Dr Andrew Walker
UQ Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Institute for Molecular Bioscience
+61 7 334 62326
Researcher biography
My research interests are centred around the structure and function of venom and silk polypeptides produced by arthropods, and their use in biotechnology and medicine. I am a Postdoctoral Fellow in the King laboratory in the Institute for Molecular Bioscience, the University of Queensland, Australia. Currently, I am investigating the composition, function and evolution of neglected insect venoms produced by assassin bugs (Hemiptera: Reduviidae), robber flies (Diptera: Asilidae) and nettle caterpillars (Lepidoptera: Limacodidae).
Book Chapter
Kameda, Tsunenori, Walker, Andrew A. and Sutherland, Tara D. (2014). Evolution and application of coiled coil silks from insects. In Tetsuo Asakura and Thomas Miller (Ed.), Biotechnology of silk (pp. 87-106) Dordrecht The Netherlands: Springer. doi:10.1007/978-94-007-7119-2_5
Journal Articles
Walker, Andrew Allan, Rosenthal, Max, Undheim, Eivind E A and King, Glenn F (2018) Harvesting Venom Toxins from Assassin Bugs and Other Heteropteran Insects. Journal of visualized experiments : JoVE, 134: . doi:10.3791/57729
Walker, Andrew A., Mayhew, Mark L., Jin, Jiayi, Herzig, Volker, Undheim, Eivind A. B., Sombke, Andy, Fry, Bryan G., Meritt, David J. and King, Glenn F. (2018) The assassin bug Pristhesancus plagipennis produces two distinct venoms in separate gland lumens. Nature Communications, 9 . doi:10.1038/s41467-018-03091-5
Walker, Andrew A., Hernández-Vargas, Maria José, Corzo, Gerardo, Fry, Bryan G. and King, Glenn F. (2018) Giant fish-killing water bug reveals ancient and dynamic venom evolution in Heteroptera. Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences, . doi:10.1007/s00018-018-2768-1
Walker, Andrew A. , Madio, Bruno, Jin, Jiayi, Undheim, Eivind A. B. , Fry, Bryan G. and King, Glenn F. (2017) Melt with this kiss: paralyzing and liquefying venom of the assassin bug Pristhesancus plagipennis (Hemiptera: Reduviidae). Molecular and Cellular Proteomics, 16 4: 552-566. doi:10.1074/mcp.M116.063321
Walker, Andrew A., Weirauch, Christiane, Fry, Bryan G. and King, Glenn F. (2016) Venoms of heteropteran insects: a treasure trove of diverse pharmacological toolkits. Toxins, 8 2: . doi:10.3390/toxins8020043
Walker, Andrew A., Weisman, Sarah, Trueman, Holly E., Merritt, David J. and Sutherland, Tara D. (2015) The other prey-capture silk: fibres made by glow-worms (Diptera: Keroplatidae) comprise cross-β-sheet crystallites in an abundant amorphous fraction. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology Part B: Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 187 78-84. doi:10.1016/j.cbpb.2015.05.008
Walker, Andrew A., Holland, Chris and Sutherland, Tara D. (2015) More than one way to spin a crystallite: multiple trajectories through liquid crystallinity to solid silk. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 282 1809: 1-9. doi:10.1098/rspb.2015.0259
Church, Jeffrey S., Woodhead, Andrea L., Walker, Andrew A. and Sutherland, Tara D. (2014) A comparison of convergently evolved insect silks that share β-sheet molecular structure. Biopolymers, 101 6: 630-639. doi:10.1002/bip.22431
Sutherland, Tara D., Trueman, Holly E., Walker, Andrew A., Weisman, Sarah, Campbell, Peter M., Dong, Zhaoming, Huson, Mickey G., Woodhead, Andrea L. and Church, Jeffrey S. (2014) Convergently-evolved structural anomalies in the coiled coil domains of insect silk proteins. Journal of Structural Biology, 186 3: 402-411. doi:10.1016/j.jsb.2014.01.002
Walker, Andrew A., Warden, Andrew C., Trueman, Holly E., Weisman, Sarah and Sutherland, Tara D. (2013) Micellar refolding of coiled-coil honeybee silk proteins. Journal of Materials Chemistry B, 1 30: 3644-3651. doi:10.1039/c3tb20611d
Walker, Andrew A., Church, Jeffrey S., Woodhead, Andrea L. and Sutherland, Tara D. (2013) Silverfish silk is formed by entanglement of randomly coiled protein chains. Insect Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 43 7: 572-579. doi:10.1016/j.ibmb.2013.03.014
Sutherland, Tara D., Peng, Yong Y., Trueman, Holly E., Weisman, Sarah, Okada, Shoko, Walker, Andrew A., Sriskantha, Alagacone, White, Jacinta F., Huson, Mickey G., Werkmeister, Jerome A., Glattauer, Veronica, Stoichevska, Violet, Mudie, Stephen T., Haritos, Victoria S. and Ramshaw, John A. M. (2013) A new class of animal collagen masquerading as an insect silk. Scientific Reports, 3 . doi:10.1038/srep02864
Walker, Andrew A., Weisman, Sarah, Kameda, Tsunenori and Sutherland, Tara D. (2012) Natural templates for coiled-coil biomaterials from praying mantis egg cases. Biomacromolecules, 13 12: 4264-4272. doi:10.1021/bm301570v
Walker, Andrew A., Weisman, Sarah, Church, Jeffrey S., Merritt, David J., Mudie, Stephen T. and Sutherland, Tara D. (2012) Silk from crickets: a new twist on spinning. Plos One, 7 2: e30408-1-e30408-8. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0030408
Sutherland, Tara D., Weisman, Sarah, Walker, Andrew A. and Mudie, Stephen T. (2012) Invited review: The coiled coil silk of bees, ants, and hornets. Biopolymers, 97 6: 446-454. doi:10.1002/bip.21702
Mirza, Shamaruh, Walker, Adrew, Chen, Jinglong, Murphy, James M. and Young, Ian G. (2010) The Ig-like domain of human GM-CSF receptor α plays a critical role in cytokine binding and receptor activation. Biochemical Journal, 426 3: 307-317. doi:10.1042/BJ20091745
Chen, Jinglong, Olsen, Jane, Ford, Sally, Mirza, Shamaruh, Walker, Andrew, Murphy, Jame M. and Young, Ian G. (2009) A new isoform of interleukin-3 receptor α with novel differentiation activity and high affinity binding mode. Journal of Biological Chemistry, 284 9: 5763-5773. doi:10.1074/jbc.M808197200