Professor Tara Pukala

Professor

School of Physics, Chemistry and Earth Sciences

Faculty of Sciences, Engineering and Technology

Eligible to supervise Masters and PhD, but is currently at capacity - email supervisor to discuss availability.

Tara Pukala obtained a PhD from the University of Adelaide in 2006, under the supervision of Prof John Bowie. This was followed by a postdoctoral position at the University of Cambridge, UK, working with Prof Dame Carol Robinson in the field of native mass spectrometry.

Tara returned to Australia to her current role as lecturer in the Discipline of Chemistry at the University of Adelaide in 2008. Here she leads a multidisciplinary research group focused on developing new approaches, primarily utilising mass spectrometry, to investigate the structure, function and interactions of macromolecules important in biology.

Since 2017 she has had the role of Scientific Director of the Adelaide Proteomics Centre.

My Research
Career
Publications
Grants and Funding
Teaching
Supervision
Professional Activities
Contact

Biological macromolecules such as proteins and DNA form the machinery that underlies all biological functions. The ability to ‘see’ the atomic detail of these assemblies, including their structures and interactions with other molecules, provides an opportunity to understand their biological activity. It also helps unravel processes which have gone astray to cause disease, and therefore find new treatments for a range of human illnesses.

In recent years mass spectrometry has emerged as a powerful tool for structural biology, in many cases capable of exceeding other techniques by diversity in application and information content. This is due to the ability of mass spectrometry to precisely identify biomolecules, binding interactions, detect individual species present in a mixture, and offer conformational information for large, dynamic and heterogeneous structures, with physiological relevance.

Research in the Pukala group is directed towards development of new approaches, primarily using mass spectrometry, to obtain insight into the structure, function and interactions of macromolecules, with a focus on enhancing understanding of multi-molecular systems involved in disease.

Current projects include;

development of ion mobility-mass spectrometry (and complementary tools) for the study of large protein complexes
design of novel mass spectrometry amenable protein cross-linking strategies
mechanistic studies of protein misfolding and aggregation
structural analysis of triplex DNA

For more details of current projects, see the Pukala Group website.

Appointments

Date	Position	Institution name
2023 - ongoing	Professor	University of Adelaide
2022 - ongoing	Associate Dean of Graduate Studies	University of Adelaide
2017 - 2022	Associate Professor	University of Adelaide
2012 - 2016	Senior Lecturer	University of Adelaide
2008 - 2011	Lecturer	University of Adelaide
2007 - 2008	Postdoctoral Research Fellow	University of Cambridge

Awards and Achievements

Date	Type	Title	Institution Name	Country	Amount
2023	Recognition	Superstar of STEM	Science and Technology Australia	Australia	-
2021	Research Award	Faculty of Sciences Mid Career Research Excellence Award	University of Adelaide	Australia	-
2017	Research Award	Australian and New Zealand Society of Mass Spectrometry Bowie Medal	Australian and New Zealand Society of Mass Spectrometry	Australia	-
2014	Teaching Award	University of Adelaide Faculty of Sciences Award for Excellence in Teaching	University of Adelaide	Australia	-
2012	Research Award	HG Andrewartha Medal	Royal Society of South Australia	Australia	-
2011	Award	Young Tall Poppy Science Award	Australian Institute of Policy and Science	Australia	-
2010	Award	South Australian Young Achiever (Science and Technology)	Awards Australia	Australia	-
2009	Research Award	University of Adelaide Faculty of Sciences Early Career Research Excellence Award	University of Adelaide	Australia	-
2003	Award	University of Adelaide Medal	University of Adelaide	Australia	-
2003	Scholarship	George Fraser PhD Scholarship	University of Adelaide	Australia	-
2001	Scholarship	Ferry Scholarship	Cedric Arnold Seth Ferry Trust	-	-

Education

Date Institution name Country Title
2003 - 2006 University of Adelaide Australia PhD
1999 - 2002 University of Adelaide Australia BSc (Hons)
Research Interests

Analytical Biochemistry Analytical Chemistry Analytical Spectrometry Biochemistry & Molecular Biology Biologically Active Molecules Characterisation of Biological Macromolecules General Chemistry Medicinal and Biomolecular Chemistry Organic Chemistry Proteins and Peptides Proteomics and Intermolecular Interactions Structural Biology Structural Chemistry and Spectroscopy

Date	Institution name	Country	Title
2003 - 2006	University of Adelaide	Australia	PhD
1999 - 2002	University of Adelaide	Australia	BSc (Hons)

