Associate Professor Till Boecking
Associate Professor

Associate Professor Till Boecking

Medicine & Health
School of Clinical Medicine

Till Böcking leads the Molecular Machines Group in the EMBL Australia Node for Single Molecule Science. Originally trained in biochemistry at the University of Bonn in Germany, he crossed disciplines and completed a PhD in Biophysics at UNSW with Hans Coster and Kevin Barrow in 2004. During his doctoral and subsequent postdoctoral research with Justin Gooding and Michael Gal, he developed self-assembly chemistries to assemble biomolecules on surfaces. This work lead to the development of biosensors and the discovery of fundamental principles that govern the performance of these devices. In 2006 he joined the group of Tomas Kirchhausen at Harvard Medical School to elucidate the mechanism of the chaperone-mediated disassembly of the protein coat surrounding endocytic vesicles. Till was awarded a Cross-Disciplinary Fellowship of the Human Frontier Science Program in 2007. Since returning to Australia, Till leads independent research focused on understanding biological processes at the molecular level using approaches from the physical sciences. In particular his team uses single-molecule techniques to resolve mechanistsic questions inaccessible with traditional approaches. 

Phone
+61 2 9385 1179
Location
Lowy Cancer Centre Building, Level 3
  • Book Chapters | 2018
    Böcking T; Upadhyayula S; Rapoport I; Capraro BR; Kirchhausen T, 2018, 'Reconstitution of clathrin coat disassembly for fluorescence microscopy and single-molecule analysis', in Clathrin-Mediated Endocytosis. Methods in Molecular Biology, Humana Press, New York, NY, pp. 121 - 146, http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-8719-1_10
    Book Chapters | 2007
    Boecking T; Gooding JJ, 2007, 'Biomimetic Membranes for Biosensor Applications', in Martin DK (ed.), Nanobiotechnology for Biomimetic Membranes, edn. Original, Springer Publishing Company, USA, pp. 127 - 166
  • Journal articles | 2023
    Renner N; Kleinpeter A; Mallery DL; Albecka A; Rifat Faysal KM; Böcking T; Saiardi A; Freed EO; James LC, 2023, 'HIV-1 is dependent on its immature lattice to recruit IP6 for mature capsid assembly', Nature Structural and Molecular Biology, http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41594-022-00887-4
    Journal articles | 2022
    Brown JWP; Alford RG; Walsh JC; Spinney RE; Xu SY; Hertel S; Berengut JF; Spenkelink LM; Van Oijen AM; Böcking T; Morris RG; Lee LK, 2022, 'Rapid Exchange of Stably Bound Protein and DNA Cargo on a DNA Origami Receptor', ACS Nano, vol. 16, pp. 6455 - 6467, http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acsnano.2c00699
    Journal articles | 2022
    Guinness CM; Walsh JC; Bayly-Jones C; Dunstone MA; Christie MP; Morton CJ; Parker MW; Bocking T, 2022, 'Single-molecule analysis of the entire perfringolysin O pore formation pathway', eLife, vol. 11, http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.74901
    Journal articles | 2022
    Johnstone BA; Joseph R; Christie MP; Morton CJ; McGuiness C; Walsh JC; Böcking T; Tweten RK; Parker MW, 2022, 'Cholesterol-dependent cytolysins: The outstanding questions', IUBMB Life, vol. 74, pp. 1169 - 1179, http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/iub.2661
    Journal articles | 2022
    Lau D; Márquez CL; Parker MW; Böcking AT, 2022, 'Negative Staining Transmission Electron Microscopy of HIV Viral Particles Permeabilized with PFO and Capsid Stabilized with IP6.', Bio Protoc, vol. 12, http://dx.doi.org/10.21769/BioProtoc.4536
    Journal articles | 2022
    Longatte G; Lisi F; Bakthavathsalam P; Böcking T; Gaus K; Tilley RD; Gooding JJ, 2022, 'Biomolecular Binding under Confinement: Statistical Predictions of Steric Influence in Absence of Long-Distance Interactions', ChemPhysChem, vol. 23, http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/cphc.202100765
    Journal articles | 2022
    Longatte G; Lisi F; Chen X; Walsh J; Wang W; Ariotti N; Boecking T; Gaus K; Gooding JJ, 2022, 'Statistical predictions on the encapsulation of single molecule binding pairs into sized-dispersed nanocontainers', Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, vol. 24, pp. 28029 - 28039, http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/d2cp03627d
