Name: Dr. Rowena E Martin

Position: ARC Future Fellow and Lab Head

Research Description:

The Martin lab focuses on the identification, heterologous expression, and characterisation of transporters, with an emphasis on those involved in drug action and drug resistance in the malaria parasite.  Transporters control the movement of ions, nutrients, and waste products across the membranes of a cell and are central to its physiology.  Proteins of this type also serve as drug targets and/or mediators of drug transport and hence play key roles in the phenomenon of drug resistance.

One of our key experimental systems is the unfertilised oocyte of the frog Xenopus laevis, in which we express and study transporters from the parasite as well as from a range of other organisms.  We complement this system with live parasite assays that indirectly monitor the activity of a transporter within its native environment.

Our research employs a range of biochemistry, cell physiology, molecular biology, chemistry, and bioinformatic techniques to study:

*Transporters of the malaria parasite and of other Apicomplexan parasites, with an emphasis on those involved in drug resistance and drug action;
*The design and testing of novel antimalarial drugs and antimalarial strategies;
*Transporters involved in key processes of biomedical, behavioural, or agricultural importance in other organisms, including those encoded by mammals, insects, and plants;
*The functions and physiological roles of splice variants of transporters.

Lab Memberships

Martin Lab: All About Transporters (Principal Investigator/Director)

Organization Memberships

Australian National University (Faculty)

Contact Information

Address:
Martin Lab
Research School of Biology
The Australian National University
Building 134, Linnaeus Way
Canberra, ACT
2600, Australia

Email: Rowena.Martin@anu.edu.au
Web Page: http://biology.anu.edu.au/research/groups/martin-group-transporters-drug-resistance-animal-behaviour-agriculture