Dr Elise Stewart

Qualifications:

BSc (Hons) Adv, UoW
PhD (Molecular Biology), UoW

Research interests:

Honours Project: Investigation of Group A Streptococcal surface protein Fibronectin Binding Protein 54 (FBP54) as a potential vaccine candidate.

This research involved the cloning, bacterial expression and purification of the GAS surface protein FBP54 and the subsequent investigation of its vaccine potential through immunisation of a mouse model and measurement of immune response elicited.

PhD Research: Structural and Functional Characterisation of the Extracellular Chaperone Clusterin.

This research involved expressing full-length wildtype, mutated and truncated forms of clusterin in a mammalian expression system followed by purification and structural and functional characterisation of the resulting proteins. This was followed by investigation of the role that glycosylation plays in the structure/function of purified serum clusterin. Stripping of the sugars from the molecule largely did not affect the structure nor the activity of the protein. Once this was established, the final section of research was the expression of four domains of clusterin in a bacterial expression system. Subsequent characterisation was then performed in order to narrow down the chaperone active segments and the binding segments of the protein.

Characterisation was performed using CD, FPLC, BIAcore, Mass Spectrometry, Chaperone assays, Binding ELISAs, bisANS fluorescence and a number of other techniques.

Current Research: ACES Bionics Group

Current investigations are ongoing on the biocompatibility of polymer based materials, the use of polymers for controlled drug delivery and use of electroactive polymers for direct stimulation of different cell types. We are interested in using these materials as platforms to investigate the responses of “excitable” cells to direct stimulation and other cues in terms of proliferation and differentiation with the aim to “tune” materials to elicit desirable responses from certain cell types.

Stay tuned for more…

Memberships:

ASBTE

Key publications:

  1. Kumita, J.R., Poon, S., Caddy, G.L., Hagan, C.L., Dumoulin, M., Yerbury, J.J., Stewart, E.M., Robinson, C.V., Wilson, M.R., Dobson, C.M., (2007). The extracellular chaperone clusterin potently inhibits human lysozyme amyloid formation by interacting with prefibrillar species. Journal of Molecular Biology. 369(1):157-67.
  2. Stewart, E.M., Aquilina, A., Easterbrook-Smith, S.B., Murphy-Durland, D., Jacobsen, C., Moestrup, S., Wilson, M.R., (2007). Effects of glycosylation on the structure and function of the extracellular chaperone clusterin. Biochemistry. 46(5):1412-22.
  3. Yerbury, J.J., Stewart, E.M., Wyatt, A.R., Wilson, M.R., (2005). Quality control of protein folding in extracellular space. EMBO Reports. 6(12):1131-6.

email address: elises@uow.edu.au
phone number : 61 2 4298 1444
fax number : 61 2 4298 1477
office number: AIIM 231.242

Last reviewed: 28 September, 2009