    Journal articles | 2022
    Yoh SM; Mamede JI; Lau D; Ahn N; Sánchez-Aparicio MT; Temple J; Tuckwell A; Fuchs NV; Cianci GC; Riva L; Curry H; Yin X; Gambut S; Simons LM; Hultquist JF; König R; Xiong Y; García-Sastre A; Böcking T; Hope TJ; Chanda SK, 2022, 'Recognition of HIV-1 capsid by PQBP1 licenses an innate immune sensing of nascent HIV-1 DNA', Molecular Cell, vol. 82, pp. 2871 - 2884.e6, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.molcel.2022.06.010
    Journal articles | 2022
    Zhang MJ; Stear JH; Jacques DA; Böcking T, 2022, 'Insights into HIV uncoating from single-particle imaging techniques', Biophysical Reviews, vol. 14, pp. 23 - 32, http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12551-021-00922-6
    Journal articles | 2022
    Zuliani-Alvarez L; Govasli ML; Rasaiyaah J; Monit C; Perry SO; Sumner RP; McAlpine-Scott S; Dickson C; Rifat Faysal KM; Hilditch L; Miles RJ; Bibollet-Ruche F; Hahn BH; Boecking T; Pinotsis N; James LC; Jacques DA; Towers GJ, 2022, 'Evasion of cGAS and TRIM5 defines pandemic HIV', Nature Microbiology, vol. 7, pp. 1762 - 1776, http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41564-022-01247-0
    Journal articles | 2021
    Mallery DL; Kleinpeter AB; Renner N; Rifat Faysal KM; Novikova M; Kiss L; Wilson MSC; Ahsan B; Ke Z; Briggs JAG; Saiardi A; Böcking T; Freed EO; James LC, 2021, 'A stable immature lattice packages IP6 for HIV capsid maturation', Science Advances, vol. 7, pp. 1 - 18, http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abe4716
    Journal articles | 2021
    Ni T; Zhu Y; Yang Z; Xu C; Chaban Y; Nesterova T; Ning J; Böcking T; Parker MW; Monnie C; Ahn J; Perilla JR; Zhang P, 2021, 'Structure of native HIV-1 cores and their interactions with IP6 and CypA', Science Advances, vol. 7, pp. eabj5715, http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abj5715
    Journal articles | 2021
    Renner N; Mallery DL; Faysal KMR; Peng W; Jacques DA; Böcking T; James LC, 2021, 'A lysine ring in HIV capsid pores coordinates IP6 to drive mature capsid assembly', PLoS Pathogens, vol. 17, pp. 1 - 22, http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/JOURNAL.PPAT.1009164
    Journal articles | 2020
    Bareja I; Wioland H; Janco M; Nicovich PR; Jégou A; Romet-Lemonne G; Walsh J; Böcking T, 2020, 'Dynamics of Tpm1.8 domains on actin filaments with single-molecule resolution', Molecular Biology of the Cell, vol. 31, pp. 2452 - 2462, http://dx.doi.org/10.1091/MBC.E19-10-0586
    Journal articles | 2019
    Battle AR; Norton RS; Böcking T; Noji H; Kim KK; Nagayama K, 2019, 'Editorial: Special issue of Biophysical Reviews dedicated to the joint 10th Asian Biophysics Association Symposium and 42nd Australian Society for Biophysics Meeting, Melbourne, Australia, December 2–6, 2018', Biophysical Reviews, vol. 11, pp. 245 - 247, http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12551-019-00553-y
    Journal articles | 2019
    Lau D; Walsh J; Peng W; Shah V; Turville S; Jacques D; Böcking T, 2019, 'Fluorescence biosensor for real-time interaction dynamics of host proteins with HIV-1 capsid tubes', , http://dx.doi.org/10.1101/619841
    Journal articles | 2019
    Lau D; Walsh JC; Peng W; Shah VB; Turville S; Jacques DA; Böcking T, 2019, 'Fluorescence Biosensor for Real-Time Interaction Dynamics of Host Proteins with HIV-1 Capsid Tubes', ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces, vol. 11, pp. 34586 - 34594, http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acsami.9b08521
    Journal articles | 2019
    Marquez CL; Lau D; Walsh J; Faysal KMR; Parker MW; Turville SG; Bocking T, 2019, 'Fluorescence Microscopy Assay to Measure HIV-1 Capsid Uncoating Kinetics in vitro', BIO-PROTOCOL, vol. 9, http://dx.doi.org/10.21769/BioProtoc.3297
    Journal articles | 2019
    Peng W; Shi J; Márquez CL; Lau D; Walsh J; Faysal KMR; Byeon CH; Byeon IJL; Aiken C; Böcking T, 2019, 'Functional analysis of the secondary HIV-1 capsid binding site in the host protein cyclophilin A', Retrovirology, vol. 16, http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12977-019-0471-4
