Doctor Allan Torres

Doctor Allan Torres

Senior Lecturer,
Physical Sciences

Biography

Doctor Allan Torres is a research instrumentalist at the University of Western Sydney in the Nanoscale Organisation and Dynamics division within the School of Biomedical and Health Science.  Allan has a keen interest in the following areas: Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics, Biophysics, Biochemistry, Physical Chemistry and Molecular Biology.

This information has been contributed by Doctor Torres.

Qualifications

  • PhDChem University of Alberta (Canada)

Interests

  • Magnetic Resonance Imaging
  • NMR Method Development
  • Protein Structure Characterisation by NMR
  • Protein functions
  • Toxins

Organisational Unit (School / Division)

  • Physical Sciences

Contact

Email: A.Torres@westernsydney.edu.au
Phone: (02) 4620 3459
Mobile:
Location: 17.G.07
Campbelltown

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Publications

Chapters in Books

  • Torres, A., Pileio, G. and Price, W. (2020), 'Q-space singlet NMR', Long-lived Nuclear Spin Order: Theory and Applications, Royal Society of Chemistry 9781788015684.
  • Willis, S., Stait-Gardner, T., Torres, A., Zheng, G. and Price, W. (2018), 'NMR versatility', Diffusive Spreading in Nature, Technology and Society, Springer 9783319677972.
  • Willis, S., Stait-Gardner, T., Torres, A. and Price, W. (2017), ' Fundamentals of diffusion measurements using NMR ', Diffusion NMR of Confined Systems: Fluid Transport in Porous Solids and Heterogeneous Materials, Royal Society of Chemistry 9781782621904.
  • Torres, A. and Price, W. (2011), 'Introduction to Nuclear Magnetic Resonance', Metallointercalators: Synthesis and Techinques to Probe Their Interactions with Biomolecules, Springer 9783211094273.
  • Larkin, T., Pages, G., Torres, A. and Kuchel, P. (2009), 'Rapid acquisition of NMR diffusion-diffraction q-space plots from erythrocytes with varying gradient orientation', Diffusion Fundamentals III, Leipzig University Press 9783865833877.
  • Torres, A., Bansal, P., Alewood, P., Geraghty, D. and Kuchel, P. (2007), 'Determination of D-Amino-Acid Residues in Peptides from Animal Venom by NMR: Application to Platypus Venom Peptide OvCNPs', D-Amino Acids: Practical Methods and Protocols, Nova Science Publishers 9781607413783.