Journals

Year	Citation
2023	Pukala, T. L. (2023). Mass spectrometric insights into protein aggregation. Essays in Biochemistry, 67(2), 243-253. DOI Scopus1 WoS1 Europe PMC1
2023	Pederick, J. L., Klose, J., Jovcevski, B., Pukala, T. L., & Bruning, J. B. (2023). <i>Escherichia coli</i> YgiC and YjfC Possess Peptide─Spermidine Ligase Activity. Biochemistry, 62(4), 899-911. DOI
2023	Pachulicz, R. J., Yu, L., Jovcevski, B., Bulone, V., & Pukala, T. L. (2023). Structural Analysis and Identity Confirmation of Anthocyanins in <i>Brassica oleracea</i> Extracts by Direct Injection Ion Mobility-Mass Spectrometry. ACS Measurement Science Au, 3(3), 200-207. DOI
2023	Miller, J. C., Lee, J. H. Z., Mclean, M. A., Chao, R. R., Stone, I. S. J., Pukala, T. L., . . . Bell, S. G. (2023). Engineering C–C Bond Cleavage Activity into a P450 Monooxygenase Enzyme. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 145(16), 9207-9222. DOI Scopus2 WoS2
2023	Frkic, R. L., Pederick, J. L., Horsfall, A. J., Jovcevski, B., Crame, E. E., Kowalczyk, W., . . . Bruning, J. B. (2023). PPARγ Corepression Involves Alternate Ligand Conformation and Inflation of H12 Ensembles. ACS Chemical Biology, 18(5), 1115-1123. DOI
2023	Hua, Q. Q. H., Young, C., Pukala, T. L., Martino, J. C., Hoffmann, P., Gillanders, B. M., & Doubleday, Z. A. (2023). Better late than never: Optimising the proteomic analysis of field-collected octopus. PLoS ONE, 18(7 July), 12 pages. DOI
2023	Rogers, C. A., Gaskin, S. E., Thredgold, L. D., & Pukala, T. L. (2023). An approach to quantify ortho-phthalaldehyde contamination on work surfaces. Annals of Work Exposures and Health, 67(7), 886-894. DOI
2023	Clark, S. R., Wilton, L. R., Dawson, J. L., Chiew, K., Jawahar, M. C., Toben, C., . . . Saleem, M. (2023). Dotting the I's and crossing the T's: A South Australian perspective on variability in troponin thresholds for myocarditis risk in clozapine treatment. Schizophrenia Research, S0920-9964(23)00229-3. DOI Scopus1
2023	Sanyal, S. K., Pukala, T., Mittal, P., Reith, F., Brugger, J., Etschmann, B., & Shuster, J. (2023). From biomolecules to biogeochemistry: Exploring the interaction of an indigenous bacterium with gold. Chemosphere, 339, 139657. DOI
2023	Vandborg, B., Holroyd, D. L., Pukala, T., & Bruning, J. B. (2023). Production of recombinant human proliferating cellular nuclear antigen (PCNA) for structural and biophysical characterization. Protein Expression and Purification, 212, 106353. DOI
2022	Sanders, H. M., Jovcevski, B., Marty, M. T., & Pukala, T. L. (2022). Structural and mechanistic insights into amyloid-β and α-synuclein fibril formation and polyphenol inhibitor efficacy in phospholipid bilayers. The FEBS Journal, 289(1), 215-230. DOI Scopus13 WoS13 Europe PMC8
2022	Nguyen, S., Jovcevski, B., Pukala, T. L., & Bruning, J. B. (2022). Structural insights into the antifungal drug target guanosine monophosphate synthase from Aspergillus fumigatus. Acta Crystallographica Section D Structural Biology, 78(2), 1-12. DOI Scopus1 WoS1 Europe PMC1
2022	Tasoulis, T., Pukala, T. L., & Isbister, G. K. (2022). Investigating toxin diversity and abundance in snake venom proteomes. Frontiers in Pharmacology, 12, 768015-1-768015-13. DOI Scopus27 WoS28 Europe PMC17
2022	Petit, S., Scanlon, A. T., Naikatini, A., Pukala, T., & Schumann, R. (2022). A novel bat pollination system involving obligate flower corolla removal has implications for global Dillenia conservation.. PloS one, 17(2), 1-16. DOI
2022	Nguyen, S., Jovcevski, B., Truong, J. Q., Pukala, T. L., & Bruning, J. B. (2022). A structural model of the human plasminogen and Aspergillus fumigatus enolase complex.. Proteins, 90(8), 1509-1520. DOI
2022	Pukala, T., & Robinson, C. V. (2022). Introduction: Mass Spectrometry Applications in Structural Biology.. Chem Rev, 122(8), 7267-7268. DOI Scopus1 WoS1
2022	Tasoulis, T., Wang, C. R., Sumner, J., Dunstan, N., Pukala, T. L., & Isbister, G. K. (2022). The Unusual Metalloprotease-Rich Venom Proteome of the Australian Elapid Snake Hoplocephalus stephensii. Toxins, 14(5), 314-1-314-21. DOI Scopus1 WoS1
2022	Pachulicz, R. J., Yu, L., Jovcevski, B., Bulone, V., & Pukala, T. L. (2022). Polyphenol characterisation and diverse bioactivities of native Australian lilly pilly (Syzygium paniculatum) extract. Food and Function, 13(16), 8585-8592. DOI Scopus1 Europe PMC1
2022	Horsley, J. R., Jovcevski, B., Pukala, T. L., & Abell, A. D. (2022). Designer D-peptides targeting the N-terminal region of α-synuclein to prevent parkinsonian-associated fibrilization and cytotoxicity. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) - Proteins and Proteomics, 1870(10), 140826-1-140826-9. DOI Scopus1 WoS2
2022	Pederick, J. L., Horsfall, A. J., Jovcevski‬, B., Klose, J., Abell, A. D., Pukala, T. L., & Bruning, J. B. (2022). Discovery of an ʟ-amino acid ligase implicated in Staphylococcal sulfur amino acid metabolism. Journal of Biological Chemistry, 298(10), 16 pages. DOI Scopus1 WoS1
2022	Hull, A., Li, Y., Bartholomeusz, D., Hsieh, W., Tieu, W., Pukala, T. L., . . . Bezak, E. (2022). Preliminary Development and Testing of C595 Radioimmunoconjugates for Targeting MUC1 Cancer Epitopes in Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma. Cells, 11(19), 18 pages. DOI Scopus2
2022	McNicholas, K., François, M., Liu, J. W., Doecke, J. D., Hecker, J., Faunt, J., . . . Leifert, W. R. (2022). Salivary inflammatory biomarkers are predictive of mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s disease in a feasibility study. Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience, 14, 11 pages. DOI Scopus2 WoS1 Europe PMC1
