Profile
I completed my medical degree at the University of Melbourne in 1984, having also undertaken research for a Bachelor of Medical Science in 1981. I undertook a PhD in this department between 1986 and 1989, under Professor Trefor Morgan. I gained further experience in molecular biology at Harvard University (Victor Dzau’s lab) and then at the Centre for Genome Research at the University of Edinbugh, in John Mullins’s lab. I moved over to neuroscience research in 1992, when I joined Perry Bartlett’s lab (at WEHI) as an NH&MRC postdoctoral fellow. In 1995, I took up a senior lectureship in this department. I am also a vocationally registered general practitioner, and worked in this field part-time for 16 years.
I am an omnivorous reader, and also enjoy cycling, motorcycling, following football (North Melbourne) and cricket.
Qualifications:
MBBS
B Med Sc
PhD
Research Interests:
Neurodegeneration
Apoptosis
Antisense oligonucleotides and RNA Interference
Teaching
Convenor and Lecturer:
536-302 Molecular Neurophysiology (Science)
Lecturer:
510-212 Control Systems Growth and Development, Semester 4 (Medicine)
536-211 Physiology: Control of Body Function (Science)
511-224 Oral Health Sciences (Dental Science)
516-209 Introduction to Neuroscience
536-311 Molecular/Cellular Basis of Physiology (Science)
Service to the University, discipline
or community and recent presentations
Chair, Human Ethics Advisory Group (HEAG), Physiology department.
Radiation Safety Officer, Physiology department.
Academic Representative, Occupational Health and Safety Committee, Physiology Department.
I regularly review manuscripts for the Journal of Cell Biology, the Journal of Neurochemistry and Neuroscience Letters.
Recent Presentations:
2004, January. Australian Neuroscience Society, Melbourne: "p75NTR: switching between survival and death signaling".
2003, December. Collaborative Research Symposium of the Department of Medicine, St Vincents Hospital, and the Department of Physiology, University of Melbourne. “Signal Transduction by the p75 Neurotrophin Receptor” (Invited speaker).
2003, July. Symposium on Dependence Receptors, Fondation Des Treilles, Toutours, France. “The p75 neurotrophin receptor: switching between survival and death signaling” (Invited Speaker).
Research
Profile, Interests and Recent Publications
My lab investigates the molecular mechanisms of neuronal death. In 1994, Perry Bartlett and I showed that the p75 neurotrophin receptor induces neuronal death. My lab is now particularly interested in p75's role in the death of cholinergic forebrain neurons during ageing and in Alzheimer's disease.
Recent Publications:
Epa WR, Markovska K and Barrett GL (2004). The p75 Neurotrophin Receptor Enhances TrkA Signaling by Binding to Shc and Enhancing its Phosphorylation. Journal of Neurochemistry 89: 344-53.
Greferath U, Mallard C, Roufail E, Rees S, Barrett G and Bartlett P (2002). Expression of the p75 neurotrophin receptor by striatal cholinergic neurons following global ischemia in rats is associated with neuronal degeneration. Neuroscience Letters 332: 57-60.
Epa WR, Barrett GL and Bartlett PF. (2001). Oligonucleotides as inhibitors of Protein Synthesis. Methods in Molecular Biology 169:223-42.
Research
Funding
2003-2005
NHMRC Project Grant. How does the p75 neurotrophin receptor transmit both pro-survival and pro-apoptotic signals in neurons?
CIA: G.L. Barrett
$85,000 per year for 3 years.
2002-2005
Circadian Technologies Ltd. Development of anti-p75NTR antisense reagents and their application in neurological disease models.
GL Barrett (CI)
$120,000 per year for 3 years (from September 2002)
2003-2005
AusIndustry Biotechnology Innovation Fund (BIF) Grant. Development of treatment for Alzheimer’s disease.
GL Barrett (CI)
$100,000 per year for 2.5 years.
Supervisor
Mark Hargreaves
