (IF 28.59)

Cole JN, McArthur JD, McKay FC, Sanderson-Smith ML, Cork AJ, Ranson M, Rohde M, Itzek A, Sun H, Ginsburg D, Kotb M, Nizet V, Chhatwal GS, and Walker MJ (2006). Trigger for group A streptococcal M1T1 invasive disease. FASEB J. 20, 1745-7. (IF 7.064)

McArthur, J. D. and M. J. Walker (2006). Domains of group A streptococcal M protein that confer resistance to phagocytosis, opsonization and protection: implications for vaccine development. Mol Microbiol. 59, 1-4. (IF 6.203)

Walker, MJ., McArthur, JD. McKay, FC., and Ranson, M. (2005) Is plasminogen deployed as a Streptococcus pyogenes virulence factor. Trends Microbiol. 13, 308-13. (IF 8.16)

McArthur, JD., E. Medina, A. Mueller, J. Chin, B. J. Currie, K. S. Sriprakash, S. R. Talay, G. S. Chhatwal and M. J. Walker (2004). Intranasal vaccination with streptococcal fibronectin binding protein Sfb1 fails to prevent growth and dissemination of Streptococcus pyogenes in a murine skin infection model. Infect Immun 72, 7342-5. (IF 3.875)

Ramachandran, V., J. D. McArthur, C. E. Behm, C. Gutzeit, M. Dowton, P. K. Fagan, R. Towers, B. Currie, K. S. Sriprakash and M. J. Walker (2004). Two distinct genotypes of prtF2, encoding a fibronectin binding protein, and evolution of the gene family in Streptococcus pyogenes. J Bacteriol 186, 7601-9. (IF 4.175)

Fiona C McKay, Jason D McArthur, Martina L Sanderson-Smith, Sandra Gardam, Bart J Currie, Kadaba S Sriprakash, Peter K Fagan, Rebecca J. Towers, Michael R. Batzloff, Gursharan S Chhatwal, Marie Ranson and Mark J Walker (2004). Plasminogen binding by group A streptococcal isolates from a tropical region with hyperendemic streptococcal skin infection and a high incidence of invasive infection. Infect Immun 72: 364-370. (IF 3.875)

McArthur JD, West NP, Cole JN, Jungnitz H, Guzman CA, Chin J, Lehrbach PR, Djordjevic SP, Walker MJ (2003). An aromatic amino acid auxotrophic mutant of Bordetella bronchiseptica is attenuated and immunogenic in a mouse model of infection. FEMS Microbiol Lett. 221: 7-16. (IF 1.932)

DelVecchio A., Bart J. Currie, Jason D. McArthur, Mark J. Walker and KS Sriprakash (2002). Streptococcus pyogenes prtFII, but not sfbI, sfbII or fbp54 is represented more frequently among invasive-disease isolates of tropical Australia. Epidemiol Infect. 128: 391-396 (IF 1.509)

West N. P., Heidrun Jugnitz, John T. Fitter, Jason D. McArthur, Carlos A. Guzman and Mark J. Walker (2000). Role of phosphoglucomutase of B. bronchiseptica in lipopolysaccharide biosynthesis and virulence. Infect Immun. 68: 4673-4680. (IF 3.875)

Current Students

PhD

Simon Cook (2009 to present). Molecular characterisation of streptokinase variants from Streptococcus pyogenes.

Jim Shih-Ping (2007 to present). Investigating Protein Aggregation As A Cause of Cataract. (Co-supervised with Dr. Andrew Aquilina).

Honours

Amanda Groznik (2009). Construction and characterisation of allelic replacement mutants in Streptococcus pyogenes which affect interactions with plasminogen. (Co-supervised with Dr. Martina Sanderson-Smith).

Suggested Topics for Future Students

Investigating post infectious kidney disease using a transgenic mouse model.

Characterising the role of streptokinase polymorphism in the pathogenesis of Streptococcus pyogenes.

Molecular characterisation of recombinant streptokinase proteins from Streptococcus pyogenes.

Abbreviated CV

Employment

2009 to present

Research Fellow. School of Biological Sciences, University of Wollongong. Investigating streptokinase polymorphism in Streptococcus pyogenes.

2006 to 2009

Lecturer in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (level B), School of Biological Sciences, University of Wollongong.

2004 to 2006

Associate Research Fellow at the University of Wollongong. Investigating the interaction of group A streptococcus with the plasminogen activation system.

2002 to 2004

Research Officer at the Queensland Institute of Medical Research. Characterising the fibronectin binding protein PrtF2 of group A streptococcus. (During this period I worked as a visiting fellow for 3 months in a collaborating laboratory at the GBF National Research Centre for Biotechnology, Braunschweig, Germany in the laboratory of Professor Chhatwal).

1999 to 2002

Associate Research Fellow at the University of Wollongong. Investigating the development of an anti-adhesive vaccine against group A streptococcus. (During this period I worked as a visiting fellow for 3 months in a collaborating laboratory at the GBF National Research Centre for Biotechnology, Braunschweig, Germany in the laboratory of Professor Chhatwal).

Education

2003 PhD

Department of Biological Sciences, University Of Wollongong. Thesis title: “Rational attenuation of Bordetella species for vaccine purposes”.

1994 Bachelor of Biotechnology

Bachelor of Biotechnology (honours 1st class) Biological Sciences, University of Wollongong. Thesis title: “Expression of Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae antigen genes in attenuated Salmonella typhimurium aroA for oral immunisation in mice”.

Last reviewed: 24 April, 2009