2021	Stevens, K. G., McFarlane, L. O., Platts, K., O'Brien-Simpson, N., Li, W., Blencowe, A., . . . Pukala, T. L. (2021). Retro Diels-Alder fragmentation of fulvene-maleimide bioconjugates for mass spectrometric detection of biomolecules. Analytical Chemistry, 93(36), 12204-12212. DOI Scopus2 WoS2
2021	Sajid, M. S., Saleem, S., Jabeen, F., Fatima, B., Zulfikar, M., Ashiq, M. N., . . . Najam-ul-Haq, M. (2021). Iminodiacetic acid (IDA)-generated mesoporous nanopolymer: a template to relate surface area, hydrophilicity, and glycopeptides enrichment. Microchimica Acta, 188(12), 8 pages. DOI Scopus2 WoS2
2021	Pukala, T. L., & Chen, H. (2021). Editorial: Technical and Methodological Advances in Proteomics.. Frontiers in chemistry, 9, 795426. DOI
2021	Nguyen, S., Jovcevski, B., Pukala, T. L., & Bruning, J. B. (2021). Nucleoside selectivity of Aspergillus fumigatus nucleoside-diphosphate kinase.. The FEBS journal, 288(7), 2398-2417. DOI Scopus6 WoS6 Europe PMC4
2021	Enot, M. M., Weiland, F., Mittal, P., Hoffmann, P., Sillero-Mahinay, M., & Pukala, T. (2021). Differential proteome analysis of the leaves of lead hyperaccumulator, Rhoeo discolor (L. Her.) Hance. Journal of Mass Spectrometry, 56(4), e4689-1-e4689-11. DOI Scopus5 WoS1 Europe PMC1
2020	Tasoulis, T., Pukala, T. L., & Isbister, G. K. (2020). Comments on proteomic investigations of two Pakistani Naja snake venoms species unravel the venom complexity, posttranslational modifications, and presence of extracellular vesicles. toxins 2020, 12, 669. Toxins, 12(12), 1-3. DOI Scopus2 WoS2 Europe PMC1
2020	Jovcevski, B., Das, S., Smid, S., & Pukala, T. L. (2020). Polyphenol honokiol and flavone 2′,3′,4′-trihydroxyflavone differentially interact with α-synuclein at distinct phases of aggregation. ACS Chemical Neuroscience, 11(24), 4469-4477. DOI Scopus12 WoS9 Europe PMC3
2020	Horsley, J. R., Jovcevski, B., Wegener, K. L., Yu, J., Pukala, T. L., & Abell, A. (2020). Rationally Designed Peptide-Based Inhibitor of Aβ42 Fibril Formation and Toxicity: A Potential Therapeutic Strategy for Alzheimer's Disease.. Biochem J, 477(11), 2039-2054. DOI Scopus15 WoS27 Europe PMC16
2020	Shrestha, S., Zhang, W., Begbie, A. J., Pukala, T. L., & Smid, S. D. (2020). Ecklonia radiata extract containing eckol protects neuronal cells against Aβ1-42 evoked toxicity and reduces aggregate density.. Food Funct, 11(7), 6509-6516. DOI Scopus8 WoS5 Europe PMC3
2020	Sternicki, L. M., Nguyen, S., Pacholarz, K. J., Barran, P., Pendini, N. R., Booker, G. W., . . . Polyak, S. W. (2020). Biochemical characterisation of class III biotin protein ligases from Botrytis cinerea and Zymoseptoria tritici. Archives of Biochemistry and Biophysics, 691, 108509-1-108509-11. DOI Scopus1 WoS1
2020	Salman Sajid, M., Jovcevski, B., Mittal, P., Fatima, B., Hussain, D., Jabeen, F., . . . Najam-ul-Haq, M. (2020). Glycosylation heterogeneity and low abundant serum glycoproteins MS analysis by boronic acid immobilized Fe<inf>3</inf>O<inf>4</inf>@1,2-Epoxy-5-Hexene/DVB magnetic core shell nanoparticles. Microchemical Journal, 159, 8 pages. DOI Scopus5 WoS4
2020	Stevens, K. G., & Pukala, T. L. (2020). Conjugating immunoassays to mass spectrometry: solutions to contemporary challenges in clinical diagnostics.. Trends Analyt Chem, 132, 1-10. DOI Scopus19 WoS12 Europe PMC2
2020	Sajid, M. S., Jovcevski, B., Pukala, T. L., Jabeen, F., & Najam-Ul-Haq, M. (2020). Fabrication of Piperazine Functionalized Polymeric Monolithic Tip for Rapid Enrichment of Glycopeptides/Glycans.. Anal Chem, 92(1), 683-689. DOI Scopus15 WoS15 Europe PMC3
2020	Sanders, H. M., Jovcevski, B., Carver, J., & Pukala, T. L. (2020). The molecular chaperone β-casein prevents amorphous and fibrillar aggregation of α-lactalbumin by stabilisation of dynamic disorder. Biochemical Journal, 477(3), 629-643. DOI Scopus16 WoS16 Europe PMC8
2020	Wang, C. R., Bubner, E. R., Jovcevski, B., Mittal, P., & Pukala, T. L. (2020). Interrogating the higher order structures of snake venom proteins using an integrated mass spectrometric approach.. J Proteomics, 216, 103680. DOI Scopus13 WoS13 Europe PMC9
2020	Hayes, A. J., Satiaputra, J., Sternicki, L. M., Paparella, A. S., Feng, Z., Lee, K. J., . . . Polyak, S. W. (2020). Advanced resistance studies identify two discrete mechanisms in staphylococcus aureus to overcome antibacterial compounds that target biotin protein ligase. Antibiotics, 9(4), 1-20. DOI Scopus3 WoS3
2019	Liu, Y., Jovcevski, B., & Pukala, T. L. (2019). C-Phycocyanin from Spirulina Inhibits α-synuclein and amyloid-β fibril formation but not amorphous aggregation. Journal of Natural Products, 82(1), 66-73. DOI Scopus23 WoS20 Europe PMC10
2019	Satiaputra, J., Sternicki, L. M., Hayes, A. J., Pukala, T. L., Booker, G. W., Shearwin, K. E., & Polyak, S. W. (2019). Native mass spectrometry identifies an alternative DNA-binding pathway for BirA from Staphylococcus aureus. Scientific Reports, 9(1), 2767-1-2767-13. DOI Scopus4 WoS3 Europe PMC2
2019	Alcock, L. J., Oliveira, B. L., Deery, M. J., Pukala, T. L., Perkins, M. V., Bernardes, G. J. L., & Chalker, J. M. (2019). Norbornene probes for the detection of cysteine sulfenic acid in cells. ACS chemical biology, 14(4), 594-598. DOI Scopus29 WoS29 Europe PMC11
2019	Iacobucci, C., Piotrowski, C., Aebersold, R., Amaral, B. C., Andrews, P., Bernfur, K., . . . Sinz, A. (2019). First Community-Wide, Comparative Cross-Linking Mass Spectrometry Study. Analytical Chemistry, 91(11), 6953-6961. DOI Scopus76 WoS69 Europe PMC39
