Richard Francis
- richard.francis@jcu.edu.au
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4401-1946- Lecturer, Physiology
- Physiology and Pharmacology
Projects
0
Publications
23
Awards
0
Contact Details
Lecturer, Physiology
- 07 4781 6065
- richard.francis@jcu.edu.au
-
1 James Cook Drive
Biography
I received my PhD from the University of Otago medical school studying animal models of liver disease. As a postdoctoral fellow at the NIH (Bethesda, MD) I pursued research to analyze the role of the gap junction protein connexin43 in regulating cell migration during embryonic development. Later, as a staff scientist at the NIH I supervised cilia motility research utilizing nasal biopsies obtained from patients with heterotaxy and/or congenital heart disease. As a Research Assistant Professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine I helped conduct/supervise a broad range of studies where a range of congenital heart disease associated genes were discovered, including the discovery of a significant correlation between cilia defects and the development of complex congenital heart disease. I subsequently joined the Biomedical Imaging Facility at UNSW in Sydney to manage a range of core laboratories before moving to JCU where I’m pursuing research to better understand the mechanisms regulating motile cilia biology during health and disease.
Current Honours/Masters/PhD projects:
1) The role of motile cilia in mucociliary clearance
Research
Research Interests
Motile cilia biology, Mucociliary clearance, Left-right body patterning, Congenital heart disease
Teaching
Teaching Interests
Development of active learning skills in undergraduate student teaching
Fostering of good research practice in undergraduate and postgraduate student research
Research Advisor Accreditation
Advisor Type
Primary
Taught Modules
Activities
Associations
Physiological Society of New Zealand
1999 - 2003
American Society For Cell Biology
2004 - 2008
American Physiological Society
2008 - 2014
Microscopy Society of America
2009 - 2013
Employment
Staff Scientist, National Institutes of Health
2008 - 2009
Output
Francis, Richard (2025) 'Assessment of liquid media requirements for storing and evaluating respiratory cilia motility'. PeerJ, 13 (3). [DOI]
Francis, Richard J.B.; Agustin, Jovenal T.San; Rogers, Heather L.Szabo; Cui, Cheng; Jonassen, Julie A.; Eguether, Thibaut; Follit, John A.; Lo, Cecilia W.; Pazour, Gregory (2023) 'Autonomous and non-cell autonomous role of cilia in structural birth defects in mice'. PLoS Biology, 21 (12). [DOI]
Francis, Richard (2023) 'The effects of acute hydrogen peroxide exposure on respiratory cilia motility and viability'. PeerJ, 11 . [DOI]
Scopulovic, Luke; Francis, Deanne; Pandzic, Elvis; Francis, Richard (2022) 'Quantifying cilia beat frequency using high-speed video microscopy: Assessing frame rate requirements when imaging different ciliated tissues'. Physiological Reports, 10 (11):e15349-e15349.
Liang, Huazheng; Wang, Hongqin; Wang, Shaoshi; Francis, Richard; Paxinos, George; Huang, Xufeng (2018) '3D imaging of PSD-95 in the mouse brain using the advanced CUBIC method'. Molecular brain, 11 . [DOI]
Assessment of ciliary phenotype in primary ciliary dyskinesia by micro-optical coherence tomography
2017
Solomon, George M.; Francis, Richard; Chu, Kengyeh K.; Birket, Susan E.; Gabriel, George; Trombley, John E.; Lemke, Kristi L.; Klena, Nikolai; Turner, Brett; Tearney, Guillermo J.; Lo, Cecilia W.; Rowe, Steven M. (2017) 'Assessment of ciliary phenotype in primary ciliary dyskinesia by micro-optical coherence tomography'. JCI Insight, 2 (5). [DOI]
Journal Publication
ResearchOnline@JCU
