Miranda D GROUNDS. October, 2006
Overview
Activities specifically related to Developmental Biology Curriculum Vitae (abbreviated)

Miranda D GROUNDS. May 2007

Brief Curriculum vitae
MIRANDA D GROUNDS, Western Australia, PhD, Professor in the School of Anatomy and Human Biology, at the University of Western Australia (UWA). Miranda graduated from UWA majoring in Zoology and Biochemistry with Honours in Biochemistry and gained a PhD from the University of London in 1978 (on transplantation of muscle cells). From 1980 she was funded by the National Health & Medical Research Council of Australia as an independent researcher and Senior Research Fellow and, in 1994, she was appointed to a Professor Chair at UWA.

For over 30 years, the research of MG has focussed on factors controlling the damage and repair of skeletal muscle and on potential treatments for muscle diseases such as Duchenne's muscular dystrophy, with a focus on in vivo studies and tissue analyses. Intensive work on cell based therapies (myoblasts and stem cells) developed the Y-chromosome probe for tracking male (donor) nuclei and identified the massive and rapid death of injected donor cells in Myoblast Transfer Therapy. Other projects have investigated stem cell therapies (MG did the first experiments to look for bone-marrow derived muscle stem cells in 1983) and Tissue Engineering. Recent research is focussed on therapies to reduce the severity of muscular dystrophy with a particular interest in IGF-1 and blockade of the pro-inflammatory cytokine TNFa, in addition to investigating nutrition and metabolism that all have applications to muscular dystrophy and also muscle wasting with ageing.

MG has over 120 research publications and has obtained over $9 million in funding. The achievements of the research group are widely recognized internationally as evidenced by many overseas grants and numerous (over 70) invitations to speak at international and national conferences covering topics ranging from Muscle Regeneration, Cell/Gene and other Therapies for muscle disorders, Cell and Developmental Biology, Cell and Muscle Transplantation, Stem cells, Tissue Engineering, Extracellular Matrix, Translational Medicine and Sports Medicine.

Selected activities include: Executive Director of the Centre for Cell & Molecular Biology at UWA; President of the Australian and New Zealand Society for Cell and Developmental Biology; Founder of the Tissue Engineering Research Centre at UWA; Co-founder of the Image Acquisition and Analysis Facility - now CELLCentral; Co-ordinator of a new Developmental Biology course and Conferences at UWA; and Co-founder and Director of SymbioticA a unique collaborative Art & Science Studio/laboratory (http://www.symbiotica.uwa.edu.au/). For details of activities see http://school.anhb.uwa.edu.au/personalpages/grounds/.

School of Anatomy and Human Biology (MD#309), The University of Western Australia, Crawley, Western Australia, 6009..
Phone (08) 6488 3486. Fax (08) 6488 1051.
EMAIL: mgrounds@anhb.uwa.edu au
Web: http://school.anhb.uwa.edu.au/personalpages/grounds

Date & Place of Birth: 30th September, 1948. Cornwall, England
Nationality: Australian
Marital Status: Married with two sons (born 1980 and 1984)

University of Western Australia:
1968 ------ Completed BSc with major subjects Zoology and Biochemistry
1969 ------ Graduated with first class Honours in Biochemistry. Studies in amphibian metamorphosis.

University of London:
October 1975 - May 1978 Phd. (Supervisor: Dr T.A. Partridge). The contribution of host and donor cells to regenerating skeletal muscle: investigations using glucose-6-phosphate isomerase isoenzyme markers.

• Nov. 1st 1994 - Professor of Anatomy and Human Biology; The University of Western Australia.

• 1972-1974 -------- Research Assistant to Professor MJ Dilworth, Department of Soil Science, Agriculture Department, University of W.A.
• 1975-1978 -------- Research Biochemist in Department of Experimental Pathology, Charing Cross Hospital, London.
• 1978-1980 -------- Research Officer, Department of Neuropathology, University of W.A.
• 1980-1990 -------- Senior Research Officer (NHMRC) Department of Pathology, UWA (part time from 1980-1988: see details under Grant Support.
• 1994-1998 -------- Senior Research Fellow NH&MRC, Department of Pathology UWA.
  

