Dr. Anne C. Conibear

Contact

Institute of Applied Synthetic Chemistry, Faculty of Technical Chemistry

TU Wien, Vienna, Austria

Link to Lab Website

Email: anne.conibear@tuwien.ac.at

Tel: +43 1 58801 163723

Twitter: @AnneConibear

ORCID: 0000-0002-5482-6225; Google Scholar

Research Interests

C.V.

Academic Career

2022 –             Assistant Professor (Tenure Track) in Protein Chemistry | Faculty of Technical Chemistry, TU Wien

                         Honorary Research Fellow | School of Biomedical Sciences, The University of Queensland

2019 – 2021     UQ Development Fellow (Senior Research Fellow) | School of Biomedical Sciences, The University of Queensland

2014 – 2018     Interdisciplinary Cancer Research (INDICAR) Postdoctoral Fellow | Institute of Biological Chemistry, University of Vienna

Higher education and academic qualifications

2011 – 2014     PhD (Biomolecular Chemistry), The University of Queensland, Australia

2009 – 2010     MSc. (Chemistry, with distinction), Rhodes University, South Africa

2008                  BSc.(Hons) (Chemistry, with distinction), Rhodes University, South Africa

2005 – 2007     BSc. (Chemistry & Biochemistry, with distinction), Rhodes University, South Africa

Research funding

• Posttranslational modification of HMGN1 in DNA packaging | Stand Alone Project (2022-2026), Austrian Science Fund (FWF) | PI.
• Expanding access to modified proteins via a novel semi-synthetic platform | Discovery Project (2022 - 2024), Australian Research Council | Co-PI with Prof. Richard Payne (The University of Sydney).
• Australian Peptide Display Facility | Large Equipment and Infrastructure (LIEF) Grant (2022), Australian Research Council | with Prof. Richard Payne and Prof. Joel Mackay (The University of Sydney).
• Decorated venom: Exploring the role of cone snail venom modifications I Early Career Researcher Grant (2020), The University of Queensland | PI.
• Investigating the role of posttranslational modifications on protein structure and function using selective and segmental isotope labelling | Research Grant (2019 - 2021), Cambridge Isotope Laboratories Inc. | PI.
• Insights into protein modifications by NMR | UQ Development Fellowship (2019 - 2021), The University of Queensland | PI.
• Zooming in on protein functional sites with atomic resolution (Structure Zoom) | Life Sciences Project (2018 - 2021), Vienna Science and Technology Fund (WWTF) | Co-PI with Prof. Christian Becker and Prof. Robert Konrat (University of Vienna).
• Synthetic antibodies for cancer therapy (SAbs) | Interdisciplinary Cancer Research (INDICAR) Postdoctoral Fellowship (2014 – 2018), Mahlke-Obermann Stiftung and European Union Seventh Framework Programme Marie Curie Actions | PI.

Academic prizes and awards

• Career Track Award from the School of Biomedical Sciences, UQ (2019, 2020, 2021)
• Dean’s Award for Outstanding Research Higher Degree Theses (2014)
• University of Queensland ‘Class of 2014 Future Leaders’ award (2014)
• South African Chemical Society James Moir Medal for Chemistry Honours (2009)

Research student supervision and mentorship

PhD theses

Dina Iebed (started Jan 2023) | TU Wien

Medine Soydan (started Jan 2023) | TU Wien

Oliver Gajsek (started March 2020) | Co-supervision with Prof. Christian Becker (University of Vienna).

Dominik Vogl (started July 2019) | Co-supervision with Prof. Christian Becker (University of Vienna).

Master's theses

Tobias Gökler (started March 2023) | TU Wien

Victoria Adegoke (MPhil, started January 2022) | International Postgraduate Scholarship | Co-supervision with Dr. Johan Rosengren (The University of Queensland).

Oliver Gajsek (MSc, 2018) | University of Vienna.

Anna-Lena Gell (MSc, 2017) | University of Vienna.

Nadja Groysbeck (MSc, 2016) | University of Vienna.

Honours theses and Undergraduate research projects

Fatima Shabbir (2021) | The University of Queensland.

Undergraduate research students, SCIE3220, Summer Research Projects (2019-2021) | The University of Queensland.

‘Wahlbeispiel’ (internship) projects (2015-2018) | University of Vienna.

