Professor Andreas Lopata

Qualifications

• Doctor in Philosopy (PhD), in Medical Sciences, University of Cape Town (South Africa) 1995 – 1999
• Masters of Science (MSc), in Zoology, Heinrich Heine University of Dusseldorf (Germany) 1989 - 1991
• Bachelor of Science (BSc), in Biochemistry, University of Siegen (Germany) 1986 - 1989

Click here for research interest and publications

Biography

Professor Andreas Lopata is a Professor in Biochemistry at the Tropical Futures Institute, James Cook University, Singapore and leads the Molecular Allergy Research Laboratory in the Australian Institute of Tropical Health & Medicine at James Cook University-Australia. He leads the Molecular Immunology Program in the Centre for Molecular Therapeutics.

Prof Lopata is one of the leading experts in food allergies and globally known for the identification and characterisastion of allergenic proteins in fish and shellfish. The strategic intent of his research activities are to make life in the tropics a safer place with focus on Healthy Aging, Tropical Health and Medicine. One of the focus areas are fundamental research to improve the health of populations that live in tropical communities. Prof Lopata’s research team uses cutting-edge approaches in characterising the interactions of immunogenic proteins from different food sources with our human immune system, leading to allergic and inflammatory reactions. He has published over 200 journal articles and registered over 30 novel and clinical relevant food allergens in the Asia-Pacific region with the WHO/IUIS.

His research group is recognised as a global leader on characterising novel food allergens and ranked #1 for research outputs on seafood allergy and food safety (Scopus) and translating these findings into innovative diagnostics and therapeutics in the Asian-Pacific region.Prof Lopata is Associate Editor for ‘Clinical Experimental Allergy’ (Wiley), ‘Frontiers in Allergy’ and Regional Associate Editor (Asia Pacific) for the ‘World Allergy Association Journal -WAO’ (Elsevier).

He works closely with industry partners in the biotech and biopharmaceutical industry on improved patient diagnostics and immunotherapeutics; the food production industry on developing alternative food proteins from insects and seafood; regulatory bodies on food safety in Singapore and Australia.

Research Interests

• Healthy ageing, related to inflammatory diseases
• Allergy with particular focus on food allergies
• Adverse reactions to seafood
• Characterisation of food allergens in the Asia-Pacific region
• Food protein analysis
• Risk assessment of proteins in novel foods
• Development of immunotherapeutics for food allergy