About $9.3 million in funding has been obtained for research and various initiatives since 1980, including ~$2.5 million from international research grants. Total amount of funding from competitive research grants in the last 4 years (since 2003) is ~$3.2 million, including new funding just awarded in 2007 for 2 competitive Australian research grants (~$1.2 million from ARC and NH&MRC).

International grants have been awarded by:
Muscular Dystrophy Association, USA
Association Francais Contre les Myopathies [AFM]
International Duchenne Parent Project
Akton Benni & Co [German Parent Project]
National funding agencies include: NH&MRC; ARC; National Hearth Foundation; Meat & Livestock Australia; National Stem Cell Centre
Industry funding: AMRAD; Novartis; Aion Diagnostics
WA Funding agencies include: The University of WA; Lotteries Commission WA; Medical Health Research Infrastructure Fund [MHRIF]; Australian Neuromuscular Research Institute.

MG has received over 80 invitations to international and national conferences since 1980, covering topics ranging from Muscle Regeneration, Cell and Gene Therapy, Cell and Muscle Transplantation, Stem cells, Tissue Engineering and Sports Medicine. Since 2003, MG has received invitations to about 20 international and many national conferences and invited visits/seminars to labs in Switzerland, Italy, Spain, France, the USA, New Zealand, Brazil and the UK as indicated below:

2003 (International meetings are shown in bold)

• "Stem Cells and Aging Workshop", Institute of Gerontology, Ann Arbor, USA May 8-9, 2003 (All expenses and honorarium)(declined).
• How the arts enhance science education, Conference organised by the International Child Art Foundation and Qatar Foundation. Doha, Qatar, May, 2003 (meeting was cancelled due to political situation and a colleague subsequently attended instead).
• Muscular Dystrophy 2003. Parent Project meeting in Parth, WA, May.
• American College of Sports Medicine. Keynote Speaker at Symposium on "Immunological mechanisms in muscle regeneration", San Francisco, USA, May.
• III AiM Congress (Italian Association of Myologists). "Tissue and cell engineering session", Padova and Abano Terme, Italy, June.
• FASEB research conference, "Muscle satellite and stem cells", Tucson, Arizona, USA, July.
• First National Stem Cell Centre Scientific Conference, "Stem Cells and Tissue Repair". Melbourne, October.

• XVIII World Congress of the International Society for Heart Research, "Stem cell graduation: commitment of stem cells". Brisbane, Australia. August.
• 6th Bispebjerg Symposium on Sport Medicine "Extracellular matrix: Conversion of Mechanical Loading into Functional Adaptation". Carlsberg Academy of Science, Copenhagen, Denmark. August.
• 'Cell-Matrix Interactions' at Australian Health and Medical Research (AHMR) Congress Sydney. November.
• Blockade of TNFalpha by Remicade® (antibodies) and Enbrel® (soluble receptors) protects dystrophic muscle from necrosis. "Session on Inflammation' at AHMR Congress Sydney. November.

• Australian Innovation Festival. Chair of Forum "What's Business got to do with it? Innovation without the profit imperative? Perth. May
• 2005 FASEB Skeletal muscle satellite and stem cells. Protection of dystrophic muscles from necrosis by blockade of inflammation. June 11-16, 2005. Tucson, Arizona, USA.
• Muscular Dystrophy 2005 (MD2005) Conference. Striking protection of dystrophic muscles from necrosis by use of anti-TNFalpha therapies. Perth, July.
• Translational Medicine, from skeletal muscle biology to function in health and disease. Stockholm archipelago, Sweden. August
• Society for Reproductive Biology / Australian Endocrine Society Symposium on 'Cell fate: Decision-making in cell proliferation and differentiation'. Perth, September.
• Recipient of Barry Preston Award: Matrix Biology Society. Victor Harbour, South Australia, September/October.
• Novartis Muscle Workshop, Basel, Switzerland. October.
  Plus invited visit and seminar Factors controlling the breakdown and repair of skeletal muscle: focus on TNF alpha and IGF-1 to: Novartis, Basel, Switzerland (August); University of Barcelona, Spain (October); University of Bari, Italy (October).

