Winthrop Research Professor
University of Western Australia
Email - Nigel George
I obtained my PhD from the Department of Physiology, Edinburgh University in 1979. Calendar year 1980 I did my first post-doc with Professor Jan Jansen in Oslo. In January 1981 I emigrated to Western Australia and have been a Western Australian ever since. From 1976 to 1987 I was a neuroembryologist working on factors that control 1) the normal motor neuron death 2) muscle fibre type in the developing embryo. In the 12 months from July 1987 to June 1988 I retrained in human molecular genetics with Teepu Siddique in Allen Roses’ laboratory at Duke University, North Carolina. Returning to Western Australia I developed research and diagnostic molecular neurogenetics laboratories. Working with the unique patient and family resources of Australia my laboratory has participated in the identification or multiple human disease genes. These have included SOD1 in familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis; slow alpha-tropomyosin as the first known gene for nemaline myopathy; skeletal muscle alpha actin as a significant cause of congenital myopathies and mutations in slow skeletal/beta cardiac myosin as the cause of a particular distal myopathy. My laboratory is dedicated to further gene discovery, understanding the pathobiology of disease genes already identified and developing effective therapies. I am also involved in the translation of research findings into practical application within the Australian health services.
I am an Australian National Health and Medical Research Council Principal Research Fellow, Fellow of the Human Genetics Society of Australasia and Fellow of the Faculty of Science of the Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia.
