Jennifer L. Martin Explained

Jenny Martin
Nationality:Australian
Alma Mater:Victorian College of Pharmacy
(B Pharm, M Pharm)
Oxford University (PhD)
London Business School
Doctoral Advisor:Peter Goodford
Louise Johnson
Work Institutions:Victorian College of Pharmacy
University of Oxford
Bond University
Rockefeller University
University of Queensland
Griffith University
University of Wollongong

Professor Jennifer Louise "Jenny" Martin is an Australian scientist and academic. She was the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research and Innovation) at the University of Wollongong, in New South Wales from 2019-2022. She is a former director of the Griffith Institute for Drug Discovery at Griffith University.[1] [2] and a former Australian Research Council Laureate Fellow at the Institute for Molecular Bioscience, University of Queensland. Martin is Professor Emerita at the University of Queensland and adjunct professor at Griffith University. Her research expertise encompasses structural biology, protein crystallography, protein interactions and their applications in drug design and discovery.

Education

Martin completed a Bachelor of Pharmacy at the Victorian College of Pharmacy in Melbourne from 1979 to 1981, receiving the Gold Medal for the best student in the B Pharm course. After spending a year as a trainee pharmacist, she completed a Masters in Pharmacy, supervised by Professor Peter Andrews, on the application of computational chemistry to opioid analgesics, which led to her first scientific publications.[3] [4] She left Australia in 1986 to undertake a DPhil at the University of Oxford supported by a Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851 Science Research Scholarship and four other scholarships and bursaries. Under the guidance of Professors Peter Goodford and Louise Johnson, her research used protein crystallography to design glycogen phosphorylase inhibitors as potential anti-diabetic compounds.[5] [6] Martin paid tribute to Louise Johnson's positive influence as a woman in science, in a 2012 memorial.[7] In 2015, Martin completed the London Business School four-week Senior Executive Programme[8] as part of a cohort of 50 industry, government, not-for-profit and academic leaders from around the world. In 2023, Martin completed an online Undergraduate Certificate in Family History from the University of Tasmania.

Scientific career

After completing her DPhil at Oxford, Martin returned to Australia to take up a post-doctoral position at Bond University in 1990. However, the unexpected closure of the School of Science and Technology resulted in her leaving Australia in 1991 for a post-doctoral position with Professor John Kuriyan, a structural biologist, at Rockefeller University in New York to work on the disulfide bond forming family of proteins (DSBs) in Escherichia coli. She solved the structure of the DsbA protein which was published in 1993 in the high impact journal Nature.[9]

In 1993 Martin received an ARC Queen Elizabeth II Fellowship. This enabled her to return to Australia and establish the first protein crystallography lab in Queensland. This now operates as the UQ Remote Operation Crystallisation and X-ray Diffraction (UQ ROCX) Facility, of which Martin was the Foundation Director.[10] She remained at the University of Queensland until 2015, supported by several other fellowships: an Australian Research Council (ARC) Senior Research Fellowship in 1999, and a National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Senior Research Fellowship in 2007. In 2009, Martin was one of just 15 researchers, and only two women, to receive an inaugural ARC Australian Laureate Fellowship.[11] [12] In 2016, Martin was appointed Director of the Eskitis Drug Discovery Institute[13] at Griffith University, which hosts unique drug discovery resources including Compounds Australia[14] and NatureBank[15]

Martin has continued working on DSB proteins and with collaborators developed the first inhibitors of these bacterial proteins as a potential means of combatting antibiotic resistance.[16] [17] She also initiated work on other proteins including phenylethanolamine N-methyl transferase (PNMT), an enzyme that catalyses adrenaline synthesis. Martin published the structure of this enzyme[18] and later, as part of her ongoing research into different PNMT substrate-bound complexes, she and her team became the first remote access user of the Australian Synchrotron.[19] Martin and her team have also contributed significantly to the structural biology of membrane fusion,[20] [21] [22] a fundamentally important process that underpins systems as diverse as neurotransmission and blood glucose control. She wrote an invited commentary for The Conversation in 2013 on this topic,[23] and was invited to present a keynote lecture on her membrane fusion research at the 23rd triennial International Union of Crystallography Congress held in Montreal in 2014.[24] From 2019 to 2022 Martin was Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research and Innovation) of the University of Wollongong.[25]

Recognition and awards

In addition to the research fellowships awarded during her career, Martin has received many honours in recognition of her professional contributions including:

Martin has held leadership roles on national and international committees. She is a former chair of the National Committee for Crystallography of the Australian Academy of Science (2008–2011), a past President of the Society for Crystallographers in Australia and New Zealand (2003–2005), former member of the Scientific Advisory Committee of the Australian Synchrotron (2002–2009, 2015-18), former President of the Asian Crystallography Association (2016–2019) and former member of the Executive Committee of the International Union of Crystallography (2017–2023). She is currently a Trustee of the Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre[43] (2023-) and Chair of the worldwide Protein Data Bank Advisory Committee[44] (2022-).

