If you can still read this message after the webpage has finished loading, then your browser may not be capable of using CSS to display this site correctly. Please view
the 
Amanda Gillon
Department of Biochemistry
La Trobe University
Amanda Gillon completed her Honours in the Department of Biochemistry at La Trobe University under the supervision of Professor Marilyn Anderson in 2001. Although she enjoyed her Honours year, she spent the next eight months travelling through South America as a break from study. Upon her return, Amanda worked for six months as a research assistant at the University of Melbourne after which she began her PhD studies in Marilyn's lab in 2003 under the co-supervision of Professor David Craik from the University of Queensland.
Amanda's PhD focused on plant cyclotides, a family of proteins that combine an embedded cystine knot with a circular peptide backbone. Prior to these studies, little was known about the mode of excision of the cyclotide domain from its precursor and the subsequent ligation of the newly formed N- and C- termini. To investigate this intriguing process, Amanda characterised the expression and processing of a cyclotide precursor in planta. She also investigated the importance of specific residues and motifs surrounding the processing sites of the cyclotide domain by site-directed mutagenesis, which revealed a number of residues and motifs that are essential for cyclisation. This work was published in The Plant Journal, together with a model for protein cyclisation.
Being awarded the ASBMB Fellowship will afford Amanda the opportunity to attend the Gordon Conference on Proprotein Processing, Trafficking and Secretion in New London, USA, in July 2008.
Previous Page | Top of Page
This page last modified: July 11, 2008.