I have a keen interest in using host defence molecules as the basis for designing drugs to combat disease, including cancer, microbial infections such as meliodosis, and parasitic infections such as malaria. Zooming in to investigate molecular interactions at the cell surface and inside infected cells, allows me to describe the mode of action of drug candidates and work towards improving their activity.
Journal Article: Peptide-membrane interactions affect the inhibitory potency and selectivity of spider toxins ProTx-II and GpTx-1
Lawrence, Nicole, Wu, Bin, Ligutti, Joseph, Cheneval, Olivier, Agwa, Akello Joanna, Benfield, Aurélie H., Biswas, Kaustav, Craik, David J., Miranda, Les P., Henriques, Sónia Troeira and Schroeder, Christina I. (2018) Peptide-membrane interactions affect the inhibitory potency and selectivity of spider toxins ProTx-II and GpTx-1. ACS Chemical Biology, . doi:10.1021/acschembio.8b00989
Journal Article: Defense peptides engineered from human platelet factor 4 kill Plasmodium by selective membrane disruption
Lawrence, Nicole, Dennis, Adelaide S. M., Lehane, Adele M., Ehmann, Anna, Harvey, Peta J., Benfield, Aurélie H., Cheneval, Olivier, Henriques, Sónia Troeira, Craik, David J. and McMorran, Brendan J. (2018) Defense peptides engineered from human platelet factor 4 kill Plasmodium by selective membrane disruption. Cell Chemical Biology, . doi:10.1016/j.chembiol.2018.06.009
Journal Article: Gating modifier toxins isolated from spider venom: modulation of voltage-gated sodium channels and the role of lipid membranes
Agwa, Akello J., Peigneur, Steve, Chow, Chun Yuen, Lawrence, Nicole, Craik, David J., Tytgat, Jan, King, Glenn F., Henriques, Sonia Troeira and Schroeder, Christina I. (2018) Gating modifier toxins isolated from spider venom: modulation of voltage-gated sodium channels and the role of lipid membranes. Journal of Biological Chemistry, 293 23: 9041-9052. doi:10.1074/jbc.RA118.002553
Design of stable antimicrobial peptides as altenatives to conventional antibiotics
Doctor Philosophy
Development of peptide-based drugs for cancer targets
Doctor Philosophy
Lawrence, Nicole, Wu, Bin, Ligutti, Joseph, Cheneval, Olivier, Agwa, Akello Joanna, Benfield, Aurélie H., Biswas, Kaustav, Craik, David J., Miranda, Les P., Henriques, Sónia Troeira and Schroeder, Christina I. (2018) Peptide-membrane interactions affect the inhibitory potency and selectivity of spider toxins ProTx-II and GpTx-1. ACS Chemical Biology, . doi:10.1021/acschembio.8b00989
Lawrence, Nicole, Dennis, Adelaide S. M., Lehane, Adele M., Ehmann, Anna, Harvey, Peta J., Benfield, Aurélie H., Cheneval, Olivier, Henriques, Sónia Troeira, Craik, David J. and McMorran, Brendan J. (2018) Defense peptides engineered from human platelet factor 4 kill Plasmodium by selective membrane disruption. Cell Chemical Biology, . doi:10.1016/j.chembiol.2018.06.009
Agwa, Akello J., Peigneur, Steve, Chow, Chun Yuen, Lawrence, Nicole, Craik, David J., Tytgat, Jan, King, Glenn F., Henriques, Sonia Troeira and Schroeder, Christina I. (2018) Gating modifier toxins isolated from spider venom: modulation of voltage-gated sodium channels and the role of lipid membranes. Journal of Biological Chemistry, 293 23: 9041-9052. doi:10.1074/jbc.RA118.002553
