Dr John Lee
Senior Research Fellow and Group Leader
School of Biomedical Sciences
*
Dr Lee joined the Woodruff Group - Neuroinflammation in 2015 after being awarded a Motor Neuron Disease Research Institute (MNDRIA) fellowship. His projects encompass the investigation of innate immune and inflammatory pathways including complement and inflammasomes in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS/MND). He also has an emerging interest on the links between the immune system, and metabolism in neurodegeneration.
Researcher biography
Dr John Lee is the Ross Maclean Senior Research Fellow and a Group Leader at the Queensland Brain Institute (QBI). He holds a joint appointment at UQ's School of Biomedical Sciences. A mid-career researcher with training in neuroscience, pharmacology, and inflammatory pathways, including the complement system and inflammasomes in motor neuron disease (MND), Huntington's disease, and Parkinson's disease.
Dr. Lee completed his PhD at UQ in 2014, before pursuing postdoctoral research in neuroinflammation and neurodegeneration. His translational studies have demonstrated the therapeutic potential of anti-inflammatory compounds to reduce neuronal cell death in animal models, with one candidate advancing to Phase 1B clinical trials. He is also collaborating on novel liquid drug formulations to meet the needs of MND patients who lose the ability to swallow.
Supported by the Ross Maclean Fellowship, which was established in memory of Ross Maclean, who lost his battle with MND in 2005, Dr Lee is working to accelerate drug programs towards the clinic and improve the quality of life for people living with MND.
Book Chapters
Lee, John D., Lo, Martin W., Fung, Jenny N. T. and Woodruff, Trent M. (2022). Neuroinflammation in Huntington’s. Neurodegenerative Diseases Biomarkers. (pp. 215-233) edited by Philip V. Peplow, Bridget Martinez and Thomas A. Gennarelli. New York, NY, United States: Springer US. doi: 10.1007/978-1-0716-1712-0_9
Lee, John D., Lee, Jia Y., Taylor, Stephen M., Noakes, Peter G. and Woodruff, Trent M. (2012). Innate immunity in ALS. Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. (pp. 393-412) edited by Martin H. Maurer. Croatia: InTech - Open Access Publisher. doi: 10.5772/30341
Journal Articles
Risby-Jones, Grace, Marallag, Jianina, Jagaraj, Cyril Jones, Atkin, Julie D., Walker, Adam K., Woodruff, Trent M., Lee, John D. and Fung, Jenny N. (2025). IL-6 trans-signalling is elevated in ALS models and drives TDP-43 induced inflammatory responses in microglia. Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, 129, 296-304. doi: 10.1016/j.bbi.2025.06.021
Fung, Jenny, Lee, John and Woodruff, Trent (2025). Targeting C5a inflammation in ALS: Ex vivo findings from PMX205 phase Ib trial. Immunobiology, 230 (4) 153003, 35-35. doi: 10.1016/j.imbio.2025.153003
Read, Austin, Lee, John, Fung, Jenny and Woodruff, Trent (2025). Complement membrane attack complex alters the proliferation of neural progenitor cells during late embryonic murine neurogenesis. Immunobiology, 230 (4) 153063, 61-61. doi: 10.1016/j.imbio.2025.153063
Lun (Mike) Wu, Chia, Ju, Lining Arnold, Italiano, Ethan, Jarvis-Child, Rocko, Alwis, Imala, Smythe, Rhyll, Albornoz, Eduardo A., Noonan, Jonathan, Portelli, Marie, Baptista, Marrisa, Maclean, Jessica, Norri, Pashtana, Yang, Jinglu, Lee, John, McFadyen, James D., Sharland, Alexandra, Woodruff, Trent M., Samson, Andre, Rapkiewicz, Amy, Barrett, Tessa, Pham, Alan, Schoenwaelder, Simone, Yuan, Yuping and Jackson, Shaun P. (2025). Complement C9-mediated RBC hemolysis drives microvascular obstruction via endothelial necroptosis and hemolyzed RBC aggregation in COVID-19. Immunobiology, 230 (4) 153045, 53-53. doi: 10.1016/j.imbio.2025.153045
Wu, Mike C. L., Italiano, Ethan, Jarvis-Child, Rocko, Alwis, Imala, Smythe, Rhyll, Albornoz, Eduardo A., Noonan, Jonathan, Portelli, Marie, Baptista, Marissa, Maclean, Jessica, Noori, Pashtana, Yang, Jinglu, Lee, John D., McFadyen, James D., Sharland, Alexandra F., Woodruff, Trent M., Samson, Andre L., Rapkiewicz, Amy, Barrett, Tessa J., Pham, Alan, Schoenwaelder, Simone M., Yuan, Yuping and Jackson, Shaun P. (2025). Ischaemic endothelial necroptosis induces haemolysis and COVID-19 angiopathy. Nature, 643 (8070), 1-10. doi: 10.1038/s41586-025-09076-x
