Shaun Jackson
Director
Cardiology
University of Sydney
Australia
Biography
Professor Shaun Jackson was recently appointed as Director of Cardiovascular Research, a joint initiative between the Heart Research Institute (NSW) and the Charles Perkins Centre (the University of Sydney). In addition to this role, he holds several other titles and adjunct roles, including: Australia Fellow, National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) of Australia (2010-2014), Adjunct Professor, Dept. Molecular and Experimental Medicine, The Scripps Research Institute, San Diego, USA (2009-current) and Adjunct Professor, Monash University (2014-current).
Research Interest
Atherothrombosis is arguably Australia’s major healthcare problem, affecting >50% of the adult population. In particular, the development of arterial thrombosis in the coronary or cerebral circulation (causing acute myocardial infarction and ischaemic stroke, respectively) is a major clinical problem, responsible for more deaths in the community than any other disease process. Despite intense investigation over the last 40 years into the discovery and development of more effective antithrombotic drugs, the impact of these therapies on mortality rates has remained disappointingly low, with less than 1 in 6 patients taking antithrombotic therapies avoiding a fatal thrombotic event. This situation is likely to worsen in the future due to the rapidly growing incidence of obesity, diabetes and the metabolic syndrome. These diseases are typically more resistant to the benefits of antithrombotic therapy, thus there is a pressing need for the identification and development of more effective approaches. Research undertaken in our laboratory is focussed on understanding the mechanisms causing platelet hyperactivity in diabetes and the metabolic syndrome, with the aim of developing innovative new approaches to reduce thrombosis risk in these diseases. We are specifically interested in the biochemical and biophysical regulators (rheology) of platelet activity and function, including influence of specific signalling pathways such as PI 3-kinase and cell death pathways linked to apoptosis and necrosis. We are also actively examining new pathways that control the proinflammatory function of platelets linked to cardiovascular diseases.
Publications
-
Larsson, P., Alwis, I., Niego, B., Sashindranath, M., Fogelstrand, P., Wu, M., Glise, L., Magnusson, M., Daglas, M., Bergh, N., Jackson, S., et al (2016). Valproic acid selectively increases vascular endothelial tissue-type plasminogen activator production and reduces thrombus formation in the mouse. Journal of Thrombosis and Haemostasis, 14(12), 2496-2508.
-
Zheng, Z., Pinson, J., Mountford, S., Orive, S., Schoenwaelder, S., Shackleford, D., Powell, A., Nelson, E., Hamilton, J., Jackson, S., et al (2016). Discovery and antiplatelet activity of a selective PI3K(beta) inhibitor (MIPS-9922). European Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, 122, 339-351
-
Schoenwaelder, S., Darbousset, R., Cranmer, S., Ramshaw, H., Orive, S., Sturgeon, S., Yuan, Y., Yao, Y., Krycer, J., Woodcock, J., Maclean, J., James, D., Jackson, S., et al (2016). 14-3-3z regulates the mitochondrial respiratory reserve linked to platelet phosphatidylserine exposure and procoagulant function. Nature Communications, 7, 1-15.
