Dr Louise O'Keefe

• Biography/ Background

  Louise O’Keefe obtained her PhD studying cytokinesis in Drosophila and was subsequently awarded an NHRMC Peter Doherty Post-Doctoral training Fellowship to develop Drosophila as a genetic system to understand complex human diseases. She currently holds a joint position as Research Fellow in the Department of Molecular and Biomedical Science at the University of Adelaide as well as Research Officer at SAHMRI with a focus on using Drosophila to determine the cellular pathways and processes contributing to late onset neurodegenerative diseases as well as MPS type III childhood dementia.

   

  2018              University Research fellow (University of Adelaide) and Research Officer (Hopwood Centre Neurobiology, SAHMRI)

   

  2014-2017      Research fellow (University of Adelaide) and Research Officer (Lysosomal Diseases Research Unit, SAHMRI)

  2008 -2014     CMGD Postdoctoral Fellow, The University of Adelaide 

  2002-2008      NHMRC Peter Doherty Australian Biomedical Fellow, The University of Adelaide

  1997-2001 Postgraduate student, The University of Adelaide 

  1996 Research Assistant, Genetics, The University of Adelaide 

  1993-1995 Research Assistant, Rockefeller University, New York, USA

  1989-1992 Research Assistant at The University of Adelaide and ICGEB Trieste, Italy 

  1998 Honours, Biochemistry, The University of Adelaide 

• Qualifications

  PhD (admitted 13 Aug 2002)

  Thesis title: Genetic approaches to understanding the role of Pebble during cytokinesis in Drosophila

  with Professor Robert Saint, The University of Adelaide

• Research Interests

  My current research interests involve using Drosophila as a model organism for the study of human genetic disease with a focus on determining the cellular pathways and processes that contribute to late onset neurodegenerative diseases as well as MPS type III childhood dementia.

   

   

   

• Publications

  O'Keefe L and Denton, D (2018) Using Drosophila models of amyloid toxicity to study autophagy in the pathogenesis of Alzheiner's Disease Biomed. Res. Int. 20;2018:519546. Review

  Webber DL, Choo A, Hewson LJ, Trim PJ, Snel MF, Hopwood JJ, Richards RI, Hemsley KM and O'Keefe LV (2018) Neuronal-specific impairment of heparan sulfate degradation in Drosophila reveals pathogenic mechansims for Mucopolysacchraidosis type IIIA. Exp. Neurol. 303:38-47.

  Choo A, Crisp P, Saint R, O’Keefe LV and Baxter SW. (2017) CRISPR/Cas9-mediated mutagenesis of the white gene in the tephritid pest Bactrocera tryoni. Journal of Applied Entomology DOI:10.1111/jen.1241.

  Richards RI, Robertson SA, O’Keefe LV, Fornarino D, Scott A, Lardelli M and Baune BT. (2016) The enemy within: Innate Surveillance-Mediated Cell Death, the Common Mechanism of Neurodegenerative Disease Front Neurosci. 10:193.

  Choo A, O'Keefe LV, Lee CS, Gregory SL, Shaukat Z, Colella A, Lee K, Denton D, Richards RI. (2015) Tumor suppressor WWOX moderates the mitochondrial respiratpry complex  Genes Chromosomes Cancer 54:745-61.

  O'Keefe LV, Lee CS, Choo A, Richards RI. (2015) Tumor Suppressor WWOX Contributes to the Elimination of Tumorigenic Cells in Drosophila melanogaster PLoS One. 24;10(8):e0136356.

  Richards RI, Choo A, Lee CS, Dayan S, O'Keefe L. (2015) WWOX, the chromosomal fragile site FRA16D spanning gene: Its role in metabolism and contribution to cancer. Exp Biol Med (Maywood) 240:338-44.

  Shaukat Z, Liu D, Choo A, Hussain R, O'Keefe L, Richards R, Saint R, Gregory SL. (2014) Chromosomal instability causes sensitivity to metabolic stress. Oncogene 34:4044-55.

  Samaraweera SE, O'Keefe LV, van Eyk CL, Lawlor KT, Humphreys DT, Suter CM, Richards RI.(2013) Modeling and analysis of repeat RNA toxicity in Drosophila. Methods Mol Biol. 1017:173-92.

  Dayan S, O'Keefe LV, Choo A, Richards RI. (2013) Common chromosomal fragile site FRA16D tumor suppressor WWOX gene expression and metabolic reprogramming in cells. Genes Chromosomes Cancer. 52:823-31.

  Samaraweera SE, O'Keefe LV, Price GR, Venter DJ, Richards RI. (2013) Distinct roles for Toll and autophagy pathways in double-stranded RNA toxicity in a Drosophila model of expanded repeat neurodegenerative diseases. Hum Mol Genet. 22:2811-9.

