Professor David James
FAA
Leonard P. Ullmann Chair of Metabolic Systems Biology, Charles Perkins Centre
Professor, School of Life & Environmental Sciences and Sydney Medical School
Member of the Charles Perkins Centre
Telephone | +61 2 8627 1621 |
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Website |
Metabolic Cybernetics |
Biographical details
David James was awarded a PhD in 1985 in Physiology and Biochemistry from UNSW. During this period, together with colleagues at the Garvan Institute, he developed novel methodologies for studying in vivo glucose metabolism in small animals leading to a number of important discoveries about the role of tissue specificity of insulin action at the whole body level.
In 1985 he was awarded a Fogarty fellowship and later a Juvenile Diabetes Foundation fellowship to undertake postdoctoral training at Boston University with Paul Pilch and subsequently at Washington University in St Louis. During this period he provided cellular and molecular evidence to document the identity and behaviour of the insulin responsive glucose transporter GLUT4.
In 1989 he established his own independent career as Assist/Professor at Washington University in St Louis funded by a Career Development Award from the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation. During this period he mapped many of the molecules and pathways that are known to be involved in the cell biology of insulin regulated glucose transport in muscle and fat cells. In 1993 he returned to Australia on a Wellcome Trust Senior Research Fellowship taking up a position at the IMB in Brisbane. During this period his laboratory discovered a number of key proteins and mechanisms that regulate the docking and fusion of vesicles with the plasma membrane.
In 2002 he moved to Sydney to head up the Diabetes and Obesity Research Program at the Garvan Institute as an NHMRC Senior Principal Research Fellow where he remained until February 2014. He currently holds the Leonard P Ullmann Chair in Molecular Systems Biology and he is the Domain Leader for Biology at the Charles Perkins Centre, Sydney University.
Since returning to Australia he has won several awards including the Glaxo Wellcome Medal for Medical Research and the Kellion medal for outstanding contributions to Diabetes research. In 2007 he was elected as a fellow of the Australian Academy of Science and in 2016 he was awarded the NSW Premier Pize in Excellence in Medical Biological Sciences.
He is currently on the editorial boards of Cell Metabolism, Molecular Cell Biology, Traffic and Journal Clinical Investigation. He was the founding member of the Asia Pacific Diabetes and Obesity study group with Professor Masato Kasuga.
He has supervised 23 PhD students and 25 postdoctoral fellows, most of whom remain actively engaged in research throughout the world.
James has published >200 original research papers and >25 invited reviews in his research area many of which have been cited >500 times.
Current research students
Project title | Research student |
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The role of Trafficking regulator of GLUT4 1 (TRARG1) in GLUT4 trafficking | Xiaowen DUAN |
Functional analysis of the Protein Kinase Akt | Alison KEARNEY |
Novel Regulatory Mechanisms for the Ser/Thr Protein Kinase Akt in Naive and Primed Pluripotent Stem Cells | Hani KIM |
Skeletal muscle signal transduction related to exercise, metabolic disease and human health | Elise NEEDHAM |
Delineating the mechanism by which insulin regulates lipolysis | Armella ZADOORIAN |
Awards and honours
2016 NSW Premier’s Prize for Medical Research
2014 ANZCDBS President’s Medal
2010 Honorary Professor, Sydney University
2008 Millennium Award, Diabetes Australian Research Trust
2007 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
Selected grants
2019
- Establishing State-of-the-art confocal imaging capabilities to tackle the complexity of cardiovascular disease; James D, New E, Jackson S; DVC Research/Equipment Grant.
2018
- RES AGR: The role of ABHD15 in lipolysis - Pfizer - David James; James D; Pfizer Inc (USA)/Collaborative Research Agreement.
- Precision Medicine (DVCR-759); James D; DVC Research/Other.
- Taking phosphoproteomics to the clinic: high-throughput and high-sensitivity technologies for mapping molecular signalling networks.; Humphrey S, James D; DVC Research/Postdoctoral Research Fellowship Scheme.
- Precision Medicine in the Mouse; James D; Philip Bushell Foundation/Research Grant.
- Oroboros O2k Modular system for High-Resolution FluoRespirometry; James D, Jackson S, Neely G; University of Sydney/Equipment Grant.
- Redefining insulin resistance as a metabolic defect beyond glucose transport; Krycer J, James D, Fazakerley D, Healy (Nelson) M, Quek L; Diabetes Australia/Diabetes Research Grant Program.
- Novel regulatory mechanisms for the Ser/Thr Protein Kinase Akt; James D, Burchfield J, Kuroda S; Australian Research Council (ARC)/Discovery Projects (DP).
- Confocal and single molecule microscopes for Systems Microscopy; Gaus K, James D, King N; Australian Research Council (ARC)/Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities (LIEF).
2017
- Targeting ACC1 as a novel therapeutic for the treatment of breast cancer; Naylor M, James D, Simpson P; Cancer Australia/Priority Driven Collaborative Cancer Research Scheme.
- Total-Body PET Technology and Methods for Biological Systems Research in Metabolic Disorders and Mental Illness; Cherry S, Meikle S, Hickie I, Badawi R, James D, Jones T, Qi J, Fulton R, Tarantal A, Kyme A, Gregoire M; Office of Global Engagement/Partnership Collaboration Awards.
