Associate Professor Margaret Hughes

Principal Research Fellow
Member of the Respiratory Research Group

Qualifications

BSc (Hon), PhD

Contact Details

University of Sydney
Phone: +61 2 9351 2323 (office)
Phone: +61 2 9351 3848 (laboratory)
Fax: +61 2 9351 4391
Email:
Room S224 (Lab: S221)
Pharmacy Building A15
The University of Sydney
NSW 2006 Australia

Research Theme

Respiratory Disease

Background

Associate Professor Hughes, with more than 35 years research experience, has a passion for research, particularly cell biology, and enjoys sharing these passions with students and colleagues as well as contributing to the research and wider community. Associate Professor Hughes is a member of the Respiratory Research Group (RRG) and a Research Academic in the Faculty of Pharmacy and is funded by the NHMRC. She graduated with a BSc (Hons) in 1971 and then worked for many years in research at various Sydney hospitals and CSIRO. She returned to Sydney University and completed her PhD in 1992. Highlights included establishing the first oestrogen receptor testing service in NSW and preparing a research laboratory and training 4 scientists to conduct lymphocyte function testing for an HIV vaccine clinical trial.

Research Interests

Associate Professor Hughes’ research field changed from cancer drug resistance to asthma as she joined Professors Armour and Black and the RRG at the end of her PhD candidature. She brought different techniques with her and together with her collaborators continues to develop new techniques for the group eg cell division tracking and intracellular cytokine detection and mast cell isolation. Highlights include: establishing for the first time that corticosteroids inhibit IL-5 gene expression, which explains their efficacy in reducing airway eosinophilia in asthma; in collaboration with Pete Johnson et al., demonstrating by flow cytometry that airway smooth muscle cells from asthmatics grow faster than those from non-asthmatics which was the first indication of an intrinsic abnormality in airway smooth muscle which could contribute to the changes in asthmatic airways; most recently, in collaboration with Professor Chris Brightling in the UK, identifying key chemokines involved in mast cell localisation to airway smooth muscle in asthma.

Associate Professor Hughes regularly reviews papers for the top respiratory journals and grant applications for NHMRC, ARC, NZ HRC and various Asthma Foundations. Associate Professor Hughes served as a member of the NHMRC Pharmacology and Training Fellowships Grant Review Panels in 2003-4 and 2008 respectively.

Selected Journal Articles

• Krimmer, DI, Loseli, M A, Hughes, JM, Oliver, BG, Moir, L, Hunt, NH, Black, JL, Burgess, JK, 2009, CD40 and OX40 ligand are differentially regulated on asthmatic airway smooth muscle, Allergy, 64, 1074-1082
• Seidel, P, Merfort, I, Hughes, JM, Oliver, BG, Tamm, M, Roth, M, 2009, Dimethylfumarate inhibits NF-B function at multiple levels to limit airway smooth muscle cell cytokine secretion, American Journal of Physiology-Lung Cellular And Molecular Physiology, 297, L326-L339
• Ammit, AJ, Burgess JK, Hirst SJ, Hughes JM, Kaur M, Lau JY, Zuyderduyn S, 2009, The effect of asthma therapeutics on signalling and transcriptional regulation of airway smooth muscle function, Pulmonary Pharmacology & Therapeutics, 22, 446-454.
• Yang, J, Rudiger, J, Hughes, JM, Goulet, S, Gencay-Cornelson, M, Borger, P, Tamm, M, Roth, M, 2008, American Journal of Respiratory Cell and Molecular Biology, Cell density and serum exposure modify the function of the glucocorticoid receptor C/EBP complex, 38(4), 414-422
• Chhabra J, Li Y-Z, Alkhouri H, Blake AE, Ge Q, Armour CL, Hughes JM, 2007, Histamine and tryptase modulate asthmatic airway smooth muscle GM-CSF and RANTES release, Eur Respir J 29, 861-870.
• Sutcliffe A, Kaur D, Page S, Woodman L, Baraket M, Armour CL, Wardlaw A, Bradding P, Hughes JM, Brightling CE, 2006, Mast cell migration to Th2-cytokine stimulated airway smooth muscle from asthmatics, Thorax 61, 657-662.
• Brightling CE, Ammit AJ, Berger P, Kaur D, Morgan AJ, Black JL, Wardlaw AJ, Hughes JM, Bradding P, 2005, The chemokines CXCL10 (IP-10) is a novel mast cell chemoattractant preferentially secreted by asthmatic compared to normal airway smooth muscle, Amer Respir Crit Care Med171:1103-1108.
• Burgess JK, Blake AE, Boustany S, Johnson PRA, Armour CL, Black JL, Hunt NH, Hughes JM, 2005, CD40 and OX40 ligand are increased on stimulated asthmatic airway smooth muscle, J Allergy Clin Immunol, Vol 115 No 2, 302-308.
• Sukkar MB, Stanley AJ, Blake AE, Johnson PRA, Hodgkin PD, Armour CL, Hughes JM, 2004, Proliferative and synthetic airway smooth muscle cells are over-lapping populations, Immunol Cell Biol 82, 471-478.
• Johnson PRA, Roth M, Tamm M, Hughes JM, Ge Q, King G, Black JL, 2001, Airway smooth muscle cell proliferation is increased in asthma, Amer J Respir Crit Care Med 164, 474-477.
• Hughes JM, Rimmer SJ, Salome CM, Hodge L, Liu-Brennan D, Woolcock AJ, Armour CL, 2001, Eosinophilia, interleukin-5 and tumour necrosis factor-alpha in asthmatic children, Allergy 56, 412-418.
• Rolfe FG, Hughes JM, Armour CL, Sewell WA, 1992, Inhibition of interleukin 5 gene expression by dexamethasone, Immunology 77, 494-499.
• Hughes JM and Tattersall MHN, 1989, Potentiation of methotrexate lymphocytotoxicity in vitro by inhibitors of nucleoside transport, Br J Cancer 59, 381-384.
• Shaw JM (maiden name), Halley JBW and Irving MG, 1979, Oestrogen receptor protein in breast cancer: a local study, Pathology 11, 181-190.