STAFF PROFILE
Dr. Daniel Dias
Dr. Dias is a lecturer within the School of Health and Biomedical Sciences at RMIT University. Prior to this, he was one of the team leaders of gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) metabolomics services at Metabolomics Australia, The University of Melbourne. He was also involved in the development of GC-MS as well as nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR) protocols, sample preparation methodologies, evaluation of data, interpretation and bioinformatics of results for clients.
In 2009, he was offered a post-doctoral position within the School of Chemistry, The University of Melbourne in analytical wine chemistry. Several findings were identified including: the critical wavelengths of light that led to pigment production, separation of light and thermal effects on pigment production, the identification of iron(III) tartrate as the photoactive species responsible for the photo-activation and the relationship between bottle colour and weight on light and thermal induced changes.
Report Available at: http://www.gwrdc.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/UM-09021.pdf
Dr Dias was awarded his PhD from RMIT University in 2010. His research led to the isolation and structure elucidation of 34 known and 10 novel bioactive natural products from selected Australian terrestrial and marine organisms. He also focused on other aspects of natural products chemistry including the developing hyphenated techniques (LC-NMR), artefact formation and dereplication of extracts.
Dr Dias' thesis is available at: http://researchbank.rmit.edu.au/view/rmit:9520
Dr Dias was also a mentor in the “Growing Tall Poppies” (GTP) program and mentored students from Elizabeth Blackburn School of Biological Sciences (University High) and Ballarat Grammar School. He was one of the founding members of the Australian and New Zealand Metabolomics Network (ANZMN) (2012-2016) and is currently the Education Officer for the Proteomics and Metabolomics Victoria (PMV).
Research interests
- Metabolomics
- Natural Products Chemistry
- Analytical Chemistry
- Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Research collaborators though Academic and Governmental agencies
- Metabolomics Australia
- The University of Melbourne
- CSIRO
- Curtin University
- Cancer Research Malaysia
- Tokushima Bunri University, Japan
Editorial and peer-assessment
- Editorial Board of Marine Drugs
- Reviewer of leading international journals such as Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, Analytical Chemistry and Analytica Chimica Acta
- Examiner of Masters and PhD Theses (national and international)
View Dr Daniel A. Dias’ profile
Teaching commitments
- Course Coordinator, 2nd Year Biochemistry and Molecular Biology 1 (BIOL1177)
- Course Coordinator, 2nd Year Biochemistry and Molecular Biology 2 (BIOL1181)
- Course Coordinator, MSc, Clinical Biochemistry 1 (ONPS2340)
Current research activities
- Metabolomics aims to comprehensively identify qualitatively and/or quantitatively detectable metabolites in biological systems (eg. plants, food and security, human bodily fluids and tissue samples) and is essentially the study of the complete biochemical phenotype of a cell, tissue, or whole organism in response to disease, fraud or environmental stress. Metabolomics interrogates biological systems since it is an unbiased, data-driven approach that may ultimately lead to hypotheses and new biological knowledge. Within systems biology, this holistic approach actually provides the most functional information of the ‘omics’ technologies.
- Natural Product Chemistry: The BioDiscovery Natural Products (BDNP) Research Group was established by Dr. Daniel A. Dias at Metabolomics Australia, The University of Melbourne in July, 2014 and has now relocated to the School of Health and Biomedical Sciences (RMIT University, Bundoora campus). The focus of the BDNP research group is to search for novel/known biologically active natural products from unique sources which may lead to potential phytopharmaceuticals, agrochemicals or nutraceuticals.
