Rate My Professor Frédéric Meunier

Professor Frédéric Meunier is a Professor and Academic Senior Group Leader at the Queensland Brain Institute, University of Queensland, within the Medicine discipline. He obtained his Masters degree in Neurophysiology from Paris XI University, France, in 1992, and his PhD in Neurobiology from the CNRS, Gif-sur-Yvette, France, in 1996. Following his doctorate, he held a European Biotechnology Fellowship and conducted postgraduate research at the Department of Biochemistry, Imperial College London (1997-1999), and Cancer Research UK, London (2000-2002), followed by a short sabbatical at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge. In 2003, he became a group leader at the School of Biomedical Sciences, University of Queensland. He joined the Queensland Brain Institute in 2007 and was awarded an NHMRC Senior Research Fellowship in 2009, renewed in 2014, which facilitated his promotion to Professor. He is affiliated with the Clem Jones Centre for Ageing and Dementia Research.

Professor Meunier's research centers on the molecular mechanisms governing vesicular trafficking within presynaptic nerve terminals and neurosecretory cells, elucidating how brain cells communicate and survive in health and disease. His laboratory employs advanced single-molecule imaging techniques to investigate synaptic vesicle priming, docking, fusion, bulk endocytosis, and the nanoscale organization of the synapse during neurotransmitter release. Key studies include the role of Munc18-1 in SNARE complex assembly, phosphoinositide regulation of exocytosis, botulinum neurotoxin effects on synaptic dynamics, and the discovery of saturated free fatty acids, such as myristic acid, in memory formation. Notable publications encompass 'Saturated free fatty acids and association with memory formation' (Nature Communications, 2021), 'Neuropilin-1 facilitates SARS-CoV-2 cell entry and infectivity' (Science, 2020), 'Visualizing endocytic recycling and trafficking in live neurons by subdiffractional tracking of internalized molecules' (Nature Protocols, 2017), 'Modular transient nanoclustering of activated β2-adrenergic receptors' (PNAS, 2020), and 'Frontotemporal dementia mutant Tau promotes aberrant Fyn nanoclustering' (eLife, 2019). His work has advanced understanding of neuroexocytosis, synaptic plasticity, and neurodegenerative diseases, supported by grants from NHMRC and ARC.