2019	Aung, T. N., Nourmohammadi, S., Qu, Z., Harata-Lee, Y., Cui, J., Shen, H. Y., . . . Adelson, D. L. (2019). Fractional deletion of Compound Kushen Injection indicates cytokine signaling pathways are critical for its perturbation of the cell cycle. Scientific Reports, 9(1), 14200-1-14200-16. DOI Scopus10 WoS6 Europe PMC6
2019	Li, J., Begbie, A., Boehm, B. J., Button, A., Whidborne, C., Pouferis, Y., . . . Pukala, T. L. (2019). Ion mobility-mass spectrometry reveals details of formation and structure for GAA·TCC DNA and RNA triplexes. Journal of the American Society for Mass Spectrometry, 30(1), 103-112. DOI Scopus9 WoS10 Europe PMC3
2019	Harrison, J. A., Kelso, C., Pukala, T. L., & Beck, J. L. (2019). Conditions for analysis of native protein structures using uniform field drift tube ion mobility mass spectrometry and characterization of stable calibrants for TWIM-MS. Journal of The American Society for Mass Spectrometry, 30(2), 256-267. DOI Scopus17 WoS19 Europe PMC7
2018	Child, S. A., Bradley, J. M., Pukala, T. L., Svistunenko, D. A., Le Brun, N. E., & Bell, S. G. (2018). Electron transfer ferredoxins with unusual cluster binding motifs support secondary metabolism in many bacteria. Chemical Science, 9(41), 7948-7957. DOI Scopus23 WoS23 Europe PMC9
2018	Alcock, L., Farrell, K., Akol, M., Jones, G., Tierney, M., Kramer, H., . . . Chalker, J. (2018). Norbornene probes for the study of cysteine oxidation. Tetrahedron, 74(12), 1220-1228. DOI Scopus28 WoS28
2018	Boehm, B., Whidborne, C., Button, A., Pukala, T., & Huang, D. (2018). DNA triplex structure, thermodynamics, and destabilisation: insight from molecular simulations. Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, 20(20), 14013-14023. DOI Scopus11 WoS10 Europe PMC4
2018	Das, S., Pukala, T., & Smid, S. (2018). Exploring the structural diversity in inhibitors of α-Synuclein amyloidogenic folding, aggregation, and neurotoxicity. Frontiers in Chemistry, 6(MAY), 181-1-181-12. DOI Scopus17 WoS18 Europe PMC10
2018	Young, T., Pukala, T., Cappai, R., Wedd, A., & Xiao, Z. (2018). The human amyloid precursor protein binds copper ions dominated by picomolar-affinity site in the helix-rich E2 domain. Biochemistry, 57(28), 4165-4176. DOI Scopus18 WoS17 Europe PMC6
2018	Frkic, R. L., Marshall, A. C., Blayo, A. -L., Pukala, T. L., Kamenecka, T. M., Griffin, P. R., & Bruning, J. B. (2018). PPARγ in complex with an antagonist and inverse agonist: a tumble and trap mechanism of the activation helix. iScience, 5, 69-79. DOI Scopus35 WoS31 Europe PMC15
2018	Pukala, T. (2018). Importance of collision cross section measurements by ion mobility-mass spectrometry in structural biology. Rapid communications in mass spectrometry : RCM, 33(S3), 1-10. DOI Scopus19 WoS19 Europe PMC5
2016	Calabrese, A., Liu, Y., Wang, T., Musgrave, I., Pukala, T., Tabor, R., . . . Bowie, J. (2016). The amyloid fibril-forming properties of the amphibian antimicrobial peptide uperin 3.5. ChemBioChem, 17(3), 239-246. DOI Scopus35 WoS34 Europe PMC16
2016	Das, S., Stark, L., Musgrave, I., Pukala, T., & Smid, S. (2016). Bioactive polyphenol interactions with β amyloid: a comparison of binding modelling, effects on fibril and aggregate formation and neuroprotective capacity. Food & Function, 7(2), 1138-1146. DOI Scopus41 WoS39 Europe PMC15
2015	Liu, Y., Graetz, M., Ho, L., & Pukala, T. (2015). Ion mobility-mass spectrometry-based screening for inhibition of α-synuclein aggregation. European Journal of Mass Spectrometry, 21(3), 255-264. DOI Scopus11 WoS11 Europe PMC5
2015	Calabrese, A., Bowie, J., & Pukala, T. (2015). Structural Analysis of Calmodulin Binding by nNOS Inhibitory Amphibian Peptides. Biochemistry, 54(2), 567-576. DOI Scopus6 WoS6 Europe PMC5
2014	Liu, Y., Carver, J., Calabrese, A., & Pukala, T. (2014). Gallic acid interacts with α-synuclein to prevent the structural collapse necessary for its aggregation. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta, 1844(9), 1481-1485. DOI Scopus87 WoS84 Europe PMC41
2014	Liu, Y., Carver, J., Ho, L., Elias, A., Musgrave, I., & Pukala, T. (2014). Hemin as a generic and potent protein misfolding inhibitor. Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, 454(2), 295-300. DOI Scopus19 WoS19 Europe PMC8
2013	Liu, Y., Pukala, T., Musgrave, I., Williams, D., Dehle, F., & Carver, J. (2013). Gallic acid is the major component of grape seed extract that inhibits amyloid fibril formation. Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry Letters, 23(23), 6336-6340. DOI Scopus98 WoS94 Europe PMC42
2013	Calabrese, A., & Pukala, T. (2013). Chemical cross-linking and mass spectrometry for the structural analysis of protein assemblies. Australian Journal of Chemistry, 66(7), 749-759. DOI Scopus15 WoS15
2013	Cottam, J., Scanlon, D., Karas, J., Calabrese, A., Pukala, T., Forbes, B., . . . Abell, A. (2013). Chemical synthesis of a fluorescent IGF-II analogue. International Journal of Peptide Research and Therapeutics, 19(1), 61-69. DOI Scopus5 WoS3
2013	Williams, D., & Pukala, T. (2013). Novel insights into protein misfolding diseases revealed by ion mobility-mass spectrometry. Mass Spectrometry Reviews, 32(3), 169-187. DOI Scopus35 WoS33 Europe PMC19
2013	Scott, D., Ehebauer, M., Pukala, T., Marsh, M., Blundell, T., Venkitaraman, A., . . . Hyvonen, M. (2013). Using a fragment-based approach to target protein-protein interactions. ChemBioChem, 14(3), 332-342. DOI Scopus102 WoS95 Europe PMC58
2013	Calabrese, A., Wang, T., Bowie, J., & Pukala, T. (2013). Negative ion fragmentations of disulfide-containing cross-linking reagents are competitive with aspartic acid side-chain-induced cleavages. Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry, 27(1), 238-248. DOI Scopus6 WoS6 Europe PMC2
