The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research

Dr Ben Croker

Details

Email: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Division: Cancer and Haematology

Research Overview

Dr Ben Croker is an Australian Research Council Queen Elizabeth II Research Fellow at The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research. A graduate of the University of New South Wales, Dr Croker completed an Honours degree and PhD with Professor Andrew Roberts and Professor Warren Alexander at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute. After training at the The Scripps Research Institute in the USA in Professor Bruce Beutler’s laboratory, he returned to Melbourne to establish a research group investigating the molecular regulators of innate immunity and inflammatory disease.

Dr Croker’s research has close collaborative ties with Dr Ben Kile from the Molecular Medicine division at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, Dr Grant Dewson from the Molecular Genetics of Cancer division at the institute and Dr Seth Masters from Trinity College in Ireland.

Research Projects

Autoimmune and autoinflammatory disease in SHP1 mutant mice – roles for interleukin-1.

Mechanisms of sepsis in Kir6.1-deficient mice

Mutations in Wdr1 drive inflammatory disease

The role of Socs3 in regulating cytokine signaling during acute inflammation

Major Publications

1. BA Croker, BR Lawson, M Berger, C Eidenschenk, AL Blasius, EY Moresco, S Sovath, L Cengia, LD Shultz, AN Theofilopoulos, S Pettersson, BA Beutler. Inflammation and autoimmunity caused by a SHP1mutation depend on IL-1, Myd88, and a microbial trigger. PNAS 2008, 105, 15028. PMID: 18806225
2. BA Croker, L Mielke, S Wormald, D Metcalf, H Kiu, WS Alexander, DJ Hilton, AW Roberts. Socs3 maintains the specificity of biological responses to cytokine signals during granulocyte and macrophagedifferentiation. Exp Hem 2008, 36, 786-798. PMID: 18400361
3. BA Croker, K Crozat, M Berger, Y Xia, S Sovath, I Eleftherianos, JL Imler, B Beutler. ATP-sensitivepotassium channels mediate survival during infection in mammals and insects. Nature Genetics 2007, Dec, 39: 1453-60. PMID: 18026101
4. BA Croker, D Metcalf, L Robb, W Wei, S Mifsud, L DiRago, LA Cluse, KD Sutherland, L Hartley, EWilliams, JG Zhang, DJ Hilton, NA Nicola, WS Alexander, AW Roberts. SOCS3 is a critical physiologicalnegative regulator of G-CSF signaling and emergency granulopoiesis. Immunity 2004, 20, 153-165. PMID: 14975238
5. BA Croker, DL Krebs, JG Zhang, S Wormald, TA Willson, EG Stanley, L Robb, CJ Greenhalgh, I Forster,BE Clausen, NA Nicola, D Metcalf, DJ Hilton, AW Roberts, WS Alexander . SOCS3 negatively regulatesIL-6 signaling in vivo. Nature Immunology 2003, 4, 540-5. PMID: 12754505
6. BA Croker, DM Tarlinton, LA Cluse, AJ Tuxen, A Light, FC Yang, DA Williams, AW Roberts. The Rac2 guanonsin triphosphatase regulates B lymphocyte antigen receptor responses and chemotaxis and is required for establishment of B-1a and marginal zone B lymphocytes. J Immunol. 2002 Apr 1;168(7):3376-86. PMID: 11907095

Click here to view more PubMed publications

Staff Supervision

Laboratory Member: Ben Croker BSc (Hons) PhD Melb

Postgraduate Student: Tommy Liu BSc (Hons) Otago

Research Assistant: Joanne O’Donnell BSc (Hons) Melb

Research Assistant: Louise Cengia BSc Tas