• Frontiers in Myogenesis meeting Callaway Gardens, Georgia, USA. April/May.
• Sym. on Myopathies and muscle regeneration, COMBIO2006. Brisbane, September.
• 1st Brazilian International Workshop on Preclinical tests for Muscular Dystrophy: only ~12 invited international speakers. Ribierao Preto, Sao Paulo, Brazil. October/November.
  
  Plus, Chair of Panel Discussion for SymbioticA Symposium on "Metaphors and Misunderstanding: when science and culture clash and merge". Perth, June. Chair of Workshop panel on "Stem Cells". 47th Australian Medical Students Association (AMSA) Perth, July.
  
  Invited visit and seminars: Department of Molecular Biology, UT, Southwestern Medical Centre, Dallas, Texas. (April); Department of Anatomy and Structural Biology, University of Otago, New Zealand. (September); Department of Anatomy, State University of Campinas, Sao Paulo, Brazil. (November); Department of Human Anatomy & Genetics, University of Oxford, UK. (November).

• Overcoming bottlenecks in the development of therapeutics for rare neuromuscular disorders (AFM) Evry, France. January.
• Treat-NMD, Kickoff meeting, Evry, France. January.
• Cell migration (AFM) France, February (declined).
• Muscular Dystrophy 2007 (MD2007). Australia, April.
• Parent Project (Italy) (declined).
• Parent Project (USA) July (declined).
• MedSci congress NZ, Keynote speaker and Symposium (Stem cell therapies and future directions and problems). Queenstown, New Zealand. November.
• 3rd Austr.Biotherapeutic and Tissue Regen. Forum. Margaret River, November (declined).
• 4th Cachexia Conference, Tampa/Florida, December.

Editorial Boards
Associate Editor: Basic and Applied Myology (Unipress) (until 2005)
Cell Transplantation. Muscle, Bone and Cartilage section (Pergamon)
Journal of Histochemistry and Cytochemistry (from 2003-)

Reviewer for (>20) journals
e.g. J. Cell Biology; PNAS; J. Histochem. Cytochemistry; J. Cell Science; Tissue Engineering; Genesis; Transplantation; Cell Transplantation; Cells Tissue Organs; Biochem and Biophys Acta; Acta Anatomica; etc.

Assessor (>20) research grant agencies
e.g. NH&MRC Australia; ARC; National Heart Foundation Australia; Health Research Council of New Zealand; Marsden Fund New Zealand; Medical Research Council of Canada; NIH; USA; The Wellcome Trust (UK); MRC Clinical Sciences Centre, UK; Association Francaise contre les Myopathies; Austrian Science Fund; Akton Benni (Germany); Italian Telethon; Agency for Science; Technology and Research's (A*STAR) Biomedical Research Council (BMRC) in Singapore; Estonian Science Foundation.

External examiner for over 20 national/international PhD theses

Membership of professional societies

• Australian and New Zealand Society for Cell and Development Biology Incorporated (ANZSCDBI) President 1997-1998.
• Matrix Biology Society of Australia & New Zealand
• Australian Society for Medical Research
• Australian Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
• Australian Society for Cell and Molecular Gerontology
• American Society of Cell Biology

