天美传媒

I obtained my BSc Hons and Master’s degrees with distinction from the University of the Free State in South Africa. As top student in my BSc Hons class I secured an international scholarship to fund my PhD studies at the University of Leeds. After completing my PhD on membrane protein biochemistry at the University of Leeds in the beautiful Yorkshire Dales, I moved to Cambridge, where I spend twelve years doing research on multidrug transporters, first as a post-doc and later running my own research group as a Royal Society Dorothy Hodgkin Fellow in the Department of Pharmacology at the University of Cambridge. During this time, I was also appointed as College Lecturer in Robinson College, University of Cambridge, where I did small-group tutoring and teaching. Not content with moving continents once in a lifetime, I left the ancient buildings and immaculate college lawns of Cambridge for sun and sea in Australia after sixteen years in the UK. I joined the University of South Australia as Senior Lecturer and Head of Microbiology in the School of Pharmacy and Medical Sciences in December 2012.
 
Current research & highlights
My research focuses on antimicrobial resistance. ‘Superbugs’ are costing the medical and veterinary industry billions of dollars a year and antimicrobial resistance is one of the world’s most pressing health problems. According to the WHO we are fast approaching a post-antibiotic era where small injuries and minor infections will once again be fatal. Work in my laboratory is aimed at finding novel ways of treating infectious disease by characterising bacterial membrane proteins that are involved in drug resistance and/or virulence and on developing drugs that act on these targets. We are currently working on drug efflux pumps, iron transporters and cell division proteins in pathogenic bacteria. Most of our work focusses on the Gram-negative pathogen P. aeruginosa. This pathogen is associated with a range of life-threatening nosocomial infections and is the main cause of mortality in patients with cystic fibrosis. P. aeruginosa infections are hard to treat since this organism displays resistance against multiple classes of antimicrobials. Central to this bacterium’s high intrinsic drug resistance is the expression of drug efflux pumps and its ability to form antibiotic-tolerant biofilms.

Dr Permal Deo has a background in Molecular Biology with a focus on advanced glycation endproducts (AGEs), and food safety. His Masters was obtained from The University of Queensland, Australia where his research focused on food mycotoxins.  He graduated with a PhD from Queen’s University-Belfast, UK, where he researched on the role of advanced glycation endproducts on AGE-receptors, NF-kB, and pro-inflammatory cytokines. He joined the University of South Australia in 2010, after working at The University of the South Pacific, Fiji Islands. He is also a Visiting Scientist at CSIRO focusing on the molecular mechanism linking diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease.
Dr Deo’s research focuses on AGE-induced receptors (RAGE), and activation of downstream signalling mechanisms including MAP kinase and NF-kB pathways. The impact of AGE on cell cytotoxicity, DNA –damage, and on Telomere dynamics are also explored.  His research examines the role of natural products on AGE-induced signaling cascade as an alternative therapeutic approach. The role of these products with high antioxidant activities and/or their potential anti-inflammatory activities enables better insight on the mechanism in preventing or delaying the onset of chronic diseases. One of his interests is to study the role and functions of Australian Medicinal and Native Food plants in these signaling cascades.
From food safety perspective, his research focuses on antimicrobial properties of plant based novel peptides. The research also examines microbial analysis using molecular techniques of food and environmental samples.

Wade Van Horn is an assistant professor in the School of Molecular Sciences and is an investigator with the Biodesign Institute's Center for Personalized Diagnostics, and the Magnetic Resonance Research Center. He joined Arizona State University in 2012 after an American Heart Association postdoctoral fellowship at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in the Department of Biochemistry and the Center for Structural Biology. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Utah's Department of Chemistry. His current interests focus on the interplay between biomolecular function and structure, especially as it relates to human physiology and pathophysiology.



Education

Ph.D. Chemistry, University of Utah 2007