Advocacy and science communication

Martin is a strong advocate for equal opportunity and addressing gender imbalance in academia.[45] She published a letter in the prestigious journal Nature calling for scientific conference organisers to be more transparent with respect to their gender-balance policies and historical data[46] and a paper describing how to achieve conference speaker gender balance.[47] Martin also writes a blog [48] which focuses on issues relating to women in academia. She was a Foundation member of the steering committee for Science in Australia Gender Equity (SAGE)[49] which established the UK Athena SWAN charter in Australia to address the under-representation of women in science, particularly at senior positions in universities. As an opinion leader she has been invited to speak on gender equity worldwide, and across sectors. In 2017, she presented a keynote lecture on addressing conference gender equity at the Australia and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists[50] Annual Scientific Meeting, and presented the Wunderly oration at the Thoracic Society Australia and New Zealand[51] and Society of Respiratory Science[52] Annual Scientific Meeting. In 2018 she gave the invited Inaugural Ruth Gall Memorial Lecture for the School of Chemistry at the University of Sydney on International Women's Day and the Chuwen Keynote Address at the 5th national meeting of the Australian Academy of Science EMCR Forum Science Pathways "Diversify your Thinking". Martin was the first chair of the International Union of Crystallography Gender Equity and Diversity Committee (2018-2023).

Martin is a passionate science communicator. She has participated in events such as BrisScience,[53] which runs public lectures on science and technology; SCOM BOMB,[54] a Google hangout operated by the Australian Science Communicators, Science Rewired and the Centre for the Public Awareness of Science as part of the No Funny Business science communication website;[55] and the 2014 UNESCO International Year of Crystallography, including a radio interview[56] and public lecture.[57] In 2023, she gave the IUCr Plenary Public Lecture entitled "How I fell in love with crystallography and why you should too".[58] She also writes articles for The Conversation,[59] an independent, online source of news and views from the academic and research community. In 2019, she released a children's book “My aunt is a protein crystal scientist. That’s Rad!”.

Personal life

Martin grew up in a large family of nine children in Victoria. She currently resides in Brisbane with her husband Michael, and their cat Stan.