Cui, Cedric S., Lerskiatiphanich, Titaya, Li, Xaria X., Giri, Rabina, Liu, Ning, Kumar, Vinod, Whittaker, Andrew K., Han, Felicity Y., Clark, Richard J., Begun, Jakob, Lee, John D. and Woodruff, Trent M. (2025). Colon‐targeted complement C5a1 receptor inhibition using pH‐sensitive nanoparticles ameliorates experimental colitis. British Journal of Pharmacology, 182 (16), 3852-3869. doi: 10.1111/bph.70056
Fung, Jenny N., Lee, John D., Adam, Robert, O’Sullivan, John D. and Woodruff, Trent M. (2025). Peripheral and central elevation of IL-8 in patients with Huntington’s disease. Molecular Immunology, 179, 84-93. doi: 10.1016/j.molimm.2025.02.003
McDonald, Tanya S., Cui, Cedric S., Lerskiatiphanich, Titaya, Marallag, Jianina and Lee, John D. (2025). Metabolic rate and insulin-independent glucose uptake increase in a TDP-43Q331K mouse model of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Heliyon, 11 (3) e42482, 1-13. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2025.e42482
Risby-Jones, Grace, Lee, John D., Woodruff, Trent M. and Fung, Jenny N. (2024). Sex differences in Huntington's disease from a neuroinflammation perspective. Frontiers in Neurology, 15 1384480, 1-7. doi: 10.3389/fneur.2024.1384480
Lee, John D. and Woodruff, Trent M. (2024). Complement(ing) long-COVID thromboinflammation and pathogenesis. Trends in Immunology, 45 (6), 397-399. doi: 10.1016/j.it.2024.04.001
Chen, Hsiao-Jou Cortina, Spiers, Jereme G., Lerskiatiphanich, Titaya, Parker, Sandra E., Lavidis, Nickolas A., Fung, Jenny N., Woodruff, Trent M. and Lee, John D. (2024). Complement C5a receptor signaling alters stress responsiveness and modulates microglia following chronic stress exposure. Biological Psychiatry: Global Open Science, 4 (3) 100306, 100306. doi: 10.1016/j.bpsgos.2024.100306
San Gil, Rebecca, Pascovici, Dana, Venturato, Juliana, Brown-Wright, Heledd, Mehta, Prachi, Madrid San Martin, Lidia, Wu, Jemma, Luan, Wei, Chui, Yi Kit, Bademosi, Adekunle T., Swaminathan, Shilpa, Naidoo, Serey, Berning, Britt A., Wright, Amanda L., Keating, Sean S., Curtis, Maurice A., Faull, Richard L. M., Lee, John D., Ngo, Shyuan T., Lee, Albert, Morsch, Marco, Chung, Roger S., Scotter, Emma, Lisowski, Leszek, Mirzaei, Mehdi and Walker, Adam K. (2024). A transient protein folding response targets aggregation in the early phase of TDP-43-mediated neurodegeneration. Nature Communications, 15 (1) 1508, 1508. doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-45646-9
Vassileff, Natasha, Spiers, Jereme G., Lee, John D., Woodruff, Trent M., Ebrahimie, Esmaeil, Mohammadi Dehcheshmeh, Manijeh, Hill, Andrew F. and Cheng, Lesley (2024). A panel of miRNA biomarkers common to serum and brain-derived extracellular vesicles identified in mouse model of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Molecular Neurobiology, 61 (8), 5901-5915. doi: 10.1007/s12035-023-03857-z
Li, Xaria X., Fung, Jenny N., Clark, Richard J., Lee, John D. and Woodruff, Trent M. (2024). Cell-intrinsic C5a synergizes with Dectin-1 in macrophages to mediate fungal killing. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 121 (5) e2314627121, 1-10. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2314627121
Alexander, Stephen P. H., Christopoulos, Arthur, Davenport, Anthony P., Kelly, Eamonn, Mathie, Alistair A., Peters, John A., Veale, Emma L., Armstrong, Jane F., Faccenda, Elena, Harding, Simon D., Davies, Jamie A., Abbracchio, Maria Pia, Abraham, George, Agoulnik, Alexander, Alexander, Wayne, Al‐hosaini, Khaled, Bäck, Magnus, Baker, Jillian G., Barnes, Nicholas M., Bathgate, Ross, Beaulieu, Jean‐Martin, Beck‐Sickinger, Annette G., Behrens, Maik, Bernstein, Kenneth E., Bettler, Bernhard, Birdsall, Nigel J. M., Blaho, Victoria, Boulay, Francois, Bousquet, Corinne ... Ye, Richard D. (2023). The concise guide to PHARMACOLOGY 2023/24: G protein-coupled receptors. British Journal of Pharmacology, 180 (S2), S23-S144. doi: 10.1111/bph.16177
Cianciulli, Antonia, Coulthard, Liam, Hawksworth, Owen, Lee, John D., Li, Xaria X., Mitolo, Vincenzo, Monk, Peter, Panaro, Maria A. and Woodruff, Trent M. (2023). Complement peptide receptors in GtoPdb v.2023.1. IUPHAR/BPS Guide to Pharmacology CITE, 2023 (1). doi: 10.2218/gtopdb/f5/2023.1
