Dr Anneliese Ashhurst
Infection, Immunity and Inflammation Theme
School of Medical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health
Dr Anneliese Ashhurst (née Tyne) is a research fellow with the laboratories of Associate Professor Scott Byrne (School of Medical Sciences) and Professor Richard Payne (School of Chemistry). Dr Ashhurst is a research immunologist with a background in studying the host immune response to tuberculosis and influenza, with an interest in vaccines or drug therapies designed for pulmonary delivery. Her current research is directed towards developing therapies to control inappropriate inflammation, in particular for skin conditions such as psoriasis and dermatitis. Dr Ashhurst is a member of the Charles Perkins Centre, the Centre for Translational Skin Research, and the Centre for Immunology and Allergy Research at the Westmead Institute for Medical Research.
There is no cure for inflammatory skin diseases which are costly and debilitating. Immune suppression is the only treatment option, but current therapies are expensive, can cause serious side-effects and are not always efficacious. Dr Ashhurst's research aims to develop next generation therapeutics that are safer, readily accessible and preferentially suppress local inflammation. She is committed to interdisciplinary research to achieve translational outcomes that could not be realised within a single discipline, pursuing innovative projects in collaboration with specialists in pharmaceutical science and chemistry.
Dr Ashhurst also has expertise in inflammatory responses at the pulmonary mucosa (lungs), particularly in response to infectious diseases such as tuberculosis, which remains the world's leading infectious disease killer. She has an interest in developing vaccines and drugs designed for inhalation.
Dr Ashhurst is passionate about teaching science to students at all stages of their education, and to help communicate the role medical research plays in our community. She supervises research students, is a mentor to HSC Science Extension students and lectures in undergraduate and postgraduate programs with the School of Medical Sciences.
Centre for Immunology and Allergy Research, the Westmead Institute for Medical Research.
Tuberculosis Research Group, Centenary Institute
Member (since 2019):Centre for Translational Skin Research Network
Member (since 2012): Australia and New Zealand Society of Immunology
Councillor (2018-2022): Molecular and Experimental Pathology Society of Australasia
Member (since 2020): GRAPPA - Group for Research and Assessment of Psoriasis and Psoriatic Arthritis
Publications
Journals
- Johansen-Leete, J., Ullrich, S., Fry, S., Frkic, R., Bedding, M., Aggarwal, A., Ashhurst, A., Ekanayake, K., Mahawaththa, M., Mini Sasi, V., Ford, D., Passioura, T., Larance, M., Payne, R., et al (2022). Antiviral cyclic peptides targeting the main protease of SARS-CoV-2. Chemical Science, (13), 3826-3836. [More Information]
- Castillo, R., Yan, D., Ashhurst, A., Elliott, A., Angioni, M., Scher, J., Naik, S., Neimann, A., Byrne, S., Payne, R., et al (2022). GRAPPA 2020 Research Award Recipients. Journal of Rheumatology, 49(6), 55-56. [More Information]
- Ashhurst, A., Hanna, C., Payne, R., Britton, W. (2022). Immunological Assessment of Lung Responses to Inhalational Lipoprotein Vaccines Against Bacterial Pathogens. Methods in Molecular Biology, 2414, 301-323. [More Information]
Conferences
- Chan, J., Tyne, A., Chan, H., Young, P., Britton, W., Duke, C., Traini, D. (2013). A novel inhaled antibiotic powder to shorten treatment time for latent tuberculosis. RDD Europe 2013 Respiratory Drug Delivery, Richmond, VA: Virginia Commonwealth University.
2022
- Johansen-Leete, J., Ullrich, S., Fry, S., Frkic, R., Bedding, M., Aggarwal, A., Ashhurst, A., Ekanayake, K., Mahawaththa, M., Mini Sasi, V., Ford, D., Passioura, T., Larance, M., Payne, R., et al (2022). Antiviral cyclic peptides targeting the main protease of SARS-CoV-2. Chemical Science, (13), 3826-3836. [More Information]
- Castillo, R., Yan, D., Ashhurst, A., Elliott, A., Angioni, M., Scher, J., Naik, S., Neimann, A., Byrne, S., Payne, R., et al (2022). GRAPPA 2020 Research Award Recipients. Journal of Rheumatology, 49(6), 55-56. [More Information]
- Ashhurst, A., Hanna, C., Payne, R., Britton, W. (2022). Immunological Assessment of Lung Responses to Inhalational Lipoprotein Vaccines Against Bacterial Pathogens. Methods in Molecular Biology, 2414, 301-323. [More Information]
2021
- Norman, A., Franck, C., Christie, T., Hawkins, P., Patel, K., Ashhurst, A., Aggarwal, A., Low, J., Siddiquee, R., Ashley, C., Steain, M., Triccas, J., Mackay, J., Passioura, T., Payne, R., et al (2021). Discovery of Cyclic Peptide Ligands to the SARS-CoV‑2 Spike Protein Using mRNA Display. ACS Central Science, 7(6), 1001-1008. [More Information]
