A/Prof. Phillip Dickson
| Work Phone | (02) 4921 5629 |
|---|---|
| Fax | (02) 4921 7403 |
| Phil.Dickson@newcastle.edu.au | |
| Position |
Associate Professor
School of Biomedical Sciences and Pharmacy
|
| Office | MS605, Medical Sciences Building |
Qualifications
- PhD, University of Melbourne
- Bachelor of Science (Honours), University of Melbourne
Research
Research keywords
- Parkinson's disease
- catecholamines
- dopamine
- hierarchical phosphorylation
- signal transduction
- tyrosine hydroxylase
Research expertise
the focus of my work has been the enzyme tyrosine hydroxylase which controls the rate of synthesis of the catecholamines dopamine, noradrenaline and adrenaline. I have examined the control of tyrosine hydroxylase activity by phosphorylation and have shown that hierarchical phosphorylation(the phosphorylation one site affecting the rate of phosphorylation of another site on the same molecule) exists in tyrosine hydroxylase and plays an important role in the control of tyrosine hydroxylase activity. More recently my work has focused on how this regulation of tyrosine hydroxylase plays a role in Parkinson's disease. We have now found that there is a selective loss of one of the human TH isoforms in Parkinson's disease. Therefore the expression of particular TH isoforms may render the cells more susceptible to death in Parkinson's disease.
Fields of Research
| Code | Description | Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| 110199 | Medical Biochemistry And Metabolomics Not Elsewhere Classified | 40 |
| 060100 | Biochemistry And Cell Biology | 35 |
| 110900 | Neurosciences | 25 |
Centres and Groups
Centre
- PRC - Priority Research Centre for Bioinformatics, Biomarker Discovery and Information-Based Medicine
- PRC - Priority Research Centre for Translational Neuroscience and Mental Health (CTNMH)
Invitations
|
13th International Symposium on Chromaffin Cell Biology
International Society for Neurochemistry (ISN), Chile (Conference Presentation - non published.) |
2006 |
Administrative
Administrative expertise
I was the foundation program coordinator for the Bachelor of Biomedical Sciences Honours program. Since 2004 I have been Head of the Discipline of Medical Biochemistry and in 2006 took up the position as the Research Higher Degrees Coordinator for the School of Biomedical Sciences. I have been a member of both the School Research Executive and the School Teaching Committee. In 2009 I was appointed Deputy Head of School in charge of infrastructure.
Teaching
Teaching keywords
- cellular biochemistry
- molecular biology
Teaching expertise
the focus of my teaching has been biochemistry and molecular biology. I have taught
into the general areas of cell organelle structure, enzymology, cell communication and
signal transduction, DNA replication, DNA transcription and protein synthesis and
molecular biological techniques.