Li, Xaria X., Lee, John D., Lee, Han S., Clark, Richard J. and Woodruff, Trent M. (2023). TLQP-21 is a low potency partial C3aR activator on human primary macrophages. Frontiers in Immunology, 14 1086673, 1-10. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2023.1086673
Albornoz, Eduardo A., Amarilla, Alberto A., Modhiran, Naphak, Parker, Sandra, Li, Xaria X., Wijesundara, Danushka K., Aguado, Julio, Zamora, Adriana Pliego, McMillan, Christopher L. D., Liang, Benjamin, Peng, Nias Y. G., Sng, Julian D. J., Saima, Fatema Tuj, Fung, Jenny N., Lee, John D., Paramitha, Devina, Parry, Rhys, Avumegah, Michael S., Isaacs, Ariel, Lo, Martin W., Miranda-Chacon, Zaray, Bradshaw, Daniella, Salinas-Rebolledo, Constanza, Rajapakse, Niwanthi W., Wolvetang, Ernst J., Munro, Trent P., Rojas-Fernandez, Alejandro, Young, Paul R., Stacey, Katryn J. ... Woodruff, Trent M. (2023). SARS-CoV-2 drives NLRP3 inflammasome activation in human microglia through spike protein. Molecular Psychiatry, 28 (7), 2878-2893. doi: 10.1038/s41380-022-01831-0
McDonald, Tanya S., Lerskiatiphanich, Titaya, Woodruff, Trent M., McCombe, Pamela A. and Lee, John D. (2022). Potential mechanisms to modify impaired glucose metabolism in neurodegenerative disorders. Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolism, 43 (1), 26-43. doi: 10.1177/0271678x221135061
Lerskiatiphanich, Titaya, Marallag, Jianina and Lee, John D. (2022). Glucose metabolism in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: It is bitter-sweet. Neural Regeneration Research, 17 (9), 1975-1977. doi: 10.4103/1673-5374.335154
Lo, Martin W., Amarilla, Alberto A., Lee, John D., Albornoz, Eduardo A., Modhiran, Naphak, Clark, Richard J., Ferro, Vito, Chhabra, Mohit, Khromykh, Alexander A., Watterson, Daniel and Woodruff, Trent M. (2022). SARS-CoV-2 triggers complement activation through interactions with heparan sulfate. Clinical and Translational Immunology, 11 (8) e1413, e1413. doi: 10.1002/cti2.1413
Cui, Cedric S., Kumar, Vinod, Gorman, Declan M., Clark, Richard J., Lee, John D. and Woodruff, Trent M. (2021). In vivo pharmacodynamic method to assess complement C5a receptor antagonist efficacy. ACS Pharmacology and Translational Science, 5 (1) acsptsci.1c00227, 41-51. doi: 10.1021/acsptsci.1c00227
Li, Xaria X., Gorman, Declan M., Lee, John D., Clark, Richard J. and Woodruff, Trent M. (2021). Unexpected off-target activities for recombinant C5a in human macrophages. Journal of Immunology, 208 (1), 133-142. doi: 10.4049/jimmunol.2100444
Gorman, Declan M., Li, Xaria X., Payne, Colton D., Cui, Cedric S., Lee, John D., Rosengren, K. Johan, Woodruff, Trent M. and Clark, Richard J. (2021). Development of synthetic human and mouse C5a: application to binding and functional assays in vitro and in vivo. ACS Pharmacology and Translational Science, 4 (6) acsptsci.1c00199, 1808-1817. doi: 10.1021/acsptsci.1c00199
Gorman, Declan M., Li, Xaria X., Lee, John D., Fung, Jenny N., Cui, Cedric S., Lee, Han Siean, Rolfe, Barbara E., Woodruff, Trent M. and Clark, Richard J. (2021). Development of Potent and Selective Agonists for Complement C5a Receptor 1 with In Vivo Activity. Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, 64 (22) acs.jmedchem.1c01174, 16598-16608. doi: 10.1021/acs.jmedchem.1c01174
Pandey, Shubhi, Kumari, Punita, Baidya, Mithu, Kise, Ryoji, Cao, Yubo, Dwivedi-Agnihotri, Hemlata, Banerjee, Ramanuj, Li, Xaria X., Cui, Cedric S., Lee, John D., Kawakami, Kouki, Maharana, Jagannath, Ranjan, Ashutosh, Chaturvedi, Madhu, Jhingan, Gagan Deep, Laporte, Stéphane A., Woodruff, Trent M., Inoue, Asuka and Shukla, Arun K. (2021). Intrinsic bias at non-canonical, β-arrestin-coupled seven transmembrane receptors. Molecular Cell, 81 (22), 4605-4621.e11. doi: 10.1016/j.molcel.2021.09.007
Lee, John D. and Woodruff, Trent M. (2021). The emerging role of complement in neuromuscular disorders. Seminars in Immunopathology, 43 (6), 817-828. doi: 10.1007/s00281-021-00895-4