Journal Articles

  • Vink, S., Akondi, K., Jin, J., Poth, K., Torres, A., Kuchel, P., Burke, S., Head, G. and Alewood, P. (2023), 'Taipan natriuretic peptides are potent and selective agonists for the natriuretic peptide receptor A', Molecules, vol 28, no 7 .
  • Petersingham, G., Zaman, M., Johnson, A., Reddy, N., Torres, A. and Wu, M. (2022), 'Molecular details of aluminium-amyloid ? peptide interaction by nuclear magnetic resonance', BioMetals, vol 35 , pp 759 - 769.
  • Chen, J., Torres, A., Zheng, G. and Price, W. (2020), 'Applications of WaterControl to TOCSY and COSY experiments', Journal of Biomolecular NMR, vol 74 , pp 333 - 340.
  • Ali, M., Abd-Elsalam, W., El badawy, S., Taher, E., Fares, M., Torres, A., Chang, D. and Li, C. (2019), 'Ameliorative and protective effects of ginger and its main constituents against natural, chemical and radiation-induced toxicities : a comprehensive review', Food and Chemical Toxicology, vol 123 , pp 72 - 97.
  • Wijesekera, N., Stait-Gardner, T., Gupta, A., Chen, J., Zheng, G., Torres, A. and Price, W. (2019), 'A complete derivation of the Karger equations for analyzing NMR diffusion measurements of exchanging systems', Concepts in Magnetic Resonance. Part A, vol 47A, no 2 .
  • Price, W., Gupta, A., Masuda, R., Stait-Gardner, T., Torres, A. and Zheng, G. (2019), 'Shortening NMR diffusion experimental times', Diffusion Fundamentals, vol 32 .
  • Price, W., Gupta, A., Stait-Gardner, T., Torres, A., Willis, S., Zheng, G. and Aihara, Y. (2019), 'Better, faster, more versatile NMR diffusion measurements', Diffusion Fundamentals, vol 32 .
  • Wijesekera, N., Willis, S., Gupta, A., Torres, A., Zheng, G. and Price, W. (2018), 'NMR diffusion and relaxation studies of 2-nitroimidazole and albumin interactions', Spectrochimica Acta Part A: Molecular and Biomolecular Spectroscopy, vol 193 , pp 318 - 323.
  • Stait-Gardner, T., Torres, A., Zubkov, M., Willis, S., Zheng, G. and Price, W. (2018), 'Diffusion NMR : a tool to investigate the dynamics of organic systems', Current Organic Chemistry, vol 22, no 8 , pp 758 - 768.
  • Herath, B., Torres, A. and Sathasivan, A. (2018), 'Effects of feed water NOM variation on chloramine demand from chloramine-decaying soluble microbial products during rechloramination', Chemosphere, vol 212 , pp 744 - 754.
  • Willis, S., Zheng, G., Torres, A., Stait-Gardner, T. and Price, W. (2018), 'A simple and effective binomial block based pulse sequence capable of suppressing multiple NMR signals', Journal of Physical Chemistry A, vol 122, no 50 , pp 9712 - 9720.
  • Masuda, R., Gupta, A., Stait-Gardner, T., Zheng, G., Torres, A. and Price, W. (2018), 'Shortening NMR experimental times', Magnetic Resonance in Chemistry, vol 56, no 9 , pp 847 - 851.
  • Shen, C., Kennedy, A., Donald, W., Torres, A., Price, W. and Beves, J. (2017), 'Self-assembled supramolecular cages containing dinuclear ruthenium(II) polypyridyl complexes', Inorganica Chimica Acta, vol 458 , pp 122 - 128.
  • Torres, A., Zheng, G. and Price, W. (2017), 'NOESY-watercontrol : a new NOESY sequence for the observation of under-water protein resonances', Journal of Biomolecular NMR, vol 67, no 3 , pp 233 - 241.
  • Torres, A. and Price, W. (2017), 'Common problems and artifacts encountered in solution-state NMR experiments', Concepts in Magnetic Resonance. Part A, vol 45A, no 2 .
  • Alim, M., Bak, T., Atanacio, A., Ionescu, M., Kennedy, B., Price, W., Du Plessis, J., Pourmahdavi, M., Zhou, M., Torres, A. and Nowotny, J. (2017), 'Photocatalytic properties of Ta-doped TiO2', Ionics, vol 23, no 12 , pp 3517 - 3531.
  • Zubkov, M., Dennis, G., Stait-Gardner, T., Torres, A., Willis, S., Zheng, G. and Price, W. (2017), 'Physical characterization using diffusion NMR spectroscopy', Magnetic Resonance in Chemistry, vol 55, no 5 , pp 414 - 424.
  • Virk, A., Torres, A., Willis, S. and Price, W. (2016), 'NMR diffusion studies of spherical molecules : tetramethylsilane and buckyballs', Journal of Molecular Liquids, vol 214 , pp 157 - 161.
  • van der Kooy, F., Venkataya, B., Pearson, J., Torres, A., Li, C. and Chang, D. (2015), 'Sensitivity of NMR-based metabolomics in drug discovery from medicinal plants', European Journal of Medicinal Plants, vol 5, no 2 , pp 191 - 203.