    Journal articles | 2018
    Mallery DL; Márquez CL; McEwan WA; Dickson CF; Jacques DA; Anandapadamanaban M; Bichel K; Towers GJ; Saiardi A; Böcking T; James LC, 2018, 'IP6 is an HIV pocket factor that prevents capsid collapse and promotes DNA synthesis', eLife, vol. 7, http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.35335
    Journal articles | 2018
    Márquez CL; Lau D; Walsh J; Shah V; McGuinness C; Wong A; Aggarwal A; Parker MW; Jacques DA; Turville S; Böcking T, 2018, 'Kinetics of HIV-1 capsid uncoating revealed by single-molecule analysis', eLife, vol. 7, http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.34772
    Journal articles | 2018
    Zhao M; Nicovich PR; Janco M; Deng Q; Yang Z; Ma Y; Böcking T; Gaus K; Gooding JJ, 2018, 'Ultralow- and Low-Background Surfaces for Single-Molecule Localization Microscopy of Multistep Biointerfaces for Single-Molecule Sensing', Langmuir, vol. 34, pp. 10012 - 10018, http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.langmuir.8b01487
    Journal articles | 2017
    Nicovich PR; Walsh J; Böcking T; Gaus K, 2017, 'NicoLase - An open-source diode laser combiner, fiber launch, and sequencing controller for fluorescence microscopy', PLoS ONE, vol. 12, http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0173879
    Journal articles | 2016
    Bonello TT; Janco M; Hook J; Byun A; Appaduray M; Dedova I; Hitchcock-DeGregori S; Hardeman EC; Stehn JR; Böcking T; Gunning PW, 2016, 'A small molecule inhibitor of tropomyosin dissociates actin binding from tropomyosin-directed regulation of actin dynamics', Scientific Reports, vol. 6, http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep19816
    Journal articles | 2013
    Ngalim SH; Magenau A; Zhu Y; Tønnesen L; Fairjones Z; Gooding JJ; Böcking T; Gaus K, 2013, 'Creating adhesive and soluble gradients for imaging cell migration with fluorescence microscopy.', Journal of visualized experiments : JoVE, http://dx.doi.org/10.3791/50310
    Journal articles | 2013
    Ngalim SHA; Magenau A; Zhu Y; Tønnesen L; Fairjones Z; Gooding JJ; Böcking T; Gaus K, 2013, 'Creating adhesive and soluble gradients for imaging cell migration with fluorescence microscopy', Journal of visualized experiments : JoVE, http://dx.doi.org/10.3791/50310
    Journal articles | 2012
    Boecking T; Kilian KA; Reece PJ; Gaus K; Gal M; Gooding JJ, 2012, 'Biofunctionalization of free-standing porous silicon films for self-assembly of photonic devices', Soft Matter, vol. 8, pp. 360 - 366, http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/c1sm06651j
    Journal articles | 2011
    Le saux G; Magenau AI; Boecking T; Gaus K; Gooding JJ, 2011, 'The Relative Importance of Topography and RGD Ligand Density for Endothelial Cell Adhesion', PLoS ONE, vol. 6, pp. e21869, http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0021869
    Journal articles | 2011
    Le saux G; Magenau AI; Gunaratnam K; Kilian KA; Boecking T; Gooding JJ; Gaus K, 2011, 'Spacing of Integrin Ligands Influences Signal Transduction in Endothelial Cells', Biophysical Journal, vol. 101, pp. 764 - 773, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bpj.2011.06.064
    Journal articles | 2010
    Boecking T; Kilian KA; Reece PJ; Gaus K; Gal M; Gooding JJ, 2010, 'Substrate independent assembly of optical structures guided by biomolecular interactions', ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, vol. 2, pp. 3270 - 3275, http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/am1007084
    Journal articles | 2010
    Qiao H; Guan B; Boecking T; Gal M; Gooding JJ; Reece PJ, 2010, 'Optical properties of II-VI colloidal quantum dot doped porous silicon microcavities', Applied Physics Letters, vol. 96, pp. 161106, http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.3404183
    Journal articles | 2009
    Kilian KA; Lai LH; Magenau AI; Cartland SP; Boecking T; Di Girolamo N; Gal M; Gaus K; Gooding JJ, 2009, 'Smart tissue culture: in Situ monitoring of the activity of protease enzymes secreted from live cells using nanostructured photonic crystals', Nano Letters, vol. 9, pp. 2021 - 2025, http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/nl900283j