External links

Notes and References

  1. News: Leading scientist to head Griffith's Eskitis Institute. 2016-10-23.
  2. Web site: Prof Jenny Martin – Griffith University. www.griffith.edu.au. 2016-10-23.
  3. 6094812 . 27 . 12 . Functional group contributions to drug-receptor interactions . J Med Chem . 1648–57 . Andrews . PR . Craik . DJ . Martin . JL . 10.1021/jm00378a021. 1984 .
  4. 2905731 . 1 . 1 . Conformation-activity relationships of opiate analgesics . J Comput Aided Mol Des . 53–72 . Martin . J . Andrews . P . 10.1007/bf01680557. 1987 . 1987JCAMD...1...53M . 206801631 .
  5. 2125493 . 29 . 48 . Comparison of the binding of glucose and glucose 1-phosphate derivatives to T-state glycogen phosphorylase b . Biochemistry . 10745–57 . Martin . JL . Johnson . LN . Withers . SG . 10.1021/bi00500a005. 1990 .
  6. 1931942 . 30 . 42 . Glucose analogue inhibitors of glycogen phosphorylase: the design of potential drugs for diabetes . Biochemistry . 10101–16 . Martin . JL . Veluraja . K . Ross . K . Johnson . LN . Fleet . GW . Ramsden . NG . Bruce . I . Orchard . MG . Oikonomakos . NG . Papageorgiou . AC . 10.1021/bi00106a006. 1991 .
  7. http://www.iucr.org/home/leading-article/2012/2012-10-01 Obituary for Professor Dame Louise Johnson: a personal perspective from a former student
  8. https://www.london.edu/education-and-development/executive-education/topic/career-transition/senior-executive-programme#.WAw6qMne6tY Senior Executive Programme
  9. 8413591 . 10.1038/365464a0 . 365 . 6445 . Crystal structure of the DsbA protein required for disulphide bond formation in vivo . Nature . 464–8 . Martin . JL . Bardwell . JC . Kuriyan . J. 1993 . 1993Natur.365..464M . 3041152 .
  10. http://www.imb.uq.edu.au/UQROCX UQ Remote Operation Crystallisation and X-ray Diffraction (UQ ROCX) Facility
  11. http://www.uq.edu.au/news/article/2009/06/uq-awarded-more-5m-australian-laureate-fellowships UQ News: UQ awarded more than $5M in Australian Laureate Fellowships
  12. http://www.arc.gov.au/pdf/FL09_Biographies.pdf Biographies of 2009 Australian Laureate Fellows
  13. https://www.griffith.edu.au/science-aviation/eskitis-institute Eskitis Drug Discovery Institute
  14. https://www.griffith.edu.au/science-aviation/compounds-australia Compounds Australia
  15. https://www.griffith.edu.au/science-aviation/eskitis-institute/nature-bank/commercial NatureBank
  16. Adams. Luke A.. Sharma. Pooja. Mohanty. Biswaranjan. Ilyichova. Olga V.. Mulcair. Mark D.. Williams. Martin L.. Gleeson. Ellen C.. Totsika. Makrina. Doak. Bradley C.. 2015-02-09. Application of fragment-based screening to the design of inhibitors of Escherichia coli DsbA. Angewandte Chemie International Edition. 54. 7. 2179–2184. 10.1002/anie.201410341. 1521-3773. 25556635.
  17. Duprez. Wilko. Premkumar. Lakshmanane. Halili. Maria A.. Lindahl. Fredrik. Reid. Robert C.. Fairlie. David P.. Martin. Jennifer L.. 2015-01-22. Peptide inhibitors of the Escherichia coli DsbA oxidative machinery essential for bacterial virulence. Journal of Medicinal Chemistry. 58. 2. 577–587. 10.1021/jm500955s. 1520-4804. 25470204.
  18. 11591352 . 9 . 10 . Getting the adrenaline going: crystal structure of the adrenaline-synthesizing enzyme PNMT. . Oct 2001 . Structure . 977–85 . 10.1016/s0969-2126(01)00662-1 . Martin . JL . Begun . J . McLeish . MJ . Caine . JM . Grunewald . GL. free .
  19. http://www.synchrotron.org.au/images/LightspeedNewsletter/2008/09/ Lightspeed – Australian Synchrotron News: More than remotely interesting
  20. 17517664 . 10.1073/pnas.0701124104 . 104 . 21 . Structure of the Munc18c/Syntaxin4 N-peptide complex defines universal features of the N-peptide binding mode of Sec1/Munc18 proteins . 1885578 . Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A . 8773–8 . Hu . SH . Latham . CF . Gee . CL . James . DE . Martin . JL. 2007 . 2007PNAS..104.8773H . free .
  21. 21193638 . 10.1073/pnas.0914906108 . 108 . 3 . Possible roles for Munc18-1 domain 3a and Syntaxin1 N-peptide and C-terminal anchor in SNARE complex formation . 3024693 . Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A . 1040–5 . Hu . SH . Christie . MP . Saez . NJ . Latham . CF . Jarrott . R . Lua . LH . Collins . BM . Martin . JL. 2011 . 2011PNAS..108.1040H . free .
  22. 22670057 . 10.1073/pnas.1116975109 . 109 . 25 . Low-resolution solution structures of Munc18:Syntaxin protein complexes indicate an open binding mode driven by the Syntaxin N-peptide . 3382502 . Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A . 9816–21 . Christie . MP . Whitten . AE . King . GJ . Hu . SH . Jarrott . RJ . Chen . KE . Duff . AP . Callow . P . Collins . BM . James . DE . Martin . JL. 2012 . 2012PNAS..109.9816C . free .
  23. https://theconversation.com/bread-beer-and-botox-the-science-behind-the-2013-nobel-prize-for-medicine-18983 Bread, beer and botox: the science behind the 2013 Nobel Prize for medicine, The Conversation, 8 October 2013
