Professor David James FAA
Senior Principal Research Fellow; Director, Diabetes & Obesity Research Program, Garvan Institute of Medical Research; NHMRC Principal Research Fellow; Professor (Adjunct), School of Biotechnology & Biomolecular Sciences, Faculty of Science, The University of New South Wales
Email: d.james 'at' garvan.org.au
Research Group: James
But David’s knowledge of biology was not always so extensive. After having failed to be admitted to medical school and struggling to pass first year biology, he took biochemistry. He has never looked back. While a postdoctoral researcher at Boston University, in the lab of Paul Pilch, and later with Mike Mueckler in St Louis, USA, James discovered and cloned the GLUT4 transporter that is found on muscle and fat cells and is regulated by insulin – the papers describing these findings are now citation classics. Since then, he has focussed his attention on connecting the dots between between insulin binding to its receptor at the membrane and increased glucose uptake. In 1999, James won the Glaxo Wellcome Medal recognising his contribution to his field. In 2006, he received the highest award given by the Australian Diabetes Society: the Kellion Award and in 2007 was made a Fellow of Australia's Academy of Sciences. James balances his workload at the Garvan with kayaking in Sydney Harbour and surfing on the local beaches, but research is never far from his mind.
Education
1984 PhD Garvan Institute of Medical Research, St Vincent's Hospital
1979 BSc (Hons) The University of New South Wales
Awards and Honours
2007 Appointed Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science
2006 Kellion Award from the Australian Diabetes Society
2002 NHMRC Senior Principal Research Fellow
2000 Mary Kugel Award for services to the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation
1999 Glaxo Wellcome Australia Medal
1999 FC Donders Visiting Professor, University of Utrecht, The Netherlands
1998 NHMRC Principal Research Fellow
1997 Raine Visiting Professor, University of Western Australia
1993-1997 Wellcome Trust Research Fellowship
1990-1993 Career Development Award, Juvenile Diabetes Foundation
1987 Marios Balodimos Prize, presented by the American Diabetes Association, Massachusetts Affiliate
1984 Endocrine Society of Australia Junior Sandoz Award
1982 NHMRC Postgraduate scholarship
Publications
Ramm G, Larance M, Guilhaus M, James DE. A role for 14-3-3 in insulin-stimulated GLUT4 translocation through its interaction with the RabGAP AS160. J Biol Chem 2006; 281(39):29174-80.
Larance M, Ramm G, Stockli J, van Dam EM, Winata S, Wasinger V, Simpson F, Graham M, Junutula JR, Guilhaus M, James DE. Characterization of the role of the Rab GTPase-activating protein AS160 in insulin-regulated GLUT4 trafficking. J Biol Chem 2005; 280(45):37803-13.
Molero JC, Jensen TE, Withers PC, Couzens M, Herzog H, Thien CBF, Langdon WY, Walder K, Murphy MA, Bowtell DDL, James DE, Cooney GJ. c-Cbl deficient mice have reduced adiposity, higher energy expenditure and improved peripheral insulin action. Journal of Clinical Investigation 2004; 114(9):1326-1333.
Govers R, Coster ACF, James DE. Insulin increases cell surface GLUT4 levels by dose dependently discharging GLUT4 into a cell surface recycling pathway. Molecular Biology of the Cell 2004; 24(14):6456-6466.
Bryant NJ, Govers R, James DE. Regulated transport of the glucose transporter Glut4. Nature Reviews: Mol Cell Biol 2002; 3:267-277.
Martin LB, Shewan A, Millar CA, Gould GW, James DE. Vesicle-associated membrane protein 2 plays a specific role in the insulin-dependent trafficking of the facilitative glucose transporter GLUT4 in 3T3-L1 adipocytes. J Biol Chem 1998; 273(3):1444-52.
Tellam JT, Macaulay SL, McIntosh S, Hewish DR, Ward CW, James DE. Characterization of Munc-18c and syntaxin-4 in 3T3-L1 adipocytes. Putative role in insulin-dependent movement of GLUT-4. J Biol Chem 1997; 272(10):6179-86.
Slot JW, Geuze HJ, Gigengack S, Lienhard GE, James DE. Immuno-localization of the insulin regulatable glucose transporter in brown adipose tissue of the rat. J Cell Biol 1991; 113(1):123-35.
James DE, Strube M, Mueckler M. Molecular cloning and characterization of an insulin-regulatable glucose transporter. Nature 1989; 338(6210):83-7.
James DE, Brown R, Navarro J, Pilch PF. Insulin-regulatable tissues express a unique insulin-sensitive glucose transport protein. Nature 1988; 333: l83-l85
