Dr Richard Francis ~ Lecturer, Physiology

I received my PhD from the University of Otago medical school studying animal models of liver disease.  As a postdoctoral fellow at the NIH (Bethesda, MD) I pursued research to analyze the role of the gap junction protein connexin43 in regulating cell migration during embryonic development.  Later, as a staff scientist at the NIH I supervised cilia motility research utilizing nasal biopsies obtained from patients with heterotaxy and/or congenital heart disease.  As a Research Assistant Professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine I helped conduct/supervise a broad range of studies where a range of congenital heart disease associated genes were discovered, including the discovery of a significant correlation between cilia defects and the development of complex congenital heart disease.  I subsequently joined the Biomedical Imaging Facility at UNSW in Sydney to manage a range of core laboratories before moving to JCU where I’m pursuing research to better understand the mechanisms regulating motile cilia biology during health and disease.

Movie of normal mouse airway cilia (playback slowed)

 Current Honours/Masters/PhD projects:

 1)    The role of motile cilia in mucociliary clearance

 

 

Teaching

• BM3000: Advanced Projects in Biomedicine (Level 3; TSV)
• BM5000: Advanced Projects in Biomedicine (Level 5; TSV)
• MD2011: Integrated Human System Pathophysiology Part 1 of 2 (Level 2; TSV)
• MD2012: Integrated Human System Pathophysiology Part 2 of 2 (Level 2; TSV)
• PC1001: Human Anatomy and Physiology 1 (Level 1; TSV)
• PC1002: Human Anatomy and Physiology 2 (Level 1; TSV)
• PP2101: Medical Physiology 1 (Level 2; TSV)
• PP2201: Medical Physiology 2 (Level 2; TSV)
• PP3101: Advanced and Integrated Physiology (Level 3; TSV)
• PP3251: Systemic Pathophysiology and Therapeutics (Level 3; TSV)
• PP5101: Advanced and Integrated Physiology (Level 5; TSV)
• PP5251: Systemic Pathophysiology and Therapeutics (Level 5; TSV)

Interests

Research

• Motile cilia biology
• Respiratory cilia physiology
• Left-right body patterning
• Congenital heart disease

Teaching

• Development of active learning skills in undergraduate student teaching
• Fostering of good research practice in undergraduate and postgraduate student research

Experience

• 2019 to present - Lecturer, James Cook University (Townsville, Australia)
• 2014 to 2018 - Research Associate, University of New South Wales (Sydney, Australia)
• 2009 to 2014 - Research Assistant Professor, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine (Pittsburgh, PA)
• 2008 to 2009 - Staff Scientist, National Institutes of Health (Bethesda, MD)
• 2003 to 2008 - Postdoctoral Fellow, National Institutes of Health (Bethesda, MD)
• 1998 to 2005 - PhD Student, University of Otago Medical School (Otago, NZ)
• 1999 to 2003 - Teaching Fellow, University of Otago Medical School (Otago, NZ)

Research Disciplines

• Neurosciences (1109)
• Artificial Intelligence and Image Processing (0801)
• Genetics (0604)

Socio-Economic Objectives

• Clinical Health (9201)
• Health (9299)

Memberships

• 2019 - Australian Physiological Society
• 2008 - American Physiological Society
• 2009 to 2014 - American Association for the Advancement of Science
• 2009 to 2013 - Microscopy Society of America
• 2004 to 2008 - American Society For Cell Biology
• 1999 to 2003 - Physiological Society of New Zealand

These are the most recent publications associated with this author. To see a detailed profile of all publications stored at JCU, visit ResearchOnline@JCU. Hover over Altmetrics badges to see social impact.

