2003 ASBMB Fellowship: Renae Barr

Barr I completed my Bachelor of Science degree with First Class Honours in Biochemistry at the University of Western Australia in 2000. My Honours project was undertaken in the Cell Signalling Laboratory under the supervision of Dr Marie Bogoyevitch, and it focused on characterising novel peptide inhibitors of the stress kinase JNK. Although Honours was a challenge in itself, my life was further complicated by trying to arrange my wedding in between transfecting cells and performing kinase assays. At the completion of my Honours year, I was delighted to be a joint recipient of the Lugg Medal and Swan Brewery Prize awarded to the top Biochemistry Honours Student.

Having enjoyed my forays with JNK and JIP-based peptides, I decided to stay on and pursue a PhD in the same lab. During Honours, I had demonstrated that a short peptide based on a JNK-interacting protein functioned as an in vitro inhibitor of JNK. My PhD project focused on further investigating JNK-inhibitory peptides, and Marie redefined "investigating" when she ordered a set of 41 peptides that required screening in triplicate by kinase assays! We were excited to find that four residues of the 11-mer inhibitory peptide were independently critical for JNK inhibition, and celebrated with lots of cake when the results were published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry in early 2001. It was that same year when my husband reaped the benefits of marrying a scientist - I "dragged" him to 4th Australian Peptide Conference on Lindeman Island and he had a "horrible" time sailing and playing golf while I was at lectures!

I have since used both forward and reverse yeast two-hybrid screening techniques to further investigate the interaction between JNK and JIP-based peptides. Through these studies, I aim to clarify the mechanism by which JIP-peptides inhibit JNK and I hope to reveal a novel site of JNK to target for drug design.

I am most appreciative for the ASBMB fellowship, which will allow me to attend the Special FEBS Meeting on Signal Transduction, Brussels.

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This page last modified: October 10, 2008.