Biomedical Sciences

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I completed a BBiomedSc. (Hons I) at James Cook University and a PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the John Curtin School of Medical Research (Australian National University). I was awarded a University Medal in 1998 and the Frank Fenner Medal in 2002 for most outstanding PhD thesis. Since completing my PhD, I undertook postdoctoral research in industry (Bresagen Ltd., Adelaide University), and under an NHMRC CJ Martin Fellowship, conducted research at the Department of Structural Studies in Cambridge for two years, followed by an additional two years at the University of Queensland. In 2007, I joined the School of Biomedical Sciences at Charles Sturt University to coordinate and lecture in Biochemistry.

My research interests are medical biochemistry, molecular biology and pharmacology. Projects include sex determination and mutations with SRY that lead to genetic sex reversal in humans, nucleocytoplasmic transport of proteins involved in gene regulation, non-viral gene-therapy, and techniques to characterise protein-protein interactions including x-ray crystallography. I have conducted research on proteins responsible for replicating the Dengue virus genome, proteins involved in gene regulation and their application for gene therapy, neuralisation of stem cells, and crystallographic structure determination of proteins involved in colon cancer, development, macrophage activation, lipid metabolism, and the nucleocytoplasmic transport process. This work has been published in a number of journals including Proc Natl Acad Sci USA, Plant Cell, J Biol Chem, Proteins and Biochemistry and a number of book chapters. Please click on publications for details.

Teaching

Teaching philosophy

My primary teaching philosophy is to provide a stimulating and innovative teaching environment and to facilitate students to develop life-long learning practices. My approach includes offering a range of complementary and engaging learning resources, applying a range of subject specific pedagogies, and use of student and peer-reviewed evaluations and critical reflection to continually improve my teaching skills.

Current subjects taught

• Biochemistry
• Protein biochemistry

Research

Please see my personal website:

• Personal Site

Publications

Top 10 Publications (click below for full list) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?db=pubmed&cmd=search&term=forwood%20jk

1. Forwood JK, Thakur AS, Guncar G, Marfori M, Mouradov D, Meng W, Robinson J, Huber T, Kellie S, Martin JL, Hume DA, Kobe B. Structural basis for recruitment of tandem hotdog domains in acyl-CoA thioesterase 7 and its role in inflammation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 2007;104(25):10382-10387. (Impact Factor = 10.2; ARC ERA Ranking A*).
2. Wang CI, Guncar G, Forwood JK, Teh T, Catanzariti AM, Lawrence GJ, Loughlin FE, Mackay JP, Schirra HJ, Anderson PA, Ellis JG, Dodds PN, Kobe B. Crystal structures of flax rust avirulence proteins AvrL567-A and AvrL567-D reveal the structural basis for flax disease resistance specificity. Plant Cell 2007;19(9):2898-2912. (Impact Factor = 9.8; ARC ERA Ranking A*).
3. Harley VR, Layfield S, Mitchell CL, Forwood JK, John AP, Briggs LJ, McDowall SG, Jans DA. Defective importin beta recognition and nuclear import of the sex-determining factor SRY are associated with XY sex-reversing mutations. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 2003;100(12):7045-7050. (Impact Factor 10.2; ARC ERA Ranking A*).
4. Forwood JK, Lonhienne TG, Marfori M, Robin G, Meng W, Guncar G, Liu SM, Stewart M, Carroll BJ, Kobe B. Kap95p Binding Induces the Switch Loops of RanGDP to Adopt the GTP-Bound Conformation: Implications for Nuclear Import Complex Assembly Dynamics. Journal of Molecular Biology. 2008;383:772-82. (Impact Factor 4.5; ARC ERA Ranking A).
5. Lonhienne TG**, Forwood JK**, Marfori M, Robin G, Kobe B, Carroll BJ. Importin-Beta is a GDP-to-GTP exchange factor of RAN: Implications for the mechanism of nuclear import. Journal of Biological Chemistry. 2009 Accepted Jun 23. (Impact Factor = 5.5; ARC ERA Ranking A*) **Joint 1st Authors
6. Forwood JK, Harley V, Jans DA. The C-terminal nuclear localization signal of the sex-determining region Y (SRY) high mobility group domain mediates nuclear import through importin beta 1. Journal of Biological Chemistry 2001;276(49):46575-46582. (Impact Factor = 7.3; ARC ERA Ranking A*)
7. Forwood JK, Jans DA. Quantitative analysis of DNA-protein interactions using double-labeled native gel electrophoresis and fluorescence-based imaging. Electrophoresis 2006;27(16):3166-3170. (Impact Factor = 3.9; ARC ERA Ranking A*)
8. Forwood JK, Jans DA. Nuclear import pathway of the telomere elongation suppressor TRF1: inhibition by importin alpha. Biochemistry 2002;41(30):9333-9340. (Impact Factor = 4.1; ARC ERA Ranking A)
9. Forwood JK, Lam MH, Jans DA. Nuclear import of CREB and AP-1 transcription factors requires importin-beta 1 and Ran but is independent of importin-alpha. Biochemistry 2001;40(17):5208-5217. (Impact Factor = 4.1; ARC ERA Ranking A)
10. Cowieson NP, Miles AJ, Robin G, Forwood JK, Kobe B, Martin JL, Wallace BA. Evaluating protein:protein complex formation using synchrotron radiation circular dichroism spectroscopy. Proteins. 2008 Mar;70(4):1142-6. (Impact Factor = 4.8; ARC ERA Ranking B).