Marc Wilkins (geneticist)

Marc R. Wilkins
Nationality Australia
Institutions University of New South Wales
Alma mater Macquarie University
Doctoral advisor Keith Williams
Known for proteome
Influences Amos Bairoch

Marc R. Wilkins is an Australian scientist who is credited with the concept of the proteome,[1] and is a Professor in the School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences at the University of New South Wales, Sydney.

Wilkins coined the term proteome in 1994,[2] whilst developing the concept as a PhD student at Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia;[3] this being a generalisation of the concept of the genome to encompass the set of all proteins that can be produced through the genome, through alternative splicing and post-transcriptional modification of messenger RNA.[4][5]

Career

Dr Wilkins held a post-doctoral fellowship from 1995–1997 at the University of Geneva, Switzerland, working with Prof Denis Hochstrasser and Dr Amos Bairoch. He co-developed many of the protein analysis tools available on the ExPASy web server. He subsequently served as a senior post-doctoral fellow in the Australian Proteome Analysis Facility,[6] which was established by the Australian Government in 1995 as the world's first dedicated proteome research centre.[3]

In 1997 he co-edited the first book on proteomics, Proteome Research: New Frontiers in Functional Genomics (Wilkins et al. (eds), Springer Verlag), which has sold more than 4,000 copies.[2][6]

He was a co-founder of the proteomics company Proteome Systems Ltd. It was established in January 1999, and listed on the Australian Securities Exchange in 2004. Dr Wilkins worked in Proteome Systems full-time for 6 years as leader of its bioinformatics Research and Development team.[2] It was awarded IBM's "Rookie of the Year Award" for companies in the Asia-Pacific region, in 2003.[6] Proteome Systems Inc has since been renamed Tyrian Diagnostics,.[7] In 2008, Dr Wilkins co-founded the regnerative medicine company, Regeneus.[8] This company has established treatments for osteoarthritis using autologous adult stem cells.

Dr Wilkins is currently a Professor of Systems Biology at the University of New South Wales,[2] and is the director of the Systems Biology Initiative[9] and the Ramaciotti Centre for Gene Function Analysis.[10] His latest research focus is protein interaction networks (the interactome)[11] and Systems Biology,.[2]

In 2012, Marc Wilkins is awarded the ASBMB Beckman Coulter Discovery Science Award for 2012.[12] This prize is awarded to an ASBMB member for distinguished contributions to the field of biochemistry and molecular biology.

References

  1. ↑ Wilkins, Marc (December 2009). "Proteomics data mining". Expert review of proteomics (England) 6 (6): 599–603. doi:10.1586/epr.09.81. PMID 19929606.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 UNSW Staff Bio: Professor Marc Wilkins
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "New lab to help Australia’s next crop of eminent scientists", Postgrad and Beyond: Science, Macquarie University. Published 2005. Accessed 18 January 2009.
  4. ↑ Wasinger VC, Cordwell SJ, Cerpa-Poljak A, Yan JX, Gooley AA, Wilkins MR, Duncan MW, Harris R, Williams KL, Humphery-Smith I. (1995). "Progress with gene-product mapping of the Mollicutes: Mycoplasma genitalium". Electrophoresis 7 (7): 1090–94. doi:10.1002/elps.11501601185. PMID 7498152.
  5. ↑ Wilkins, MR, Williams, KL, Appel, RD, Hochstrasser, DF, ed. (1997). Proteome Research: New Frontiers in Functional Genomics. Springer-Verlag. ISBN 3-540-62775-8.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Macquarie University/CSIRO Internet Innovation Centre Technology Trends Seminar, 2003: Speaker Bio – Marc Wilkins, Published 2003. Accessed 18 January 2009.
  7. ↑ "New Name for Proteome Systems"]
  8. ↑ Regeneus Pty. Ltd
  9. ↑ Systems Biology Initiative Staff Bio: Professor Marc Wilkins
  10. ↑ Ramaciotti Centre for Gene Function Analysis
  11. ↑ "Another dimension in protein interaction", Australian Life Scientist, Published September/October 2009. Accessed 1 July 2010.
  12. ↑ ASBMB Awards descriptions

External links