Alec Simmonds Email & Phone Number

Sydney, Nsw, Au

Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Epigenetic mechanisms underlying obesity-induced metabolic dysfunctionObesity-induced disruptions in muscle metabolism are associated with numerous diseases, such as type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and cancer. Obesity chronically disrupts metabolism by reducing mitochondrial protein expression (mitochondrial dysfunction) and raising intracellular energy. Interestingly, obesity-induced mitochondrial dysfunction is inherited across multiple generations. I therefore aim to determine the molecular mechanisms regulating mitochondrial protein expression in obese parents and whether they can be passed on to offspring – focusing on histone deacetylases and DNA methyltransferases, which are sensitive to intracellular energy. It is imperative that we understand how mitochondrial protein expression is regulated to prevent pathogenesis.

Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Providing online tuition through a virtual classroom platform to assist high school students studying any science or mathematics subjects, including biology, chemistry, physics, and mathematics (general, advanced, extension 1, extension 2).

Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Research Assistant under the supervision of Professor Frank Seebacher at the Integrative Physiology Laboratory, determining epigenetic mechanisms that mediate endurance exercise-induced muscle adaptation (model: zebrafish), focusing on histone deacetylases. Additionally, we also completed a project determining the suitability of zebrafish as model for sprint exercise adaptation. The research involved animal husbandry; drug and exercise treatment design; determining locomotor performance (using swimming flumes and video analysed on Tracker), metabolic and calcium cycling enzyme activity, and muscle contractile protein quantity; and statistical analysis of data accompanied with authoring the research papers.

Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Educating students on designing and conducting experiments, assisting and monitoring use of laboratory equipment, and assessing their scientific reports.

Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Educating students on designing and conducting experiments, assisting and monitoring use of laboratory equipment, and assessing their scientific reports.

Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Research Assistant at the Integrative Physiology Laboratory, determining epigenetic mechanisms that underlie thermal acclimation (model: zebrafish), focusing on histone deacetylases. The research involved animal husbandry; drug and temperature treatment design; and determining locomotor performance, cardiac performance (maximal heart rate and stroke volume, measured using a doppler laser probe), metabolic and calcium cycling enzyme activity, muscle contractile protein quantity, and metabolite production (measured using mass spectrometry). Some of this work continued in 2016-2017.