Dr Jose Varghese: gazing into crystals, seeing protein structure

Dr Jose Varghese is investigating neurodegeneration, the structure and function of cell receptors, viral antigens and drug resistance in pathogenic organisms.

• 24 February 2009 | Updated 14 October 2011

• Current activities
• Background
• Academic qualifications 
• Achievements

Current activities

Dr Jose Varghese currently leads the Neuro-protective Agents Stream in the neurodegenerative diseases Theme of the Preventative Health Flagship.

His main interests are in diseases of the brain such as Alzheimer’s (AD) where he is carrying out structural and functional studies of amyloid-beta, a key peptide involved in the disease with the aim of developing early diagnostics and prevention of AD.

He is also interested in the role of brain membrane proteins receptors in mental health. To investigate this he is developing technology for high resolution imaging of integral membrane proteins, in particular G-Coupled Protein Receptors.

Dr Varghese played a leading part in the development of the Australian Synchrotron, where he championed the construction of two protein crystallography beamlines.

He is Chair of the PX Beamline Advisory Panel and was a member of the board of the Australian Synchrotron Research Program, and the National Synchrotron Scientific Advisory Committee.

Background

Dr Varghese has more 30 years’ experience in structural biology, protein engineering and synchrotron radiation, both in instrumentation and data analysis.

Dr Varghese’s early career comprised postdoctoral fellowships at the University of Western Australia and at the University of Sussex, UK in atomic and molecular physics.

He joined CSIRO in 1980 as a Postdoctoral Fellow in protein crystallography. After he determined the structure of influenza virus neuraminidase in 1984.

Dr Varghese was appointed as Senior Research Scientist where he continued his work in influenza culminating in 1997 in the development of Relenza™ using structure-based drug design, and is on the international patent for the drug.

Dr Varghese was seconded to the Biomolecular Research Institute from 1990–2000 then returned to CSIRO to head the Structural Biology Program.

In 1994, using x-ray structural studies, Dr Varghese was part of a team that successfully engineered a glucanase enzyme from barley seed to enhance its thermostability, thereby improving the malting quality of barley.

In 2000, he determined the structure of the interleukin-6 receptor and initiated a drug development program based on inhibiting this receptor signalling as a therapeutic for rheumatoid arthritis in collaboration with the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research.

Academic qualifications

Dr Varghese was awarded a Bachelor of Science with Honours in Theoretical Physics from the University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia in 1969.

He was awarded a Doctor of Philosophy in Physics from the University of Western Australia, Perth, in 1973.

Achievements

Dr Varghese has:

• contributed to the development of Relenza™
• developed the structural basis to drug resistance in anti-virals
• carried out seminal research on cytokines and hydrolytic enzymes
• been responsible for construction of supercomputers for drug design and molecular simulation and the brightest laboratory X-ray source for protein crystallography using monocapillary optics.

Dr Varghese is also the author of over 90 scientific papers and several patents.

Discover more about the Preventative Health Flagship.