Dr Alex Combes
Professor
Cell Biology
Murdoch Childrens Research Institute
Australia
Biography
Dr Combes received his PhD in 2009 from the University of Queensland (UQ) where he investigated the genetic and cellular interactions controlling testis organogenesis in the laboratory of Prof. Peter Koopman. After a brief postdoctoral position in Epigenetics with Prof. Emma Whitelaw he returned to Developmental Biology to work on an international, multidisciplinary effort led by Professor Melissa Little to quantitate and mathematically model kidney organogenesis. Dr. Combes and his colleague Dr. Kieran Short (Monash), established a multiscale imaging approach to visualise and analyse kidney development, which resulted in one of the most comprehensive profiles of any mammalian organ system to date. Dr. Combes is currently an Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career Researcher Award fellow and is an employee of the University of Melbourne, Department of Anatomy. He continues to work closely with his mentor Professor Melissa Little on kidney development and disease at Murdoch Childrens Research Institute.
Research Interest
Cell Biology,Kidney Development, Disease and Regeneration
Publications
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Georgas K, Rumballe B, Valerius MT, Chiu HS, Thiagarajan RD, Lesieur E, Aronow BJ, Brunskill EW, Combes AN, Tang D, Taylor D. Analysis of early nephron patterning reveals a role for distal RV proliferation in fusion to the ureteric tip via a cap mesenchyme-derived connecting segment. Developmental biology. 2009 Aug 15;332(2):273-86.
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Combes AN, Lesieur E, Harley VR, Sinclair AH, Little MH, Wilhelm D, Koopman P. Threeâ€dimensional visualization of testis cord morphogenesis, a novel tubulogenic mechanism in development. Developmental Dynamics. 2009 May 1;238(5):1033-41.
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Combes AN, Wilhelm D, Davidson T, Dejana E, Harley V, Sinclair A, Koopman P. Endothelial cell migration directs testis cord formation. Developmental biology. 2009 Feb 1;326(1):112-20.
