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! 

Victor received an NHMRC Project Grant to study the molecular mechanism of glutamate receptor trafficking (with A/Prof. Brett Collins, IMB, UQ).

Jocelyn was also awarded an Early Career Researcher Grant from The University of Queensland to further advancing her work on the epitranscriptomic mechanisms of learning and memory. 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!

Victor was one of fifteen Australian young scientists selected as a YSEP Fellow. The 2017 YSEP Fellows travelled to China from 22 October to 4 November 2017. This program was supported by the Australian Department of Industry, Science and Technology and the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology. Victor visited and presented seminars at the following institutions:

• Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences
• McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Peking University
• Center for Neuroscience, Zhejiang University
• Shanghai Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences
• Institute of Neuroscience, Chinese Academy of Sciences

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. 

Victor presented a poster entitled "GluA1 ubiquitination mediates amyloid-β-induced loss of surface AMPA receptors" at the Australia Dementia Forum 2017, which was held at the Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre, 15 - 17 October 2017, and we were delighted to receive the Best Poster Award under the theme of Intervention. Victor also had the opportunity to present our research progress at the Forum, as part of the group presentation by the Clem Jones Centre for Ageing Dementia Research led by our Director, Prof. Jürgen Götz.

A major work from the Woodin Lab (University of Toronto) has just been published in eLife, in which Victor is a co-author. This is the first report describing the native KCC2 interactome in the brain. They found that KCC2 interacts with PACSIN1 (also known as syndapin1) to regulate synaptic inhibition in neurons. 

Jocelyn and Victor presented talks at the 26th biennial meeting of the International Society for Neurochemistry in Paris, France (20-24 August, 2017).

​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! 

The Anggono Lab has just relocated to the Ritchie Building (64A, Level 3B) as part of the expansion of the Clem Jones Centre for Ageing Dementia Research. We are super excited with the move! Please come and visit us! 

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

​Men Chee, Jocelyn and Tianyi publish their new findings in Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience, describing a role for the activity-induced long non-coding RNA, Meg3, in modulating the surface expression of AMPA receptors through the PTEN/PI3K/AKT signalling pathway.

​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.

Iris wins an Australian Academy of Science JG Russel Award as one of the top-ranked DECRA awardees. Congrats!!!

​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! 

Congratulations to Jocelyn and Iris for being awarded the highly competitive Discovery Early Career Researcher (DECRA) Fellowships from ARC. Jocelyn will investigate the role of epitranscriptomic regulation in synaptic plasticity, while Iris will elucidate the mechanisms underlying glutamate receptor trafficking in central neurons.

​Victor also receives an ARC Discovery Project Grant to study the molecular mechanims of synaptic vesicle recycling (with Prof. Mike Cousin, The University of Edinburgh, UK).