- CPC: Global Health Challenges - diabetes (Open Learning Environment - Undergraduate); Thorn P, James D, Poronnik P, Carroll M; DVC Education/Small Educational Innovation Grant.
- Probing the Gene-Environment Interaction in Metabolic Disease; James D; National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC)/Career Awards: Research Fellowships.
- Analysis of the phosphoproteomic network in insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes; James D; DVC Research/Bridging Support Grant.
- A multiple ion beam facility for Microscopy and Nanofabrication; Palomba S, Ringer S, Cairney J, Shadrivov I, Toth M, Simpson S, Phillips M, Bagnall D, Bradby J, Chen V, James D, Wallace G; Australian Research Council (ARC)/Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities (LIEF).
- Dissecting Rapamycin sensitive and insensitive effects of mTOR; James D, Stoeckli J, Yang J; National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC)/Project Grants.
2016
- Advanced Microfluidics for Live Cell Imaging; James D, Palomba S, Neely G; National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC)/Equipment Grants.
- Protein Technologies Prelude� X Automated Parallel Peptide Synthesiser; Payne R, James D, Jackson S; National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC)/Equipment Grants.
- Ultra-high pressure system for proteomic analysis of a multi-ethnic cohort to identify biomarkers for type-2 diabetes; James D, Parker B, Humphrey S; Ian Potter Foundation/Medical Research.
- Is FGF21 the master regulator of protein intake?; Simpson S, James D, Raubenheimer D, Conigrave A, Le Couteur D; Australian Research Council (ARC)/Discovery Projects (DP).
- Molecular pathways linking nutrition and age-related health; Simpson S, Le Couteur D, Cogger V, James D; National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC)/Project Grants.
- A multi-ethnic cohort and intervention trial to identify early biomarkers for type 2 diabetes and customise individualized environments for disease prevention; James D, Hocking S, Zeng R, Wu J, Brand-Miller J, Bauman A, Yang J, Sun L, Li R, Li Q; National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC)/National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC).
- A systems biology capability for the Ramaciotti Centre for Genomics; Cordwell S, James D, Simpson S, Payne R, Wilkins M, Cavicchioli R, Packer N, Guillemin G, Goodchild A, Scott R, Thorne R, Hondermarck H, Djordjevic S, McDougald D, Myers G; Australian Research Council (ARC)/Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities (LIEF).
- Systematic approaches to the study of diabetes; James D; Office of Global Engagement/Joint IPDF with the University of Geneva (Switzerland).
2015
- USYD Research Support in Metabolic Systems Biology - New Initiatives; James D; University of Sydney/Internal Scheme.
- Mitochondria as a key node of metabolic disease; James D; Rebecca L Cooper Medical Research Foundation/Equipment Grant.
- Probing the exercise biochemistry landscape for new therapeutic options for treating diabetes; James D, Chaudhuri R, Hoffman N; Diabetes Australia Research Trust (DART)/Research Grants.
- Defining factors that contribute to individual diversity in the diet-health axis; James D, Neely G, Neely G, Simpson S; National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC)/Project Grants.
- AKTA Pure 25 M2 with dedicated chromatography columns & Laboratory Refrigerator; Mackay J, Ataide S, Sunde M, Balle T, James D; National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC)/Equipment Grants.
- Spinning Disk Confocal System for Ultra-High Speed Imaging; James D, Braet F, Jackson S, Bilek M, Overall R; National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC)/Equipment Grants.
- Metabolic wiring in adipocytes - unique role in maintaining long-term health; James D, Cooney G, Cooney G; National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC)/Project Grants.
- Towards a toolkit for the interdisciplinary teaching of data analysis, interpretation and visualization; Bell-Anderson K, James D, Poronnik P; DVC Education/Small Educational Innovation Grant.
2014
- Towards real time data sharing to support patient-centred care, quality health delivery, improvement programmes, performance management and research; Morris J, Roberts C, Simpson S, Kay J, Venkatesh S, Fazekas de St Groth B, Arthur J, Feng D, Holmes E, James D, Yang J, Engel A; NSW Ministry of Health, Office for Health and Medical Research/Bioinformatics Collaborative Grants Program.
- Research Fellowship - SPRF; James D; National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC)/Career Awards: Research Fellowships.
- Understanding the link between obesity, impaired insulin action and long term health; James D; National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC)/Project Grants.
- Mechanistic studies of insulin action; Stoeckli J, James D; National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC)/Project Grants.
2013
- Defining how insulin regulates glucose uptake into muscle and fat, one of the major steps that is defective in Type 2 diabetes; James D, Stoeckli J, Lambright D, Hughes W; National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC)/Project Grants.
2008
- Defining the insulin-signalling defect in human insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes; James D, Greenfield J; Diabetes Australia Research Trust (DART)/Research Grants.
- Rebecca Cooper Foundation Grant; James D; Rebecca L Cooper Medical Research Foundation/Rebecca Cooper Medical Research Foundation FPRx567 SCHx1065.
Selected publications
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