- Dr Daniel A. Dias currently supervises 1 Honours, 4 PhD and 1 Australian Government Endeavour Fellowship candidates
- Dr Daniel A. Dias welcomes high calibre students with an interest in microbiology, natural products chemistry and analytical biochemistry to pursue MSc and/or PhD studies
- Graduate Certificate in University Teaching, The University of Melbourne, (2015)
- Doctor of Philosophy – Applied Sciences (Applied Chemistry), RMIT University, (2009)
- Bachelor of Applied Sciences (Applied Chemistry) (Honours), RMIT University, (2003)
- Bachelor of Applied Sciences (Applied Chemistry), RMIT University, (2002)
Professional affiliations
- Honorary Fellow – Metabolomics Australia, School of BioSciences, The University of Melbourne
- Education Officer - Proteomics and Metabolomics Victoria (PMV)
- Natural Products Chemistry Member - Australian and New Zealand Metabolomics Network (ANZMN) (2012-2016)
Professional experience
- 2015-Current: Lecturer – Early Career Development Fellowship (ECDF), School of Health and Biomedical Sciences, RMIT University, Australia
- 2010-2015: Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) Team Leader, Metabolomics Australia, School of BioSciences, The University of Melbourne
- 2009-2010: Postdoctoral Fellow, School of Chemistry, The University of Melbourne
Affiliations and professional memberships
- Member – The American Society of Pharmacognosy
- Member – International Metabolomics Society
- Member – Malaysian Natural Products Society
- Member – Phytochemical Society of Asia
2 PhD Current Supervisions4 PhD Completions
- Hasnain, M.,Munir, N.,Abideen, Z.,Dias, D.,Aslam, F.,Mancinelli, R. (2023). Applying Silver Nanoparticles to Enhance Metabolite Accumulation and Biodiesel Production in New Algal Resources In: Agriculture (Switzerland), 13, 1 - 25
- Poojary, M.,Nguyen, T.,Dekiwadia, C.,Dias, D.,Huynh, T. (2023). Phenolic compounds-containing fruit peel extracts of Garcinia humilis exhibit anti-melanoma activity In: Food Bioscience, 52, 1 - 6
- Siddiqui, Z.,Wei, X.,Umar, M.,Abideen, Z.,Zulfiqar, F.,Chen, J.,Hanif, A.,Dawar, S.,Dias, D.,Yasmeen, R. (2022). Scrutinizing the Application of Saline Endophyte to Enhance Salt Tolerance in Rice and Maize Plants In: Frontiers in Plant Science, 12, 1 - 15
- Hillyer, K.,Dias, D.,Lutz, A.,Roessner, U.,Davy, S. (2022). Exploring the coral bleaching tipping point with 13C metabolomics In: Applied Environmental Metabolomics, Elsevier , United Kingdom
- Hasnain, M.,Abideen, Z.,Dias, D.,Naz, S.,Munir, N. (2022). Utilization of Saline Water Enhances Lipid Accumulation in Green Microalgae for the Sustainable Production of Biodiesel In: Bioenergy Research, , 1 - 14
- Gottlieb, S.,Rand, J.,Dias, D.,Roessner, U., et al, . (2022). Measures of insulin sensitivity, leptin, and adiponectin concentrations in cats in diabetic remission compared to healthy control cats In: Frontiers in Veterinary Science, 9, 1 - 10
- Munasinghe, M.,Afshari, R.,Heydarian, D.,Almotayri, A.,Dias, D.,Thomas, J.,Jois, M. (2022). Effects of cocoa on altered metabolite levels in purine metabolism pathways and urea cycle in Alzheimer's disease in C. elegans In: Translational Medicine of Aging, 6, 14 - 24
- Dias, D. (2022). Plant-based imitated fish In: Engineering Plant-Based Food Systems, Elsevier, United Kingdom
- Krohn, C.,Khudur, L.,Dias, D.,van den Akker, B.,Rees, C.,Crosbie, N.,Surapaneni, A.,O'Carroll, D.,Stuetz, R.,Batstone, D.,Ball, A. (2022). The role of microbial ecology in improving the performance of anaerobic digestion of sewage sludge In: Frontiers in Microbiology, 13, 1 - 23
- Munir, N.,Hanif, M.,Dias, D.,Abideen, Z. (2021). The role of halophytic nanoparticles towards the remediation of degraded and saline agricultural lands In: Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 28, 60383 - 60405
- The influence of gene variants on physiological responses to a calorie reduced Mediterranean diet; A nutritional genomics focus. Funded by: Allen Foundation Grant 2018 onwards from (2018 to 2022)
- Metabolomic Strategies for the Untargeted Identification of Natural Products from Australian Terrestrial and Marine Organisms. Funded by: The American Society of Pharmacognosy Grant 2016 from (2016 to 2018)