• 1981-1983 Initiated and organised a register of scientists involved in medical research in Perth - "Who does what" for the Australian Society of Medical Research; updated the information in 1983 (A third revision was made in 1988)
• 1983 Organising committee for the Annual West Australian Neuroscience Colloquium
• 1984-1990 Editor for Transactions of the W.A. Neuroscience Colloquium, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th Meetings.
• 1985/1986 Joint Organiser of the Australian Neuroscience Society (ANS) meeting held in Perth, February, 1986.
• 1987 Obtained funding from the W.A. Government to enable four students to attend the Bicentennial Meeting of the Australian Societies for Experimental Biology in Canberra, February 1988.
• 1987-1989 Initiated and organised the first three local (branch) meetings of the Australian and New Zealand Society for Cell Biology (ANZSCBI) in Perth.
• 1987 Initiated funding for the annual W.A. student travel awards for attending interstate ANZSCBI meetings. First award given for February 1988, three awards for 1989 and one for 1990.
• 1990-1992 Jont Convenor (with George Yeoh) for the first Combined Biological Sciences conference in 1990. Member of organising committee for 2nd and 3rd meetings. This is now a major annual meeting in Perth: see http://www.cbsm.uwa.edu.au/
• 1990-1992 Joint Organiser of the National Meeting of the ANZSCBI (in conjunction with The Australian Society for Electron Microscopy), Perth, February, 1992.
• 1993 Initiated a "Cytokine and Growth Factor Interest Group" in W.A.
• 1994 Member of the Organising Committee for the Australian Neuroscience Society held in Perth in February, 1995.
• 1997 Member of international Steering committee for a meeting on "Satellite cells, regeneration and skeletal muscle diseases", 1998, in Boston.
• 1999 Established a new Tissue Engineering Research Centre (TERC) at the University of Western Australia (convenor): http://www.terc.uwa.edu.au/
• 2000 Organiser for major TERC meeting "Frontiers in Tissue Engineering: West Australian Symposium", University of Western Australia, October 5th, 2000.
• 2001 Organiser "The Cottesloe Beach Muscle Symposium", Perth, Septe. 11th, 2001.
• 2002 Organiser for TERC "Stem cell and Tissue Engineering Symposium", Perth, November 6th, 2002. http://www.terc.uwa.edu.au/
• 2002-2006 Organiser for series of "Molecular Mechanisms of Development" Conferences, Perth, February 2003; January 31st - February 1st, 2004; January 2005, in conjunction with the Australian Neuroscience Society Conference; February 2006. http://www.lab.anhb.uwa.edu.au/hb308/
• 2004 Organising Committee: Matrix Biology Society of Australia & New Zealand meeting, Rottnest, W.A., September 2004.
• 2003-2004 Co-Chair of programme committee for COMBIO 2004 September 2004, in Perth.
• 2004/2005 Organising Committee Australian Neuroscience Society Conference, February 2006.
• 2005/2006 Organising Committee, Focus on Microscopy Conference, Perth, April 2006.

• Image Acquisition and Analysis Facilty, UWA (1997-) now CELLCentral http://www.cellcentral.uwa.edu.au/
• Tissue Engineering Research Centre (TERC), UWA (1999-) http://www.terc.uwa.edu.au/
• SymbioticA (Art/Science laboratory) Co-founder and Director http://www.symbiotica.uwa.edu.au/
• Developmental Biology: new course at UWA (2003-) http://www.lab.anhb.uwa.edu.au/hb308/

• 1994 Steering Committee to re-organise the Public Sector Pathology services in W.A.
• 1994 CHAIR of the Review Committee for the Crystallography Centre, UWA.
• 1994-1997 EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR for the Centre for Cell and Molecular Biology, UWA.
• 1995-1997 CHAIR of the Committee for Human Rights, UWA (Member from 1993-1995).
• 2002-2004 Planning Committee UWA Leadership Development for Women programme.
• 1996-1998 PRESIDENT of the ANZSCDBI.
• 1997-2003 Council member for St Catherines College.
• 2000-2003 Member of the Medical and Health Research Infrastructure Council, WA Govt.
• 2000- Fulbright Australian-American Educational Foundation, Selection Committee.
• 2002- Animal Resources Authority (UWA representative).
• 2002- Scientific Advisory Board. Meat & Livestock (Australia) Sheep Function Genomics Program.
• 2003- Scientific Advisory Board, Bioheart (USA Company). See www.bioheartinc.com
• Scientific Advisory Committee Sheep Genomics (Australia) http://www.sheepgenomics.com
• 2006- Advisory Board, Norwegian Muscular Dystrophy Campaign.
• 2006- Board Member International Society of Differentiation.

2005 UWA. Excellence in Postgraduate Supervision Award
2005 Matrix Biology Society of Australia and New Zealand. Barry Preston Award (the annual Society medal).

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