Alexander, Stephen PH, Christopoulos, Arthur, Davenport, Anthony P, Kelly, Eamonn, Mathie, Alistair, Peters, John A, Veale, Emma L, Armstrong, Jane F, Faccenda, Elena, Harding, Simon D, Pawson, Adam J, Southan, Christopher, Davies, Jamie A, Abbracchio, Maria Pia, Alexander, Wayne, Al‐hosaini, Khaled, Bäck, Magnus, Barnes, Nicholas M., Bathgate, Ross, Beaulieu, Jean‐Martin, Bernstein, Kenneth E., Bettler, Bernhard, Birdsall, Nigel J.M., Blaho, Victoria, Boulay, Francois, Bousquet, Corinne, Bräuner‐Osborne, Hans, Burnstock, Geoffrey, Caló, Girolamo ... Ye, Richard D. (2021). The concise guide to pharmacology 2021/22: G protein‐coupled receptors. British Journal of Pharmacology, 178 (S1), S27-S156. doi: 10.1111/bph.15538
Cianciulli, Antonia, Coulthard, Liam, Hawksworth, Owen, Lee, John D., Li, Xaria X., Mitolo, Vincenzo, Monk, Peter, Panaro, Maria A. and Woodruff, Trent M. (2021). Complement peptide receptors in GtoPdb v.2021.3. IUPHAR/BPS Guide to Pharmacology CITE, 2021 (3), 1-13. doi: 10.2218/gtopdb/f5/2021.3
McDonald, Tanya S., Kumar, Vinod, Fung, Jenny N., Woodruff, Trent M. and Lee, John D. (2021). Glucose clearance and uptake is increased in the SOD1 G93A mouse model of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis through an insulin‐independent mechanism. The FASEB Journal, 35 (7) e21707, e21707. doi: 10.1096/fj.202002450r
Lo, Martin W. and Lee, John D. (2021). Complement: a global immunometabolic regulator in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Neural Regeneration Research, 16 (6), 1210-1211. doi: 10.4103/1673-5374.300441
Li, Xaria X., Kumar, Vinod, Clark, Richard J., Lee, John D. and Woodruff, Trent M. (2021). The “C3aR Antagonist” SB290157 is a partial C5aR2 agonist. Frontiers in Pharmacology, 11 591398, 591398. doi: 10.3389/fphar.2020.591398
Gorman, Declan M., Lee, John, Payne, Colton D., Woodruff, Trent M. and Clark, Richard J. (2021). Chemical synthesis and characterisation of the complement C5 inhibitory peptide zilucoplan. Amino Acids, 53 (1), 143-147. doi: 10.1007/s00726-020-02921-5
Lee, John D., Heshmat, Saman, Heggie, Susan, Thorpe, Kathryn A., McCombe, Pamela A. and Henderson, Robert D. (2021). Clinical and electrophysiological examination of pinch strength in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Muscle and Nerve, 63 (1) mus.27111, 108-113. doi: 10.1002/mus.27111
Lee, John D. and Woodruff, Trent M. (2020). TDP-43 Puts the STING in ALS. Trends in Neurosciences, 44 (2), 81-82. doi: 10.1016/j.tins.2020.12.001
Cianciulli, Antonia, Coulthard, Liam, Hawksworth, Owen, Lee, John D., Li, Xiang X., Mitolo, Vincenzo, Monk, Peter, Panaro, Maria A. and Woodruff, Trent M. (2020). Complement peptide receptors (version 2020.5) in the IUPHAR/BPS Guide to Pharmacology Database. IUPHAR/BPS Guide to Pharmacology CITE, 2020 (5). doi: 10.2218/gtopdb/f5/2020.5
Lee, John D., Taylor, Stephen M. and Woodruff, Trent M. (2020). Is the C3a receptor antagonist SB290157 a useful pharmacological tool?. British Journal of Pharmacology, 177 (24) bph.15264, 5677-5678. doi: 10.1111/bph.15264
Wu, Mike C. L., Lee, John D., Ruitenberg, Marc J. and Woodruff, Trent M. (2020). Absence of the C5a receptor C5aR2 worsens ischemic tissue injury by increasing C5aR1-mediated neutrophil infiltration. The Journal of Immunology, 205 (10), 1-6. doi: 10.4049/jimmunol.2000778
Kumar, Vinod, Lee, John D., Coulson, Elizabeth J. and Woodruff, Trent M. (2020). A validated quantitative method for the assessment of neuroprotective barrier impairment in neurodegenerative disease models. Journal of Neurochemistry, 158 (3) jnc.15119, 807-817. doi: 10.1111/jnc.15119
Li, Xaria X., Lee, John D., Massey, Nicholas L., Guan, Carolyn, Robertson, Avril A. B., Clark, Richard J. and Woodruff, Trent M. (2020). Pharmacological characterisation of small molecule C5aR1 inhibitors in human cells reveals biased activities for signalling and function. Biochemical Pharmacology, 180 114156, 114156. doi: 10.1016/j.bcp.2020.114156
Lee, John D., McDonald, Tanya S., Fung, Jenny N. T. and Woodruff, Trent M. (2020). Absence of Receptor for Advanced Glycation End Product (RAGE) Reduces Inflammation and Extends Survival in the hSOD1 Mouse Model of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. Molecular Neurobiology, 57 (10), 4143-4155. doi: 10.1007/s12035-020-02019-9
McCombe, Pamela A., Lee, John D., Woodruff, Trent M. and Henderson, Robert D. (2020). The peripheral immune system and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Frontiers in Neurology, 11 279, 279. doi: 10.3389/fneur.2020.00279
