Peter Malcolm Colman (born 1944) is the head of the

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 ...

division at the

Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research Walter may refer to: People and fictional characters * Walter (name), including a list of people and fictional and mythical characters with the given name or surname * Little Walter, American blues harmonica player Marion Walter Jacobs (1930–1 ...

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

, Australia.

Education

Colman was educated at the

University of Adelaide The University of Adelaide is a public university, public research university based in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1874, it is the third-oldest university in Australia. Its main campus in the Adelaide city centre includes many Sa ...

, where he received a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

degree in

physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...

in 1966 and a

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

in 1969 for research on the

chemical structure A chemical structure of a molecule is a spatial arrangement of its atoms and their chemical bonds. Its determination includes a chemist's specifying the molecular geometry and, when feasible and necessary, the electronic structure of the target m ...

of parabanic acid complexes supervised by Harry Medlin.

Research and career

Colman's research interests are in

, especially of human B-cell lymphoma 2 (BCL-2). Colman determined the three-dimensional structure of the influenza virus neuraminidase and, in one of the earliest cases of structure-based drug design, discovered zanamivir, the first-in-class neuraminidase inhibitor for

influenza Influenza, commonly known as the flu, is an infectious disease caused by influenza viruses. Symptoms range from mild to severe and often include fever, runny nose, sore throat, muscle pain, headache, coughing, and fatigue. These sympto ...

. His subsequent structural studies on resistance to this drug class suggested how to design drugs against moving targets. His discoveries underpin drug stockpiling for pandemic preparedness. He has made seminal contributions to structural studies of

antibodies An antibody (Ab) or immunoglobulin (Ig) is a large, Y-shaped protein belonging to the immunoglobulin superfamily which is used by the immune system to identify and neutralize antigens such as bacteria and viruses, including those that caus ...

and antibody-antigen complexes. Recent work on

apoptosis Apoptosis (from ) is a form of programmed cell death that occurs in multicellular organisms and in some eukaryotic, single-celled microorganisms such as yeast. Biochemistry, Biochemical events lead to characteristic cell changes (Morphology (biol ...

solves the long-standing problem of how pro-apoptotic Bax changes conformation to dimerise and then

oligomer In chemistry and biochemistry, an oligomer () is a molecule that consists of a few repeating units which could be derived, actually or conceptually, from smaller molecules, monomers.Quote: ''Oligomer molecule: A molecule of intermediate relativ ...

ise and permeabilise the

mitochondrial membrane A mitochondrion () is an organelle found in the cells of most eukaryotes, such as animals, plants and fungi. Mitochondria have a double membrane structure and use aerobic respiration to generate adenosine triphosphate (ATP), which is used ...

, an essential step in the intrinsic cell-death pathway. One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from the royalsociety.org website where: His work has been published in leading

peer review Peer review is the evaluation of work by one or more people with similar competencies as the producers of the work (:wiktionary:peer#Etymology 2, peers). It functions as a form of self-regulation by qualified members of a profession within the ...

scientific journal In academic publishing, a scientific journal is a periodical publication designed to further the progress of science by disseminating new research findings to the scientific community. These journals serve as a platform for researchers, schola ...

s including ''

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 ...

'', the ''

Journal of Molecular Biology The ''Journal of Molecular Biology'' is a biweekly peer-reviewed scientific journal covering all aspects of molecular biology. It was established in 1959 by Academic Press in London. It is currently published by Elsevier. The editor-in-chief was P ...

'', and ''

Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology ''Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology'' is a monthly peer-reviewed review journal published by Nature Portfolio. It was established in October 2000 and covers all aspects of molecular and cell biology. The editor-in-chief is Kim Baumann. Acco ...

''.

Awards and honours

CSIRO ScienceImage 2005 Peter Colman and Frank Macfarlane Burnet

In the Queen's

2017 Birthday Honours The 2017 Queen's Birthday Honours were appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The Birthday Honours were awarded a ...

Colman was appointed a

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 ...

(AC), Australia's highest civilian honour, "for eminent service to medical research, particularly in the fields of structural biology and medicinal chemistry, as a leader in the commercial translation of scientific discoveries, to professional organisations, and as a mentor of young scientists".Companion (AC) in the General Division of the Order of Australia
, Media Notes, Queen's Birthday 2017, www.gg.gov.au Colman was elected a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the Fellows of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

(FRS) in 2014. In 2001 he was awarded a

Centenary Medal The Centenary Medal is an award which was created by the Australian Government in 2001. It was established to commemorate the centenary of the Federation of Australia and to recognise "people who made a contribution to Australian society or g ...

"For service to Australian society and science in structural biology".COLMAN, Peter Malcolm - Centenary Medal
1 January 2001, It's an Honour. Colman was also elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science in 1989 and a

Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering There are almost 900 living fellows of the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering. The post-nominal is FTSE. The following lists many notable living and deceased Fellows. Post-nominal statistics ;Numbers of active/living Fellows i ...

in 1997. He was awarded the

Lemberg Medal The Lemberg Medal, named after Max Rudolf Lemberg, the first president of the Australian Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB), is awarded annually to a scientist who has been a member for five or more years and who has "demonstr ...

in 1988 and the

Macfarlane Burnet Medal and Lecture The Macfarlane Burnet Medal and Lecture is a biennial award given by the Australian Academy of Science to recognise outstanding scientific research in the biological sciences. It was established in 1971 and honours the memory of the Nobel laureat ...

in 1995.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Colman, Peter Malcolm 1944 births Living people Fellows of the Royal Society Australian medical researchers Companions of the Order of Australia Fellows of the Australian Academy of Science Fellows of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering University of Adelaide alumni