Professor David Greening
BSc(Hons) | PhD, University of Melbourne
Head: Molecular Proteomics
Fellowship supported by Helen Amelia Hains Foundation
La Trobe University supervisor
Baker Institute Fellow
+61 3 8532 1111 david.greening@baker.edu.auProfessor Greening is Head of Molecular Proteomics at Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute. He is the Helen Amelia Hains Fellow and Baker Fellow, in addition to Head of the Baker Research Proteomics Platform. Prof Greening is Director of the Proteomics and Metabolomics Platform at La Trobe University, and group leader at Baker Department of Cardiovascular Research, Translation and Implementation, La Trobe University. He holds affiliate positions at the Central Clinical School, Monash University and Baker Department of Cardiometabolic Health, University of Melbourne.
He leads an innovative research program that seeks to identify composition and mechanisms of cell communication through secreted factors and extracellular vesicles (EVs), and their capacity to regulate various pleiotropic biological processes of target cells through horizontal transfer of protein, DNA and RNA species between cells. This capability highlights their potential as novel targets for disease intervention, drug development and therapeutic applications. Not surprisingly, EVs (exosomes and microparticles among other types of EVs) have emerged as biomarkers for disease diagnosis and prognosis and are being constructed as targeted therapeutics. Prof Greening employs a multi-disciplinary approach to understand the molecular function of EVs incorporating proteomics, lipidomics, cell biology, molecular biology, and physiology, with the goal of engineering EVs to overcome limitations in their therapeutic application and identifying new deliverable therapeutic targets.
Prof Greening undertook his PhD at The University of Melbourne and Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, with further postdoctoral fellowship training at the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, focused on proteomics, biomarker discovery and protein chemistry, and Institute for Systems Biology (USA) and La Trobe University on cell signalling biology, large-data bioinformatics, protein networks, and systems biology. He joined the Baker Institute in 2019.
He has established ties with industry partners including VivaZome Therapeutics, Tithon Biotech and CSL, and his work has been published in many leading general and specialist journals including J Extracellular Vesicles, Nature Cardiovascular Research, Nature Communications Biology, Cardiovasc Research, J Clinical Investigation and Molecular Cellular Proteomics. He is President of Australian & New Zealand Society of Extracellular Vesicles, and various organisation/award/education committees associated with International Society of Extracellular Vesicles, including Chair of ISEV2024 (Aus) and organising committee of Biomolecular Horizons 2024 Congress (Aus). Prof Greening has been awarded Australian Field Leader (top rank) in proteomics (2020/22), and a recipient of several prestigious awards, including ROYAN International Research Award on Stem Cell Biomedicine, International Protein Society Hans Neurath Outstanding Promise Award, and Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research Excellence Medal.