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About

We are interested in how cytokines such as interleukin-6 help orchestrate development of the haematapoietic system. Cytokines control blood cell differentiation by acting as inter-cellular messengers. However their action needs to be tightly controlled in order to prevent proliferative diseases such as leukemia. The proteins responsible for this control include the SOCS (suppressors of cytokine signaling) family. We are interested in understanding the action of the SOCS proteins and other inhibitory molecules at a molecular level.

Publications

Selected publications from A/Prof Jeff Babon

Kershaw, NJ, Laktyushin, A, et al. Reconstruction of an active SOCS3-based E3 ubiquitin ligase complex in vitro: identification of the active components and JAK2 and gp130 as substrates. Growth Factors. 2014 Feb;32(1):1-10. PMID: 24438103.

Babon, JJ, Varghese, LN, et al. Inhibition of IL-6 family cytokines by SOCS3. Semin Immunol. 2014 Feb;26(1):13-19. PMID: 24418198.

Varghese, LN, Ungureanu, D, et al. Mechanistic insights into activation and SOCS3-mediated inhibition of myeloproliferative neoplasm-associated JAK2 mutants from biochemical and structural analyses. Biochem J. 2013 Dec 19. PMID: 24354892.

Muniz, JRC, Guo, KD, et al. Molecular Architecture of the Ankyrin SOCS Box Family of CuI5-Dependent E3 Ubiquitin Ligases. Journal of Molecular Biology. 2013 Sep 9;425(17):3166-3177. PMID: 23806657.

Kershaw, NJ, Murphy, JM, et al. SOCS3 binds specific receptor-JAK complexes to control cytokine signaling by direct kinase inhibition. Nature Structural & Molecular Biology. 2013 Apr;20(4):469-476. PMID: 23454976.

Babon, JJ and Nicola, NA. The biology and mechanism of action of suppressor of cytokine signaling 3. Growth Factors. 2012 Aug;30(4):207-219. PMID: 22574771.

Babon, JJ, Kershaw, NJ, et al. Suppression of cytokine signaling by SOCS3: characterization of the mode of inhibition and the basis of its specificity. Immunity. 2012 Feb 24;36(2):239-250. PMID: 22342841.

Babon, JJ, Sabo, JK, et al. The SOCS box encodes a hierarchy of affinities for Cullin5: implications for ubiquitin ligase formation and cytokine signalling suppression. J Mol Biol. 2009 Mar 20;387(1):162-174. PMID: 19385048.

Babon, JJ, Sabo, JK, et al. The SOCS box domain of SOCS3: Structure and interaction with the elonginBC-cullin5 ubiquitin ligase. Journal of Molecular Biology. 2008 Sep;381(4):928-940. PMID: WOS:000258971300011.

Babon, JJ, McManus, EJ, et al. The structure of SOCS3 reveals the basis of the extended SH2 domain function and identifies an unstructured insertion that regulates stability. Mol Cell. 2006 Apr 21;22(2):205-216. PMID: 16630890.

Lab research projects

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