Nicki Packer


Nicki Packer FRSC is an Australian college professor and researcher. She currently serves as a distinguished professor of glycoproteomics in the at Macquarie University and principal research leader at Griffith University's . Packer is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and in 2021 received the Distinguished Achievement in Proteomic Sciences Award from the Human Proteome Organization. Her research focuses on biological functional of glycoconjugates by linking glycomics with proteomics and bioinformatics.

Career

Packer's research focuses on glycoconjugates, a topic at the intersection of chemistry and biological sciences which aims to identify and study the function of the collection of glycoproteins, glycolipids and proteoglycans in cells and on cell surfaces. Her research program examines the structure, function and role of glycans in cancer and microbial infections, as well as their application in therapeutics.
Packer started her research career with a PhD from the University of Sydney in 1978. In 1999 she co-founded Proteome Systems Limited, an Australian biotech company which developed glycoanalytical technology and informatics tools. Packer became a professor at Macquarie University in 2007 and in 2017 became a distinguished professor and also became the principal research leader at the Institute for Glycomics at Griffith University.
Packer is academic lead of the at Macquarie University. In 2017 Packer co-founded the as part of the Human Proteome Organisation and the Australian Glycoscience Society in 2019 to connect Australian glycoscientists. She was deputy director of Macquarie University's .
Packer has had multiple roles in ARC-funded research centres, including:
  • Chief investigator in funded in 2021
  • Chief investigator in the ARC Centre of Excellence in Synthetic Biology, funded in 2020
  • Associate investigator in the , funded in 2020
  • Chief investigator in the , funded in 2014
  • Chief investigator in the ARC Industrial Transformation Training Centre for Molecular Technology in the Food Industry, funded in 2013

    Awards and prizes

Packer's awards and prizes include:
Packer's glycoproteomics work has been reported in The Toronto Star, The Age, BioSpectrum Asia and by the Royal Society of Chemistry. Her work with The Australian biotechnology company Proteome Systems was reported in the New York Times. Packer's work on the role of sugars in a wide range of human diseases was featured in the Macquarie University publication, The Lighthouse.

Publications

Packer has published over 250 journal articles and book chapters, has over 12,000 citations and has an h-index of 61. Packer is an editor of the textbook Essentials of Glycobiology.

Selected journal articles

  • Oliveira, Tiago; Thaysen-Andersen, Morten; Packer, Nicolle H.; Kolarich, Daniel. "The Hitchhiker's guide to glycoproteomics". Biochemical Society Transactions. 49 : 1643–1662. doi: . PMID .
  • Varki, Ajit; Cummings, Richard D; Aebi, Markus; Packer, Nicole H; Seeberger, Peter H; Esko, Jeffrey D; Stanley, Pamela; Hart, Gerald; Darvill, Alan; Kinoshita, Taroh; Prestegard, James J. "Symbol Nomenclature for Graphical Representations of Glycans". Glycobiology. 25 : 1323–1324. doi:10.1093/glycob/cwv091. PMID .
  • Jensen, Pia H; Karlsson, Niclas G; Kolarich, Daniel; Packer, Nicolle H. "Structural analysis of N- and O-glycans released from glycoproteins". Nature Protocols. 7 : 1299–1310. doi: 10.1038/nprot.2012.063.
  • Cooper, Catherine A.; Gasteiger, Elisabeth; Packer, Nicolle H.. "GlycoMod - A software tool for determining glycosylation compositions from mass spectrometric data". Proteomics. 1 : 340–349. doi: .
  • Thaysen-Andersen, Morten; Kolarich, Daniel; Packer, Nicolle H.. "Glycomics & Glycoproteomics: From Analytics to Function". Molecular Omics. 17 : 8–10. doi: .
  • York, William S; Mazumder, Raja; Ranzinger, Rene; Edwards, Nathan; Kahsay, Robel; Aoki-Kinoshita, Kiyoko F; Campbell, Matthew P; Cummings, Richard D; Feizi, Ten; Martin, Maria; Natale, Darren A. "GlyGen: Computational and Informatics Resources for Glycoscience". Glycobiology. 30 : 72–73. doi:. PMID .