Participant Details
- Photo
- First Name
- Emma
- Last Name
- van der Westhuizen
- Institution
- Monash
- Country
- Australia
- emma.vanderwesthuizen@svi.edu.au
- Technologies/Techniques Used
- Analytical pharmacology, Bioluminescent resonance energy transfer (BRET), Cell culture, Cell signalling assays, Gene Expression, Molecular biology, Molecular pharmacology, Radioactive ligand Binding assays., Signalling assays, Signal transduction, small molecule chemical probes, structure-activity relationship studies
- Research Interest
- Allosteric modulators, Analytical pharmacology, Biased agonism, Biological pathways, Dementia, G protein-coupled receptors, Mental health, Neuropharmacology, Pharmacogenetics, Pharmacogenomics, Precision Medicine, structural biology
- Publication Profile
- Google Scholar
Personal Info
- Bio
- Emma is a molecular pharmacologist, researching the mechanism of drug action at a class of cell surface receptors termed, G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs); with particular interests in ligand-biased signalling and biased allosteric modulation. Emma has a keen interest in designing novel therapeutic agents for the treatment of the symptoms of neurodegenerative and neurodevelopmental diseases. She collaborates with medicinal chemists, structural biologists and mouse behaviourists to design and test novel chemical entities to improve drug pharmacological profiles and reduce adverse effects. Emma's research goal is to bridge the gap between research capabilities and clinical possibilities, by translating lead compounds from the developmental and experimental phases through to pre-clinical and clinical use. Understanding intracellular signal transduction is the major focus of Emma's research. She works to systematically characterise ligands by creating pharmacological signatures of compounds acting at cell surface receptors expressed in heterologous and endogenous cell systems. Her current projects aim to understand and validate the mechanism of drug action at non-GPCR targets to improve the symptoms of Dementia.
- Website, Blog or Social Media Link
- www.svi.edu.au/researchers/dr-emma-van-der-westhuizen/