  Richards RI, Samaraweera SE, van Eyk CL, O'Keefe LV, Suter CM. (2013) RNA pathogenesis viaToll-like receptor-activated inflammation in expanded repeat neurodegenerative diseases. Front Mol Neurosci. 6:25.

  Lawlor KT, O'Keefe LV, Samaraweera SE, van Eyk CL, Richards RI. (2012)  Ubiquitous expression of CUG or CAG trinucleotide Repeat RNA causes common morphological defects in a Drosophila modle of RNA-Mediated pathology PLOS One, 2012, 7(6) e38516.

  van Eyk CL, McLeod CJ, O'Keefe LV, Richards RI. (2012) Comparative toxicity of polyglutamine, polyalanine and polyleucine tracts in Drosophila models of expanded repeat disease. Human Molecular Genetics, 21(3):536-47.

  Lawlor KT, O'Keefe LV, Samaraweera SE, van Eyk CL, McLeod CJ, Maloney CA, Dang TH, Suter CM, Richards RI. (2011) Double-stranded RNA is pathogenic in Drosophila models of expanded repeat neurodegenerative diseases. Human Molecular Genetics, 20(19):3757-68.

  van Eyk CL, O'Keefe LV, Lawlor KT, Samaraweera SE, McLeod CJ, Price GR, Venter DJ, Richards RI. (2011) Perturbation of the Akt/Gsk3-beta signalling pathway is common to Drosophila expressing expanded untranslated CAG, CUG and AUUCU repeat RNAs. Human Molecular Genetics  20(14):2783-94.

  O’Keefe LV, Colella C, Dayan S, Chen Q, Choo A, Jacob R, Price G, Venter D and Richards RI. (2011) Drosophila orthologue of WWOX, the chromosomal fragile site FRA16D tumour suppressor gene, functions in aerobic metabolism and regulates reactive oxygen species. Human Molecular Genetics, 20(3):497-509.

  O’Keefe LV, Smibert P, Colella A, Chataway TK, Saint R and Richards RI. (2007) Know thy fly. Trends in Genetics, 23(5):238-42.

  Gregory SL, Shandala T, O'Keefe L, Jones L, Murray MJ and Saint R. (2007) A Drosophila Over-expression Screen for Modifiers of Rho Signalling in Cytokinesis, Fly, 1(1) 1-10.

  O’Keefe LV, Richards RI Common chromosomal fragile sites and cancer: focus on FRA16D (2006) Cancer Letters, 232(1):37-47 Review.

  O’Keefe LV, Liu Y, Perkins A, Dayan S, Saint R, Richards RI.  (2006) FRA16D common chromosomal fragile site oxido-reductase (FOR/WWOX) protects against the effects of ionizing radiation in Drosophila. Oncogene 2005, 24(43):6590-6. Erratum: 25(58):7662.

  McLeod CJ, O'Keefe LV, Richards RI. (2005) The pathogenic agent in Drosophila models of 'polyglutamine' diseases. Human Molecular Genetics, 14(8):1041-8.

  O'Keefe L, Somers WG, Harley A, Saint R. (2006) The pebble GTP exchange factor and the control of cytokinesis. Cell Structure and Function, 26(6):619-26, Review.

  Wehrli M, Dougan ST, Caldwell K, O'Keefe L, Schwartz S, Vaizel-Ohayon D, Schejter E, Tomlinson A, DiNardo S. (2000) arrow encodes an LDL-receptor-related protein essential for Wingless signalling. Nature, 407(6803):527-30.

  Prokopenko SN, Brumby A, O'Keefe L, Prior L, He Y, Saint R, Bellen HJ. (1999) A putative exchange factor for Rho1 GTPase is required for initiation of cytokinesis in Drosophila. Genes and Development, 13(17):2301-14.

  O'Keefe L, Dougan ST, Gabay L, Raz E, Shilo BZ, DiNardo S. (1997) Spitz and Wingless, emanating from distinct borders, cooperate to establish cell fate across the Engrailed domain in the Drosophila epidermis. Development, 124(23):4837-45.

  Richardson H, O'Keefe LV, Marty T, Saint R. (1995) Ectopic cyclin E expression induces premature entry into S phase and disrupts pattern formation in the Drosophila eye imaginal disc. Development, 121(10):3371-9.

  Richardson HE, O'Keefe LV, Reed SI, Saint R A Drosophila (1993) G1-specific cyclin E homolog exhibits different modes of expression during embryogenesis. Development, 119:673-90.

  
  

• Professional Associations

  Australian Society for Medical Research

  Australia and New Zealand Society for Cell and Developmental Biology

  Genetics Society of AustralAsia

Entry last updated: Friday, 21 Sep 2018