Cardiovascular Physiology/Circulation

BIOGRAPHY

ACADEMIC POSITIONS:
• Director, RMIT Health Innovations Research Institute, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology University
• ARC Australian Professorial Fellowship (2010-2014)

EDUCATION:
Professor Adams was awarded a BSc (Hons I) in 1974 and a PhD in Physiology from University of New South Wales in 1979 followed by postdoctoral training at the University of Washington, Seattle (MDA Postdoctoral Fellowship, 1978-1980), MBL, Woods Hole (Grass Fellowship in Neurophysiology, 1980) and University College London (Beit Memorial Fellowship, 1981-1983).

MEMBERSHIPS/AWARDS:
• President (2004-2010), Australian Physiological Society (AuPS)
• Member, National Committee for Biomedical Sciences, American Academy of Sciences
• Member, Physiological Society, UK
• Member, Biophysical Society, USA
• Member, American Physiological Society
• Member, Society for Neuroscience, USA
• Member, Australian Neuroscience Society

RESEARCH INTERESTS:
The primary areas of research interest in the laboratory of Professor Adams are in neuroscience and membrane physiology using electrophysiological, molecular biological and fluorescence imaging techniques to study membrane receptors and ionic channels and calcium signalling.

Research in the laboratory focuses on:

1. the expression, function and modulation of native receptors and ionic channels in sensory neurons, and
2. the molecular mechanisms of action of venom peptides on cloned receptors and ion channels expressed in Xenopus oocytes and transfected mammalian cell lines.

Specifically, the laboratory investigates conotoxins that selectively modulate receptor and ion channel function and the ionic mechanisms underlying neuronal excitability in sensory neurons using patch clamp recording techniques.