Scientific Publications
Every year Maurice Wilkins Centre investigators produce a large number of peer-reviewed scientific papers and reviews published in international journals. Research directly supported by the Maurice Wilkins Centre generated the following scientific papers.
2025
Bhandarkar, A. A., Kelly-Foleni, N. E., Sarkar, D., Jeffs, A., Slatter, T., Braithwaite, A. & Mehta, S. (2025). TP53 splice mutations have tumour-independent effects on genomic stability and prognosis: an in silico study. International Journal of Molecular Sciences 26(24). https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms262412080
Brook, E. M., Helem, S. J., McDonald, C. C. M., Magon, N. J., Selwood, A. I., Harwood, D. T., Jaiswal, J. K., Hampton, M. B. & Dachs, G. U. (2025). Portimine A maintains bioactivity following exposure to liver microsomes and cell lysates: no evidence for significant metabolic inactivation. Medical Oncology 42(7).https://doi.org/10.1007/s12032-025-02826-x
Browne-Cole, K., Hanning, K. R., Beijerling, K., Rousseau, M., Loh, J. & Kelton, W. (2025). A rapid approach for linear epitope vaccine profiling reveals unexpected epitope tag immunogenicity. Scientific Reports 15(1). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-92928-3
Deng, W., Chen, X., Yan, L., Xiang, S., Song, X., Zhang, L., Li, X., Zhu, W., Pei, J., Lin, X., Patterson, A. V., Smaill, J. B., Li, B., Tu, Z., Zhou, Y., Chen, Y. & Lu, X. (2025). Design, synthesis and biological evaluation of 7-(1-methyl-1H-indole-3-yl)-5H-pyrrolo[2,3-b]pyrazine derivatives as novel covalent pan-FGFR inhibitors to overcome clinical resistance. Journal of Medicinal Chemistry 68(18): 19415-19437. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jmedchem.5c02462
Fellner, M., Randall, G., Bitac, I. R. C. G., Warrender, A. K., Sethi, A., Jelinek, R. & Kass, I. (2025). Similar but Distinct—Biochemical Characterization of the Staphylococcus aureus Serine Hydrolases FphH and FphI. Proteins: Structure, Function and Genetics 93(5): 1009-1021. https://doi.org/10.1002/prot.26785
Gaskarth, D. A., Fan, S., Highton, A. J. & Kemp, R. A. (2025). The microbial metabolite butyrate enhances the effector and memory functions of murine CD8+ T cells and improves anti-tumor activity. Frontiers in Medicine 12. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmed.2025.1577906
Gibson, A., Chometon, T. Q., Damani, T. & Brooks, A. E. S. (2025). Deep immunophenotyping in ME/CFS using spectral flow cytometry. Methods in Molecular Biology. 2920: 59-82.https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-4498-0_5
Guo, J., Chen, X., Li, X., Wang, X., Shao, M., Song, X., Zhang, L., Huang, S., Patterson, A. V., Smaill, J. B., Zhou, Y., Yu, X., Chen, Y. & Lu, X. (2025). Optimization of Aminoindazole derivatives as highly selective covalent inhibitors for wild-type and mutant FGFR4. Bioorganic Chemistry 160. https://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.5096059
Hackwell, E. C. R., Ladyman, S. R., Clarkson, J., McQuillan, H. J., Boehm, U., Herbison, A. E., Brown, R. S. E. & Grattan, D. R. (2025). Prolactin-mediates a lactation-induced suppression of arcuate kisspeptin neuronal activity necessary for lactational infertility in mice. eLife 13: RP94570. https://doi.org/10.7554/elife.94570
Hameed, H. M. A., Fang, C., Liu, Z., Gao, Y., Wang, S., Chen, X., Zhong, N., Aung, H. L., Hu, J. & Zhang, T. (2025). The identification of novel mutations in ATP-dependent protease ClpC1 assists in the molecular diagnosis of obscured pyrazinamide-resistant tuberculosis clinical isolates. Microorganisms 13(6). https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2607/13/6/1401#
Hegoburu, A., Amer, M., Frizelle, F. & Purcell, R. (2025). B cells and tertiary lymphoid structures in cancer therapy response. BJC Reports 3(1): 40. https://doi.org/10.1038/s44276-025-00146-1
