Professor Jennifer Louise "Jenny" Martin is an Australian scientist and academic. She was the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research and Innovation) at the

University of Wollongong The University of Wollongong (UOW) is an Australian public university, public research university located in the coastal city of Wollongong, New South Wales, approximately south of Sydney. , the university had an enrolment of more than 33,000 s ...

, in New South Wales from 2019-2022. She is a former director of th
Griffith Institute for Drug Discovery
at

Griffith University Griffith University is a public university, public research university in South East Queensland on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of Australia. The university was founded in 1971, but was not officially opened until 1975. Griffith ...

. and a former

Australian Research Council The Australian Research Council (ARC) is the primary non-medical research funding agency of the Australian Government, distributing more than in grants each year. The Council was established by the ''Australian Research Council Act 2001'', ...

Laureate Fellow at the

Institute for Molecular Bioscience The University of Queensland is a public research university located primarily in Brisbane, the capital city of the Australian state of Queensland. Founded in 1909 by the Queensland parliament, UQ is one of the six sandstone universities, an i ...

University of Queensland The University of Queensland is a Public university, public research university located primarily in Brisbane, the capital city of the Australian state of Queensland. Founded in 1909 by the Queensland parliament, UQ is one of the six sandstone ...

. Martin is Professor Emerita at the University of Queensland and Adjunct Professor at Griffith University. Her research expertise encompasses

structural biology Structural biology deals with structural analysis of living material (formed, composed of, and/or maintained and refined by living cells) at every level of organization. Early structural biologists throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries we ...

protein crystallography X-ray crystallography is the experimental science of determining the atomic and molecular structure of a crystal, in which the crystalline structure causes a beam of incident X-rays to diffract in specific directions. By measuring the angles and ...

, protein interactions and their applications in

drug design Drug design, often referred to as rational drug design or simply rational design, is the invention, inventive process of finding new medications based on the knowledge of a biological target. The drug is most commonly an organic compound, organi ...

and

discovery Discovery may refer to: * Discovery (observation), observing or finding something unknown * Discovery (fiction), a character's learning something unknown * Discovery (law), a process in courts of law relating to evidence Discovery, The Discovery ...

Education

Martin completed a Bachelor of Pharmacy at the

Victorian College of Pharmacy Monash University, Parkville campus is a campus of Monash University, located in Parkville, Victoria, Australia. It is home to the Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences. Founded in 1881 and previously known as the Victorian College ...

in Melbourne from 1979 to 1981, receiving the Gold Medal for the best student in the B Pharm course. After spending a year as a trainee pharmacist, she completed a Masters in Pharmacy, supervised by Professor Peter Andrews, on the application of

computational chemistry Computational chemistry is a branch of chemistry that uses computer simulations to assist in solving chemical problems. It uses methods of theoretical chemistry incorporated into computer programs to calculate the structures and properties of mol ...

to opioid analgesics, which led to her first scientific publications. She left Australia in 1986 to undertake a DPhil at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

supported by a

Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851 The Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851 is an institution founded in 1850 to administer the Great Exhibition, Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of all Nations, which was held in The Crystal Palace, London. The founding Presid ...

Science Research Scholarship and four other scholarships and bursaries. Under the guidance of Professors Peter Goodford and Louise Johnson, her research used protein crystallography to design

glycogen phosphorylase Glycogen phosphorylase is one of the phosphorylase enzymes (). Glycogen phosphorylase catalyzes the rate-limiting step in glycogenolysis in animals by releasing glucose-1-phosphate from the terminal alpha-1,4-glycosidic bond. Glycogen phosphor ...

inhibitors as potential anti-diabetic compounds. Martin paid tribute to Louise Johnson's positive influence as a woman in science, in a 2012 memorial. In 2015, Martin completed the

London Business School London Business School (LBS) is a business school and a constituent college of the federal University of London. LBS was founded in 1964 and awards post-graduate degrees (Master's degree, Master's degrees in management and finance, Master of B ...

four-week Senior Executive Programme as part of a cohort of 50 industry, government, not-for-profit and academic leaders from around the world. In 2023, Martin completed an online Undergraduate Certificate in Family History from th
University of Tasmania

Scientific career

After completing her DPhil at Oxford, Martin returned to Australia to take up a post-doctoral position at

Bond University Bond University is Australia's first private university, private not-for-profit university and is located in Robina, Queensland, Robina on the Gold Coast, Queensland. Since its opening on 15 May 1989, Bond University has primarily been a teachi ...

in 1990. However, the unexpected closure of the School of Science and Technology resulted in her leaving Australia in 1991 for a post-doctoral position with Professor

John Kuriyan John Kuriyan is the dean of basic sciences and a professor of biochemistry at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. He was formerly the Chancellor's Professor at the University of California, Berkeley in the departments of molecular and cell bi ...