  • Virk, A., Stait-Gardner, T., Willis, S., Torres, A. and Price, W. (2015), 'Macromolecular crowding studies of amino acids using NMR diffusion measurements and molecular dynamics simulations', Frontiers in Physics, vol 3 .
  • Torres, A., Bansal, P., Koh, J., Pages, G., Wu, M. and Kuchel, P. (2014), 'Structure and antimicrobial activity of platypus 'intermediate' defensin-like peptide', FEBS Letters, vol 588, no 9 , pp 1821 - 1826.
  • Ng, C., Torres, A., Pages, G., Kuchel, P. and Vandenberg, J. (2013), 'Insights into hERG K+ channel structure and function from NMR studies', European Biophysics Journal, vol 42 , pp 71 - 79.
  • Ghadirian, B., Torres, A., Yadav, N. and Price, W. (2013), 'Restricted diffusion in annular geometrical pores', Journal of Chemical Physics, vol 138, no 9 , pp 0942021 - 09420211.
  • Arakawa, K., Koh, J., Crossett, B., Torres, A. and Kuchel, P. (2012), 'Detection of platypus-type L/D-peptide isomerase activity in aqueous extracts of papaya fruit', Biotechnology Letters, vol 34, no 9 , pp 1659 - 1665.
  • Torres, A., Ghadirian, B. and Price, W. (2012), 'Diffusion-diffraction using singlet spin states and various NMR coherences in a J-coupled AX spin system', RSC Advances, vol 2, no 8 , pp 3352 - 3360.
  • Zheng, G., Torres, A., Ali, M., Manolios, N. and Price, W. (2011), 'NMR study of the structure and self-association of core peptide in aqueous solution and DPC micelles', Biopolymers (Pept. Sci.), vol 96, no 2 , pp 177 - 180.
  • Torres, A., Zheng, G. and Price, W. (2010), 'J-compensated PGSE: an improved NMR diffusion experiment with fewer phase distortions', Magnetic Resonance in Chemistry, vol 48, no 2 , pp 129 - 133.
  • Price, W., Stait-Gardner, T., Torres, A. and Zheng, G. (2010), 'Developments in NMR diffusion measurements and q-space imaging', Chinese Journal of Magnetic Resonance, vol 27, no 3 , pp 267 - 288.
  • Yadav, N., Torres, A. and Price, W. (2010), 'NMR q-space imaging of macroscopic pores using singlet spin states', Journal of Magnetic Resonance, vol 204, no 2 , pp 346 - 348.
  • Zheng, G., Torres, A. and Price, W. (2009), 'MQ-PGSTE: a new multi-quantum STE-based PGSE NMR sequence', Journal of Magnetic Resonance, vol 198, no 2 , pp 271 - 274.
  • Pages, G., Torres, A., Ju, P., Bansal, P., Alewood, P., Kuchel, P. and Vandenberg, J. (2009), 'Structure of the pore-helix of the hERG K+ channel', European Biophysics Journal, vol 39, no 1 , pp 111 - 120.
  • Withingtton, C., Koh, J., Warren, W., Papenfuss, A., Torres, A., Kuchel, P. and Belov, K. (2009), 'Understanding and utilising mammalian venom via a platypus venom transcriptome', Journal of Proteomics, vol 72, no 2 , pp 155 - 164.
  • Koh, J., Bansal, P., Torres, A. and Kuchel, P. (2009), 'Platypus venom: source of novel compounds', Australian Journal of Zoology, vol 57, no 4 , pp 203 - 210.
  • Ju, P., Pages, G., Riek, P., Chen, P., Torres, A., Bansal, P., Kuyucak, S., Kuchel, P. and Vandenberg, J. (2009), 'The Pore Domain Outer Helix Contributes to Both Activation and Inactivation of the hERG K+ Channel', Journal of Biological Chemistry, vol 284, no 2 , pp 1000 - 1006.
  • Zheng, G., Stait-Gardner, T., Payyadi Govardhan, A., Torres, A. and Price, W. (2008), 'PGSTE-WATERGATE : An STE-based PGSE NMR sequence with excellent solvent suppression', Journal of Magnetic Resonance, vol 191, no 1 , pp 159 - 163.
  • Yadav, N., Torres, A. and Price, W. (2008), 'An improved approach to calibrating high magnetic field gradients for pulsed field gradient experiments', Journal of Magnetic Resonance, vol 194, no 1 , pp 25 - 28.
  • Zheng, G., Torres, A. and Price, W. (2008), 'Solvent suppression using phase-modulated binomial-like sequences and applications to diffusion measurements', Journal of Magnetic Resonance, vol 194, no 1 , pp 108 - 114.
  • Torres, A., Dela Cruz, R. and Price, W. (2008), 'Removal of J-coupling peak distortion in PGSE experiments', Journal of Magnetic Resonance, vol 193, no 2 , pp 311 - 316.
  • Bansal, P., Torres, A., Crossett, B., Wong, K., Koh, J., Geraghty, D., Vandenberg, J. and Kuchel, P. (2008), 'Substrate Specificity of Platypus Venom L-to-D Peptide Isomerase', Journal of Biological Chemistry, vol 283, no 14 , pp 8969 - 8975.