    Journal articles | 2008
    Boecking T; Kilian KA; Gaus K; Gooding JJ, 2008, 'Modifying Porous Silicon with Self-Assembled Monolayers for Biomedical Applications: The Influence of Surface Coverage on Stability and Biomolecule Coupling', Advanced Functional Materials, vol. 18, pp. 3827 - 3833, http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/adfm.200800640
    Journal articles | 2008
    Chou A; Boecking T; Liu R; Singh NK; Moran GM; Gooding JJ, 2008, 'Effect of dialysis on the electrochemical properties of acid-oxidized single-walled carbon nanotubes', Journal of Physical Chemistry C, vol. 112, pp. 14131 - 14138, http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/jp7113785
    Journal articles | 2008
    Ciampi S; Boecking T; Kilian KA; Harper JB; Gooding JJ, 2008, 'Click chemistry in mesoporous materials: Functionalization of porous silicon rugate filters', Langmuir, vol. 24, pp. 5888 - 5892, http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/la800435d
    Journal articles | 2007
    Ciampi S; Boecking T; Kilian KA; James M; Harper JB; Gooding JJ, 2007, 'Functionalization of acetylene-terminated monolayers on Si(100) surfaces: A click chemistry approach', Langmuir, vol. 23, pp. 9320 - 9329, http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/la701035g
    Journal articles | 2007
    Ilyas S; Boecking T; Kilian KA; Reece PJ; Gooding JJ; Gaus K; Gal M, 2007, 'Porous silicon based narrow line-width rugate filters', Optical Materials, vol. 29, pp. 619 - 622, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.optmat.2005.10.012
    Journal articles | 2007
    Kilian KA; Boecking T; Gaus K; Gal M; Gooding JJ, 2007, 'Peptide-modified optical filters for detecting protease activity', ACS NANO, vol. 1, pp. 355 - 361, http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/nn700141n
    Journal articles | 2007
    Kilian KA; Boecking T; Gaus K; Gal M; Gooding JJ, 2007, 'Si-C linked oligo(ethylene glycol) layers in silicon-based photonic crystals: Optimization for implantable optical materials', Biomaterials, vol. 28, pp. 3055 - 3062, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biomaterials.2007.03.014
    Journal articles | 2007
    Kilian KA; Boecking T; Gaus K; King-Lacroix J; Gal M; Gooding JJ, 2007, 'Hybrid lipid bilayers in nanostructured silicon: a biomimetic mesoporous scaffold for optical detection of cholera toxin', Chemical Communications, pp. 1936 - 1938, http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/b702762a
    Journal articles | 2007
    Kilian KA; Ilyas S; Jessup W; Gal M; Gooding JJ; Boecking T; Gaus K, 2007, 'Forming antifouling organic multilayers on porous silicon rugate filters towards in vivo/ex vivo biophotonic devices', Advanced Functional Materials, vol. 17, pp. 2884 - 2890, http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/adfm.200600790
    Journal articles | 2007
    Liu G; Boecking T; Gooding JJ, 2007, 'Diazonium salts: Stable monolayers on gold electrodes for sensing applications', Journal of Electroanalytical Chemistry, vol. 600, pp. 335 - 344, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jelechem.2006.09.012
    Journal articles | 2006
    Boecking T; Wong ELS; James M; Watson JA; Brown CL; Chilcott TC; Barrow KD; Coster HG, 2006, 'Immobilization of dendrimers on Si-C linked carboxylic acid-terminated monolayers on silicon(111)', Thin Solid Films, vol. 515, pp. 1857 - 1863, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tsf.2006.07.017
    Journal articles | 2006
    Liu G; Nguyen QT; Chow E; Boecking T; Hibbert DB; Gooding JJ, 2006, 'Study of factors affecting the performance of voltammetric copper sensors based on Gly-Gly-His modified glassy carbon and gold electrodes', Electroanalysis, vol. 18, pp. 1141 - 1151, http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/elan.200603546
    Journal articles | 2006
    Salomon A; Boecking T; Gooding JJ; Cahen D, 2006, 'How important is the interfacial chemical bond for electron transport through alkyl chain monolayers', Nano Letters, vol. 6, pp. 2873 - 2876, http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/nl062089y