Agwa, Akello J., Lawrence, Nicole, Deplazes, Evelyne, Cheneval, Olivier, Chen, Rachel M., Craik, David J., Schroeder, Christina I. and Henriques, Sonia T. (2017) Spider peptide toxin HwTx-IV engineered to bind to lipid membranes has an increased inhibitory potency at human voltage-gated sodium channel hNa(V)1.7 (vol 1859, pg 835, 2017). Biochimica Et Biophysica Acta-Biomembranes, 1859 11: 2277-2277. doi:10.1016/j.bbamem.2017.08.008
Redesigned spider peptide with improved antimicrobial and anticancer properties
Henriques, Sónia Troeira, Lawrence, Nicole, Chaousis, Stephanie, Ravipati, Anjaneya S., Cheneval, Olivier, Benfield, Aurélie H., Elliott, Alysha G., Kavanagh, Angela Maria, Cooper, Matthew A., Chan, Lai Yue, Huang, Yen-Hua and Craik, David J. (2017) Redesigned spider peptide with improved antimicrobial and anticancer properties. ACS Chemical Biology, 12 9: 2324-2334. doi:10.1021/acschembio.7b00459
Agwa, Akello J., Lawrence, Nicole, Deplazes, Evelyne, Cheneval, Olivier, Chen, Rachel M., Craik, David J., Schroeder, Christina I. and Henriques, Sónia T. (2017) Spider peptide toxin HwTx-IV engineered to bind to lipid membranes has an increased inhibitory potency at human voltage-gated sodium channel hNaV1.7. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta. Biomembranes, 1859 5: 835-844. doi:10.1016/j.bbamem.2017.01.020
Troeira Henriques, Sonia, Deplazes, Evelyne, Lawrence, Nicole, Cheneval, Olivier, Chaousis, Stephanie, Inserra, Marco, Thongyoo, Panumart, King, Glenn F., Mark, Alan E., Vetter, Irina, Craik, David J. and Schroeder, Christina Ingrid (2016) Interaction of tarantula venom peptide ProTx-II with lipid membranes is a prerequisite for its inhibition of human voltage-gated sodium channel NaV1.7. The Journal of Biological Chemistry, 291 33: 17049-17065. doi:10.1074/jbc.M116.729095
Philippe, Gregoire, Huang, Yen-Hua, Cheneval, Olivier, Lawrence, Nicole, Zhang, Zhen, Fairlie, David P., Craik, David J., Dantas De Araujo, Aline and Troeira Henriques, Sonia (2016) Development of cell-penetrating peptide-based drug leads to inhibit MDMX:p53 and MDM2:p53 interactions. Biopolymers - Peptide Science, 106 6: 853-863. doi:10.1002/bip.22893
Biophysical properties of Naᵥ 1.8/Naᵥ 1.2 chimeras and inhibition by µO-conotoxin MrVIB
Knapp, O., Nevin, S. T., Yasuda, T., Lawrence, N., Lewis, R. J. and Adams, D. J. (2012) Biophysical properties of Naᵥ 1.8/Naᵥ 1.2 chimeras and inhibition by µO-conotoxin MrVIB. British Journal of Pharmacology, 166 7: 2148-2160. doi:10.1111/j.1476-5381.2012.01955.x
Loughnan, Marion L., Nicke, Annette, Lawrence, Nicole and Lewis, Richard J. (2009) Novel alpha D-conopeptides and their precursors identified by cDNA cloning define the D-conotoxin superfamily. Biochemistry, 48 17: 3717-3729. doi:10.1021/bi9000326
Scott, Leon J., Lawrence, Nicole, Lange, Corinna L., Graham, Glenn C., Hardwick, Scott, Rossiter, Louise, Dillon, Martin L. and Scott, Kirsten D. (2006) Population dynamics and gene flow of Helicoverpa armigera (Lepidoptera : Noctuidae) on cotton and grain crops in the Murrumbidgee Valley, Australia. Journal of Economic Entomology, 99 1: 155-163. doi:10.1603/0022-0493(2006)099[0155:PDAGFO]2.0.CO;2
Scott, Kirsten D., Lawrence, Nicole, Lange, Corinna L., Scott, Leon J., Wilkinson, Kendle S., Merritt, Melissa A., Miles, Melina, Murray, David and Graham, Glenn C. (2005) Assessing moth migration and population structuring in Helicoverpa annigera (Lepidoptera : Noctuidae) at the regional scale: Example from the Darling Downs, Australia. Journal of Economic Entomology, 98 6: 2210-2219.
