Dr Nick West
After completing my PhD in 2000, I began postdoctoral research at the University of Oxford, UK, and then later at the Imperial College London. During this time I spent significant time collaborating and working at the Institute Pasteur in Paris. In 2004 I returned to Australia as a postdoctoral scientist at the Centenary Institute in Sydney where I began researching tuberculosis. I moved to The University of Queensland as a senior Lecturer and Research Fellow in mid 2012.
My Laboratory is committed to understanding the mechanisms by which Mycobacterium tuberculosis causes Tuberculosis (TB). One in three people in the world are infected with this bacterium, resulting in approximately 4,000 deaths every day. My lab utilises modern molecular genomic technologies to identify the genetic requirements for M. tuberculosis to cause TB. This information is being translated into the development of new therapies and control measures for TB. Research within the group will fall largely into one of the following three themes: Essential Gene Identification in M. tuberculosis, Understanding Latency and Targeted Drug Development.
National Research Collaborations
-University of Sydney, School of Chemistry
-University of Sydney, Sydney Medical School
-University of Sydney, Faculty of Pharmacy
-Centenary Institute, Mycobacterial Research Laboratory
International Collaborations
National University of Singapore, Singapore
Univeristy of Oxford, UK
Years Funded |
Grant type |
Title |
Funds Awarded |
|
2007-2009 |
NHMRC- New Investigator Grant |
Identification of Essential Components of Mycobacterium tuberculosis |
$396,342 |
|
2011-2013 |
NHMRC- Project Grant |
Genes to Drugs for TB |
$702,165 |
|
2011-2014 |
NHMRC- Career Development Fellowship (level 2) |
Tuberculosis: Genes to Drugs |
$424,902 |
|
2012-2013
2013-2015 2013-2015 |
UQ NSRSF Award
NHMRC- Project Grant NHMRC- Project Grant |
Characterisation of metabolic pathways in M. tuberculosis and the Development of Inhibitors Latent Tuberculosis Infection Improving subunit vaccines for tuberculosis for pulmonary delivery |
$12,000
$569,737 $615,221 |
Undergraduate
MICR3003, Molecular Microbiology (Course Co-ordinator)
MICR3001, Microbes and Human Health
BIOL2202/BIOL2902, Genetics/Advanced Genetics
Postgraduate Coursework
MICR6008, Immunology and Infectious Diseases
Undergraduate Research and Postgraduate Research Higher Degree Supervision
For many years now there has been a constant presence of undergrad and postgrad research students in the group. Currently I supervise, students at all levels, ie., undergraduate research, Hons, MSc. and PhD. Enquiries from students regarding available positions are always welcome.
NHMRC Postdoctoral Reference Group Committee member (2012-)
NHMRC CDA2 Research Fellow (2011)
Centenary Institute “Innovation Award” . (2010)
Australian Society of Microbiology NSW/ACT branch Executive (2010-2012)
Chair, Scientific Program; Australian Society of Microbiology National Conference, Brisbane, 2018.
Donate to TB Research
- Tan, Lendl, Strong, Emily J., Woods, Kyra and West, Nicholas P. (2018) Homologous alignment cloning: a rapid, flexible and highly efficient general molecular cloning method. PeerJ, 6 6: e5146. doi:10.7717/peerj.5146
- Strong, Emily J. and West, Nicholas P. (2018) Use of soluble extracellular regions of MmpL (SERoM) as vaccines for tuberculosis. Scientific Reports, 8 1: 5604. doi:10.1038/s41598-018-23893-3
- Ng, Benjamin Y. C., Wee, Eugene J. H., Woods, Kyra, Anderson, Will, Antaw, Fiach, Tsang, Hennes Z. H., West, Nicholas P. and Trau, Matt (2017) Isothermal point mutation detection: toward a first-pass screening strategy for multidrug-resistant tuberculosis. Analytical Chemistry, 89 17: 9017-9022. doi:10.1021/acs.analchem.7b01685
- Tran, Anh T., Watson, Emma E., Pujari, Venugopal, Conroy, Trent, Dowman, Luke J., Giltrap, Andrew M., Pang, Angel, Wong, Weng Ruh, Linington, Roger G., Mahapatra, Sebabrata , Saunders, Jessica, Charman, Susan A., West, Nicholas P., Bugg, Timothy D. H., Tod, Julie, Dowson, Christopher G., Roper, David I., Crick, Dean C., Britton, Warwick J. and Payne, Richard J. (2017) Sansanmycin natural product analogues as potent and selective anti-mycobacterials that inhibit lipid I biosynthesis. Nature Communications, 8 14414. doi:10.1038/ncomms14414
- Ng, Benjamin Y. C., Wee, Eugene J. H., West, Nicholas P. and Trau, Matt (2015) Naked-eye colorimetric and electrochemical detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis—toward rapid screening for active case finding. ACS Sensors, 1 2: 173-178. doi:10.1021/acssensors.5b00171
- Tyne, Anneliese S., Chan, John Gar Yan, Shanahan, Erin R., Atmosukarto, Ines, Chan, Hak-Kim, Britton, Warwick J. and West, Nicholas P. (2013) TLR2-targeted secreted proteins from Mycobacterium tuberculosis are protective as powdered pulmonary vaccines. Vaccine, 31 40: 4322-4329. doi:10.1016/j.vaccine.2013.07.022
- West, Nicholas P., Cergol, Katie M., Xue, Millie, Randall, Elizabeth J., Britton, Warwick J. and Payne, Richard J. (2011) Inhibitors of an essential mycobacterial cell wall lipase (Rv3802c) as tuberculosis drug leads. Chemical Communications, 47 18: 5166-5168. doi:10.1039/c0cc05635a
- Marteyn, Benoit, West, Nicholas P., Browning, Douglas F., Cole, Jeffery A., Shaw, Jonathan G., Palm, Fredrik, Mounier, Joelle, Prevost, Marie-Christine, Sansonetti, Philippe and Tang, Christoph M. (2010) Modulation of Shigella virulence in response to available oxygen in vivo. Nature, 465 7296: 355-358+2. doi:10.1038/nature08970
- West, NP, Sansonetti, P, Mounier, J, Exley, RM, Parsot, C, Guadagnini, S, Prevost, MC, Prochnicka-Chalufour, A, Delepierre, M, Tanguy, M and Tang, CM (2005) Optimization of virulence functions through glucosylation of Shigella LPS. Science, 307 5713: 1313-1317. doi:10.1126/science.1108472
