Associate Professor Kevin Downard

Associate Professor
School of Molecular Bioscience

G08 - Biochemistry Building
The University of Sydney
NSW 2006 Australia

T:	+61 (0)2 9351 4140
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W:	Related website

Themes

Infection and Immunological Conditions

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Biographical details

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Research interests

Main Research Areas: Mass Spectrometry, Proteomics, Protein Structure and Biology, Protein Bioinformatics, Computational Biology

Our internationally-recognized research in viral and structural proteomics, and bioinformatics, uses cutting edge mass spectrometry technologies that we both develop and apply.

Current research projects :

1. Viral proteomics using MS for surveillance of the type, subtype and antigenicity of the influenza virus and other biopathogens to monitor their evolution and identify the emergence of highly virulent new strains.

2. Application of Radical Probe Mass Spectrometry (RP-MS) to study protein interaction interfaces and the impact of oxidation on these interactions. Our research is focussed particularly on long lived tissue proteins.

3. Development and application of new computer algorithms to assist our influenza studies (FluShuffle, FluResort, FluTyper, FluAlign, FluGest, MassTrees) and approaches to obtain information on the structure and interactions of proteins from mass spectra (eg. COMPLX, PROXIMO and PRISM). Other algorithms to deconvolute ESI mass spectra (CRAM) and advance 'shotgun' proteomics (ETISEQ) have also been written.

Selected Invited Talks:

MassSpec 2013 (Singapore)

(Opening Keynote) GRC Isotopes in Biological & Chemical Sciences 2012 (USA)

8th Australian Influenza Symposium (Canberra) 2012

1st Asian Oceanic Spectrometry Conference (Japan)

MSSJ Biological Mass Spectrometry Symposium (Japan)

(Keynote) 18th International Mass Spectrometry Conference (Germany)

Vaccines Europe (Belgium)

Selected Recent Publications:

Downard KM (2013) Proteotyping for the Rapid Identification of Influenza Virus and other Biopathogens,Chem. Soc. Rev., in press.

Swaminathan K, Dyason JC, Maggioni A, von Itzstein M, Downard KM (2013) Binding of a Natural Anthocyanin Inhibitor to Influenza Neuraminidase by Mass Spectrometry, Anal. Bioanal. Chem., in press

Lun ATL, Swaminathan K, Wong JWH, Downard KM (2013) Mass Trees – A New Phylogenetic Approach and Algorithm to Chart Evolutionary History with Mass Spectrometry, Anal. Chem., in press.

Downard KM (2013) An Immunoproteomics Approach to Screen the Antigenicity of the Influenza Virus, inMethods in Molecular Biology: Immunoproteomics (Ed. S. Twine & K. Fulton), in press.

Nguyen AP, Downard KM (2013) Subtyping of Influenza Neuraminidase using Mass Spectrometry, Analyst, 138, 1787-1793.

Nguyen AP, Downard KM (2013) Proteotyping of the Parainfluenza Virus with High-Resolution Mass Spectrometry, Anal. Chem.85, 1097-1105.

Swaminathan K, Downard KM (2012) Anti-Viral Inhibitor Binding to Influenza Neuraminidase by MALDI Mass Spectrometry, Anal. Chem., 84, 3725-3730.

Lun ATL, Wong JWH, Downard KM (2012) FluShuffle and FluResort - New Algorithms to Identify Reassorted Strains of the Influenza Virus by Mass Spectrometry, BMC Bioinformatics, 13, 208.

Maleknia SD, Downard KM (2012) On-Plate Deposition of Oxidized Proteins to Facilitate Protein Footprinting Studies by Radical Probe Mass Spectrometry, Rapid Commun. Mass Spectrom., 26: 2311-2318.

Downard KM, Maleknia SD, Akashi S (2012) Impact of Limited Oxidation on Protein Ion Mobility and Structure of Importance to Footprinting by Radical Probe Mass Spectrometry, Rapid Commun. Mass Spectrom., 26, 226-230.

Downard KM, Kokabu Y, Ikeguchi M, Akashi S (2011) Homology Modelled Structure of the Beta-B2B3-Crystallin Heterodimer Studied by Ion Mobility and Radical Probe Mass Spectrometry, FEBSJ, 278, 4044-4054.

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