2012	Calabrese, A., Good, N., Wang, T., He, J., Bowie, J., & Pukala, T. (2012). A negative ion mass spectrometry approach to identify cross-linked peptides utilizing characteristic disulfide fragmentations. Journal of the American Society for Mass Spectrometry, 23(8), 1364-1375. DOI Scopus15 WoS15 Europe PMC6
2012	Calabrese, A., Speechley, L., & Pukala, T. (2012). Characterisation of calmodulin structural transitions by ion mobility mass spectrometry. Australian Journal of Chemistry, 65(5), 504-511. DOI Scopus7 WoS7
2012	Leung, H., Mohan, P., Pukala, T., Scanlon, D., Lincoln, S., & Kee, T. (2012). Reduction of Copper(II) to Copper(I) in the Copper-Curcumin Complex Induces Decomposition of Curcumin. Australian Journal of Chemistry, 65(5), 490-495. DOI Scopus6 WoS6
2012	McColl, G., Roberts, B., Pukala, T., Kenche, V., Roberts, C., Link, C., . . . Cherny, R. (2012). Utility of an improved model of amyloid-beta (Aβ₁₋₄₂) toxicity in Caenorhabditis elegans for drug screening for Alzheimer’s disease. Molecular Neurodegeneration, 7(1), 1-9. DOI Scopus153 WoS144 Europe PMC97
2011	Pukala, T. (2011). Mass spectrometry for structural biology: determining the composition and architecture of protein complexes. Australian Journal of Chemistry, 64(6), 681-691. DOI Scopus5 WoS5
2011	Wang, T., Andreazza, H., Pukala, T., Sherman, P., Calabrese, A., & Bowie, J. (2011). Histidine-containing host-defence skin peptides of anurans bind Cu²⁺. An electrospray ionisation mass spectrometry and computational modelling study. Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry, 25(9), 1209-1221. DOI Scopus7 WoS7 Europe PMC2
2011	Sanchez, L., Madurga, S., Pukala, T., Vilaseca, M., Lopez-Iglesias, C., Robinson, C., . . . Carulla, N. (2011). Aβ40 and Aβ42 amyloid fibrils exhibit distinct molecular recycling. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 133(17), 6505-6508. DOI Scopus92 WoS89 Europe PMC55
2011	Jackway, R., Pukala, T., Donnellan, S., Sherman, P., Tyler, M., & Bowie, J. (2011). Skin peptide and cDNA profiling of Australian anurans: Genus and species identification and evolutionary trends. Peptides, 32(1), 161-172. DOI Scopus20 WoS18 Europe PMC15
2011	Liu, Y., Ho, L., Carver, J., & Pukala, T. (2011). Ion mobility mass spectrometry studies of the inhibition of alpha synuclein amyloid fibril formation by (-)-epigallocatechin-3-gallate. Australian Journal of Chemistry, 64(1), 36-40. DOI Scopus17 WoS17
2009	Pukala, T., Ruotolo, B., Zhou, M., Politis, A., Stefanescu, R., Leary, J., & Robinson, C. (2009). Subunit architecture of multiprotein assemblies determined using restraints from gas-phase measurements. Structure, 17(9), 1235-1243. DOI Scopus95 WoS94 Europe PMC65
2008	Pukala, T., Urathamakul, T., Watt, S., Beck, J., Jackway, R., & Bowie, J. (2008). Binding studies of nNOS-active amphibian peptides and Ca²⁺ calmodulin, using negative ion electrospray ionisation mass spectrometry. Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry, 22(22), 3501-3509. DOI Scopus13 WoS13 Europe PMC3
2008	Jackway, R., Pukala, T., Maselli, V., Musgrave, I., Bowie, J., Liu, Y., . . . Tyler, M. (2008). Disulfide-containing peptides from the glandular skin secretions of froglets of the genus Crinia: Structure, activity and evolutionary trends. Regulatory Peptides, 151(1-3), 80-87. DOI Scopus10 WoS10 Europe PMC6
2008	Gehman, J., Luc, F., Hall, K., Lee, T., Boland, M., Pukala, T., . . . Separovic, F. (2008). Effect of antimicrobial peptides from Australian tree frogs on anionic phospholipid membranes. Biochemistry, 47(33), 8557-8565. DOI Scopus74 WoS76 Europe PMC37
2007	Pukala, T., Boland, M., Gehman, J., Kuhn-Nentwig, L., Separovic, F., & Bowie, J. (2007). Solution structure and interaction of cupiennin 1a, a spider venom peptide, with phospholipid bilayers. Biochemistry, 46(11), 3576-3585. DOI Scopus40 WoS41 Europe PMC26
2007	Pukala, T., Doyle, J., Llewellyn, L., Kuhn-Nentwig, L., Sorrell, M., Separovic, F., & Bowie, J. (2007). Cupiennin 1a, an antimicrobial peptide from the venom of the neotropical wandering spider Cupiennius salei, also inhibits the formation of nitric oxide by neuronal nitric oxide synthase. FEBS Journal, 274(7), 1778-1784. DOI Scopus18 WoS17 Europe PMC9
2006	Pukala, T., Bertozzi, T., Donnellan, S., Bowie, J., Surinya, K., Liu, Y., . . . Tyler, M. (2006). Host-defence peptide profiles of the skin secretions of interspecific hybrid tree frogs and their parents, female Litoria splendida and male Litoria caerulea. FEBS Journal, 273(15), 3511-3519. DOI Scopus23 WoS25 Europe PMC15
2006	Pukala, T., Bowie, J., Maselli, V., Musgrave, I., & Tyler, M. (2006). Host-defence peptides from the glandular secretions of amphibians: structure and activity. Natural Product Reports, 23(3), 368-393. DOI Scopus176 WoS168 Europe PMC106
2004	Sorrell, M., Pukala, T., Brinkworth, C., Maselli, V., Bowie, J., Tyler, M., . . . Llewellyn, L. (2004). Host-defence peptides of Australian anurans: structure, mechanism of action and evolutionary significance. Peptides, 25(6), 1035-1054. DOI Scopus196 WoS189 Europe PMC104
2004	Brinkworth, C., Pukala, T., Bowie, J., & Tyler, M. (2004). Host defence peptides from the skin glands of Australian amphibians. Caerulein neuropeptides and antimicrobial, anticancer, and nNOS inhibiting citropins from the glandular frog Litoria subglandulosa.. Australian Journal of Chemistry, 57(7), 693-701. DOI Scopus4 WoS5
2004	Pukala, T., Brinkworth, C., Carver, J., & Bowie, J. (2004). Investigating the importance of the flexible hinge in caerin 1.1: Solution structures and activity of two synthetically modified caerin peptides. Biochemistry, 43(4), 937-944. DOI Scopus62 WoS63 Europe PMC33