, a structural biologist, at

Rockefeller University The Rockefeller University is a Private university, private Medical research, biomedical Research university, research and graduate-only university in New York City, New York. It focuses primarily on the biological and medical sciences and pro ...

in New York to work on the

disulfide bond In chemistry, a disulfide (or disulphide in British English) is a compound containing a functional group or the anion. The linkage is also called an SS-bond or sometimes a disulfide bridge and usually derived from two thiol groups. In inor ...

forming family of proteins (DSBs) in ''

Escherichia coli ''Escherichia coli'' ( )Wells, J. C. (2000) Longman Pronunciation Dictionary. Harlow ngland Pearson Education Ltd. is a gram-negative, facultative anaerobic, rod-shaped, coliform bacterium of the genus '' Escherichia'' that is commonly fo ...

''. She solved the structure of the

DsbA DsbA is a bacterial thiol disulfide oxidoreductase (TDOR). DsbA is a key component of the Dsb (disulfide bond) family of enzymes. DsbA catalyzes intrachain disulfide bond formation as peptides emerge into the cell's periplasm. Structurally, ...

protein which was published in 1993 in the high impact journal ''

Nature Nature is an inherent character or constitution, particularly of the Ecosphere (planetary), ecosphere or the universe as a whole. In this general sense nature refers to the Scientific law, laws, elements and phenomenon, phenomena of the physic ...

''. In 1993 Martin received an ARC Queen Elizabeth II Fellowship. This enabled her to return to Australia and establish the first protein crystallography lab in Queensland. This now operates as the UQ Remote Operation Crystallisation and X-ray Diffraction (UQ ROCX) Facility, of which Martin was the Foundation Director. She remained at the University of Queensland until 2015, supported by several other fellowships: an

(ARC) Senior Research Fellowship in 1999, and a

National Health and Medical Research Council The National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) is the main statutory authority of the Australian Government responsible for medical research. It was the eighth largest research funding body in the world in 2016, and NHMRC-funded res ...

(NHMRC) Senior Research Fellowship in 2007. In 2009, Martin was one of just 15 researchers, and only two women, to receive an inaugural ARC Australian Laureate Fellowship. In 2016, Martin was appointed Director of the Eskitis Drug Discovery Institute at

, which hosts unique drug discovery resources including Compounds Australia and NatureBank Crystal structure of DsbA

Martin has continued working on DSB proteins and with collaborators developed the first inhibitors of these bacterial proteins as a potential means of combatting

antibiotic resistance Antimicrobial resistance (AMR or AR) occurs when microbes evolve mechanisms that protect them from antimicrobials, which are drugs used to treat infections. This resistance affects all classes of microbes, including bacteria (antibiotic resis ...

. She also initiated work on other proteins including phenylethanolamine N-methyl transferase (PNMT), an

enzyme An enzyme () is a protein that acts as a biological catalyst by accelerating chemical reactions. The molecules upon which enzymes may act are called substrate (chemistry), substrates, and the enzyme converts the substrates into different mol ...

that catalyses

adrenaline Adrenaline, also known as epinephrine, is a hormone and medication which is involved in regulating visceral functions (e.g., respiration). It appears as a white microcrystalline granule. Adrenaline is normally produced by the adrenal glands a ...

synthesis. Martin published the structure of this enzyme and later, as part of her ongoing research into different PNMT substrate-bound complexes, she and her team became the first remote access user of the

Australian Synchrotron The Australian Synchrotron is a 3 GeV national synchrotron radiation facility located in Clayton, Victoria, Clayton, in the south-eastern suburbs of Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria. The facility opened in 2007, and is operated by the A ...

. Martin and her team have also contributed significantly to the structural biology of

membrane fusion In membrane biology, fusion is the process by which two initially distinct lipid bilayers merge their hydrophobic cores, resulting in one interconnected structure. If this fusion proceeds completely through both leaflets of both bilayers, an aqueou ...

, a fundamentally important process that underpins systems as diverse as

neurotransmission Neurotransmission (Latin: ''transmissio'' "passage, crossing" from ''transmittere'' "send, let through") is the process by which signaling molecules called neurotransmitters are released by the axon terminal of a neuron (the presynaptic neuron ...

and blood glucose control. She wrote an invited commentary for The Conversation in 2013 on this topic, and was invited to present a keynote lecture on her membrane fusion research at the 23rd triennial International Union of Crystallography Congress held in Montreal in 2014. From 2019 to 2022 Martin was Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research and Innovation) of the University of Wollongong.

Recognition and awards

In addition to the research fellowships awarded during her career, Martin has received many honours in recognition of her professional contributions including: *2005 Roche Medal, Australian Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology *2005 Queensland Government Smart Women Smart State Award (Research Scientist Category) *2006 Women in Biotech Outstanding Biotechnology Researcher Award *2007

Dorothy Hodgkin Dorothy Mary Crowfoot Hodgkin (née Crowfoot; 12 May 1910 – 29 July 1994) was a Nobel Prize-winning English chemist who advanced the technique of X-ray crystallography to determine the structure of biomolecules, which became essential for ...

Memorial Lecture, Oxford *2007 Honorary Life Membership,

Questacon Questacon – The National Science and Technology Centre is an interactive science communication facility in Canberra, Australia. It is a museum with more than 200 interactive exhibits related to science and technology. The National Science an ...

