Position
Associate Professor
Qualifications and Awards
BSC (Hons) 1973; PhD (Monash) 1977
Associations
Endocrine Society
Neuroscience Society
Australian Atherosclerosis Society
Australian and New Zealand Bone and Mineral Society
Contact Details
| Location |
Room 721, Otto Hirschfeld Building (81), St Lucia Campus |
| Mail |
School of Biomedical Sciences,
The University of Queensland,
BNE, QUEENSLAND 4072 |
| Telephone |
+61 3365 3180 |
| Facsimile |
+61 3365 1766 |
| Email |
c.sernia@uq.edu.au |
Biography
I was awarded a PhD from Monash University (Melbourne, Australia) in 1977 and then held a Lalor Foundation Fellowship (USA) at CSIRO (Canberra) and an American Heart Association Fellowship at the School of Medicine, University of California at San Francisco. I was first appointed at UQ in 1980 as a Lecturer in Physiology. I have held Visiting Scientist positions at The Howard Florey Institute, University of Melbourne, and Visiting Professorships at the University of Florida (Gainesville) and Washington State University.
My interest in the education of students in biomedical sciences, veterinary science, medicine, dentistry and allied health sciences has been marked by designing, implementing and coordinating various courses, in addition to my role as lecturer. I have held leadership roles in Teaching and Learning at the School and Faculty level.
Honours and Postgraduate education has been an area of particular interest, firstly by formalizing and implementing our BSc(Hons) program and more recently by contributing to our postgraduate (MPhil/PhD) program.
Currently I am coordinator of Postgraduate Studies with a brief to internationalize the research experience and training of our postgraduate candidates.
Research Interests
Over three decades the major area of interest of my laboratory has been in tissue renin-angiotensin systems (RAS). We have contributed original findings on RAS in the brain, heart, ovary, kidney, testis and pancreas. Currently my laboratory is interested in a novel role for RAS in osteoporosis and bone demineralization, particularly as it manifests in hypertension, ageing and metabolic diseases. We use cellular and molecular approaches as well as rodent models that adequately mimic human diseases of interest.
The second theme is in the area of oxidative stress/inflammation and the link with ageing and disease. This theme is the basis of my collaboration with Professor Lindsay Brown. I maintain an interest in the endocrinology of stress through collaborations with Drs Adrian Bradley and Nick Lavidis.
Current PhD Candidates
Kirsty MacRae ( Supervisors: Sernia/Thomas)
Chi Lei (Gigi) Teng (Sernia/Thomas)
Sandra Hernandez Mendez (Bradley/Sernia)
Hsiao-Jou (Cortina) (Lavidis/Sernia)
Jeremy Wong Weng ( Brown/Sernia)
Hemant Poudyal (Brown/Sernia)
Ashraf Alam (Brown/Sernia)
Vishal Diwan (Brown/Sernia)
Molecular endocrinology of the renin-angiotensin system
The major area of interest is in tissue renin-angiotensin systems. The current focus is on the ageing brain and growth.
Available projects
1. the renin-angiotensin system in the normal ageing brain
2. the renin-angiotensin system in a transgenic model of Alzheimer's Disease.
3. angiotensin regulation of amyloid precursor protein (APP) in neurones
4. the renin-angiotensin system in bone tissue: studies in osteoblasts.
Collaboration: The laboratory has research links with the Department of Anatomical Sciences (UQ), the Chinese University of Hong Kong, the University of Siena (Italy) and University of California, Irvine.
Research Techniques: General endocrine methods, such as cell culture, radioreceptor assays and autoradiography; PCR, cloning, Western blotting; Immunohistochemistry and image analysis.
Selected Publications
Sernia C Brown L. (2011) Emerging benefits of AT1 receptor antagonists with pleiotropic anti-inflammatory activity. American Journal of Hypertension 24:739 (Editorial)
Sernia C Huang H et al. (2007). Bone homeostasis: an emerging role for the renin-angiotensin system. In “Proteases of the renin-angiotensin system in Human Disease” ed. P.Leung, Springer Verlag, pp263-287.
Greenland K Sernia C. (2004) Oestrogenic regulation of brain angiotensinogen. J Neuroendocrin 16: 508-515, 2004.
Leung PS Sernia C. (2003)The renin-angiotensin system and male reproduction: new functions for old hormones. Molec Cell Endocrin 30: 263-70.
Sernia C. (2001) A critical appraisal of the intrinsic pancreatic angiotensin-generating system. J Pancreas 2:50-55.
Sernia, C., Tang, Z.et al (1997) Novel perspectives on pituitary and brain angiotensinogen. Front. Neuroendocrin. 18(2): 174-208.
Mungall, B Sernia C. Immunocytochemical localization of angiotensinogen in the fetal and neonatal rat brain. Neuroscience 67,505-524. 1995.
Wyse B Waters M Sernia C (1993) Stimulation of the renin-angiotensin system by growth hormone (GH) in dwarf GH deficient rats. Am J Physiol 256 (Endocrinol Metab), E332-E339. 1993.
Thomas WG Sernia C (1988) Immunocytochemical localization of angiotensinogen in the rat brain. Neuroscience 25, 319-341. 1988.
Grants
Actions of angiotensin on osteoblast cells