Book Chapters

Year	Citation
2019	Jovcevski, B., & Pukala, T. (2019). Mass Spectrometry and Its Applications. In V. Ramesh (Ed.), Biomolecular and Bioanalytical Techniques Theory, Methodology and Applications (pp. 219-253). USA: Wiley.
2013	Pukala, T. (2013). Mass spectrometry: mapping large stable protein complexes. In G. Roberts (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Biophysics (1 ed., pp. 1422-1429). Germany: Springer. DOI
2009	Doyle, J., Bowie, J., Jackway, R., Llewellyn, L., Pukala, T., Sorrell, M., & Booker, G. (2009). Anuran host-defense peptides that complex with Ca2+ calmodulin and inhibit the synthesis of the cell signalling agent nitric oxide by neuronal nitric oxide synthase. In J. Howl, & S. Jones (Eds.), Bioactive Peptides (1 ed., pp. 315-332). United States: CRC Press.

Conference Papers

Year	Citation
2015	Smid, S., Das, S., Musgrave, I., & Pukala, T. (2015). Bioactive polyphenol interactions with beta amyloid: a comparison of binding, fibril inhibition and neuroprotection. In JOURNAL OF NEUROCHEMISTRY Vol. 134 (pp. 363-364). Cairns, AUSTRALIA: WILEY-BLACKWELL.
2008	Sanchez-Torner, L., Pukala, T., Vilaseca, M., Robinson, C., Giralt, E., & Carulla, N. (2008). Recycling in A beta(1-42) amyloid fibrils. In JOURNAL OF PEPTIDE SCIENCE Vol. 14 (pp. 108). WILEY.
2008	Sanchez, L., Pukala, T., Zhou, M., Vilaseca, M., Carulla, N. L., & Giralt, E. (2008). Structure and dynamic characterization of beta A aggregates using HID exchange experiments by mass spectrometry. In JOURNAL OF PEPTIDE SCIENCE Vol. 14 (pp. 110). WILEY.
2007	Gehman, J. D., Boland, M. P., Pukala, T. L., Bowie, J. H., & Separovic, F. (2007). Membrane interactions of antimicrobial peptides from Australian tree frogs.. In BIOPHYSICAL JOURNAL (pp. 70A). Baltimore, MD: BIOPHYSICAL SOCIETY.

Conference Items

Year	Citation
2021	Hull, A., Li, Y., Hsieh, W., Staudacher, A., Pukala, T., Tieu, W., . . . Bezak, E. (2021). RADIOIMMUNOCONJUGATE DEVELOPMENT: PRELIMINARY TESTING OF A C595 BASED IMMUNOCONJUGATE. Poster session presented at the meeting of INTERNAL MEDICINE JOURNAL. WILEY.
2019	Pukala, T., Begbie, A., & Li, J. (2019). Ion mobility mass spectrometry to characterize formation and structure of DNA assemblies. Poster session presented at the meeting of ABSTRACTS OF PAPERS OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY. San Diego, CA: AMER CHEMICAL SOC.