Teaching experience

• TU Wien: Total Synthesis Lecture; Natural Products Module; Synthesis Practical; Foundational Chemistry Laboratory; Green Chemistry Laboratory.
• The University of Queensland: CHEM1090 ‘Introductory Chemistry’; BIOL1040/BIOL1051 ‘Cells to Organisms’; CHEM1221 ‘General, Organic & Biological Chemistry’; BIOT3002 ‘Drug Design & Development’; SCIE3221 ‘Research Skills’; BIOM6191 ‘Biomedical Science Honours’.
• University of Vienna: Chemical Biology (MSc level, Winter Semester 2016/17 and 2017/18)
• Internship student supervision (University of Vienna and University of Queensland).
• Chemistry tutoring (University of Vienna, St. John’s College, Brisbane, and Rhodes University)
• Rhodes University: Laboratory practical leader and demonstrator

Invited talks, conference presentations and seminars

• Invited talks at international conferences: 7
• Selected oral presentations at international conferences: 9
• Invited seminars at universities/institutes: 7

Selected Publications

Total number of peer-reviewed publications: 34

Full publication list: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5482-6225

* denotes corresponding author

1. Ho, T. N. T., Lee, H. S., Swaminathan, S., Goodwin, L., Rai, N., Ushay, B., Lewis, R., Rosengren, K. J. & Conibear, A. C.*, Posttranslational modifications of α-conotoxins: Sulfotyrosine and C-terminal amidation stabilise structures and increase acetylcholine receptor binding. RSC Med. Chem. 2021, accepted online 26.07.2021. DOI:10.1039/D1MD00182E.
2. Niederacher, N., Urwin, D., Dijkwel, Y., Tremethick, D. J., Rosengren, K. J., Becker, C. F. W. & Conibear, A. C.*, Site-specific modification and segmental isotope labelling of HMGN1 reveals long-range conformational perturbations caused by posttranslational modifications. RSC Chem. Biol. 2021, 2, 537-550. DOI: 10.1039/d0cb00175a.
3. Conibear, A. C.*, Deciphering protein post-translational modifications using chemical biology tools. Nat. Rev. Chem. 2020, 4, 674-695. DOI:10.1038/s41570-020-00223-8.
4. Conibear, A. C.*, Rosengren, K. J., Becker, C. F. W. & Kaehlig, H., Random coil shifts of posttranslationally modified amino acids. J. Biomol. NMR 2019, 73, 587-599. DOI: 10.1007/s10858-019-00270-4.
5. Conibear, A. C., Watson, E. E., Payne, R. J. & Becker, C. F. W. Native chemical ligation in protein synthesis and semi-synthesis. Chem. Soc. Rev. 2018, 47, 9046-9068, DOI:10.1039/c8cs00573g.
6. Conibear, A. C.*, Potgens, A., Thewes, K., Altdorf, C., Hilzendeger, C. & Becker, C. F. W.* Synthetic cancer-targeting innate immune stimulators give insights into avidity effects, ChemBioChem 2018, 19, 459-469. DOI:10.1002/cbic.201700522.
7. Conibear, A. C., Hager, S., Mayr, J., Klose, M. H. M., Keppler, B. K., Kowol, C. R., Heffeter, P.& Becker, C. F. W. Multifunctional α_vβ₆ integrin-specific peptide-Pt(IV) conjugates for cancer cell targeting, Bioconj. Chem. 2017, 28, 2429-2439. DOI: 10.1021/acs.bioconjchem.7b00421.
8. Wang, C. K., King, G. J., Conibear, A. C., Ramos, M. C., Chaousis, S., Henriques, S. T., and Craik, D. J. Mirror images of antimicrobial peptides provide reflections on their functions and amyloidogenic properties, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2016, 138, 5706-5713. DOI: 10.1021/jacs.6b02575.
9. Conibear, A. C. and Craik, D. J. The chemistry and biology of theta-defensins, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. Engl. 2014, 53, 10612-10623. DOI: 10.1002/anie.201402167.
10. Conibear, A. C., Rosengren, K. J., Daly, N. L., Henriques, S. T., and Craik, D. J. The cyclic cystine ladder in theta-defensins is important for structure and stability, but not antibacterial activity, J. Biol. Chem. 2013, 288, 10830-10840. DOI: 10.1074/jbc.M113.451047.