Western Australian Institute for Medical Research (WAIMR)


http://www.waimr.uwa.edu.au

Dr Aleksandra Filipovska

Aleksandra Filipovska

In 2006 Dr Filipovska was awarded a NHMRC Howard Florey Fellowship that enabled her to establish a group at the Centre for Medical Research focusing on mitochondrial dysfunction in disease. Her research interest and experience is in mitochondrial biology and in targeting molecules with biological function to mitochondria and cells. During her PhD at the University of Otago, New Zealand, Aleksandra developed antisense agents targeted to mitochondria and used them to determine their effects on mutated mitochondrial DNA replication in cells. In 2003 she was awarded a Foundation for Research, Science and Technology Research Fellowship to work at the MRC Dunn Human Nutrition Unit in Cambridge, United Kingdom. Here she developed mitochondria-targeted antioxidants to decrease oxidative damage and manipulate mitochondrial redox signaling and investigated modifications of mitochondrial proteins in response to oxidative stress.

Qualifications

1998BSc (Hons, first class) - Biochemistry, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand
2002PhD - Biochemistry, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand
Thesis Title: "Targeting large molecules to mitochondria"

Positions Held

2006-presentNHMRC Howard Florey Research Fellow, The University of Western Australia, Australia
2003-2006Foundation for Research, Science and Technology Research Fellow, MRC Dunn Human Nutrition Unit, Cambridge, UK
2002-2003Postdoctoral Research Fellow, The University of Otago, New Zealand

Research Interests

  • Mitochondrial dysfunction in disease
  • Regulation of mitochondrial gene expression
  • Mitochondrial RNA-binding proteins
  • Mitochondrial redox regulation
  • Selenoproteins
  • Targeting compounds to mitochondria

Scientific Involvement

  • Australian Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology - Member.
  • Society for Free Radical Research of Australasia - Member.
  • Metabolism and Molecular Medicine Special Interest Group - Member.
  • Australian and New Zealand Society for Cell and Developmental Biology - Member.

Major Grants Awarded

  • NHMRC Project Grant
  • ARC Discovery Project Grant
  • NHMRC Howard Florey Research Fellowship
  • UWA Research Grant
  • Medical Research Foundation Grant
  • New Independent Researcher Infrastructure Award, Department of Health

Top 10 Publications

  1. Rackham O, Davies SM, Shearwood AM, Hamilton KL, Whelan J, Filipovska A. 2009. Pentatricopeptide repeat domain protein 1 lowers the levels of mitochondrial leucine tRNAs in cells. Nucleic Acids Research doi:10.1093/nar/gkp627. [NCBI PubMed Entry] [IF 6.9]
  2. Davies SM, Rackham O, Shearwood AM, Hamilton KL, Narsai R, Whelan J, Filipovska A. 2009. Pentatricopeptide repeat domain protein 3 associates with the mitochondrial small ribosomal subunit and regulates translation. FEBS Letters 583(12):1853-8. [NCBI PubMed Entry] [IF 3.4]
  3. Nowak KJ, Ravenscroft G, Jackaman C, Filipovska A, Davies SM, Lim EM, Squire SE, Potter AC, Baker E, Clement S, Sewry CA, Fabian V, Crawford K, Lessard JL, Griffiths LM, Papadimitriou JM, Shen Y, Morahan G, Bakker AJ, Davies KE, Laing NG. 2009. Rescue of skeletal muscle {alpha}-actin-null mice by cardiac (fetal) {alpha}-actin. The Journal of cell biology 185:903-915. [NCBI PubMed Entry] [IF 9.6]
  4. Hickey JL, Ruhayel RA, Barnard PJ, Baker MV, Berners-Price SJ, Filipovska A. 2008. Mitochondria-targeted chemotherapeutics: the rational design of gold(I) N-heterocyclic carbene complexes that are selectively toxic to cancer cells and target protein selenols in preference to thiols. Journal of the American Chemical Society 130(38):12570-1. [NCBI PubMed Entry] [IF 7.9]
  5. Jellicoe MM, Nichols SJ, Callus BA, Baker MV, Barnard PJ, Berners-Price SJ, Whelan J, Yeoh GC, Filipovska A. 2008. Bioenergetic differences selectively sensitize tumorigenic liver progenitor cells to a new gold(I) compound. Carcinogenesis 29(6):1124-33. [NCBI PubMed Entry] [IF 5.4]
  6. Filipovska A, Rackham O. 2008. Building a parallel metabolism within the cell. ACS Chemical Biology 3(1):51-63. [NCBI PubMed Entry] [IF 4.7]
  7. Rackham O, Nichols SJ, Leedman PJ, Berners-Price SJ, Filipovska A. 2007. A gold(I) phosphine complex selectively induces apoptosis in breast cancer cells: Implications for anticancer therapeutics targeted to mitochondria. Biochemical Pharmacology 74(7):992-1002. [NCBI PubMed Entry] [IF 3.6]
  8. Filipovska A, Kelso GF, Brown SE, Beer SM, Smith RAJ, Murphy MP. 2005. Synthesis and characterization of a triphenylphosphonium-conjugated peroxidase mimetic. Insights into the interaction of ebselen with mitochondria. Journal of Biological Chemistry 280(25):24113-26. [NCBI PubMed Entry] [IF 5.9]
  9. Lin TK, Hughes G, Muratovska A, Blaikie FH, Brookes PS, Darley-Usmar V, Smith RAJ, Murphy MP. 2002. Specific modification of mitochondrial protein thiols in response to oxidative stress: a proteomics approach. Journal of Biological Chemistry 277(19):17048-56. [NCBI PubMed Entry] [IF 5.9]
  10. Muratovska A, Lightowlers RN, Taylor RW, Turnbull DM, Smith P, Wilce JA, Martin SW, Murphy MP. 2001. Targeting peptide nucleic acid (PNA) oligomers to mitochondria within cells by conjugation to lipophilic cations: implications for mitochondrial DNA replication, expression and disease. Nucleic Acids Research 29(9):1852-63. [NCBI PubMed Entry] [IF 6.9]