WEHI Wednesday Seminar hosted by Professor John Silke
 

Professor James Murphy

Division Head, Inflammation division – Infection, Inflammation & Immunity Theme, WEHI

Fiat Lux: Shining a light on dark and gloomy kinases

 

Davis Auditorium

Join via SLIDO enter code #WEHIWednesday

Including Q&A session
 

While protein kinases have been studied for decades and their catalytically-dead counterparts – the pseudokinases – for nearly 20 years, ~1/3 of the human kinome remain understudied and have been termed “dark” kinases. Our group have set out to demystify these understudied proteins through detailed studies of what they look like, where and with whom they act in cells, their biological functions, and how these functions are perturbed in disease. Here, I will present our template for defining these functions: our program of work to understand the regulation and execution of necroptotic cell death by the MLKL pseudokinase, and the role of dysregulation of necroptosis in human disease. By applying the same principles to dark kinases, we have been able to attribute biological functions and uncover some cool and unexpected mechanisms of kinase regulation.
 
James Murphy was appointed Head of the Inflammation Division at WEHI in 2019. After completing his BSc (Hons) at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand, he completed his PhD with Ian Young and David Ollis at the Australian National University in 2003, and postdoctoral training with Tony Pawson in Toronto, Canada before joining WEHI as an NHMRC CJ Martin Postdoctoral Fellow, prior to receipt of an ARC Future Fellowship, NHMRC RD Wright Fellowship and most recently an NHMRC Leadership Fellowship. His lab is focused on all aspects of signal transduction and uses the full gamut of tools available: encompassing molecular, structural and cellular biology, biochemistry, biophysics, microscopy, proteomics, genomics, mouse models and human biopsies to understand signaling mechanisms.

All welcome!