Stream Leader: Frances Separovic
Invited Speakers
Mibel Aguilar - Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, Monash University. Biomembrane Plasticity – what, how and why of membrane structure and function
Professor Aguilar is a Bioanalytical and Biophysical Chemist at Monash University whose research focuses on biomembrane nanotechnology, peptide biomaterials and peptidomimetic drug design. She completed her PhD in Chemistry at the University of Melbourne studying the metabolism and toxicity of paracetamol. She then completed a Post Doctoral position at St Vincent's Institute for Medical Research working on developing physical models for protein analysis and purification. She then moved to Monash University where her group now focuses on peptide-based biomaterials and drug design and biomembrane nanotechnology and are developing novel compounds that allow us to exploit the potential of peptides as drugs and biomaterials.
Masahito Yamazaki - Shizuoka University, Japan. Single GUV studies on mode of action of antimicrobial peptides and cell-penetrating peptides
Masahito Yamazaki received his Ph.D. in Biophysics from Kyoto University, and now he is the professor at Nanomaterials Research Division in Research Institute of Electronics and at Integrated Bioscience Section in Graduate School of Science and Technology, Shizuoka University. His group now focuses on developing new methods for imaging functions and dynamics of biomembranes and cells to reveal their mechanisms. Yamazaki Lab has developed the Single Giant Unilamellar Vesicle (GUV) Method to obtain detailed information on the elementary processes (such as rate constants) of interactions of peptides/proteins and bioactive compounds with biomembranes.
Won Do Heo – Department of Biological Sciences, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), 291 Daehak-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, 34141, Korea. Optogenetic control of diverse molecular and cellular processes in the mouse brain.
Won Do Heo received his Ph.D. from Gyeongsang National University in Kore
a in 1999 and moved to Duke University and then to Stanford University for post-doc training. After post-doctoral training he moved to KAIST as a professor. As a PI he continued to study the roles of diverse signaling proteins in mammalian cells by using various bio-imaging technologies. His group has focused on developing various bio-imaging and optogenetic tools that are useful for research in neuroscience, including LARIAT, IM-LARIAT, optoSTIM1, optoFGFR and optoTrk receptors. His group is currently applying the novel technologies to the study of spatiotemporal roles of receptors, signaling proteins, second messengers and local mRNA translation in synaptic plasticity and learning and memory in normal and disease mouse models.
Isabelle Rouiller – University of Melbourne, Australia. Cryo-EM studies of bacterial transporters.
Isabelle Rouiller obtained her BSc and MSc at the National Institute of Applied Sciences 
at the University of Lyon (France). She received her PhD in 1998 for her studies at The Institute for Animal Health, Pirbright laboratories (England). After training as a postdoctoral fellow at the Scripps Research Institute and at the Burnham Institute (San Diego, USA), she conducted research in her lab at McGill University (Montreal Canada). In november 2017, she moved with her laboratory to The University of Melbourne (Australia). The Rouiller lab uses single-particle cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) and electron tomography (ET) to understand the structure and function of molecular machines.