  • Whittington, C., Papenfuss, A., Bansal, P., Torres, A., Wong, E., Deakin, J., Graves, T., Alsop, A., Schatzkamer, K., Kremitzki, C., Ponting, C., Temple-Smith, P., Warren, W., Kuchel, P. and Belov, K. (2008), 'Defensins and the convergent evolution of platypus and reptile venom genes', Genome Research, vol 18, no 6 , pp 986 - 994.
  • Torres, A., Bubb, W., Philp, D. and Kuchel, P. (2008), 'Improved J-compensated sequences based on short composite pulses', Journal of Magnetic Resonance, vol 194, no 1 , pp 81 - 88.
  • Wheate, N., Payyadi Govardhan, A., Torres, A., Aldrich-Wright, J. and Price, W. (2008), 'Examination of cucurbit[7]uril and its host-guest complexes by diffusion nuclear magnetic resonance', Journal of Physical Chemistry B, vol 112, no 8 , pp 2311 - 2314.
  • Torres, A., Tsampazi, M., Kennett, E., Belov, K., Geraghty, D., Bansal, P., Alewood, P. and Kuchel, P. (2007), 'Characterization and isolation of L-to-D-amino-acid-residue isomerase from platypus venom', Amino Acids, vol 32, no 1 , pp 63 - 68.
  • Kuchel, P., Chapman, B., Muller, N., Bubb, W., Philp, D. and Torres, A. (2006), 'Apparatus for rapid adjustment of the degree of alignment of NMR samples in aqueous media: Verification with residual quadrupolar splittings in 23Na and 133Cs spectra', Journal of Magnetic Resonance, vol 180, no 2 , pp 256 - 265.
  • Torres, A., Tsampazi, M., Tsampazi, C., Kennett, E., Belov, K., Geraghty, D., Bansal, P. and Kuchel, P. (2006), 'Mammalian L-to-D-amino-acid-residue isomerase from platypus venom', FEBS Letters, vol 580, no 6 , pp 1587 - 1591.
  • Torres, A., Tsampazi, C., Geraghty, D., Bansal, P., Alewood, P. and Kuchel, P. (2005), 'D-amino acid residue in a defensin-like peptide from platypus venom: Effect on structure and chromatographic properties', Biochemical Journal, vol 391, no 2 , pp 215 - 220.
  • Torres, A., Philp, D., Kemp-Harper, R., Garvey, C. and Kuchel, P. (2005), 'Determination of Na+ binding parameters by relaxation analysis of selected 23Na NMR coherences: RNA, BSA and SDS', Magnetic Resonance in Chemistry, vol 43, no 3 , pp 217 - 224.
  • Vandenberg, J., Bansal, P., Torres, A., Kuchel, P. and Alewood, P. (2005), 'Molecular basis of CnErg1 binding to HERG K+ channels', Journal of Molecular and Cellular Cardiology, , pp 172 - 173.
  • Vandenberg, J., Torres, A., Campbell, T. and Kuchel, P. (2004), 'The HERG K+ channel: Progress in understanding the molecular basis of its unusual gating kinetics', European Biophysics Journal, vol 33, no 2 , pp 89 - 97.
  • Torres, A., Bansal, P., Sunde, M., Clarke, C., Bursill, J., Smith, D., Bauskin, A. and Vandenberg, J. (2003), 'Structure of the HERG K+ channel S5P extracellular linker: Role of an amphipathic a-helix in C-type inactivation', Journal of Biological Chemistry, vol 278, no 43 , pp 42136 - 42148.
  • Torres, A., Wong, H., Desai, M., Moochhala, S., Kuchel, P. and Kini, R. (2003), 'Identification of a novel family of proteins in snake venoms. Purification and structural characterization of nawaprin from Naja nigricollis snake venom', Journal of Biological Chemistry, vol 278, no 41 , pp 40097 - 40104.
  • Torres, A., Bansal, P., Alewood, P., Bursill, J., Kuchel, P. and Vandenberg, J. (2003), 'Solution structure of CnErg1 (Ergtoxin), a HERG specific scorpion toxin', FEBS Letters, vol 539, no 1-3 , pp 138 - 142.
  • Torres, A., Bubb, W. and Kuchel, P. (2002), 'Experiments to detect long-range heteronuclear shift correlations: LR-J-HSMQC', Journal of Magnetic Resonance, vol 156, no 2 , pp 249 - 257.
  • Torres, A., Menz, I., Alewood, P., Bansal, P., Lahnstein, J., Gallagher, C. and Kuchel, P. (2002), 'D-amino acid residue in the C-type natriuretic peptide from the venom of the mammal, Ornithorhynchus anatinus, the Australian platypus', FEBS Letters, vol 524, no 1-3 , pp 172 - 176.
  • Torres, A., Alewood, D., Alewood, P., Gallagher, C. and Kuchel, P. (2002), 'Conformations of platypus venom C-type natriuretic peptide in aqueous solution and sodium dodecyl sulfate micelles', Toxicon, vol 40, no 6 , pp 711 - 719.
  • Torres, A., Kini, R., Selvanayagam, N. and Kuchel, P. (2001), 'NMR structure of bucandin, a neurotoxin from the venom of the Malayan krait (bungarus candidus)', Biochemical Journal, vol 360, no 3 , pp 539 - 548.