Australian Research Council
2020-22: ARC Discovery Project (DP200102291)
T Pukala Revealing molecular detail of DNA triplexes to underpin antigene technology, $450K

2018-20: ARC Discovery Project (DP180103974)
V Bulone and T Pukala. Characterisation of vital carbohydrate synthases in pathogenic oomycetes, $546K

2017-19: ARC Discovery Project (DP170102033)
T Pukala and A Politis. Mass spectrometry to reveal the role of lipids in protein misfolding, $324K

2011-13: ARC Discovery Project (DP110100496)
T Pukala. Structural and functional investigations of the human transcription machinery by ion mobility mass spectrometry, $340K

2010-12: ARC Discovery Project (DP1093143)
T Pukala and J Bowie. Novel mass spectrometric approaches to the study of protein-protein interactions, $360K

2020: ARC LIEF (LE200100183)
P Hoffmann, T Chataway, T Pukala, M Herderich, E Hilder, D Keating, K Kirkbride, S Plush, S Pitson, C Proud, D Brooks. Protein Quantitation Centre of South Australia renewal for Systems Biology, $950K

2013: ARC LIEF (LE130100199)
P Hoffmann, T Chataway, J Bowie, G Fincher, M Brown, T Pukala, C Franco, D Keating, D Brooks, L Cosgrove, K Fung, M Herderich, W Hines. Establishment of the peptide and protein quantitation centre of South Australia: PAPQuaC-SA, $475K

2012: ARC LIEF (LE120100181)
L Botten, D Leinweber, L Radom, J Gready, M England, A Mark, H Blackburn, A Hogg, C Jakob, A Pitman, BJ Powell, K Rasmussen, L Moresi, A Yu, M Knackstedt, M Bilek, M Ragan, B Schmidt, R Muller, T Pukala, J Sori, C Turney, K Hourigan, D Adelson, R Khanna, J Denier, B Pailthorpe. Strengthened merit-based access and support at the new NCI petascale supercomputing facility, $650K

Other

2022: AWRI-UA Collaborative Research Investment Fund
Pukala T, Herderich M. A cyclic ion-mobility mass spectrometer and platform technologies for structural proteomics, $50K

2019-2022: Department of Industry and Skills Research Consortia Program (FND000639)
Bulone V, Pukala T, Abell A, Zannettino A, Beattie D, Krasowska M, Zhou Q, Koltunow A. Research Consortium Program for Agricultural Product Development, $4M

2021-2022: Worksafe BC Specific Priorities/Systematic Reviews Grant Program
Gaskin S, Pukala T, Thredgold L. Developing a measurement method to determine the Threshold Limit Value-Surface Limit concentration of o-phthalaldehyde, $75K (CAD)

2016-2018: The Australia & Pacific Science Foundation
S Petit, T Pukala, R Schumann, A Naikatini, A Scanlon. Unique pollination system of an important rainforest tree involving obligate manipulation by bats, $45K

2016-17: University of Adelaide Interdisciplinary Research Fund
V Bulone, T Pukala, A Zannettino, C Doonan, C Sumby. An interdisciplinary research program to map the protein-glycan interactome of key eukaryotic cellular systems: interfacing biophysics and chemistry with cancer research, microbiology and plant sciences, $25K

2016: University of Adelaide Faculty of Sciences eLearning Program
NM Williamson, TL Pukala, CJ Doonan. Development of level II chemistry online assessment and student feedback. $7K

2013-14: University of Adelaide Interdisciplinary Research Fund
I Musgrave, S Smid, L O’Keefe, T Pukala. Structure function relationships of antiamyloid drugs: verification in an in-vivo model, $21K

2013-14: University of Adelaide Interdisciplinary Research Fund
T Pukala and M Fuller. Mass spectrometric approaches to characterise alpha-synuclein-glucosylsphingosine interations: application to the Parkinsonian Syndrome, $25K

Teaching interests include:

Biological structure determination
Mass spectrometry and NMR spectroscopy
Biological and synthetic organic chemistry
Physical organic chemistry
Foundations of chemistry

Current Higher Degree by Research Supervision (University of Adelaide)

Date	Role	Research Topic	Program	Degree Type	Student Load	Student Name
2023	Principal Supervisor	Fundamental understanding of DNA triplex formation and its antigene properties to control gene expression	Doctor of Philosophy	Doctorate	Full Time	Miss Sarveenah R G Chandrasegaran
2023	Co-Supervisor	Identification and Exploitation of Carbohydrate Polymers and Bioactive Compounds from Plant Biomass	Doctor of Philosophy	Doctorate	Full Time	Mr David Nkurunziza
2023	Co-Supervisor	Development of protein biomarker assays for Alzheimer's disease	Doctor of Philosophy	Doctorate	Full Time	Mr Nicholas Ronan John Graham
2022	Principal Supervisor	Characterisation and design of DNA-binding oligonucleotides: A concerted experimental and computational investigation.	Doctor of Philosophy	Doctorate	Full Time	Mr Gerardo Urbina
2022	Principal Supervisor	Diagnosis and therapeutics of intrinsically disordered protein misfolding disorders	Doctor of Philosophy	Doctorate	Full Time	Mr Zohaib Raza
2021	Principal Supervisor	Characterisation of Snake Venom Proteins to Inform New Advances in Biotechnology	Doctor of Philosophy	Doctorate	Full Time	Mr Lewis Owen McFarlane
2021	Principal Supervisor	Development of novel mass spectrometry-based approaches with improved sensitivity for phosphorylated proteins and phosphorylated Tau protein as biomarkers in Alzheimer’s Disease	Doctor of Philosophy	Doctorate	Full Time	Miss Siqi Li
2021	Principal Supervisor	Chemical and Functional Exploration of Agricultural Waste for Identification of High Value Bioactives	Doctor of Philosophy	Doctorate	Full Time	Mr River Jack Pachulicz
2020	Co-Supervisor	Developing synchrotron imaging technology to address questions in redox biology.	Doctor of Philosophy	Doctorate	Full Time	Mr Jake William Andersen
2020	Principal Supervisor	Structural characterisation of snake venom proteins by mass spectrometry	Doctor of Philosophy	Doctorate	Full Time	Miss Chia-De Ruth Wang
2020	Principal Supervisor	Biophysical characterisation of DNA triplexes for antigene technology	Doctor of Philosophy	Doctorate	Full Time	Mr Jack Klose
2015	Principal Supervisor	Analysis of In-Vitro Aggregation of Therapeutic Proteins Using immobility Mass Spectrometry	Doctor of Philosophy	Doctorate	Part Time	Mr Paritosh Kumar Tripathi

