Carnivorous mushrooms reveal human immune trick

Toni on 6 February, 2015

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How we punch our way into cancer cells

Full media release, media contacts, photos, videos and background information below.  

Full paper here

The pore-forming pleurotolysin proteins

The pore-forming pleurotolysin proteins

Edible oyster mushrooms have an intriguing secret: they eat spiders and roundworms. And they do so using proteins which can punch their way into cells, leaving tidy but deadly holes. It’s a trick that our immune cells also use to protect us; destroying infected cells, cancerous cells, and bacteria.

Research published today in PLOS Biology by an international team, led by the ARC Imaging Centre at Monash University and Birkbeck College, in London, reveals the molecular process behind the punch. Read More about Carnivorous mushrooms reveal human immune trick

A titanic electron microscope that snap-freezes cells to reveal immune secrets

Operations on 2 February, 2015

Launch of the $20 million Clive and Vera Ramaciotti Centre for Structural Cryo Electron Microscopy

  • Monash University, Melbourne
  • 11 am Monday 2 February 2015

 With Prof Aidan Byrne, CEO of the Australian Research Council; Prof Edwina Cornish, Provost and Senior Vice-President, Monash University; and Caitriona Fay, National Manager Philanthropy, Perpetual.

A unique $5 million electron microscope launched today at Monash University, Melbourne, will transform the way we view the human immune system, and advance Australian research towards better treatment for diseases from cancer and malaria to diabetes, rheumatism and multiple sclerosis.

Read More about A titanic electron microscope that snap-freezes cells to reveal immune secrets

A new way of looking at the immune system; Imaging Centre launch

Operations on 15 October, 2014

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  • Launch 15 October 2014 from 11 am at Building 75 (STRIP Building), Monash University, Clayton. Click for map.
  • With Professor Aidan Byrne, CEO of the Australian Research Council and MP Michael Sukkar.

The $39 million ARC Centre of Excellence in Advanced Molecular Imaging launches today with the mission of changing the way we see the immune system.

Understanding our immune system is central to fighting cancer and infectious diseases. And understanding why our immune system sometimes over-reacts is critical to tackling auto-immune diseases.

Yet many of the workings of our immune systems are a mystery, especially at a molecular level – for example:

  • How does trauma and infection trigger inflammation?
  • How does a T-cell recognise an infected and cancerous cell?
  • And how does it persuade other T-cells to join the fight?
  • What happens when our immune system over-reacts?
  • How is coeliac disease triggered?
  • How do diabetes and other autoimmune diseases start?
  • How can we persuade the immune system to accept organ transplants?

Read More about A new way of looking at the immune system; Imaging Centre launch

Do you look infected? Should I kill you? No, I’m fine, move along, nothing to see

Operations on 4 July, 2014

How viruses use ‘fake’ proteins to hide in our cells

Some viruses can hide in our bodies for decades. They make ‘fake’ human proteins that trick our immune cells into thinking ‘everything is awesome’, there’s nothing to see here.

Now researchers at the Imaging Centre of Excellence at Monash and Melbourne Universities have determined the basic structure of one of the two known families of these deceptive proteins.

Using synchrotron light and working with a common virus that lives in people happily and for the most part harmlessly, they worked out the structure of the fake proteins. This is an important first step towards producing better vaccines and drugs to fight viral disease.

The research was posted online this week by the Journal of Biological Chemistry. It will appear in the September issue of the journal.  Read More about Do you look infected? Should I kill you? No, I’m fine, move along, nothing to see

Putting X-rays to work – June news from the Imaging Centre of Excellence

Operations on 25 June, 2014

Posted on behalf of James Whisstock, Director Imaging CoE

Welcome to the June newsletter of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Advanced Molecular Imaging.

Another month down the track and the Centre is really coming together.

In terms of facilities and equipment, I’m excited because construction of Australia’s most advanced cryo-electron microscope unit is well underway and should be finished in early September. It will be housed in a bespoke facility at Monash University and enable us to view bio-macromolecules down to atomic resolution. You can read more about the new facility below.

On the administrative front, we are moving towards completion of sign-off with the Australian Research Council and will be announcing a date for our launch in the coming days. And we have also appointed a Centre Administrator, Chantelle Linnett, who will be responsible for project management. You can meet her below.

Meanwhile, our research forges on, and our chief investigators continue to be showered with awards. Several of them have made important presentations all around the world. Read More about Putting X-rays to work – June news from the Imaging Centre of Excellence

Welcome to the Imaging Centre of Excellence

Operations on 6 June, 2014

Posted on behalf of James Whisstock, Director Imaging CoE

Welcome to my first bulletin as director of the Imaging CoE—the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence in Advanced Molecular Imaging.

The Centre was announced by the ARC in December last year and we’re moving towards launch later this year.

Our chief investigators – at Monash, Melbourne, La Trobe, UNSW, UQ and our partner organisations are pulling their research plans together. We’ve got a chief operating officer and a website ready to roll, and we’ll be advertising for new students and post docs shortly.

The ARC has provided us with our core budget of $28 million over seven years, and the contributing organisations and partners have pledged more than $10 million.

The Centre is all about understanding how our immune systems function at the molecular level by developing and using new microscopy and imaging techniques. Our work will underpin the development of new drugs and therapies to control our immune response and treat infection and disease.

We’ve already got some results on the board with important papers on gut immunity and on the molecular trigger of coeliac disease. Much more on the way. Read More about Welcome to the Imaging Centre of Excellence

The molecular heart of celiac disease revealed

Tamzin on 24 April, 2014

Researchers discover how our immune cells bind to wheat proteins triggering the condition

Embargo: 1 am AEST Tuesday 29 April 2014

Published in Nature Structural and Molecular Biology

Australian, US and Dutch researchers have determined the molecular details of the interaction between the immune system and gluten that triggers celiac disease. Their work opens the way to potential treatments and diagnostics.

Monash, Melbourne and Leiden university researchers, in collaboration with colleagues from a Boston-based company, have described the molecular basis of how most of the immune cells (T cells) that induce celiac disease lock onto gliadin, a component of gluten, thereby triggering inflammation of the lining of the small intestine. This is what gives many celiac sufferers symptoms similar to food poisoning after eating a slice of toast. Read More about The molecular heart of celiac disease revealed