Position

Professor of Biotechnology

Institute for the Biotechnology of Infectious Diseases (IBID)
University of Technology Sydney
Level 5, Building 4, Thomas and Harris Street, Ultimo Sydney, NSW 2007

Tel: 61-2-9514 4142
Fax: 61-2-9514 4201
Email: John.Dalton@uts.edu.au

Research interests

Primarily, our research is focused on the characterisation of endo- and exo-proteases of both Helminth and protozoan parasites, and their role in host-parasite co-existence. Ultimately, our goal is to develop anti-protease vaccines and/or chemotherapeutics.

Qualifications

B.Sc. (Zoology/Biochemistry) 1980
Ph.D. (Zoology/Parasitology) 1984

Ten Most Significant Publications

Stack, C.M, Lowther, J., Cunningham, E., Donnelly, S., Gardiner, D.L., Trenholme, K.R., Skinner-Adams, T.S., Teuscher, F., Grembecka, J., Mucha, A., Kafarski, P., Lua, L., Bell, A., and Dalton, J.P. (2007) Characterisation of the Plasmodium falciparum M17 leucyl aminopeptidase: a protease involved in amino acid regulation with potential for antimalarial drug development. J. Biol. Chem. 282, 2069-2080.

Sekiya, M., Mulcahy, G., Irwin, J.A, Stack, C.M., Donnelly, S.M, Xu, W., Peter Collins, P. and Dalton, J.P.  (2006) Biochemical characterisation of the recombinant peroxiredoxin (FhePrx) of the liver fluke, Fasciola hepatica. FEBS Lett. 580, 5016-5022.

Gardiner, D.L., Trenholme, K.R, Skinner-Adams, T.S, Stack, C.M, and Dalton, J.P. (2006). Over-expression of leucyl aminopeptidase in Plasmodium falciparum parasites: target for the anti-malaria activity of bestatin. J. Biol. Chem. 281, 1741-1745.

Dalton, J.P., Caffrey, C.R., Sajid, M., Stack, C., Donnelly, S., Loukas, A., Don, T., McKerrow, J.H, Halton, D.W. and Paul J. Brindley (2006). Proteases in trematode biology.  In Protein function, Metabolism and Physiology (Aaron Maule and Nicky Marks, Eds.), CAB International, Wallingford, Oxon, UK.

Donnelly, S., Dalton, J.P. and Loukas, A.C. (2006) Protease in helminth- and allergen-induced inflammatory responses. In Parasites and Allergies; Chemical Immunology and Allergy Series. (M. Capron and F. Trottein, eds.) Karger Publishers, Basel, Switzerland, Munich, Germany (www.karger.com/chial).

Donnelly, S., Sekiya, M., Mulcahy, G., O’Neill, S. and Dalton, J.P. (2005) Thioredoxin peroxidase secreted by Fasciola hepatica induced alternative activation of macrophages. Infection and Immunity 73, 166-173.

Collins, P.R., Stack, C.N., O’Neill, S.M., Doyle, S., Ryan, T., Brennan, G.P., Mousley, A., Stewart, M., Maule, A.G., Dalton, J. P. and Donnelly, S. (2004) Cathepsin L1, the major protease involved in liver fluke (Fasciola hepatica) virulence: propeptide cleavage sites and autoactivation of the zymogen secreted from gastrodermal cells. J. Biol. Chem. 279, 17038-17046.

Williamson, A.L., Brindley, P.J., Abbenante, G., Prociv, P., Berry, C., Girdwood, K., Pritchard, D.I., Fairlie, D.P., Hotez, P.J., Dalton, J.P., Loukas, A. (2002) Cleavage of hemoglobin by hookworm cathepsin D aspartic proteases and its potential contribution to host specificity. FASEB J. 16, 1458-60.

Gavigan, C., Machado, S.G., Dalton, J.P. and Bell, A. (2001) Analysis of antimalarial synergy between bestatin and endoprotease inhibitors using statistical response-surface modelling. Antimicrob. Agents Chemonther. 45, 3175-3181.

Gavigan, C., Dalton, J.P. and Bell, A. (2001) Plasmodium falciparum leucine aminopeptidase: potential target for novel anti-malarial drugs. Mol. Biochem. Parasitology 117, 37-48.

Currently Held Grants

Enterprise Ireland Technology Development Fund.

NSW BioFirst Award, NSW Government.

Australian Research Council Discovery Project.

National Health and Medical Research Council Grant.

Enterprise Ireland Technology Development Fund.

Australian Research Council Discovery Project.

Wain International Travel Fellowship
(Dr. Mark Robinson, University of Aberdeen)

European Community Fifth Framework programme
(Director, Jose Perez, University of Cordoba, Spain)