A molecular view of gene regulation:
protein structure, function and engineering
BLOG / Photo Gallery
*Another* lab baby! Where are they all coming from?
Well, this one is coming to us courtesy of Jason and his wife Mel (mostly Mel) – he hasn’t been given a n...
Welcome to Adnan Shaik!
Dr Anjumara Shaik, who has been working with our collaborator Alyson Ashe on transgenerational epigenetic inheritance...
Joel’s Braidwood-Bermagui bike weekend
With the lack of international bike touring possibilities at the moment, Joel’s been looking for options closer...
Lorna weaves (well, knits) her magic!
Lorna has been busy preparing for the Sydney Royal Easter Show – and has come up with the goods. Her knitted fi...
Joel hits the trails in the UTA 50-km race
A friend of Joel’s had to pull out of the Ultra Trail Australia 50-km race in the Blue Mountains recently and o...
Ahhh – it’s still one of my favourite sights in science…
…a sweet 15N-HSQC titration. Last minute effort to add that extra piece of preliminary data to the grant applic...
Xmas stroll in the Royal National Park
Joel and Jacqui took advantage of the cool weather to head down the RNP and see what the wildflower situation was lik...
You don’t get this aesthetic beauty from Alphafold…
We have just solved a structure working with SOLES colleague Tara Christie (not to mention Toby Passioura and Rich Pa...
Beautiful, but CruEL…
Well, it’s one of those classic structural biology stories… Scientist (Anjumara) purifies and crystallize...
Ngaio, Mario and Martina
Although the proud parents missed the opportunity to give the new addition to their family a name ending in “o&...
Lab Members
Prof. Joel Mackay
PI with longstanding interests in gene regulation, structural biology, statistics/data analysis, bike touring, rogaining, trail running – and cats.
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Prof. Jacqui Matthews
PI with personal chair – hooping name “Alpha Helix” and currently President of the ASBMB.
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Dr Ron Hill
Honorary Associate with a ton of experience (at CSIRO) in insect transcription factor structure and function – hoping to do some fundamental biochemistry and drug discovery.
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Dr Mohammadreza Nassiri
Sabbatical visitor from Ferdowsi University of Mashhad in Iran – here to learn some protein structure and design in Joel’s lab.
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Angela Nikolic
Our lab manager (the person who *really* runs the lab). Watch out if you aren’t wearing your lab coat!
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Dr Jason Low
Postdoc in the Mackay lab – frequently consulted as the oracle of cloning, not to mention mass spectrometry… Some would say he runs the joint…
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Dr Ingrid MacIndoe
After BSc Hons with Joel, a PhD with Margie and a school teaching sabbatical in Japan, Ingrid is back (and with more diverse hair colours than before) to become the lab CRISPR guru.
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Dr Hakimeh Moghaddas Sani
Research assistant working on the design of new insecticides that are safer and more selective. A new chapter in her life in the lab here!
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Dr Ngaio Smith
PhD student with Jacqui. Tried to escape but is stuck with us for the time being!
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Dr Chandrika Deshpande
Membrane protein crystallography afionado working with Joel on a collaboration with Prof Michael Kassiou to design new modulators of P2X proteins.
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Charlotte Franck
Just-finished PhD student working jointly with Richard Payne in Chemistry and Joel. Skillfully walked the line between being a chemist and a biochemist!
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Karishma Patel
PhD student with Joel working on the structure and function of bromodomains. Bravely ventured across the Tasman for her PhD, doubling the number of people in the lab who know what jandals are.
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Paul Solomon
PhD student with Joel following on from TSP project. Wants to rebuild protein NMR data analysis from the bottom up – and fly planes.
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Kim Woollett
PhD student with Joel who has made the jump from membrane proteins to transcription factors (and their PTMs) – very sensible!
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Xavier Reid
Previously known as “BSc Hons student working with Joel and Jason” – now promoted to PhD student and being inducted into the arcane world of RaPID screening by Toby!
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Rezwan Siddiquee
Intern/Hons student/RA/web designer/Taylor’s other half. Truly a man for all seasons.
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Natasha Jones
Research assistant working with Joel on a collaborative project with Alyson Ashe – on transgenerational epigenetic inheritance. Enjoyed her BSc Hons year with Joel and Ana and her undergrad project before that so much we couldn’t keep her away.
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Angus Hawken
Undergraduate student with an interest in protein design and engineering – working with Jason on the new and exciting monobody project…
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Eve Borbilas
Hons student working in Joel’s lab on transcription factor PTMs – ably supervised by Ingrid and Kim.
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Nuren Tasneem
Intrepid MSc student working with Yu Heng Lau in Chemistry on the very cool encapsulin family of proteins and spending some time in Joel’s lab to flex her protein biochemistry muscles.
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Thu Vu
Research Assistant with Jacqui – continuing the family tradition of working in the lab here after her partner Cuong completed his PhD with Joel a few years ago.
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Marcus Johnson
BSC Hons student working with Joel, Ron and Emily Remnant – a crossover project where we merge our interest in transcription factors with Ron’s expertise in insecticide development and Emily’s deep knowledge of honeybees!
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Jen Suh
BSc Hons student working with Joel and Toby – will be flexing her mRNA display muscles this year trying to isolate bromodomain inhibitors.
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