Conference Papers

  • Price, W., Gupta, A., Masuda, R., Stait-Gardner, T., Torres, A., Willis, S. and Zheng, G. (2019), 'NMR diffusion measurements of time-dependent samples', Australian and New Zealand Society for Magnetic Resonance. Conference, Cape Naturaliste, W.A..
  • Torres, A., Stait-Gardner, T., Gupta, A., Zheng, G. and Price, W. (2019), 'Increasing the efficiency of multidimensional NMR experiments by varying the number scans in the indirect dimension', Australian and New Zealand Society for Magnetic Resonance. Conference, Cape Naturaliste, W.A..
  • Wijesekera, N., Willis, S., Gupta, A., Torres, A., Zheng, G. and Price, W. (2017), 'Characterising the binding of 2-nitroimidazole : a proton NMR study', Australian and New Zealand Society for Magnetic Resonance. Conference, Kingscliff, N.S.W..

Other Publications

  • 2014, 'NMR Signal Excitation and Acquisition Methods and System', Patent

Current Projects

Title: Treatment planning for the 21st Century - Electron Density: CT to MRI
Funder:
  • Anonymous Donation
Western Researchers: Bill Price, Timothy Stait-Gardner, Allan Torres and Gang Zheng
Years: 2015-03-01 - 2024-12-31
ID: P00022164

Previous Projects

Title: Development of a NMR Spectroscopy based Biomedical Research Platform Driven by Designing the Next Generation Water Signal Filtering Techniques.
Funder:
  • University of Western Sydney
Western Researchers: Gang Zheng, Bill Price, Allan Torres, Timothy Stait-Gardner and Bahman Ghadirian
Years: 2013-12-09 - 2014-12-09
ID: P00021842
Title: Novel NMR pulse sequence for faster diffusion experiments
Funder:
  • University of Western Sydney
Western Researchers: Bill Price, Anil Kumar Payyadi Govardhan and Allan Torres
Years: 2006-12-20 - 2008-01-03
ID: P0015431
Title: Evaluation of Hypoxia by MRI (i.e., tentative thesis title)
Funder:
  • South Western Sydney Local Health District
Western Researchers: Bill Price, Timothy Stait-Gardner, Allan Torres and Gang Zheng
Years: 2015-01-01 - 2018-06-30
ID: P00022775
Title: Towards Quantitative Diffusive Tensor Imaging in Biological Tissue and its Visualisation
Funder:
  • University of Western Sydney
Western Researchers: Bill Price, Allan Torres and Timothy Stait-Gardner
Years: 2009-12-04 - 2011-02-28
ID: P00017732
Title: Development of Advanced MRI Techniques for Clinical Imaging
Funder:
  • Anonymous Donation
Western Researchers: Bill Price, Gang Zheng, Timothy Stait-Gardner and Allan Torres
Years: 2010-11-15 - 2015-02-28
ID: P00019301
Title: Post-processing methods for dramatically improving NMR signals and its applications
Funder:
  • University of Western Sydney
Western Researchers: Bill Price, Bahman Ghadirian, Gang Zheng, Timothy Stait-Gardner and Allan Torres
Years: 2012-03-02 - 2013-03-01
ID: P00020582
Title: NMR Diffusography
Funder:
  • University of Western Sydney
Western Researchers: Bill Price, Timothy Stait-Gardner, Allan Torres, Gang Zheng, Andrew Shalliker, Gary Dennis and Marion Gaborieau
Years: 2010-05-28 - 2011-05-27
ID: P00018722

Supervision

Doctor Torres is available to be a principal supervisor for doctoral projects

Current Supervision

Thesis Title: Implementation and Application of Advanced Diffusion Tensor Imaging Techniques at Ultrahigh Magnetic Fields
Field of Research:

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