Dr Michael Healy

Research Fellow

Institute for Molecular Bioscience

m.healy@imb.uq.edu.au

Researcher biography

Michael Healy is an NHMRC Emerging Leadership Fellow at the University of Queensland's Institute for Molecular Bioscience. He is a structural biologist with expertise in protein structure determination, membrane trafficking, and computational protein design.

Michael's early research focused on the Commander complex, a key regulator of membrane trafficking in cells. He resolved the first structure of this complex using a combination of X-ray crystallography, cryo-electron microscopy, and machine learning approaches, including AlphaFold2. This work was publised in Cell (2023) and established him as a respected member of Australia's computational structural biology community. Where he is known for training researchers from diverse backgrounds in the application of AlphaFold2 and its derivatives.

Currently, supported by NHMRC funding, Michael is developing novel biologics that target membrane trafficking complexes. His work ivestigates, Molecular tool development, Biosensor design and development of theraputic candidates. His research combines cutting-edge computational protein design with experimental validation to advance new strategies for probing and manipulating membrane trafficking pathways.

Publications

Journal Articles (11)

Conference Paper (1)

Thesis (1)

Journal Articles

Butkovič, Rebeka, Walker, Alexander P., Healy, Michael D., McNally, Kerrie E., Liu, Meihan, Veenendaal, Tineke, Kato, Kohji, Liv, Nalan, Klumperman, Judith, Collins, Brett M. and Cullen, Peter J. (2024). Mechanism and regulation of cargo entry into the Commander endosomal recycling pathway. Nature Communications, 15 (1) 7180, 1-15. doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-50971-0

Weeratunga, Saroja, Gormal, Rachel S., Liu, Meihan, Eldershaw, Denaye, Livingstone, Emma K., Malapaka, Anusha, Wallis, Tristan P., Bademosi, Adekunle T., Jiang, Anmin, Healy, Michael D., Meunier, Frederic A. and Collins, Brett M. (2024). Interrogation and validation of the interactome of neuronal Munc18-interacting Mint proteins with AlphaFold2. Journal of Biological Chemistry, 300 (1) 105541, 105541. doi: 10.1016/j.jbc.2023.105541

Healy, Michael D. and Collins, Brett M. (2023). The PDLIM family of actin-associated proteins and their emerging role in membrane trafficking. Biochemical Society Transactions, 51 (6), 2005-2016. doi: 10.1042/bst20220804

Tabassum, Tahmina, Pietrogrande, Giovanni, Healy, Michael and Wolvetang, Ernst J. (2023). CRISPR-Cas9 direct fusions for improved genome editing via enhanced homologous recombination. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 24 (19) 14701, 1-17. doi: 10.3390/ijms241914701

Healy, Michael D., Sacharz, Joanna, McNally, Kerrie E., McConville, Calum, Tillu, Vikas A., Hall, Ryan J., Chilton, Molly, Cullen, Peter J., Mobli, Mehdi, Ghai, Rajesh, Stroud, David A. and Collins, Brett M. (2022). Proteomic identification and structural basis for the interaction between sorting nexin SNX17 and PDLIM family proteins. Structure, 30 (12), 1590-1602.e6. doi: 10.1016/j.str.2022.10.001

Chen, Kai-En, Guo, Qian, Hill, Timothy A., Cui, Yi, Kendall, Amy K., Yang, Zhe, Hall, Ryan J., Healy, Michael D., Sacharz, Joanna, Norwood, Suzanne J., Fonseka, Sachini, Xie, Boyang, Reid, Robert C., Leneva, Natalya, Parton, Robert G., Ghai, Rajesh, Stroud, David A., Fairlie, David P, Suga, Hiroaki, Jackson, Lauren P., Teasdale, Rohan D., Passioura, Toby and Collins, Brett M. (2021). De novo macrocyclic peptides for inhibiting, stabilizing, and probing the function of the retromer endosomal trafficking complex. Science Advances, 7 (49) eabg4007, eabg4007. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.abg4007

Chen, Kai‐En, Healy, Michael D. and Collins, Brett M. (2019). Towards a molecular understanding of endosomal trafficking by Retromer and Retriever. Traffic, 20 (7) tra.12649, 465-478. doi: 10.1111/tra.12649

Zhang, Alan H., Edwards, Ingrid A., Mishra, Biswa P., Sharma, Gagan, Healy, Michael D., Elliott, Alysha, Blaskovich, Mark A. T., Cooper, Matthew A., Collins, Brett M., Jia, Xinying and Mobli, Mehdi (2019). Elucidating the lipid binding properties of membrane-active peptides using cyclised nanodiscs. Frontiers in Chemistry, 7 (MAR) 238, 238. doi: 10.3389/fchem.2019.00238

Healy, Michael D., Hospenthal, Manuela K., Hall, Ryan J., Chandra, Mintu, Chilton, Molly, Tillu, Vikas, Chen, Kai-En, Celligoi, Dion J., McDonald, Fiona J., Cullen, Peter J., Lott, J. Shaun, Collins, Brett M. and Ghai, Rajesh (2018). Structural insights into the architecture and membrane interactions of the conserved COMMD proteins. eLife, 7 e35898. doi: 10.7554/elife.35898

Abraham, Nikita, Healy, Michael, Ragnarsson, Lotten, Brust, Andreas, Alewood, Paul F. and Lewis, Richard J. (2017). Structural mechanisms for α-conotoxin activity at the human α3β4 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor. Scientific Reports, 7 (1) 45466, 45466. doi: 10.1038/srep45466

Conference Paper

Healy, Michael D., McNally, Kerrie E., Butkovic, Rebeka, Chilton, Molly, Kato, Kohji, Sacharz, Joanna, McConville, Calum, Moody, Edmund R. R., Shaw, Shrestha, Planelles-Herrero, Vicente J. and Sathish, K. N. (2023). Structure of the endosomal Commander complex mutated in Ritscher-Schinzel syndrome: combining crystallography, cryo-EM and AlphaFold2. XXVI IUCr Congress, Melbourne, VIC Australia, 22-29 August 2023. Hoboken, NJ United States: Wiley-Blackwell. doi: 10.1107/s2053273323090538

Thesis

Healy, Michael (2021). Structural and functional characterisation of the commander trafficking complex and accessory proteins. PhD Thesis, Institute for Molecular Bioscience, The University of Queensland. doi: 10.14264/4930e26