Journal Articles

• Liang H, Wang H, Wang S, Francis R, Paxinos G and Huang X (2018) 3D imaging of PSD-95 in the mouse brain using the advanced CUBIC method. Molecular brain, 11, Article: 50, DOI:10.1186/s13041-018-0393-4.
• Solomon G, Francis R, Chu K, Birket S, Gabriel G, Trombley J, Lemke K, Klena N, Turner B, Tearney G, Lo C and Rowe S (2017) Assessment of ciliary phenotype in primary ciliary dyskinesia by micro-optical coherence tomography. JCI Insight, 2 (5), Article: e91702, DOI:10.1172/jci.insight.91702.
• Li Y, Yagi H, Onuoha E, Damerla R, Francis R, Furutani Y, Tariq M, King S, Hendricks G, Cui C, Saydmohammed M, Lee D, Zahid M, Sami I, Leatherbury L, Pazour G, Ware S, Nakanishi T, Goldmuntz E, Tsang M and Lo C (2016) DNAH6 and its interactions with PCD genes in heterotaxy and primary ciliary dyskinesia. PLoS Genetics, 12 (2), Article: e1005821, DOI:10.1371/journal.pgen.1005821.
• Liang H, Akladios B, Canales C, Francis R, Hardeman E and Beverdam A (2016) CUBIC protocol visualizes protein expression at single cell resolution in whole mount skin preparations. Journal of Visualized Experiments, 1 (114), Article: e54401, DOI:10.3791/54401.
• Akawi N, McRae J, Ansari M, Balasubramanian M, Blyth M, Brady A, Clayton S, Cole T, Deshpande C, Fitzgerald T, Foulds N, Francis R, Gabriel G, Gerety S, Goodship J, Hobson E, Jones W, Joss S, King D, Klena N, Kumar A, Lees M, Lelliott C, Lord J, McMullan D, O'Regan M, Osio D, Piombo V, Prigmore E, Rajan D, Rosser E, Sifrim A, Smith A, Swaminathan G, Turnpenny P, Whitworth J, Wright C, Firth H, Barrett J, Lo C, FitzPatrick D, Hurles M and for the DDD Study (2015) Discovery of four recessive developmental disorders using probabilistic genotype and phenotype matching among 4,125 families. Nature Genetics, 47 (11), pp. 1363-1369, DOI:10.1038/ng.3410.
• Czarnecki P, Gabriel G, Manning D, Sergeev M, Lemke K, Klena N, Liu X, Chen Y, Li Y, Agustin J, Garnaas M, Francis R, Tobita K, Goessling W, Pazour G, Lo C, Beier D and Shah J (2015) ANKS6 is the critical activator of NEK8 kinase in embryonic situs determination and organ patterning. Nature Communications, 6, Article: 6023, DOI:10.1038/ncomms7023.
• Damerla R, Cui C, Gabriel G, Liu X, Craige B, Gibbs B, Francis R, Li Y, Chatterjee B, San Agustin J, Eguether T, Subramanian R, Witman G, Michaud J, Pazour G and Lo C (2015) Novel Jbts17 mutant mouse model of Joubert syndrome with cilia transition zone defects and cerebellar and other ciliopathy related anomalies. Human Molecular Genetics, 24 (14), pp. 3994-4005, DOI:10.1093/hmg/ddv137.
• Kutten J, McGovern D, Hobson C, Luffy S, Nieponice A, Tobita K, Francis R, Reynolds S, Isenberg J and Gilbert T (2015) Decellularized tracheal extracellular matrix supports epithelial migration, differentiation, and function. Tissue Engineering Part A: Tissue Engineering, 21 (1-2), pp. 75-84, DOI:10.1089/ten.tea.2014.0089.
• Li Y, Klena N, Gabriel G, Liu X, Kim A, Lemke K, Chen Y, Chatterjee B, Devine W, Damerla R, Chang C, Yagi H, San Agustin J, Thahir M, Anderton S, Lawhead C, Vescovi A, Pratt H, Morgan J, Haynes L, Smith C, Eppig J, Reinholdt L, Francis R, Leatherbury L, Ganapathiraju M, Tobita K, Pazour G and Lo C (2015) Global genetic analysis in mice unveils central role for cilia in congenital heart disease. Nature, 521 (7553), pp. 520-524, DOI:10.1038/nature14269.
• Liang H, Wang S, Francis R, Whan R, Watson C and Paxinos G (2015) Distribution of raphespinal fibers in the mouse spinal cord. Molecular Pain, 11, Article: 42, DOI:10.1186/s12990-015-0046-x.
• Quinn S, Zahid M, Durkin J, Francis R, Lo C and Chennubhotla S (2015) Automated identification of abnormal respiratory ciliary motion in nasal biopsies. Science Translational Medicine, 7 (299), Article: 299ra124, DOI:10.1126/scitranslmed.aaa1233.
• Welchering N, Ochoa S, Tian X, Francis R, Zahid M, Muñoz R and Lo C (2015) Dexmedetomidine and fentanyl exhibit temperature dependent effects on human respiratory cilia. Frontiers in Pediatrics, 3, Article: 7, DOI:10.3389/fped.2015.00007.

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ResearchOnline@JCU stores 17+ research outputs authored by Dr Richard Francis from 2014 onwards.

The map shows research collaborations by institution from the past 7 years.
Note: Map points are indicative of the countries or states that institutions are associated with.