Mark Wilson Professor/ Assoc. Dean Research, Science 32.304 +61 2 4221 4534 mrw@uow.edu.au

Research Interests

Extracellular chaperones

Extracellular protein homeostasis (proteostasis)

Motor Neurone Disease (MND)

Cellular analyses (e.g. flow cytometry, confocal microscopy)

IHMRI – Illawarra Health and Medical Research Institute

Representative Publications

Yerbury, J., Stewart, E., Wyatt, A. and Wilson, M R. (2005) Quality control of protein folding in extracellular space. EMBO Reports 6: 1131-1136

Yerbury, JJ, Poon, S, Meehan, S, Thompson, B, Kumita, JR, Dobson, CM and Wilson, M R. (2007) The extracellular chaperone clusterin influences amyloid formation and toxicity by interacting with pre-fibrillar structures. FASEB J. 21: 2312-2322

French, K, Yerbury, JJ and Wilson, M R. (2008) Protease activation of alpha-2-macroglobulin modulates a chaperone-like action with broad specificity. Biochemistry 47: 1176-1185

Yerbury, JJ, Kumita, JR, Meehan, S, Dobson, CM & Wilson, MR. (2009) Alpha-2-macroglobulin and haptoglobin suppress amyloid formation by interacting with prefibrillar protein species. Journal of Biological Chemistry 284: 4246-4254

Wyatt, AR and Wilson, MR (2010) Identification of human plasma proteins as major clients for the extracellular chaperone clusterin. Journal of Biological Chemistry 285: 3532-3539

Wyatt, AR, Yerbury, JJ, Berghoffer, P, Greguric, I, Katsifis, A, Dobson, CM and Wilson, MR (2011) Clusterin facilitates in vivo clearance of extracellular misfolded proteins. Cell and Molecular Life Sciences in press

Searchable Publication List

Current Students

PhD

Rebecca Dabbs, Project title: Development of clusterin as a novel immunological adjuvant

Pat Constantinescu, Project title: Chaperones and proteases in extracellular proteostasis

Rebecca Brown, Project title: The role of proteostasis in motor neurone disease

Honours

Daniel Whiten, Project title: Neuroserpin as a putative extracellular chaperone

Kathryn Perkiss, Project title: Expression of recombinant TDP-43

Suggested Topics for Future Students

1. Do all neurodegenerative diseases arise from dysfunctions in proteostasis?

2. The role of chaperones in motor neurone disease.

Abbreviated CV

Employment History

Associate Dean (Research) Science 2007 -

Professor, University of Wollongong, 2004 -

Associate Professor, University of Wollongong, 2000- 2004

Senior Lecturer, University of Wollongong 1996- 1999

Lecturer, University of Wollongong 1994-1995

The Medical Foundation Medical Research Fellow 1993

NH&MRC Research Officer / Snr Research Officer, Dept. of Biochemistry, Univ. of Sydney, 1990-1992

Research Fellow, Department of Biochemistry, Univ.of Sydney, 1988-90

Research Scientist, Monoclonal Australia Ltd., 65 Dickson Ave., Artarmon, 2064, 1986-88

NH&MRC Research Officer, Clinical Immunology, Univ. of Sydney, 1986

NH&MRC Research Assistant, Clinical Immunology, Univ. of Sydney, 1985

Academic Degrees

PhD The University of Sydney 1985

BSc (Hons) (First class) The University of Sydney 1980

Prizes, Scholarships, Fellowships and Awards

VC's Award for Supervisor of the Year, University of Wollongong 2008

Outstanding Achievement in Teaching Award, Australian College of Education 1997

VC's Excellence in Teaching Award, University of Wollongong 1997

Travelling Fellowship The Faculty of Medicine, University of Sydney 1993

Medical Research Fellowship, The Medical Foundation 1993