2006 ASBMB Fellowship: Victor Anggono

Victor Anggono Victor undertook his Bachelor of Science degree at the University of New South Wales in 1999. During his Honours year, he worked under the supervision of Professor Michael Murray in the Department of Pharmacology, UNSW, to investigate the signalling pathway by which nitric oxide downregulates the expression of cytochrome P450 2J2 in HepG2 cells. In 2003, Victor decided to pursue his PhD study in the laboratory of Professor Phil Robinson at the Children's Medical Research Institute. He was awarded an International Postgraduate Research Scholarship and subsequently, a University of Sydney Postgraduate Award to support him throughout his PhD candidature.

Dynamin I is a phosphoprotein which plays a crucial role in synaptic vesicle endocytosis (SVE) to maintain synaptic transmission. In his PhD studies, Victor set out to determine the roles of dynamin I phosphorylation in SVE. In 2004, he was awarded an Australia Bicentennial Scholarship from King's College London and travelled to the laboratory of Dr Michael Cousin at the University of Edinburgh for three months. During this time, he revealed that dynamin phosphorylation sites play essential roles in SVE, and they work co-operatively for maximal effect. He then discovered the protein syndapin I as the phosphorylation-regulated partner for dynamin. Syndapin was previously associated with endocytosis, but its role was not understood, nor was it considered a key player. This has led to an improved understanding of the molecular mechanisms of SVE. Subsequently, this work was published in Nature Neuroscience in June 2006.

The generous ASBMB Fellowship will allow Victor to attend the Gordon Research Conference (GRC) on Molecular and Cellular Neurobiology in Hong Kong and GRC on Cell Biology of the Neuron in New Hampshire, USA, where he will present his recent results on the role of dynamin-syndapin interaction in SVE.

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This page last modified: October 10, 2008.