A big congratulations to Joanne, who has been awarded her PhD degree and has officially became our lab's first PhD graduate. Well done!!!

We are delighted to have 3 new students joining the lab in July 2018. They are River Huang (PhD student), Huimin Guo (MSc student) and Wendy Kao (Honours student). River was supported by a highly competitive UQ Research Training Scholarship. Congrats and warm welcome to our newest members in the lab.  

A major collaborative paper led by A/Prof. Bruno van Swinderen (QBI, UQ) has just been published in Cell Reports, describing the effect of a widely used general anaesthetic, propofol, in impairing the presynaptic release of neurotransmitters. Propofol restricts syntaxin 1a mobility on presynaptic membranes, a process that is dependent on another SNARE molecule, SNAP-25. Members of the Anggono Lab who were involved in this study include James Steeves (former Research Assistant) and Shu Liu (former Wen Zhou Scholar). [Press Release]

Tianyi, Hilary and Jocelyn have just published a research article in the Journal of Molecular Biology, reporting that the fat mass and obesity-associated (FTO) protein undergoes post-translational ubiquitination at Lys-216 of the N-terminal catalytic domain. By using the CRISPR/Cas-9 approach, they further showed that FTO K216R knock-in cells have a slower rate of FTO protein turnover. In addition, these cells display a defect in FTO translocation into the nucleus following amino acid starvation. Great effort by the team and congrats! 

Six members of the Anggono Lab attended the 37th annual meeting of the Australasian Neuroscience Society (ANS), which was held at the International Convention Centre in Sydney from 3 to 6 Dec 2017. Victor presented a talk at the "Synaptic Dysfunction in Neurodegenerative Diseases" symposium, while Jocelyn and Sumasri each gave a presentation in the "Synaptic Function and Plasticity" session. Meanwhile, Iris, Joanne, Tianyi and Sumasri also presented posters at the meeting. 

Joanne's image of a dendrite, "Rainbow after STORM" was named as the runner up of the ANS students' Images of Neuroscience photographic competition. Congratulations! 

Joanne and Sumasri represented the Anggono Lab in the 8th Brisbane Cell & Developmental Biology Meeting, which was held on Nov 21, 2017 at the Translational Research Institute (TRI). Sumasri presented a poster while Joanne was selected to present a short talk. Joanne also won the Best Imaging Competition with her work, "The BrainSTORM". Congrats!

In this article, which has just been published in the Frontiers of Molecular Neuroscience, we review recent advances in the field and provide insights into the role of protein ubiquitination in regulating AMPA receptor trafficking and function in health and disease.

The Anggono Lab was well represented at the inaugural Australian C. elegans symposium, which was held at the Queensland Brain Institute, Brisbane, 25-27 October 2017. Joanne, Sumasri and Iris each gave a talk in the Synapse Formation and Function session. 

​Welcome Varun and Wendy to the Anggono Lab. Varun comes from the Kadener Lab (The Hebrew University, Israel) and will stay in our lab for 3 months as an occupational trainee, while Wendy, a 3rd year undergraduate student at UQ, will receive training in basic molecular biology skills. 

Joanne and Victor publish a collaborative paper with the Coulson Lab (UQ) in Frontiers in Neuroscience, reporting the role of G-protein-coupled Inwardly Rectifying Potassium (GIRK/Kir3) channels and p75 neurotrophin receptors in mediating potassium efflux during Aβ-induced neuronal death. 

The lab celebrates the graduation of our first Master (research intensive) student, Tianyi, who passed with flying colours and received the Dean's Commendation for Academic Excellence. On the same day, Tianyi also learnt that he was awarded a highly competitive UQ International Graduate School Scholarship to pursue his PhD in the Anggono Lab. Well done Tianyi and congrats!!!

We are pleased to welcome Ms Jun Chen, a Wenzhou Summer Scholar who will undertake a short research project for the next 6 weeks in the Anggono Lab. This is the second time the Anggono Lab participates in the Wenzhou Summer Student Program, which selects only a handful of outstanding undergraduates through a competitive application and interview process. Welcome Jun! 

Supported by a highly competitive International UQ Graduate School Scholarship, Xiaojun will investigate the molecular mechanisms of glutamate receptor trafficking in central neurons.

​Sumasri, Joanne, Tianyi and Jocelyn publish an article in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, reporting a role for GluA1 ubiquitination in mediating amyloid-β-induced synaptic depression in neurons.

​Joanne's image "BrainSTORM" wins the 2016 QBI Art in Neuroscience People's Choice Award. Congratulations! A big shout out to those who had voted! 

Our current Masters student, Tianyi, receives the 2016 Academic Excellence Medal from the School of Natural Sciences, Griffith University, for ranking 1st in the entire BSc cohort in that year. Congrats! 

​Jocelyn and Joanne publish an article in Scientific Reports, revealing a dual function of PACSIN1 in regulating the internalisation and recycling of AMPA receptors in hippocampal neurons.​

​Joanne earns one of the limited spots at the CAJAL Advanced Neuroscience Training Course on Neuronal Cell Biology - Cytoskeleton and Trafficking, to be held in Bordeaux Neurocampus, Bordeaux, France, on 10-31 July 2016. Congratulations!

​Sumasri and Jocelyn publish an article in Neural Plasticity, reviewing the mechanims underlying dysregulation of AMPA receptor trafficking induced by amyloid-beta.

Sumasri also receives a highly competitive University of Queensland International scholarship. Congrats!

Joanne receives a First Class Honours for her thesis and ranks 1st in her cohort. To top the icing on the cake, she secured the highly competitive University of Queensland International Scholarship. What a fantastic year!