Scott, K. D., Wilkinson, K. S., Lawrence, N., Lange, C. L., Scott, L. J., Merritt, M. A., Lowe, A. J. and Graham, G. C. (2005) Gene-flow between populations of cotton bollworm Helicoverpa armigera (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) is highly variable between years. Bulletin of Entomological Research, 95 4: 381-392. doi:10.1079/BER2005369
Lawrence, N, Stowers, A, Mann, V, Taylor, D and Saul, A (2000) Recombinant chimeric proteins generated from conserved regions of Plasmodium falciparum merozoite surface protein 2 generate antiparasite humoral responses in mice. Parasite Immunology, 22 5: 211-221. doi:10.1046/j.1365-3024.2000.00293.x
Stowers, Anthony, Taylor, Darrin, Prescott, Nicole, Cheng, Qin, Cooper, Juan and Saul, Allan (1997) Assessment of the humoral immune response against Plasmodium falciparum rhoptry-associated proteins 1 and 2. Infection and Immunity, 65 6: 2329-2338.
Evidence of cross-contamination among laboratory lines of Plasmodium berghei
Saul, A, Prescott, N, Smith, F, Cheng, Q and Walliker, D (1997) Evidence of cross-contamination among laboratory lines of Plasmodium berghei. Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology, 84 1: 143-147. doi:10.1016/S0166-6851(96)02779-X
Immunogenicity of recombinant Plasmodium falciparum rhoptry associated proteins 1 and 2
Stowers, A, Prescott, N, Cooper, J, Takacs, B, Stueber, D, Kennedy, P and Saul, A (1995) Immunogenicity of recombinant Plasmodium falciparum rhoptry associated proteins 1 and 2. Parasite Immunology, 17 12: 631-642. doi:10.1111/j.1365-3024.1995.tb01009.x
Prescott, N, Stowers, AW, Cheng, Q, Bobogare, A, Rzepczyk, CM and Saul, A (1994) Plasmodium falciparum genetic diversity can be characterised using the polymorphic merozoite surface antigen 2 (MSA-2) gene as a single locus marker. Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology, 63 2: 203-212. doi:10.1016/0166-6851(94)90056-6
Schroeder, Christina, Agwa, Akello, Mueller, Alexander, Chow, Chun Yuen, Peigneur, Steve, Lawrence, Nicole, Deplazes, Evelyne, Mark, Alan, Craik, David, Tytgat, Jan, King, Glenn, Vetter, Irina and Henriques, Sonia Troeira (2018). The use of peptide-membrane interactions in the design of selective and potent sodium channel inhibitors. In: 35th European Peptide Symposium, Dublin City University, Ireland, (S70-S70). 26-31 August 2018.
The importance of peptide-membrane interactions in toxin inhibitions of sodium channels
Schroeder, Christina I., Deplazes, Evelyn, Lawrence, Nicole, Agwa, Akello and Henriques, Sonia T. (2017). The importance of peptide-membrane interactions in toxin inhibitions of sodium channels. In: 58th Annual Meeting of the Biophysical Society, San Francisco, United States, (226A-226A). 15-19 February 2014. doi:10.1016/j.bpj.2016.11.1247
Huang, Y. -H., Henriques, S. Troeira, Lawrence, N., Kaas, Q. and Craik, D. J. (2016). Inhibitory Effects of Substrate-Based Bcr-Abl1 Kinase Inhibitors On the Growth of Chronic Myeloid Leukemia Cell Line K562. In: 34th European Peptide Symposium, Leipzig, Germany, (S174-S174). 4‐9 September 2016. doi:10.1002/psc.2950
Design of stable antimicrobial peptides as altenatives to conventional antibiotics
Doctor Philosophy — Associate Advisor
Other advisors:
Development of peptide-based drugs for cancer targets
Doctor Philosophy — Associate Advisor
Other advisors: