Cooper
We want to understand how cells cope, or fail to cope, with the stress that can result from the over-production of proteins and misfolding of proteins within a cellular compartment called the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). ER stress is directly applicable to a growing number of diseases including diabetes, motor neuron disease and Parkinson’s disease. Either the cell ‘burns out’, generates an excess of harmful products, or accumulates unmanageable amounts of unusable proteins, which ultimately lead to cell death. If we can elucidate how these stressors induce cell death, we may be able to identify potential points of intervention to help the cells deal with the extra demands.
Staff
 Senior Research OfficerDr Kathryn Hill |
 Research AssistantBrian Chan |
 PhD Student Stephanie Kong |
 Honours StudentCharmaine Lang |
| Honours Student John Gnanasekaran |
News
How yeast is helping us to understand Parkinson's disease
MEDIA RELEASE:
27 Feb 2009
Teams of scientists from Australia and the United States have used yeast and mammalian cells to discover a connection between genetic and environmental causes of Parkinson’s disease. The findings were published online this month in Nature Genetics.