Li, You; Yagi, Hisato; Onuoha, Ezenwa Obi; Damerla, Rama Rao; Francis, Richard; Furutani, Yoshiyuki; Tariq, Muhammad; King, Stephen M.; Hendricks, Gregory; Cui, Cheng; Saydmohammed, Manush; Lee, Dong Min; Zahid, Maliha; Sami, Iman; Leatherbury, Linda; Pazour, Gregory J.; Ware, Stephanie M.; Nakanishi, Toshio; Goldmuntz, Elizabeth; Tsang, Michael; Lo, Cecilia W. (2016) 'DNAH6 and its interactions with PCD genes in heterotaxy and primary ciliary dyskinesia'. PLoS Genetics, 12 (2). [DOI]
Liang, Huazheng; Akladios, Bassem; Canales, Cesar P.; Francis, Richard; Hardeman, Edna H.; Beverdam, Annemiek (2016) 'CUBIC protocol visualizes protein expression at single cell resolution in whole mount skin preparations'. Journal of Visualized Experiments, 1 (114). [DOI]
Journal Publication
ResearchOnline@JCU
Welchering, Nils; Ochoa, Sebastian; Tian, Xin; Francis, Richard; Zahid, Maliha; Muñoz, Ricardo; Lo, Cecilia W. (2015) 'Dexmedetomidine and fentanyl exhibit temperature dependent effects on human respiratory cilia'. Frontiers in Pediatrics, 3 . [DOI]
Akawi, Nadia; McRae, Jeremy; Ansari, Morad; Balasubramanian, Meena; Blyth, Moira; Brady, Angela F.; Clayton, Stephen; Cole, Trevor; Deshpande, Charu; Fitzgerald, Tomas W.; Foulds, Nicola; Francis, Richard; Gabriel, George; Gerety, Sebastian S.; Goodship, Judith; Hobson, Emma; Jones, Wendy D.; Joss, Shelagh; King, Daniel; Klena, Nikolai; Kumar, Ajith; Lees, Melissa; Lelliott, Chris; Lord, Jenny; McMullan, Dominic; O'Regan, Mary; Osio, Deborah; Piombo, Virginia; Prigmore, Elena; Rajan, Diana; Rosser, Elisabeth; Sifrim, Alejandro; Smith, Audrey; Swaminathan, Ganesh J.; Turnpenny, Peter; Whitworth, James; Wright, Caroline F.; Firth, Helen V.; Barrett, Jeffrey C.; Lo, Cecilia W.; FitzPatrick, David R.; Hurles, Matthew E.; for the DDD Study (2015) 'Discovery of four recessive developmental disorders using probabilistic genotype and phenotype matching among 4,125 families'. Nature Genetics, 47 (11):1363-1369. [DOI]
Journal Publication
ResearchOnline@JCU
Quinn, Shannon P.; Zahid, Maliha J.; Durkin, John R.; Francis, Richard J.; Lo, Cecilia W.; Chennubhotla, S. Chakra (2015) 'Automated identification of abnormal respiratory ciliary motion in nasal biopsies'. Science Translational Medicine, 7 (299). [DOI]
Journal Publication
ResearchOnline@JCU
Liang, Huazheng; Wang, Shaoshi; Francis, Richard; Whan, Renee; Watson, Charles; Paxinos, George (2015) 'Distribution of raphespinal fibers in the mouse spinal cord'. Molecular Pain, 11 . [DOI]
Damerla, Rama Rao; Cui, Cheng; Gabriel, George C.; Liu, Xiaoqin; Craige, Branch; Gibbs, Brian C.; Francis, Richard; Li, You; Chatterjee, Bishwanath; San Agustin, Jovenal T.; Eguether, Thibaut; Subramanian, Ramiah; Witman, George B.; Michaud, Jacques L.; Pazour, Gregory J.; Lo, Cecilia W. (2015) 'Novel Jbts17 mutant mouse model of Joubert syndrome with cilia transition zone defects and cerebellar and other ciliopathy related anomalies'. Human Molecular Genetics, 24 (14):3994-4005. [DOI]
Journal Publication
ResearchOnline@JCU
Li, You; Klena, Nikolai T.; Gabriel, George C.; Liu, Xiaoqin; Kim, Andrew J.; Lemke, Kristi; Chen, Yu; Chatterjee, Bishwanath; Devine, William; Damerla, Rama Rao; Chang, Chienfu; Yagi, Hisato; San Agustin, Jovenal T.; Thahir, Mohamed; Anderton, Shane; Lawhead, Caroline; Vescovi, Anita; Pratt, Herbert; Morgan, Judy; Haynes, Leslie; Smith, Cynthia L.; Eppig, Janan T.; Reinholdt, Laura; Francis, Richard; Leatherbury, Linda; Ganapathiraju, Madhavi K.; Tobita, Kimimasa; Pazour, Gregory J.; Lo, Cecilia W. (2015) 'Global genetic analysis in mice unveils central role for cilia in congenital heart disease'. Nature, 521 (7553):520-524. [DOI]
Journal Publication
ResearchOnline@JCU
ANKS6 is the critical activator of NEK8 kinase in embryonic situs determination and organ patterning
2015