    Journal articles | 2006
    Seitz O; Boecking T; Salomon A; Gooding JJ; Cahen D, 2006, 'Importance of monolayer quality for interpreting current transport through organic molecules: Alkyls on oxide-free Si', Langmuir, vol. 22, pp. 6915 - 6922, http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/la060718d
    Journal articles | 2005
    Chou A; Singh NK; Gooding JJ; Boecking T, 2005, 'Demonstration of the importance of oxygenated species at the ends ofcarbon nanotubes for their favourable electrochemical properties', Chemical Communications, pp. 842 - 844, http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/b415051a
    Journal articles | 2005
    Liu G; Liu J; Boecking T; Eggers PK; Gooding JJ, 2005, 'The modification of glassy carbon and gold electrodes with aryl diazonium salt: The impact of the electrode materials on the rate of heterogeneous electron transfer', Chemical physics, vol. 319, pp. 136 - 146, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chemphys.2005.03.033
    Journal articles | 2004
    Boecking T; Coster HG; James M; Chilcott TC; Barrow KD, 2004, 'Structural characterization of organic multilayers on silicon(111)formed by immobilization of molecular films on functionalized Si-Clinked monolayers', Langmuir, vol. 20, pp. 9227 - 9235, http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/la048474p
  • Preprints | 2022
    Brown JWP; Alford R; Walsh J; Spinney R; Xu S; Hertel S; Berengut J; Spenkelink L; van Oijen A; Böcking T; Morris R; Lee L, 2022, Rapid exchange of stably bound protein and DNA cargo on a DNA origami receptor, http://dx.doi.org/10.1101/2022.01.16.476526
    Preprints | 2022
    Faysal KMR; Renner N; Marquez CL; Shah V; Tuckwell AJ; Christie MP; Parker MW; Turville SG; James L; Towers GJ; Jacques DA; Boecking T, 2022, Pharmacologic hyperstabilisation of the HIV-1 capsid lattice induces capsid failure, http://dx.doi.org/10.1101/2022.09.21.508807
    Preprints | 2022
    Yoh SM; Mamede JI; Lau D; Ahn N; Sánchez-Aparicio MT; Temple J; Tuckwell A; Fuchs NV; Cianci GC; Riva L; Curry H; Yin X; Gambut S; Simons LM; Hultquist JF; König R; Xiong Y; García-Sastre A; Böcking T; Hope TJ; Chanda SK, 2022, Recognition of HIV-1 Capsid Licenses Innate Immune Response to Viral Infection, http://dx.doi.org/10.1101/2022.01.10.472699
    Preprints | 2021
    Guinness CM; Walsh J; Bayly-Jones C; Dunstone M; Christie M; Morton C; Parker M; Böcking T, 2021, Single-molecule analysis of the entire perfringolysin O pore formation pathway, http://dx.doi.org/10.1101/2021.10.19.464937
    Preprints | 2020
    Bareja I; Wioland H; Janco M; Nicovich PR; Jégou A; Romet-Lemonne G; Walsh J; Böcking T, 2020, Dynamics of Tpm1.8 domains on actin filaments with single molecule resolution, http://dx.doi.org/10.1101/2020.06.15.152033
    Conference Papers | 2010
    Kilian KA; Magenau AI; Boecking T; Gaus K; Gal M; Gooding JJ, 2010, 'Silicon-based mesoporous photonic crystals: towards single cell optical biosensors', in Biosensing II. Proceedings of SPIE Volume: 7397, SPIE, San Diego, USA, pp. 739703-1 - 739703-8, presented at SPIE Optics & Photonics, San Diego, USA, 01 August 2010 - 05 August 2010, http://dx.doi.org/10.1117/12.826133

  • 2011-2014 ARC Future Fellowship
  • 2011-2014 NHMRC Career Development Award (honorary)
  • 2009 Young Investigator Award Lorne Protein Conference
  • Young Biophysicist Award of the Australian Society for Biophysics
  • 2007–2010 HFSP Cross-Disciplinary Fellowship (3 years)
  • 2007 Federation of the European Biochemical Societies (FEBS) Youth Travel Fund Grant
  • 2001–2003 UNSW Faculty of Science Scholarship
  • 2001–2003 Australian Institute for Nuclear Science and Engineering (AINSE) Postgraduate Award
  • 2000–2003 International Postgraduate Research Scholarship (IPRS)
  • 1996 Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD) Scholarship

  • Australian Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB)
  • Australian Society for Biophysics (ASB)

My Research Supervision

PhD students: Chantal Marquez, Ilina Bareja, Derrick Lau, KM Rifat Faysal, Wang Peng, Conall McGuinness

Honours students: Shivani Shah

My Teaching

ANAT3212