McDonald, Tanya S., McCombe, Pamela A., Woodruff, Trent M. and Lee, John D. (2020). The potential interplay between energy metabolism and innate complement activation in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. The FASEB Journal, 34 (6) fj.201901781, 7225-7233. doi: 10.1096/fj.201901781
Deora, Vandana, Lee, John D., Albornoz, Eduardo A., McAlary, Luke, Jagaraj, Cyril J., Robertson, Avril A. B., Atkin, Julie D, Cooper, Matthew A., Schroder, Kate, Yerbury, Justin J., Gordon, Richard and Woodruff, Trent M. (2020). The microglial NLRP3 inflammasome is activated by amyotrophic lateral sclerosis proteins. Glia, 68 (2) glia.23728, 407-421. doi: 10.1002/glia.23728
Kumar, Vinod, Lee, John D., Clark, Richard J., Noakes, Peter G., Taylor, Stephen M. and Woodruff, Trent M. (2020). Preclinical pharmacokinetics of complement C5a receptor antagonists PMX53 and PMX205 in mice. ACS Omega, 5 (5) acsomega.9b03735, 2345-2354. doi: 10.1021/acsomega.9b03735
Alexander, Stephen P. H., Christopoulos, Arthur, Davenport, Anthony P., Kelly, Eamonn, Mathie, Alistair, Peters, John A., Veale, Emma L., Armstrong, Jane F., Faccenda, Elena, Harding, Simon D., Pawson, Adam J., Sharman, Joanna L., Southan, Christopher, Davies, Jamie A., Abbracchio, Maria P., Alexander, Wayne, Al-hosaini, Khaled, Bäck, Magnus, Beaulieu, Jean‐Martin, Bernstein, Kenneth E., Bettler, Bernhard, Birdsall, Nigel J.M., Blaho, Victoria, Bousquet, Corinne, Bräuner-Osborne, Hans, Burnstock, Geoffrey, Caló, Girolamo, Castaño, Justo P., Catt, Kevin J. ... Yao, Chengcan (2019). The Concise Guide to Pharmacology 2019/20: G protein‐coupled receptors. British Journal of Pharmacology, 176 (S1), S21-S141. doi: 10.1111/bph.14748
Lee, John D., Coulthard, Liam G. and Woodruff, Trent M. (2019). Complement dysregulation in the central nervous system during development and disease. Seminars in Immunology, 45 101340, 101340. doi: 10.1016/j.smim.2019.101340
Cianciulli, Antonia, Coulthard, Liam, Hawksworth, Owen, Lee, John D., Mitolo, Vincenzo, Monk, Peter, Panaro, Maria A. and Woodruff, Trent M. (2019). Complement peptide receptors (version 2019.4) in the IUPHAR/BPS Guide to Pharmacology Database. IUPHAR/BPS Guide to Pharmacology CITE, 2019 (4). doi: 10.2218/gtopdb/f5/2019.4
Nabizadeh, Jamileh A., Manthey, Helga D., Panagides, Nadya, Steyn, Frederik J., Lee, John D., Li, Xaria X., Akhir, Fazrena N. M., Chen, Weiyu, Boyle, Glen M., Taylor, Stephen M., Woodruff, Trent M. and Rolfe, Barbara E. (2019). C5a receptors C5aR1 and C5aR2 mediate opposing pathologies in a mouse model of melanoma. FASEB Journal, 33 (10), fj201800980RR-11071. doi: 10.1096/fj.201800980rr
Parker, Sandra E., Hanton, Angela M., Stefanou, Stephen N., Noakes, Peter G., Woodruff, Trent M. and Lee, John D. (2019). Revisiting the role of the innate immune complement system in ALS. Neurobiology of Disease, 127, 223-232. doi: 10.1016/j.nbd.2019.03.003
Li, Xaria X., Lee, John D., Kemper, Claudia and Woodruff, Trent M. (2019). The complement receptor C5aR2: a powerful modulator of innate and adaptive immunity. Journal of Immunology, 202 (12), 3339-3348. doi: 10.4049/jimmunol.1900371
McCombe, Pamela A., Henderson, Robert D., Lee, Aven, Lee, John D., Woodruff, Trent M., Restuadi, Restuadi, McRae, Allan, Wray, Naomi R., Ngo, Shyuan and Steyn, Frederik J. (2019). Gut microbiota in ALS: possible role in pathogenesis?. Expert Review of Neurotherapeutics, 19 (9), 1-21. doi: 10.1080/14737175.2019.1623026
Lee, John D., Liu, Ning, Levin, Samantha C., Ottosson, Lars, Andersson, Ulf, Harris, Helena E. and Woodruff, Trent M. (2019). Therapeutic blockade of HMGB1 reduces early motor deficits, but not survival in the SOD1G93A mouse model of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Journal of Neuroinflammation, 16 (1) 45, 45. doi: 10.1186/s12974-019-1435-2
Coulthard, Liam G., Hawksworth, Owen A., Conroy, Jacinta, Lee, John D. and Woodruff, Trent M. (2018). Complement C3a receptor modulates embryonic neural progenitor cell proliferation and cognitive performance. Molecular Immunology, 101, 176-181. doi: 10.1016/j.molimm.2018.06.271
