Dr Gene Hart-Smith is a team leader at the Australian Proteome Analysis Facility. In 2010 he completed a PhD at the UNSW School of Chemistry, in which he utilised mass spectrometry as a primary tool to study synthetic polymers. He has since been applying this expertise in mass spectrometry to the study of biological systems.

Gene has a particular interest in the nascent principles of molecular systems biology and network theory. These principles provide a foundation from which to make sense of the large-scale molecular ‘parts lists’ (e.g. lists of genes and proteins) that are being generated for many species in contemporary biological research. They suggest that if the connections between these parts are studied and contextualised within biomolecular interaction networks, unique and important insights can be gained into the operation and organisation of living things.

Much of Gene's research involves studying biomolecular interaction networks involving proteins. He has a particular interest in how small modifications to proteins, post-translational modifications, regulate how these networks change over different conditions or time points. He received two prestigious Australian Research Council early career researcher fellowships to study these phenomena in the model organism Saccharomyces cerevisiae (baker’s yeast) using non-traditional proteomics methodologies.

At the Australian Proteome Analysis Facility, Gene has been making these methodologies available to the broader research community. He collaborates on a diverse range of research problems involving protein interactions, from projects with implications for environmental sustainability, such as studies into the molecular underpinnings of root architecture and agricultural water use in rice (Oryza sativa), to research with implications for disease treatment, including studies into the protein interactions involved in Alzheimer's Disease.