Hu, J. K., Tang, X., Luo, G. L., Zhang, C., Wu, T. B., Wang, C., Shen, H., Zhao, X. F., Wu, X. S., Smaill, J. B., Xu, Y., Zhang, Y. & Xiang, Q. P. (2025). Discovery of 5-imidazole-3-methylbenz[d]isoxazole derivatives as potent and selective CBP/p300 bromodomain inhibitors for the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia. Acta Pharmacologica Sinica 46(6): 1706-1721. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41401-025-01478-x
Hunt, L. R., Grant, P. S., Shimokura, G. K., Furkert, D. P. & Brimble, M. A. (2025). Total synthesis of (−)-cordycicadin D and 3,4-trans-cordycicadins A and B: entry to the 3,4-trans-fused cordycicadin framework. Angewandte Chemie - International Edition 64(7). https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.202419989
Jeon, J. H., Slayton, M. D., Krinkel, B., Animasahun, O., Shankaran, A., Wuchu, F., Nenwani, M., Farah, Z., Burke, J., Achreja, A., Nilaj, B., Kohagen, K., Eu, Y.-H., Rosenfeld, A., Collard, M., Bao, L., Cheng, X., Kleer, C., Squire, C., Loomes, K., Nagrath, D. & Merajver, S. D. (2025). Interplay between malic enzyme 2, de novo serine synthesis, and the malate-aspartate shuttle drives metabolic adaptation in triple-negative breast cancer. Cancer & Metabolism 13(1): 42. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40170-025-00410-5
Jiao, W., Mittelstädt, G., Richardson, A. T., Allison, T. M., Berney, M. & Parker, E. J. (2025). Mechanistic insights into homoserine O-acetyltransferase from Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Biochemistry 64(15): 3299-3310. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.biochem.5c00089
Ladyman, S. R., Georgescu, T. R., Stewart, A. M., Aung, Z., Cheong, I., Grattan, D. R. & Brown, R. S. E. (2025). Prolactin modulation of thermoregulatory circuits provides resilience to thermal challenge of pregnancy. Cell Reports 44(4). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2025.115567
Leong, J. & Husain, M. (2025). HDAC1 and HDAC2 are involved in influenza A virus-induced nuclear translocation of ectopically expressed STAT3-GFP. Viruses 17(1). https://doi.org/10.3390/v17010033
Lin, Y., Li, F. F. & Brimble, M. A. (2025). Asymmetric total synthesis of (+)-Spiroapplanatumine G. Organic Letters 27(37): 10390-10394. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.orglett.5c03226
Lorenz, N., James, A., van Rooyen, T., Paterson, A., Ramiah, C., Carlton, L. H., Sharma, P., Baker, M. G., Charlewood, R., McGregor, R. & Moreland, N. J. (2025). Decline of antibodies to major viral and bacterial respiratory pathogens during the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Infectious Diseases 231(1): e77-e81. https://doi.org/10.1093/infdis/jiae611
Munoz-Erazo, L., Park, S. M., Lin, S., Chen, C. J. J., Zhou, L. Y. Y., Rhodes, J. L., Jeon, T., Fenton, S., McCall, J. L., Kemp, R. A. & Dunbar, P. R. (2025). A novel approach to digital characterisation of Tertiary Lymphoid Structures in colorectal cancer. Frontiers in Immunology 16. https://doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2025.1500792
Oldham, K. E. A., Jiao, W., Prentice, E. J. & Hicks, J. (2025). Identification of novel inhibitors targeting serine acetyltransferase from Neisseria gonorrhoeae. Computational and Structural Biotechnology Journal 27: 682-691. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.csbj.2025.02.015
Oldham, K. E. A., Williamson, A. K., Grout, E. K. & Hicks, J. L. (2025). The curious case of CysE: diversity and distribution of serine acetyltransferases in bacteria. Proteins: Structure, Function, and Bioinformatics 94(5), 1092–1103. https://doi.org/10.1002/prot.70107
Pan, J., Albarrak, A., Hicks, J., Williams, D. & Williamson, A. (2025). Influence of the ATP-dependent DNA ligase, Lig E, on Neisseria gonorrhoeae microcolony and biofilm formation. Biofilm 10. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bioflm.2025.100292