Lee, John D., Levin, Samantha C., Willis, Emily F., Li, Rui, Woodruff, Trent M. and Noakes, Peter G. (2018). Complement components are upregulated and correlate with disease progression in the TDP-43 mouse model of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Journal of Neuroinflammation, 15 (1) 171, 171. doi: 10.1186/s12974-018-1217-2
Kumar, Vinod, Lee, John D., Clark, Richard J. and Woodruff, Trent M. (2018). Development and validation of a LC-MS/MS assay for pharmacokinetic studies of complement C5a receptor antagonists PMX53 and PMX205 in mice. Scientific Reports, 8 (1) 8101, 8101. doi: 10.1038/s41598-018-26387-4
Chand, Kirat K., Lee, Kah Meng, Lee, John D., Qiu, Hao, Willis, Emily F., Lavidis, Nickolas A., Hilliard, Massimo A. and Noakes, Peter G. (2018). Defects in synaptic transmission at the neuromuscular junction precedes motor deficits in a TDP-43Q331K transgenic mouse model of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. FASEB Journal : Official Publication of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, 32 (5), fj201700835R-2689. doi: 10.1096/fj.201700835R
Wang, Haitao A., Lee, John D., Lee, Kah Meng, Woodruff, Trent M. and Noakes, Peter G. (2017). Complement C5a-C5aR1 signalling drives skeletal muscle macrophage recruitment in the hSOD1G93A mouse model of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Skeletal Muscle, 7 (1) 10, 10. doi: 10.1186/s13395-017-0128-8
Coulthard, Liam G., Hawksworth, Owen A., Li, Rui, Balachandran, Anushree, Lee, John D., Sepehrband, Farshid, Kurniawan, Nyoman, Jeanes, Angela, Simmons, David G., Wolvetang, Ernst and Woodruff, Trent M. (2017). Complement C5aR1 signaling promotes polarization and proliferation of embryonic neural progenitor cells through PKCζ. Journal of Neuroscience, 37 (22), 5395-5407. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0525-17.2017
Lee, John D., Kumar, Vinod, Fung, Jenny N. T., Ruitenberg, Marc J., Noakes, Peter G. and Woodruff, Trent M. (2017). Pharmacological inhibition of complement C5a-C5a1 receptor signalling ameliorates disease pathology in the hSOD1G93A mouse model of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. British Journal of Pharmacology, 173 (8), 689-699. doi: 10.1111/bph.13730
Spiers, Jereme G., Chen, Hsiao-Jou Cortina, Steyn, Frederik J., Lavidis, Nickolas A., Woodruff, Trent M. and Lee, John D. (2017). Non-invasive assessment of altered activity following restraint in mice using an automated physiological monitoring system. Stress, 20 (1), 59-67. doi: 10.1080/10253890.2016.1276898
Fogarty, Matthew J., Klenowski, Paul M., Lee, John D., Drieberg-Thompson, Joy R., Bartlett, Selena E., Ngo, Shyuan T., Hilliard, Massimo A., Bellingham, Mark C. and Noakes, Peter G. (2016). Cortical synaptic and dendritic spine abnormalities in a presymptomatic TDP-43 model of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Scientific Reports, 6 (1) 37968, 37968. doi: 10.1038/srep37968
Brennan, Faith H., Lee, John D., Ruitenberg, Marc J. and Woodruff, Trent M. (2016). Therapeutic targeting of complement to modify disease course and improve outcomes in neurological conditions. Seminars in Immunology, 28 (3), 292-308. doi: 10.1016/j.smim.2016.03.015
Lee, Jia Y., Lee, John D., Phipps, Simon, Noakes, Peter G. and Woodruff, Trent M. (2015). Absence of toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) extends survival in the hSOD1G93A mouse model of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Journal of Neuroinflammation, 12 (1) 90, 90. doi: 10.1186/s12974-015-0310-z
Woodruff, Trent M., Lee, John D. and Noakes, Peter G. (2014). Role for terminal complement activation in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis disease progression. Proceeding of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 111 (1), E3-E4. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1321248111
Lee, John D., Kamaruzaman, Nur A., Fung, Jenny N. T., Taylor, Stephen M., Turner, Bradley J., Atkin, Julie D., Woodruff, Trent M. and Noakes, Peter G. (2013). Dysregulation of the complement cascade in the hSOD1(G93A) transgenic mouse model of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Journal of Neuroinflammation, 10 (1) 119, 119. doi: 10.1186/1742-2094-10-119
