Dr Sabine Piller

• Qualifications
• Biography
• Research
• Selected Publications
• Grants/Current Projects
• Teaching Interests
• Awards/Honours
• Professional Activities

Qualifications

PhD; MSc; BSc 

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Biography

Dr. Sabine C. Piller was born in Vienna, Austria and lived there for 20 years. Coming from a landlocked country, she was always interested in marine biology and completed a MSc degree in marine physiology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. After working in the Neurophysiology Department at the University of Vienna, Sabine commenced her PhD studies at the John Curtin School of Medical Research at the Australian National University, where she was instrumental in discovering that a protein from HIV had ion channel forming capabilities. Sabine received the Frank Fenner Medal for the best PhD thesis in 1999 and undertook her postdoctoral studies at the Centre for AIDS Research in Birmingham, Alabama before returning to Australia in 2000 as the recipient of a Young Investigator Award from the Centre for Immunology at the St. Vincent’s Hospital in Sydney. In 2003, Sabine relocated her research group to the Westmead Millennium Institute where she headed the HIV Protein Functions Group.

Sabine joined the University of Western Sydney (UWS) in 2008 as a Senior Lecturer in Physiology in the School of Biomedical and Health Sciences and has since established an active research team. Sabine also holds an Adjunct Position in the School of Medicine at UWS.

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Research

Dr Sabine Piller started off with an interest in marine biology and soon moved to the HIV field. Her expertise with the accessory protein Vpr from HIV is internationally recognised and her main research interest over the past 15 years included the role viral proteins play in pathogenesis and disease on a molecular level and the role of viral ion channels. Her latest area of interest has been protein methylation with an emphasis on the elucidation of the molecular mechanism and involvement in disease in order to identify novel drug targets.

Sabine's expertise ranges from gill physiology, electrophysiology, molecular biology, biochemistry, neuroscience, to virology.

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Selected Publications

Mirto, L.V. and Piller, S.C. (2010).  Protein arginine methylation: a pivotal factor and a target for novel HIV-therapeutics, other viruses and multiple diseases. Future Medicine 4(1) (in press).

Caly, L., Piller, S.C., and Jans, D.A. (2009). Proteolytic cleavage of HIV-1 GFP-VPR fusions at novel sites within virions and living cells: concerns for intracellular trafficking studies.  Journal of Fluorescence 19(3):567-73.

Caly, L., Saksena, N.K., Piller, S.C., and Jans, D.A. (2008)  Impaired nuclear import and viral incorporation of Vpr derived from a HIV long-term-non-progressor. Retrovirology 5:67.

Hearps, A.C., Wagstaff, K.M., Piller, S.C., and Jans, D. A. (2008). The N-terminal basic domain of the HIV-1 matrix protein does not contain a conventional nuclear localization sequence but is required for DNA binding and protein self-association. Biochemistry 47(7):2199-210.

Hearps, A.C., Pryor, M.J., Kuusisto, H.V., Rawlinson, S.M., Piller, S.C., and Jans, D.A. (2007). The biarsenical dye LumioTM exhibits a reduced ability to specifically detect tetra-cysteine containing proteins within live cells. Journal of Fluorescence 17(6):593-7.

Willemsen N.M., Hitchen, E.M., Bodetti, T.J., Apolloni, A., Warrilow, D., Piller, S.C., and Harrich, D. (2006). Protein methylation is required to maintain optimal HIV-1 infectivity. Retrovirology 3:92.

Piller, S.C. (2006). Novel targets for anti-viral treatments. Editorial. Current Drug Targets, 7(12), 1561.

Micoli, K.J., Mamaeva, O., Piller, S.C., Barker, J.L., Pan, G., Hunter, E., and McDonald, J.M. (2006). Point mutations in the C-terminus of HIV-1 gp160 reduce apoptosis and calmodulin binding without affecting viral replication. Virology 344, 468-479.

Caly, L., Wang, B., Mikhail, M., Gill, M.J., Becktholdt, B., Jans, D.A., Piller, S.C., and Saksena, N.K. (2005). Evidence for Host-Driven Selection of the HIV-1 vpr Gene in vivo During HIV Disease Progression in a Transfusion Acquired Cohort. ARHR 21(8), 728-33.

Piller, S.C., Caly, L., and Jans, D.A. (2003). Nuclear Import of the Pre-Integration Complex (PIC): the Achilles Heel of HIV? Invited Review in Current Drug Targets 4, 409-429.

Other earlier relevant high impact publications:

Piller, S.C., Dubay, J.W., Derdeyn, C.A., and Hunter, E. (2000). Mutational analysis of conserved domains within the cytoplasmic tail of gp41 from human immunodeficiency virus type 1: Effects on glycoprotein incorporation and infectivity. J. Virol., 74  (24), 11717-11723

Piller, S.C., Ewart, G.D., Jans, D.A., Gage, P.W., and Cox, J.B. (1999). The amino terminal region of Vpr from HIV-1 forms ion channels and kills neurons.  J. Virol. 73, 4230-4238

Piller, S.C., Jans, D.A., Jans, P., and Gage, P.W. (1998). Extracellular HIV-1 virus protein R causes a large inward current and cell death in cultured hippocampal neurons: Implications for AIDS pathology. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. Vol. 95, 4595-4600

Piller, S.C., Ewart, G.D., Premkumar, A.G., Cox, B., and Gage, P.W. (1996). Vpr protein of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 forms cation-selective channels in planar lipid bilayers. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. Vol. 93, 111-115

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Grants/Current projects

• College of Health Science Research Futures Funding, College of Health Science, UWS, 2008, Applicant 2 with Dr Simon Myers
• New Research Project Development Grant, School of Biomedical and Health Sciences, UWS, 2008, Applicant 1 with Prof Nikolaus Sucher
• New Research Project Development Grant, School of Biomedical and Health Sciences, UWS, 2008, Applicant 2 with Dr Simon Myers
• ACH2 grant (CIC) in collaboration with Dr Russell Diefenbach and Prof Tony Cunningham for 2007/2008
• SESQUI Fellowship from the University of Sydney on “The role of the cytoplasmic tail of gp41 from HIV-1” 2003 for 3 years
• NHMRC Project grant (CIA) in collaboration with Prof. David A. Jans on “Nuclear import of the HIV-1 pre-integration complex: mechanism and therapeutic implications” 2002 for 3 years

Current projects:        

• Importance of protein methylation in cellular signalling pathways associated with disease
• Seeking a better understanding of the molecular mechanisms of protein methylation in order to identify potential novel drug targets

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Teaching Interests

Dr Piller is passionate about passing on her enthusiasm and excitement for good quality research to Honours and PhD students in a one to one supervisory role. She also strives to enhance the learning experience of first year students in Human Biology and Human Physiology.

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Awards/Honours

• Frank Fenner Medal for the most outstanding PhD thesis in the John Curtin School of Medical Research in 1999
• Young Investigator Career Award from the Centre for Immunology, St Vincent's Hospital, NSW, Australia

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Professional Activities

• Peer reviewer of NHMRC project and program grants since 1999
• Reviewer for Retrovirology
• Co-organizer of a national conference in 2006
• Invited guest editor for a special issue of Current Drug Targets 2006, Vol7 (12), 1561-1638

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