Czarnecki, Peter G.; Gabriel, George C.; Manning, Danielle K.; Sergeev, Mikhail; Lemke, Kristi; Klena, Nikolai T.; Liu, Xiaoqin; Chen, Yu; Li, You; Agustin, Jovenal T. San; Garnaas, Maija K.; Francis, Richard J.; Tobita, Kimimasa; Goessling, Wolfram; Pazour, Gregory J.; Lo, Cecilia W.; Beier, David R.; Shah, Jagesh V. (2015) 'ANKS6 is the critical activator of NEK8 kinase in embryonic situs determination and organ patterning'. Nature Communications, 6 . [DOI]
Journal Publication
ResearchOnline@JCU
Kutten, Johannes C.; McGovern, David; Hobson, Christopher M.; Luffy, Sarah A.; Nieponice, Alejandro; Tobita, Kimimasa; Francis, Richard J.; Reynolds, Susan D.; Isenberg, Jeffrey S.; Gilbert, Thomas W. (2015) 'Decellularized tracheal extracellular matrix supports epithelial migration, differentiation, and function'. Tissue Engineering Part A: Tissue Engineering, 21 (1-2):75-84. [DOI]
Journal Publication
ResearchOnline@JCU
The effects temperature and anesthetic agents on ciliary function in murine respiratory epithelia
2014
Christopher, Adam B.; Ochoa, Sebastian; Krushansky, Evonne; Francis, Richard; Tian, Xin; Zahid, Maliha; Munoz, Ricardo; Lo, Cecilia W. (2014) 'The effects temperature and anesthetic agents on ciliary function in murine respiratory epithelia'. Frontiers in Pediatrics, 2 . [DOI]
Liu, Xiaoqin; Francis, Richard; Kim, Andrew J.; Ramirez, Ricardo; Chen, Guozhen; Subramanian, Ramiah; Anderton, Shane; Kim, Youngsil; Wong, Liyin; Morgan, Judy; Pratt, Herbert C.; Reinholdt, Laura; Devine, William; Leatherbury, Linda; Tobita, Kimimasa; Lo, Cecilia W. (2014) 'Interrogating congenital heart defects with noninvasive fetal echocardiography in a mouse forward genetic screen'. Circulation: Cardiovascular Imaging, 7 (1):31-42. [DOI]
Journal Publication
ResearchOnline@JCU
Harden, Brandon; Tian, Xin; Giese, Rachel; Nakhleh, Nader; Kureshi, Safina; Francis, Richard; Hanumanthaiah, Sridhar; Li, You; Swisher, Matthew; Kuehl, Karen; Sami, Iman; Olivier, Kenneth; Jonas, Richard; Lo, Cecilia W.; Leatherbury, Linda (2014) 'Increased postoperative respiratory complications in heterotaxy congenital heart disease patients with respiratory ciliary dysfunction'. Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, 147 (4):1291-U287. [DOI]
Journal Publication
ResearchOnline@JCU
Damerla, Rama Rao; Chatterjee, Bishwanath; Li, You; Francis, Richard J.B.; Fatakia, Sarosh N.; Lo, Cecilia W. (2014) 'Ion Torrent sequencing for conducting genome-wide scans for mutation mapping analysis'. Mammalian Genome, 25 (3-4):120-128. [DOI]
Journal Publication
ResearchOnline@JCU
Eguether, Thibaut; San Agustin, Jovenal T.; Keady, Brian T.; Jonassen, Julie A.; Liang, Yinwen; Francis, Richard; Tobita, Kimimasa; Johnson, Colin A.; Abdelhamed, Zakia A.; Lo, Cecilia W.; Pazour, Gregory J. (2014) 'IFT27 links the BBSome to IFT for maintenance of the ciliary signaling compartment'. Developmental Cell, 31 (3):279-290. [DOI]
Journal Publication
ResearchOnline@JCU
Cui, Cheng; Chatterjee, Bishwanath; Lozito, Thomas P.; Zhang, Zhen; Francis, Richard J.; Yagi, Hisato; Swanhart, Lisa M.; Sanker, Subramaniam; Francis, Deanne; Yu, Qing; San Agustin, Jovenal T.; Puligilla, Chandrakala; Chatterjee, Tania; Tansey, Terry; Liu, Xiaoqin; Kelley, Matthew W.; Spiliotis, Elias T.; Kwiatkowski, Adam V.; Tuan, Rocky; Pazour, Gregory J.; Hukriede, Neil A.; Lo, Cecilia W. (2013) 'Wdpcp, a PCP Protein Required for Ciliogenesis, Regulates Directional Cell Migration and Cell Polarity by Direct Modulation of the Actin Cytoskeleton'. PLoS Biology, 11 . [DOI]
Cui, Cheng; Chatterjee, Bishwanath; Francis, Deanne; Yu, Qing; SanAgustin, Jovenal T.; Francis, Richard; Tansey, Terry; Henry, Charisse; Wang, Baolin; Lemley, Bethan; Pazour, Gregory J.; Lo, Cecilia W. (2011) 'Disruption of Mks1 localization to the mother centriole causes cilia defects and developmental malformations in Meckel-Gruber syndrome'. Disease Models & Mechanisms, 4 :43-56. [DOI]