2005 ASBMB Fellowship: Michelle Dunstone

Michelle Dunstone studied a Bachelor of Science Degree at Monash University, majoring in Biochemistry and Microbiology. In 1998, Michelle continued at Monash University undertaking her Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Honours project 'Tagging subunits of Saccharomyces cerevisiae ATP synthase with green fluorescent protein'.

Michelle's curiosity in protein structure led her to the crystallography laboratory of Professor Michael Parker at the St Vincent's Institute of Medical Research. She started as a research assistant in this laboratory and continued research as a PhD student. The highlight of her PhD research was solving the structure of the 1-antitrypsin polymer which provided the structural basis of antitrypsin polymerisation, a process that can result in diseases such as emphysema and liver cirrhosis. Her research was rewarded with a pubication in Protein Science, an NHMRC Dora Lush scholarship and an International Centre for Data Diffraction award. After her first taste of exploring electrondensity maps of proteins, Michelle was hooked on X-ray crystallography!

In 2003, Michelle moved back to her old stomping ground, the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Monash University. Under the supervision of Dr Jamie Rossjohn, head of the newly formed Protein Crystallography Unit, Michelle explored the structures of several immunology proteins. Michelle has solved the structures of a number of MHC class I-peptide complexes which, together with the accompanying biophysical analyses of the molecules, has been published in Nature Immunology>, em>>Journal of Immunology> and em>>Journal of Biological Chemistry>.

Michelle's most pivotal research to date has been the structural studies of the CD3 in complex with the immunotherapeutic antibody, OKT3. This work was published in em>>Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA> and she recently presented this data at the biennial conference for the Society of Crystallography in Australia and New Zealand. This ASBMB Fellowship will allow Michelle to give an oral presentation of this data at the triennual Congress and General Assembly of the International Union of Crystallography, held in Florence in August.

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This page last modified: October 10, 2008.