SEMINAR: "�Sorting-Out� Protein Trafficking in Skeletal Disease"

Dr Nathan Pavlos is an Associate Professor and Head of the Cellular Orthopaedics Laboratory at the School of Biomedical Sciences (UWA). He completed his PhD studies in Cell Biology at UWA (2005) and undertook his postdoctoral training as an NHMRC CJ Martin Research Fellow at the Max-Planck-Institute for Biophysical Chemistry (2007-2010) with Prof Reinhard Jahn where he worked on the molecular regulation of synaptic vesicle trafficking. In 2010 Dr Pavlos returned to UWA to start up his own research group. His current research interests focus on deciphering the core molecular machinery regulating the formation and function of osteoclasts, giant bone-resorbing polykaryons which underpin several debilitating musculoskeletal diseases including osteoporosis, osteoarthritis and Paget's disease of bone. Along with his focus osteoclasts biology, Dr Pavlos also maintains a long-standing interest in the molecular regulation and dynamics of protein trafficking, a process essential for normal cellular function that is often perturbed in many different diseases including neurological disease, cancer, inflammation and pathogen invasion. This seminar will provide new insights and perspectives on the contribution of key protein trafficking machineries in the context of skeletal health and disease and discuss their potential suitability as future “druggable” targets for the treatment of metabolic bone diseases.