(National Science and Technology Centre), Canberra *2010 Lady Masson Lecture,

The University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne (colloquially known as Melbourne University) is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in the state of Victoria. Its ...

*2011 Women in Technology Outstanding Biotechnology Achievement *2017, Wunderly Oration and Medal, Thoracic Society of Australia and New Zealand *2017, Elected Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science *2017, Elected Chartered Fellow of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute *2017, Inducted Bragg Member, Royal Institution of Australia *2018, Appointed Companion of the

Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an Australian honours and awards system, Australian honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Monarch ...

for "''eminent service to science, and to scientific research, particularly in the field of biochemistry and protein crystallography applied to drug-resistant bacteria, as a role model, and as an advocate for gender equality in science''". *2020, Leach Lecture and Medal, Lorne Protein Conference *2023, Ralph Slatyer Medal and Lecture, Australian National University *2024
Lawrence Bragg Medal
Society of Crystallographers in Australia and New Zealand Martin has held leadership roles on national and international committees. She is a former chair of the National Committee for Crystallography of the

Australian Academy of Science The Australian Academy of Science was founded in 1954 by a group of distinguished Australians, including Australian Fellows of the Royal Society of London. The first president was Sir Mark Oliphant. The academy is modelled after the Royal Soci ...

(2008–2011), a past President of the Society for Crystallographers in Australia and New Zealand (2003–2005), former member of the Scientific Advisory Committee of th
Australian Synchrotron
(2002–2009, 2015-18), former President of th
Asian Crystallography Association
(2016–2019) and former member of the Executive Committee of th
International Union of Crystallography
(2017–2023). She was Chair of the worldwide Protein Data Bank Advisory Committee (2022-2024) and is currently a Trustee of the Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre (2023-).

Advocacy and science communication

Martin is a strong advocate for equal opportunity and addressing gender imbalance in academia. She published a letter in the prestigious journal

calling for scientific conference organisers to be more transparent with respect to their gender-balance policies and historical data and a paper describing how to achieve conference speaker gender balance. Martin also writes a blog which focuses on issues relating to women in academia. She was a Foundation member of the steering committee for Science in Australia Gender Equity
SAGE
which established the UK

Athena SWAN Athena SWAN (Scientific Women's Academic Network) is an equality charter mark framework and accreditation scheme established and managed by the UK Equality Challenge Unit (now part of Advance HE) in 2005 that recognises and celebrates good pra ...

charter in Australia to address the under-representation of women in science, particularly at senior positions in universities. As an opinion leader she has been invited to speak on gender equity worldwide, and across sectors. In 2017, she presented a keynote lecture on addressing conference gender equity at the Australia and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists Annual Scientific Meeting, and presented the Wunderly oration at the Thoracic Society Australia and New Zealand and Society of Respiratory Science Annual Scientific Meeting. In 2018 she gave the invited Inaugural Ruth Gall Memorial Lecture for the School of Chemistry at the University of Sydney on International Women's Day and the Chuwen Keynote Address at the 5th national meeting of the Australian Academy of Science EMCR Forum Science Pathways "Diversify your Thinking". Martin was the first chair of th
International Union of Crystallography Gender Equity and Diversity Committee
(2018-2023). Martin is a passionate science communicator. She has participated in events such as BrisScience, which runs public lectures on science and technology; SCOM BOMB, a Google hangout operated by the Australian Science Communicators, Science Rewired and the Centre for the Public Awareness of Science as part of the ''No Funny Business'' science communication website; and the 2014 UNESCO

International Year of Crystallography The International Year of Crystallography (abbreviation: IYCr2014) is an event promoted in the year 2014 by the United Nations to celebrate the centenary of the discovery of X-ray crystallography and to emphasise the global importance of crystall ...

, including a radio interview and public lecture. In 2023, she gave the IUCr Plenary Public Lecture entitled "How I fell in love with crystallography and why you should too". She also writes articles for

The Conversation ''The Conversation'' is a 1974 American neo-noir mystery thriller film written, produced, and directed by Francis Ford Coppola. It stars Gene Hackman as a surveillance expert who faces a moral dilemma when his recordings reveal a potential ...

,Jenny Martin – The Conversation
/ref> an independent, online source of news and views from the academic and research community. In 2019, she released a children's book �
My aunt is a protein crystal scientist. That’s Rad!
��.

Personal life

Martin grew up in a large family of nine children in Victoria. She currently resides in Brisbane with her husband Michael, and their cat Stan.

References

External links

Professor Jennifer Martin's Griffith Experts profile

cubistcrystal: Jenny Martin's blog
{{DEFAULTSORT:Martin, Jennifer L. Australian women scientists Scientists from Brisbane Alumni of the University of Oxford Academic staff of the University of Queensland Monash University alumni Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people) Scientists from Melbourne Computational chemists Companions of the Order of Australia Fellows of the Australian Academy of Science People from Dandenong, Victoria Academic staff of Griffith University Academic staff of the University of Wollongong