Fung, Jenny N. T., Jeffery, Penny L., Lee, John D., Seim, Inge, Roche, Deborah, Obermair, Andreas, Chopin, Lisa K. and Chen, Chen (2013). Silencing of ghrelin receptor expression inhibits endometrial cancer cell growth in vitro and in vivo. American Journal of Physiology-Endocrinology and Metabolism, 305 (2), E305-E313. doi: 10.1152/ajpendo.00156.2013
Steyn, F. J., Ngo, S. T, Lee, J. D., Leong, J. W., Buckley, A. J., Veldhuis, J. D., McCombe, P. A., Chen, C. and Bellingham, M. C. (2012). Impairments to the GH-IGF-I axis in hSOD1(G93A) mice give insight into possible mechanisms of GH dysregulation in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Endocrinology, 153 (8), 3735-3746. doi: 10.1210/en.2011-2171
Crane, James W., Baiquni, Gilang P., Sullivan, Robert K. P., Lee, John D, Sah, Pankaj, Taylor, Stephen M, Noakes, Peter G. and Woodruff, Trent (2009). The C5a anaphylatoxin receptor CD88 is expressed in presynaptic terminals of hippocampal mossy fibres. Journal of Neuroinflammation, 6 (34) 34, 34.1-34.10. doi: 10.1186/1742-2094-6-34
Conference Papers
Clark, Richard, Dent, Joshua, Gorman, Declan, Li, Xaria, Wu, Xiaosa, Cui, Cedric, Fung, Jenny, Lee, John, Rosengren, Johan and Woodruff, Trent (2025). Development of novel peptide ligands with improved selectivity and pharmacological properties for complement system receptors. 30th International Complement Workshop 2025, Brisbane, QLD, Australia, 14-19 September 2025. Munich, Germany: Elsevier. doi: 10.1016/j.imbio.2025.153001
Risby-Jones, Grace, Woodruff, Trent M., Fung, Jenny N. and Lee, John D. (2025). Investigating the role of neuronally-expressed C5aR1 in motor neuron disease. 30th International Complement Workshop - ICW2025, Brisbane, QLD Australia, 14-19 September 2025. Muenchen, Germany: Elsevier. doi: 10.1016/j.imbio.2025.153079
Julianisya, Alana R., Fung, Jenny N.T., Lerskiatiphanich, Titaya, Woodruff, Trent M. and Lee, John D. (2025). Complement C3a receptor signalling mitigates motor neuron degeneration by modulating neurotoxic astrocytes. 30th International Complement Workshop - ICW2025, Brisbane, QLD Australia, 14-19 September 2025. Muenchen, Germany: Elsevier. doi: 10.1016/j.imbio.2025.153081
Lerskiatiphanich, Titaya, McDonald, Tanya, Cui, Cedric, Fung, Jenny, Woodruff, Trent and Lee, John (2025). Investigating complement receptor C3aR1 signalling in metabolic dysfunction in the R6/1 mouse model of Huntington's disease. 30th International Complement Workshop - ICW2025, Brisbane, QLD Australia, 14-19 September 2025. Muenchen, Germany: Elsevier. doi: 10.1016/j.imbio.2025.153064
Marallag, Jianina, Fung, Jenny, Lee, John and Woodruff, Trent (2025). A detrimental role for complement C5aR1 activation in Huntington’s disease. 30th International Complement Workshop 2025, Brisbane, QLD, Australia, 14-19 September 2025. Munich, Germany: Elsevier. doi: 10.1016/j.imbio.2025.153080
Mishra, Sudha, Dalal, Annu, Yadav, Manish Kumar, Yadav, Ravi, Ganguly, Manisankar, Lee, John, Banerjee, Ramanuj, Woodruff, Trent, Gati, Cornelius and Shukla, Arun Kumar (2025). A conserved molecular mechanism orchestrates diverse ligand recognition at the complement anaphylatoxin receptor C3aR. 30th International Complement Workshop 2025, Brisbane, QLD, Australia, 14-19 September 2025. Munich, Germany: Elsevier. doi: 10.1016/j.imbio.2025.152978
Cui, Cedric, Lerskiatiphanich, Titaya, Lee, John and Woodruff, Trent (2025). Exploring the role of the terminal complement pathway in the DSS-induced colitis model of inflammatory bowel disease. 30th International Complement Workshop 2025, Brisbane, QLD, Australia, 14-19 September 2025. Munich, Germany: Elsevier. doi: 10.1016/j.imbio.2025.152997
Vo, Tuan, Cui, Cedric, Causer, Andrew, Tan, Xiao, Kim, Eunju, Xiong, Zherui, Vu, Hani, Hodson, Mark, Lu, Tianyao, Freytag, Saskia, Fung, Jenny, Lee, John and Nguyen, Quan (2025). Concurrent spatial transcriptomics and metabolomics map differential effects of drug across brain cancer tissues. AACR Annual Meeting 2025, 25-30 April 2025, Chicago, IL USA. Washington, DC USA: American Association for Cancer Research. doi: 10.1158/1538-7445.am2025-5067
Cui, Cedric, Lee, John and Woodruff, Trent (2024). Colon-targeted complement C5aR1 inhibition using pH-sensitive nanoparticles ameliorates experimental colitis. 19th European Meeting on Complement in Human Diseases, Lübeck, Germany, 2-6 September 2024. Weinheim, Germany: Wiley-VCH.