- Rhodes, J., Botting, R., Bertram, K., Vine, E., Rana, H., Baharlou, H., Vegh, P., O'Neil, T., Ashhurst, A., Fletcher, J., Parnell, G., Graham, J., Nasr, N., Gosselink, M., Di Re, A., Reza, F., Ctercteko, G., Patrick, E., Byrne, S., Cunningham, A., Harman, A., et al (2021). Human anogenital monocyte-derived dendritic cells and langerin+cDC2 are major HIV target cells. Nature Communications, 12, Article 2147-15 pages. [More Information]
- Ford, D., Duggan, N., Fry, S., Ripoll-Rozada, J., Agten, S., Liu, W., Corcilius, L., Hackeng, T., van Oerle, R., Spronk, H., Ashhurst, A., Passioura, T., Payne, R., et al (2021). Potent Cyclic Peptide Inhibitors of FXIIa Discovered by mRNA Display with Genetic Code Reprogramming. Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, 64(11), 7853-7876. [More Information]
2020
- Counoupas, C., Ferrell, K., Ashhurst, A., Bhattacharyya, N., Nagalingam, G., Stewart, E., Feng, C., Petrovsky, N., Britton, W., Triccas, J. (2020). Mucosal delivery of a multistage subunit vaccine promotes development of lung-resident memory T cells and affords interleukin-17-dependent protection against pulmonary tuberculosis. n p j Vaccines, 5(1), 105. [More Information]
- Wang, X., Ashhurst, A., Dowman, L., Watson, E., Li, H., Fairbanks, A., Larance, M., Kwan, A., Payne, R. (2020). Total Synthesis of Glycosylated Human Interferon-γ. Organic Letters, 22(17), 6863-6867. [More Information]
2019
- Ashhurst, A., Florido, M., Lin, L., Quan, D., Armitage, E., Stifter, S., Stambas, J., Britton, W. (2019). CXCR6-deficiency improves the control of pulmonary Mycobacterium tuberculosis and influenze infection independent of T-lymphocyte recruitment to the lungs. Frontiers in Immunology, 10(339), 1-16. [More Information]
- Ashhurst, A., McDonald, D., Hanna, C., Stanojevic, V., Britton, W., Payne, R. (2019). Mucosal vaccination with a self-adjuvanted lipopeptide is immunogenic and protective against Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, 62(17), 8080-8089. [More Information]
2018
- Ashhurst, A., Parumasivam, T., Chan, J., Lin, L., Florido, M., West, N., Chan, H., Britton, W. (2018). PLGA particulate subunit tuberculosis vaccines promote humoral and Th17 responses but do not enhance control of Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection. PloS One, 13(3). [More Information]
- McDonald, D., Hanna, C., Ashhurst, A., Corcilius, L., Byrne, S., Payne, R. (2018). Synthesis of a Self-Adjuvanting MUC1 Vaccine via Diselenide-Selenoester Ligation-Deselenization. ACS Chemical Biology, 13(12), 3279-3285. [More Information]
2017
- Parumasivam, T., Ashhurst, A., Nagalingam, G., Britton, W., Chan, H. (2017). Inhalation of Respirable Crystalline Rifapentine Particles Induces Pulmonary Inflammation. Molecular Pharmaceutics, 14(1), 328-335. [More Information]
2015
- Chan, J., Tyne, A., Pang, A., McLachlan, A., Perera, V., Chan, J., Britton, W., Chan, H., Duke, C., Young, P., Traini, D. (2015). Murine pharmacokinetics of rifapentine delivered as an inhalable dry powder. International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents, 45(3), 319-323. [More Information]
2014
- Chan, J., Duke, C., Ong, H., Chan, J., Tyne, A., Chan, H., Britton, W., Young, P., Traini, D. (2014). A Novel Inhalable Form of Rifapentine. Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences, 103(5), 1141-1421. [More Information]
- Chan, J., Tyne, A., Pang, A., Chan, H., Young, P., Britton, W., Duke, C., Traini, D. (2014). A Rifapentine-Containing Inhaled Triple Antibiotic Formulation for Rapid Treatment of Tubercular Infection. Pharmaceutical Research, 31(5), 1239-1253. [More Information]
2013
- Chan, J., Tyne, A., Chan, H., Young, P., Britton, W., Duke, C., Traini, D. (2013). A novel inhaled antibiotic powder to shorten treatment time for latent tuberculosis. RDD Europe 2013 Respiratory Drug Delivery, Richmond, VA: Virginia Commonwealth University.
- Tyne, A., Chan, J., Shanahan, E., Atmosukarto, I., Chan, H., Britton, W., West, N. (2013). TLR2-targeted secreted proteins from Mycobacterium tuberculosis are protective as powdered pulmonary vaccines. Vaccine, 31(40), 4322-4329. [More Information]
Selected Grants
2022
- Nasal delivered COVID vaccine to block transmission of SARS-CoV-2, Britton W, Ashhurst A, Payne R, Triccas J, Steain M, Byrne S, NSW Health/Covid-19 Research Grant
- A novel human peptide-based immune modulating drug to reduce severe lung inflammation, Ashhurst A, Centre for Drug Discovery Innovation/Sydney ID Seed Funding
- Nasal delivered COVID vaccine to block transmission of SARS-CoV-2, Ashhurst A, Centre for Drug Discovery Innovation/Translational Innovations Scheme
2021
- Mucosal vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 to generate protection in the upper respiratory tract, Ashhurst A, Sydney Institute for Infectious Diseases (Sydney ID)/Sydney ID Seed Grants
In the media
Development of novel inhalable TB vaccines:
The wire:http://thewire.org.au/story/new-tuberculosis-vaccine-in-the-works-for-adult-sufferers/