Subiaco Science Recruit Wins International Accolade

September 24th, 2010 - Media Statement

A Subiaco scientist recruited from Scotland to join WA's premier adult medical research institute has taken out a prestigious award at an international conference.

Dr Sanam Mustafa, a research associate based at the Western Australian Institute for Medical Research's (WAIMR) Laboratory for Molecular Endocrinology - G Protein-Coupled Receptors, was honoured for her poster presentation earlier this month at the Drug Discovery 2010 conference in the UK.

"The meeting presented a great opportunity to network with other scientists in the field. Stimulating discussions about our work have again highlighted the valuable research our team at WAIMR is doing. It was a great honour to represent the hard work of our group in this international arena," she said.

Dr Mustafa has also recently published an article discussing the latest concepts and current technologies relating to G Protein-Coupled Receptors (GPCRs).

GPCRs are proteins that enable cells to respond to particular hormones in an appropriate manner. They've been implicated in numerous disease pathways ranging from pain and arthritis to cancer and schizophrenia and are the target of about 50 per cent of all therapeutic drugs.

The head of Dr Mustafa's laboratory - WA's current Young Scientist of the Year Associate Professor Kevin Pfleger - said the award win was another feather in the cap of his team.

"This honour sees Sanam invited to present our work at another important conference to be held next year in California. Attending events such as these is critical for showing our cutting-edge research on the world stage," he said.

"We know that there is much more to be learnt about GPCRs and believe that while they are already an incredibly important target for treating disease, much of their potential remains untapped."

"Sanam's recent paper focused on some of the possibilities for the future use of molecules targeting GPCRs and the technologies that could help unleash that potential."

The article was published in a special issue of Drug Discovery Today: Technologies that was published online on August 3.

Dr Mustafa joined WAIMR last year.

WAIMR's Laboratory for Molecular Endocrinology - GPCRs is a world leader in its field having developed technology which places special light-emitting labels on proteins of interest, allowing interactions between proteins to be studied.

Advances demonstrated by the Laboratory now enable these interactions to be used to search for better drugs to treat a range of diseases.

For more information please contact:
Carolyn Monaghan
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Email: carolyn.monaghan@waimr.uwa.edu.au