Professor Tara Pukala
Professor
School of Physics, Chemistry and Earth Sciences
Faculty of Sciences, Engineering and Technology
Eligible to supervise Masters and PhD - 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.
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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
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Journals
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Book Chapters
Year Citation 2019 Jovcevski, B., & Pukala, T. L. (2019). Mass Spectrometry and Its Applications. In V. Ramesh (Ed.), Biomolecular and Bioanalytical Techniques Theory, Methodology and Applications (pp. 219-253). USA: Wiley.
DOI Scopus32013 Pukala, T. (2013). Mass spectrometry: mapping large stable protein complexes. In G. Roberts (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Biophysics (1 ed., pp. 1422-1429). Germany: Springer.
DOI2009 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 2023 Nguyen, S., Jovcevski, B., Truong, J. Q., Pukala, T. L., & Bruning, J. B. (2023). A structural model of the human plasminogen and <i>Aspergillus fumigatus</i> enolase complex: insights for antifungal drug discovery. In ACTA CRYSTALLOGRAPHICA A-FOUNDATION AND ADVANCES Vol. 79 (pp. C706). INT UNION CRYSTALLOGRAPHY. 2015 Smid, S., Das, S., Musgrave, I., & Pukala, T. (2015). Bioactive polyphenol interactions with β 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 Aβ(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 βA 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 Projects
2024-26: ARC Linkage Project (LP230100307)
D Adelson, T Pukala, S Semple, B Simpson, J Conran, D Claudie, W Wang. Finding the targets of natural products in complex botanical extracts, $453K
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
Equipment
2024: ARC LIEF (LE240100135)
T Pukala, P Hoffmann, M Herderich, M Snel, E Watson, K Shearwin, S Gaskin, N Lloyd, P Trim, G Goodall. An ion mobility-mass spectrometry based platform for structural proteomics, $880K
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
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Current Higher Degree by Research Supervision (University of Adelaide)
Date Role Research Topic Program Degree Type Student Load Student Name 2025 Co-Supervisor Characterisation and Profiling of Bioactive Molecules from Food Waste as Inhibitors of Protein Aggregation in Motor Neuron Disease Master of Philosophy Master Full Time Miss Rebekah Grace Munro 2024 Co-Supervisor Tantalum-Based Metal Oxides for the Photocatalytic Degradation of Per- or Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Miss Rachael Kate Matthews 2024 Co-Supervisor In vitro neuroprotective effects of alpha-1 adrenoceptor antagonists Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Aari Jasper Oliphant-Hand 2024 Co-Supervisor Development of a novel method for the solution-phase synthesis of sequence-defined polymers with potential biomimetic application Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Ms Rachel Josephine Tishler 2024 Principal Supervisor Investigating links between lipid metabolism and protein post-translational modifications in Alzheimer's disease Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mrs Elaheh Eskandari 2024 Principal Supervisor Mass spectrometry method development for the analysis of intact proteins Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Shaun Thomas Ellis 2024 Co-Supervisor Diagnosis and Treatment of Clozapine Associated Adverse Events and their Association with Inflammation Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Wei Ching Shawn Yong 2024 Principal Supervisor Mass spectrometry Approaches to Analysis Intact Protein Assemblies in the context of protein-misfolding disorders Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Ms Shima Amini 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 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 Development of protein biomarker assays for Alzheimer's disease Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Nicholas Ronan John Graham 2022 Principal Supervisor Diagnosis and therapeutics of intrinsically disordered protein misfolding disorders Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Zohaib Raza 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 2021 Principal Supervisor Characterisation of Snake Venom Proteins to Inform New Advances in Biotechnology Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Part 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 -
Past Higher Degree by Research Supervision (University of Adelaide)
Date Role Research Topic Program Degree Type Student Load Student Name 2021 - 2024 Principal Supervisor Mass spectrometry-based approaches towards characterising anthocyanin structures in plant extracts Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Dr River Jack Pachulicz 2021 - 2024 Principal Supervisor Development of Mass Spectrometric-Immunoassays for the Detection of Neurodegenerative Disease Biomarkers Master of Philosophy Master Full Time Mr Shaun Thomas Ellis 2020 - 2024 Principal Supervisor Structural Characterisation of Snake Venom Proteins by Mass Spectrometry Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Miss Chia-De Ruth Wang 2020 - 2024 Principal Supervisor Biophysical characterisation of DNA triplexes for antigene applications Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Jack William Klose 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 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 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 - 2021 Principal Supervisor MASS SPECTROMETRY-BASED STRUCTURAL INSIGHTS INTO PROTEIN ASSEMBLIES Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Part Time Mr Henry Michael Sanders 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 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
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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 2024 - ongoing Board Member International Journal of Mass Spectrometry Elsevier Netherlands 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
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