Prof Erik Helmerhorst

Professor, Head of School

Professor Helmerhorst has over 20 years experience in the field of insulin action and diabetes research. A Ph.D. graduate of the University of Western Australia, he is the recipient of a number of prestigious awards. These include a two year appointment as a Hugh Sellers Research Fellow at the world renowned Banting & Best Diabetes Centre in Toronto, Canada and an appointment as a Burselum and Healy Medical Research Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Western Australia.

Professor Helmerhorst has made significant contributions to the development of teaching and research programs in fundamental and clinical biochemistry, protein chemistry and bioinformatics. He has been instrumental in helping raise the national and international profile of Curtin University of Technology as a leader in research and development, particularly as a partner with government, commerce and industry. Curtin University of Technology has acknowledged this high achievement through the presentation of an Excellence Award to Professor Helmerhorst.

He is one of the founders of the Western Australian Biomedical Research Institute (WABRI) which is a Centre of Excellence receiving significant financial support from Curtin University of Technology, Murdoch University and from the Western Australian Government.

He also has been the recipient of numerous prestigious Commonwealth competitive and industry funded research grants and has published widely in a number of prestigious scholarly journals. He is named as an inventor on a family of international patents that protect the Insulin Mimetics intellectual property. His research team is located in modern, world-class facilities at Western Australia's premier Technology Park.

Qualifications

BSc
PhD(UWA)

Duties

Head, School of Biomedical Sciences

Acting Director, Western Australian Biomedical Research Insititute

Teaching - Undergraduate

Biochemistry 231/232

Clinical Biochemistry 232/331/332

Structural Bioinformatics 332

Teaching - Postgraduate

Supervisor of 5 PhD students

Cosupervisor of 2 PhD students

Research Involvement

Acting Director, Western Australian Biomedical Research Insititute; over $14 million dollars nationally competitive and industry based grants; published in well cited papers in high impact journals; intellectual property protected by patents; supervised numerous research students and staff; developed national and international collaborations; developed and directed various spin off companies.

Research Interests

Diabetes; Drug Discovery; Cancer; Combination chemotherapy

Recent Publications

Bottomley, S. Chandler, D.J. Morgan, E. Helmerhorst, E. 2006. jAMVLE, A new integrated molecular visualization learning environment, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Education, vol. 34, no. 5, Wiley, Hoboken, New Jersey, pp 343-349.
Bottomley, S. Chandler, D.J. Morgan, E. Helmerhorst, E. 2005, A New Computer-Based Integrated Molecular Visualization Learning Environment for University Students, International Conference for Education 2005, Proceedings of the International Conference on Education 2005, Tay, FEH., Chuan, TS., Han-Ming, S. (ed), International Conference for Education 2005, Singapore, pp 369-372.
Helmerhorst, E. Plewright, B.S. 2005, Use of Non-Peptidyl Compounds for the Treatment of Insulin Related Ailments, United States Patent, United States of America.
Zhang, D. Brankov, M. Makhija, M.T. Robertson, T. Helmerhorst, E. Papadimitriou, J. Rakocsy, P.E. 2005, Correlation between Inactive Cathepsin D Expression and Retinal Changes in mcd2//mcd2 Transgenic Mice, Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science., vol. 46, no. 9, The Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology, Inc., Washington DC, pp 3031-3038.
Helmerhorst, E. Herman, R.P. Mocerino, M. 2005, Synthesis of Some Novel Biphenyl Xanthone Derivatives with Antidiabetic Activity, Connect 2005 Chemical Challenges for the 21st Century, The 12th Royal Australian Chemical Institute (RACI) Convention Connect 2005 Abstract Book, Apt, SC and Kable, SH (ed), The 12 Royal Australian Chemical Institute, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
Shelton, B.P. Bailey, V.F. Xie, L. Helmerhorst, E. 2005, Insulin Like Growth Factor-2 Occupancy of the Insulin Receptor Isoform A: Significance in Normal and Malignant Tissues, Endocrine Society of Australia, Endocrine Society of Australia Proceedings 2005, Endocrine Society of Australia (ed), Japan Endocrine Society, Perth, Western Australia, pp 2-2.
Helmerhorst, E. Mocerino, M. Diao, H. 2005, Synthesis of Some Novel Biphenyl Biphenyl Derivatives with Antidiabetic Activity, Connect 2005 chemical Challenges for the 21st Century, The 12 Royal Australian Chemical Institute (RACI) Convention Connect 2005 Abstract Book, Apt, SC and Kable, SH (ed), The 12 Royal Australian Chemical Institute, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
Allister, E.M. Pal, S. Helmerhorst, E. Mamo, J.C. 2004, Insulin Decreases the Secretion of apo-100 from Hepatic HepG2 cells but does Not decrease the secretion of apoB- 48 from Intestinal CaCo-2 Cells, Journal of Biomedical Science, vol. 11, Karger, Switzerland, pp 789-798.
Xie, L. Helmerhorst, E. Plewright, B.S. Van Bronswijk, W. 2002, Alzheimer's beta-amyloid peptides compete for insulin binding to the insulin receptor, The Journal of Neuroscience, vol. 22, no. 10, Society of Neuroscience, Washington DC, USA, pp RC221(1)-RC221(5).