Past Higher Degree by Research Supervision (University of Adelaide)

Date	Role	Research Topic	Program	Degree Type	Student Load	Student Name
2019 - 2023	Co-Supervisor	Identification of human biomarkers in saliva for early detection of Alzheimer's disease and other dementia related illnesses	Doctor of Philosophy	Doctorate	Full Time	Ms Kym McNicholas
2019 - 2021	Principal Supervisor	Mass Spectrometric Characterisation of Protein Assemblies from Bitis arietans Snake Venom	Master of Philosophy	Master	Full Time	Miss Emily Rose Bubner
2018 - 2020	Principal Supervisor	Structural Investigation of Snake Venom Proteins by Mass Spectrometry	Master of Philosophy	Master	Full Time	Miss Chia-De Ruth Wang
2017 - 2021	Principal Supervisor	Mass Spectrometric Methods for the Analysis of Chemically Modified Proteins	Doctor of Philosophy	Doctorate	Full Time	Miss Katherine Stevens
2017 - 2022	Principal Supervisor	A Biophysical Investigation of Nucleic Acid Triplexes and Inversion Site Recognising Analogues	Doctor of Philosophy	Doctorate	Part Time	Mr Alexander Jacob Begbie
2016 - 2018	Co-Supervisor	A Mechanistic Study of the Stability of Triple-Stranded DNA Structures	Master of Philosophy	Master	Full Time	Mrs Belinda Jayne Boehm
2016 - 2021	Principal Supervisor	MASS SPECTROMETRY-BASED STRUCTURAL INSIGHTS INTO PROTEIN ASSEMBLIES	Doctor of Philosophy	Doctorate	Part Time	Mr Henry Michael Sanders
2015 - 2018	Co-Supervisor	Small molecular inhibitors of Amyloid beta and alpha Synuclein amyloidogenic aggregation, toxicity and in silico design of amyloid-binding ligands	Doctor of Philosophy	Doctorate	Full Time	Mrs Sukanya Das
2014 - 2017	Principal Supervisor	Design and Synthesis of Protein Chemical Crosslinkers: A Modular Approach	Master of Philosophy	Master	Full Time	Miss Kayla Monique Downey
2012 - 2018	Principal Supervisor	Biological and Structure Characterisation of Eukaryotic Prefoldin	Doctor of Philosophy	Doctorate	Full Time	Denise Tran
2011 - 2019	Co-Supervisor	Application of Synchrotron-Based Spectroscopic Techniques XAS and XFM towards Probing the Cellular Metallome	Doctor of Philosophy	Doctorate	Full Time	Mr Jason Lee Wedding
2010 - 2014	Co-Supervisor	Structural and mechanistic studies of post-translationally modified peptides and proteins	Doctor of Philosophy	Doctorate	Full Time	Miss Thi Thanh Nha Tran
2009 - 2013	Co-Supervisor	Characterisation of Protein Structure and Interactions: Novel Applications to the Study of Bioactive Peptides	Doctor of Philosophy	Doctorate	Full Time	Antonio Calabrese
2009 - 2014	Co-Supervisor	Linked beta-cyclodextrin trimers: From molecular recognition to polymer network hydrogels	Doctor of Philosophy	Doctorate	Full Time	Mrs Trang Thi Hanh Nguyen
2009 - 2014	Co-Supervisor	A study on the interactions of synthetic IGF-II analogues with the type 1 IGF and insulin receptors	Doctor of Philosophy	Doctorate	Part Time	Miss Jade Misty Cottam

Committee Memberships

Date	Role	Committee	Institution	Country
2011 - ongoing	Member	Australian and New Zealand Society for Mass Spectrometry Executive Committee	Australian and New Zealand Society for Mass Spectrometry	Australia

Memberships

Date	Role	Membership	Country
2009 - ongoing	Member	Australian Society for Biophysics	Australia
2005 - ongoing	Member	Royal Australian Chemical Institute	Australia
2004 - ongoing	-	Australian and New Zealand Society for Mass Spectrometry	Australia

Editorial Boards

Date	Role	Editorial Board Name	Institution	Country
2019 - ongoing	Board Member	Analytical Chemistry	ACS Publications	United States
2017 - ongoing	Associate Editor	Frontiers in Chemistry (Medicinal and Pharmaceutical Chemistry)	Frontiers	Switzerland
2017 - ongoing	Associate Editor	Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry	Wiley	United States
2017 - ongoing	Editor	European Journal of Mass Spectrometry	SAGE Journals	United Kingdom
2013 - ongoing	Board Member	Nature Scientific Reports	Nature Publishing Group	United States

Position: Professor
Phone: 83135497
Email: tara.pukala@adelaide.edu.au
Fax: 83134380
Campus: North Terrace
Building: Badger, floor 2
Org Unit: Chemistry