  24. http://myiucr2014.zerista.com/event/member/129190 IUCr 2014 Keynote Lecture – The mystery of membrane fusion: structural biology of Munc18 proteins; 10 August 2014; Montreal, Quebec, Canada
  25. Web site: Internationally renowned scientist to lead UOW's research and innovation strategy. 28 November 2018. UOW Media Releases. 5 April 2019.
  26. Web site: ASBMB website: The 2005 Roche Medal . 14 August 2014 . https://web.archive.org/web/20140819082249/https://www.asbmb.org.au/awards/martin.html . 19 August 2014 . dead .
  27. http://www.imb.uq.edu.au/top-award-to-imb-researcher IMB News: Top Award to IMB Researcher
  28. Web site: Queensland . The University of . Lucia . Australia Brisbane St . Gatton . QLD 4072 +61 7 3365 1111 Other Campuses: UQ . Maps . UQ Herston . Queensland . Directions © 2024 The University of . Hat trick of awards for IMB smart women . 2024-07-07 . UQ News . en.
  29. https://sites.google.com/site/oxfordawise/jenny-martin 9th Dorothy Hodgkin Memorial Lecture: Professor Jenny Martin, The name's Bond.....Disulphide Bond, University Museum, Oxford, 6 March 2007
  30. Web site: Centre for Transformative Innovation . Swinburne University of Technology . Questacon - The National Science and Technology Centre - Corporate Body - Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation . 2024-07-07 . www.eoas.info . en-gb.
  31. http://alumni.online.unimelb.edu.au/s/1182/index.aspx?sid=1182&pgid=714&gid=1&cid=1374&ecid=1374&post_id=0 Lady Masson Lecture 2010 at the University of Melbourne
  32. http://www.imb.uq.edu.au/researchers-shine-at-women-in-technology-awards IMB News: Researchers shine at Women in Technology Awards
  33. News: Tireless science campaigner in line for medal. UQ News. 2016-10-23.
  34. Web site: Mentor recognised in national leadership awards – Institute for Molecular Bioscience – The University of Queensland, Australia. www.imb.uq.edu.au. 9 February 2015 . 2016-10-23.
  35. News: Queensland women lending a hand to help others succeed – Telstra Business Women's Awards. Telstra Business Women’s Awards. en-US. 2016-10-23.
  36. Web site: Writers . Griffith University . 2017-03-28 . GRIDD Director honoured with Wunderly Oration Medal . 2024-07-07 . Griffith News . en-AU.
  37. Web site: Jennifer Martin . 2024-07-07 . www.science.org.au . en.
  38. Web site: wwPDB.org . wwPDB: Advisory Committee . 2024-07-08 . www.wwpdb.org . en.
  39. Web site: 2020-07-10 . Bragg Fellows - RiAus . 2024-07-07 . riaus.org.au . en-AU.
  40. News: Australia Day Honours 2018: The full list. 2018-01-26. The Sydney Morning Herald. 2018-01-25. en-US.
  41. Web site: 2019: Professor Jennifer L. Martin announced as 2020 Leach Lecturer - University of Wollongong – UOW . 2024-07-07 . www.uow.edu.au . en.
  42. Web site: Professor Jennifer Martin receives 2023 Ralph Slatyer medal ANU Research School of Biology . 2024-07-07 . biology.anu.edu.au . en.
  43. Web site: Management & Governance CCDC . 2024-07-08 . www.ccdc.cam.ac.uk . en.
  44. Web site: wwPDB.org . wwPDB: Advisory Committee . 2024-07-08 . www.wwpdb.org . en.
  45. News: Ending the Silent Brain Drain: Professor Jenny Martin on Supporting Women in Science. 2016-02-03. Science in Australia Gender Equity (SAGE). 2016-10-23.
  46. http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v493/n7432/full/493305c.html Martin JL, Sexism: Conferences should seek a balance, Nature (2014) 493:305
  47. Martin . Jennifer L. . 2014-11-20 . Ten Simple Rules to Achieve Conference Speaker Gender Balance . PLOS Computational Biology . en . 10 . 11 . e1003903 . 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1003903 . free . 1553-7358 . 4238945 . 25411977. 2014PLSCB..10E3903M .
  48. http://cubistcrystal.wordpress.com/ cubistcrystal: Jenny Martin's blog
  49. http://www.sciencegenderequity.org.au/ Australian Academy of Science: SAGE Forum
  50. http://www.anzca.edu.au/ Australia and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists
  51. https://www.thoracic.org.au/ Thoracic Society Australia and New Zealand
  52. http://www.anzsrs.org.au/ Society of Respiratory Science
  53. https://brisscience.wordpress.com/tag/jenny-martin/ BrisScience: UQ Research Week 2013 "How are new medicines discovered?"
  54. Web site: SCOM BOMB – Jenny Martin, Crystallographer . 15 August 2014 . https://web.archive.org/web/20140817045828/http://nofunnybusiness.net/2014/05/scom-bomb-jenny-martin-crystallographer/ . 17 August 2014 . dead .
  55. http://nofunnybusiness.net/ No Funny Business science communication website
  56. http://blogs.abc.net.au/queensland/2013/12/2014-is-international-year-of-crystallography.html 612 ABC Brisbane: 2014 is International Year of Crystallography
  57. http://science.unimelb.edu.au/crystallography University of Melbourne, Faculty of Science: International Year of Crystallography 2014
  58. Web site: How I fell in love with crystallography ANSTO . 2024-02-07 . www.ansto.gov.au.
  59. https://theconversation.com/profiles/jenny-martin-1572/articles Jenny Martin – The Conversation

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