Prince Henry’s Institute

 

Guiying Nie

Appointments

• NHMRC Senior Research Fellow

• Honorary Senior Lecturer, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Monash University

 

Profile

By training, Dr Nie is a molecular biologist and biochemist. After receiving her PhD in 1991 from University of Essex, UK, Dr Nie spent the next 4 years as a Research Associate at Brookhaven National Laboratory, New York, USA.

She joined PHI in 1995 and embarked on research in female reproduction in the area of embryo implantation.

Dr Nie has a strong interest in investigating how uterine factors contribute to successful embryo implantation, placental development and function. Her research in this field has led to two patents on which she is primary inventor. She has over 50 peer-reviewed publications. 

 

Research Interests

Dr Nie has a strong interest in investigating how the uterus contributes to the success or failure of embryo implantation and placental development.

Dr Nie was the first to discover the specific expression of proprotein convertase 6 (PC6) at embryo implantation, and to demonstrate by functional studies that PC6 is a critical regulator of implantation. 

Her team aims to establish the molecular mechanism of PC6 action in the uterus, and progress towards therapeutic outcomes. PCs, including PC6, play essential roles in HIV infectivity and a current research goal is to develop PC6 as a target for dual-role female contraception by blocking embryo implantation and HIV infection at the same time.

Her research was the first to identify and clone HtrA3 ,a new member of the HtrA protease family, and to demonstrate the strong association of HtrA3 with placental development. A current research goal is to determine the roles of HtrA3 in placental development and its clinical implications.

Her team has also established that HtrA3 is down-regulated in a number of cancers. The team is now investigating the roles of HtrA3 in cancer invasion and progression, with a particular interest in the interelationship between HtrA3, cancer and ageing.

The team utilises a range of approaches including molecular biology, biochemistry, cell culture, proteomics, antisense and siRNA technologies, and gene knockout models.
 

Expertise

Molecular biology, endometrial receptivity, embryo implantation, uterine tissue remodelling, maternal-fetal interaction and placental development, in vivo and in vitro assays, protease research.

 

Recent Achievements

• Two primary inventor patents, both are progressing to commercialisation.

• Awarded major funding from NHMRC, WHO, Schering and CONRAD.

•  Identification of a uterine target for the development of dual-role female contraceptives that will simultaneously block embryo implantation and inhibit HIV infection

• Discovery and cloning of a novel gene involved in placental development and cancer progression with considerable potential for diagnosing pregnancy related disorders  

• Development of a novel technique to determine the importance of uterine factors in implantation, and revealing that calbindins are critical mediators of uterine receptivity and embryo implantation.

• 2007 - Awarded a NHMRC Senior Fellowship

• 2008 - World Congress on Reproductive Biology, Invited Speaker

• 2008 International Conference on Reproductive Immunology, Invited Speaker

• 2007, 2008 - International Federation of Placental Association, Invited Speaker

• 2006 - Japan Society of Fertilisation and Implantation, Plenary Speaker

 

Current Research

• Role of PC6 in regulating embryo implantation and fertility

• PC6: a target for preventing pregnancy and HIV infection

• HtrA3 in placental development and pregnancy disorders

• HtrA3 in cancer and ageing

 

Service to the Scientific Community

• Editorial Board - Endocrinology, Frontiers in Bioscience

• Reviewing Board Member -  Reproductive Biology and Endocrinology

• Member - Society for Reproductive Biology

• Member - Australian Society for Medical Research

• Member - International Proteolysis Society

• Member - Australian and New Zealand Placental Research Association

• Member - International Federation of Placenta Associations 

• Member - Australian National Association of Research Fellows

 

Selected Publications

Nie G, Dimitriadis E, Hannan NJ, Paiva P and Salamonsen LA (2009) Local regulation of implantation at the human fetal-maternal interface. Int J Dev Biol (in press)

Bowden MA, Drummond AE, Salamonsen LA, Findlay JK, and Nie G (2009) Evolutionary conservation of mammalian HtrA3 and its developmental regulation in the rat ovary. J Exp Zool Part B (in press).

Bowden MA, Li Y, Findlay JK, Salamonsen LA and Nie G (2008) HtrA3 expression in non-pregnant rhesus monkey ovary, endometrium and at the maternal-fetal interface during early pregnancy. Reprod Biol Endocrinol 6 (22), 1-11.

Than NG, Romero R, Hillermann R, Cozzi V, Nie G, Huppertz B (2008) Prediction of Pre-eclampsia. Placenta 29, Suppl 1:S83-85.

Freyer C, Kilpatrtick L, Salamonsen LA and Nie G (2007) Pro-protein convertases other than PC6 are not tightly regulated for implantation in the human endometrium. Reprod 133, 1189-1197.

Bowden MA, Di Nezza-Cossens LA, Jobling T, Salamonsen LA and Nie G (2006) Serine proteases HtrA1 and HtrA3 are down-regulated with increasing grades of human endometrial cancer. Gynecol Oncol 103, 253-260.

Nie G, Li Y, Hale K, Okada H, Manuelpillai U, Wallace E, Salamonsen L. (2006) Serine peptidase HTRA3 is closely associated with human placental development and is elevated in pregnancy serum. Biol Reprod 74: 366-374.

Nie G, Li Y, He H, Findlay J, Salamonsen LA (2006) HtrA3, a serine protease possessing an IGF binding domain, is specifically expressed at the maternal-fetal interface during placentation in the mouse. Placenta 27: 491-501.

Okada H, Nie G, Salamonsen LA (2005) Requirement for proprotein convertase 5/6 during decidualization of human endometrial stromal cells in vitro. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 90: 1028-1034.

Nie G, Li Y, Wang M, Liu YX, Findlay JK, Salamonsen LA (2005) Inhibiting uterine proprotein convertase 6 blocks embryo implantation: an obligatory role for a proprotein convertase in fertility. Biol Reprod 72: 1029-1036.

Luu KC, Nie G and Salamonsen LA (2004) Endometrial calbindins are critical for embryo implantation: evidence from in vivo use of morpholino antisense oligonucleotides. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 101(21): 8028-8033.

Nie G, Li Y, Minoura H, Findlay JK, Salamonsen LA (2003) Specific and transient up-regulation of proprotein convertase 6 (PC6) at the site of embryo implantation and identification of a uterine-specific transcript in mouse uterus during early pregnancy. Biol Reprod 68: 439-447.

Nie G, Hampton A, Li Y, Findlay JK, Salamonsen LA (2003) Identification and cloning of two isoforms of human HtrA3, characterisation of its genomic structure and comparison of its tissue distribution with HtrA1 and HtrA2. Biochem J 371: 39-48.