Endocrine Abstracts

Mike Waters, Institute for Molecular Bioscience, University of Queensland, St Lucia, Australia Abstract

Professor Mike Waters is an NHMRC Principal Research Fellow at the Institute for Molecular Bioscience and School of Biomedical Sciences, University of Queensland. Mike has been involved in the study of GH action for over 30 years. It was his pioneering work in purifying and characterizing the GH receptor, its related GH-binding protein, and then developing specific monoclonal antibody reagents, that led, in collaboration with Genentech, to the cloning and sequencing of the GH receptor, the first cytokine receptor to be cloned. He also collaborated in sequencing the prolactin receptor, showing its homology with the GH receptor, thus defining the first two members of the class I cytokine receptor family. He has continued his broad interest in the GH system, and his work has frequently challenged the prevailing conventional views of GH signalling and action. For example, he has proposed a role for nuclear localization of GH and its receptor in transcriptional signaling, has identified unusual targets for GH action in early embryogenesis and in foetal tissues and, most recently, has questioned the role of de novo dimerization vs conformational change induced by GH binding to induce GH receptor activation and signalling. His work is widely cited and continues to have a sustained, international impact in this field.