Park, S., Lu, G.-L., Zheng, Y.-C., Davison, E. K. & Li, Y. (2025) Nanoparticle-Based Delivery Strategies for Combating Drug Resistance in Cancer Therapeutics. Cancers 17, 2628. https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6694/17/16/2628#
Paulino, Y. C., Camacho, F., Paulino, T. V. C., Lee, D. J., Natividad, L. L., Matisoo-Smith, E., Merriman, T. R. & Gosling, A. (2025). Conducting genetic epidemiology research on hyperuricaemia and gout in an indigenous community in Guam - a feasibility study. BMC Public Health 25(1): 484. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-025-21643-5
Permain, J., Sulit, A., Eglinton, T. & Purcell, R. (2025). Bacterial lipopolysaccharide alters DNA methylation in colorectal cancer cells. Clin Epigenetics 18(1): 11. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13148-025-02012-w
Phillipps, H. R., Hackwell, E. C. R., Sandovici, I., Constância, M. & Grattan, D. R. (2025). Loss of choroid plexus-derived insulin-like growth factor 2 (IGF2) leads to hyposmia, while retaining post-partum mood resilience in mice. Journal of Neuroendocrinology 37(9). https://doi.org/10.1111/jne.70058
Power, E. M., Ganeshan, D., Paul, J., Igarashi, H., Inoue, W. & Iremonger, K. J. (2025). Direct modulation of CRH nerve terminal function by noradrenaline and corticosterone. The Journal of Neuroscience 45(3): e1092242024. https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1092-24.2024
Shen, H., Xu, H., Jin, W., Wu, T. B., Hu, J. K., Zhang, C., Zhong, Z., Li, J., Mao, R., Zhang, S., Zhang, X., Wu, X. S., Smaill, J. B., Xu, J., Zhang, Y. & Xu, Y. (2025). Discovery of a potent and selective GSPT1 molecular glue degrader for the treatment of castration-resistant prostate cancer. Journal of Medicinal Chemistry 68(2): 1553-1571. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jmedchem.4c02205
Smith, C., Siow, A., Kowalczyk, R., Ferguson, S. A., Smith, M. J. B., Cook, G. M., Sander, V., Davidson, A. J., Brimble, M. A. & Harris, P. W. R. (2025). Design, synthesis and biological activity of potential retrometabolic polymyxins via thiol–ene chemistry. Chemical Communications. https://doi.org/10.1039/D5CC03871E
Tasma, Z., Siow, A., Harris, P. W. R., Brimble, M. A., Hay, D. L. & Walker, C. S. (2025). Development and pharmacological characterization of novel multi- calcitonin gene-related peptide and pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating peptide receptor antagonists. Headache 65(7): 1064-1079. https://doi.org/10.1111/head.14916
Tian, X., Gao, Y., Li, C., Ma, W., Zhang, J., Ju, Y., Ding, J., Zeng, S., Hameed, H. M. A., Aung, H. L., Zhong, N., Cook, G. M., Hu, J. & Zhang, T. (2025). A novel non-invasive murine model for rapidly testing drug activity via inhalation administration against Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Frontiers in Pharmacology 183: 117845. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopha.2025.117845
Toomata, Z. L. L., Jiang, Y., Yeu, R. Q., Brandon, R., Tweedie-Cullen, R. Y., Nehren, N., Doherty, G., Watson, H., Macaskill-Smith, K. A., Leask, M. P., Merriman, T. R., Paul, R. G., Merry, T. L., Shepherd, P. R. & Murphy, R. (2025). Reduced weight gain with pioglitazone vs vildagliptin in CREBRF rs373863828 A-allele carriers: insights from the WORTH trial. Diabetes, Metabolic Syndrome and Obesity 18: 1255-1262. https://doi.org/10.2147/dmso.s500336
Toomata, Z. L. L., Leask, M. P., Dalbeth, N., Stamp, L. K., de Zoysa, J., Merriman, T. R., Wilcox, P., Dewes, O. & Murphy, R. (2025). Misclassified latent autoimmune diabetes in adults within Māori and Pacific adults with type 2 diabetes iAotearoa New Zealand. New Zealand Medical Journal 138(1626): 49-61. https://doi.org/10.26635/6965.6989
van der Werf, J. & Fleming, N. I. (2025). Are single nucleotide polymorphisms underutilized for guiding treatment of inflammatory bowel disease? Immunology and Cell Biology 103(6): 551-562. https://doi.org/10.1111/imcb.70029