Clark, Richard, Gorman, Declan, Li, Xaria, Dent, Joshua, Cui, Cedric, Lee, Han Siean, Fung, Jenny, Lee, John, Rosengren, K. Johan and Woodruff, Trent (2024). Development of novel peptide ligands with improved selectivity and pharmacological properties for complement system receptors. 37th European Peptide Symposium 14th International Peptide Symposium, Florence, Italy, 25-29 August 2024. Oxford, United Kingdom: John Wiley & Sons.
Cui, Cedric, Kumar, Vinod, Gorman, Declan, Clark, Richard, Lee, John and Woodruff, Trent (2021). An in-vivo pharmacodynamic method to investigate complement C5a receptor antagonists. ICW – 2021 Virtual Workshop of the International Complement Society (ICS), Virtual, 7-10 December 2021. Oxford, United Kingdom: Elsevier. doi: 10.1016/j.molimm.2021.11.020
Woodruff, T., Hawksworth, O., Lee, J. and Coulthard, L. (2019). Deciphering key roles for complement peptide receptors in brain development. Joint Meeting of the International Society for Neurochemistry and American Society for Neurochemistry (ISN-ASN), Montreal, Canada, 4-8 August 2019. Chichester, West Sussex, United Kingdom: Wiley-Blackwell.
Nabizadeh, J., Manthey, H., Panagides, N., Steyn, F., Lee, J., Li, X., Woodruff, T. and Rolfe, B. (2019). Complement C5a receptors, C5aR1 and C5aR2, mediate opposing pathologies in a mouse model of melanoma. 17th International Congress of Immunology (IUIS), Beijing, China, 19-23 October 2019. Weinheim, Germany: Wiley.
Deora, Vandana, Mantovani, Susanna, Yerbury, Justin, Clark, Richard, Atkin, Julie, Lee, John, Gordon, Richard and Woodruff, Trent M. (2017). Motor neuron disease proteins activate complement and generate C5a. 16th European Meeting on Complement in Human Disease (EMCHD), Copenhagen, Denmark, 8-12 September 2017. Kidlington, Oxford, United Kingdom: Pergamon Press. doi: 10.1016/j.molimm.2017.06.144
Li, Rui, Lee, John D., Levin, Samantha, Gordon, Richard and Woodruff, Trent M. (2016). A pathogenic role for the C5a receptor, C5aR2, in mouse models of Huntington's and Parkinson's disease. The XXVI International Complement Workshop (ICW), Kanazawa, Japan, 4-8 September 2016. Muenchen, Germany: Elsevier. doi: 10.1016/j.imbio.2016.06.186
Li, R., Levin, S., Lee, J., Gordon, R. and Woodruff, T. (2016). The complement C5a receptor, C5aR2 contributes to motor deficits in mouse models of Huntington's and Parkinson's disease. International Congress of Immunology (ICI), Melbourne, Australia, 21-26 August 2016. Weinheim, Germany: Wiley - VCH. doi: 10.1002/eji.201670200
Kumar, Vinod, Lee, John, Noakes, Peter and Woodruff, Trent (2015). Blood brain barrier impairment alters the pharmacokinetic properties of the complement C5aR1 antagonist PMX205 in mouse models of neurodegeneration. 8th International Conference on Complement Therapeutics, Chania, Crete, Greece, 1-6 January 2015.
Woodruff, T. M., Lee, J. D., Taylor, S. M. and Noakes, P. G. (2010). Dysregulation of the complement system in neurodegenerative disease. XXIII International Complement Workshop, New York, NY, U.S.A., 1-5 August 2010. Oxford, U.K.: Pergamon Press. doi: 10.1016/j.molimm.2010.05.215
Thesis
Lee, John (2014). The role of complement system in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. PhD Thesis, School of Biomedical Sciences, The University of Queensland. doi: 10.14264/uql.2015.156