- 27th Apr 12 - April 2012 Bio-POD podcast released
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The new April 2012 Bio-POD podcast is released
?In April's episode, Biopod goes on the road to speak to Dr Eric Fčvre in Kenya about his research on locally transmitted zoonotic diseases. We also speak to Mar Carmena about new targets for cancer therapy and find out about novel software for better understanding genetic data.
Listen here: http://www.ed.ac.uk/schools-departments/biology/news-events/biopod
Email: biology.podcast@ed.ac.uk
Facebook: BioPOD Edinburgh
Twitter: @BioPODEdinburgh
- 24th Apr 12 - Andrew Millar elected as a fellow of the Royal Society
??Congratulations go to Andrew Millar who was was elected as a Fellowship of the Royal Society ??on 19 April 2012.
???More information at http://royalsociety.org/about-us/fellowship/new-fellows-2012/
- 28th Feb 12 - PhD studentships available
Up to 5 fully funded BBSRC PhD Studentships are available for studentships starting this autumn in the Institutes of Cell Biology, Evolutionary Biology, Immunology and Infection Research, Molecular Plant Sciences and Structural and Molecular Biology.
Students will be part of the new EASTBIO BBSRC Doctoral Training Partnership, a partnership between the Universities of Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh and St Andrews. The Partnership aims to provide PhD training in areas of strategic relevance to UK Bioscience and has been selected by the BBSRC as the largest of its 14 UK Doctoral Training Partnerships. These 4 year PhD studentships provide an outstanding training programme.
List of available projects
EASTBIO
Applications are now invited from excellent UK students for these studentships. Some EU applicants may be eligible, if you meet Research Council residency criteria. Please contact us if you are unsure.
The application deadline is Friday 16th March 2012. Previous applicants need not apply.
If you have any enquiries please email gradbiol@ed.ac.uk.
- 13th Feb 12 - Cell discovery strengthens quest for cancer treatments
Fresh insights into how our cells multiply could help scientists develop drugs to treat cancer.
Researchers have gained better understanding of the workings of two key proteins that control cell division. This process must be carried out accurately to keep cells healthy, and when it goes out of control, it can lead to cancer.
The study, led by the University of Edinburgh, could contribute to the development of new drugs that stop cancerous cells multiplying and so prevent the spread of the disease.
Such treatments – known as anti-mitotic drugs – would have the potential to limit the side-effects associated with some chemotherapy drugs, such as damage to healthy nerve cells. The development could also help optimise personalised chemotherapy treatments for individual cancer patients.
Scientists carried out a series of experiments to study how various proteins involved in the control of cell division interact with each other in cells. They used high-resolution microscopy to view the cells in 3D and determine the position of each of the proteins. Crucially, they were able to pinpoint how one key protein binds and triggers the activation of a further two key enzymes, each of which is involved with ensuring that cell division takes place correctly.
Both enzymes studied had previously been identified as targets for development of anti-cancer drugs. The latest discovery adds to scientists’ understanding of how better drugs might be designed that stop the activity of both enzymes. The study, published in the Public Library of Science Biology, was supported by the Wellcome Trust.
Cell division is a complex and tightly regulated process, and when it goes out of control this can lead to cancer. The greater our understanding of the proteins that control cell division, the better equipped scientists will be to design more effective treatments against cancer.
Dr Mar Carmena of the University of Edinburgh’s School of Biological Sciences
For more information please contact: Catriona Kelly, Press and PR Office, 0131 651 4401; Catriona.Kelly@ed.ac.uk
- 13th May 11 - Spagnolo group at Race for Life
Dr Laura Spagnolo's group promoted cancer research at the Race for Life in South Queensferry.
Women taking part in the 5 km race on Sunday 8th May 2011 raised funds for ground breaking work in Cancer research.
Laura Spagnolo aims to understand the surveillance mechanisms used by cells to detect and destroy mutations that can lead to Cancer. Her work is funded by Cancer Research UK.
Nassos Adamopoulos and Giuseppe Cannone, PhD students in Laura's group, were also on hand to thank the public for their support and to engage them in the research being carried out in the School of Biological Sciences at Edinburgh University.
- 31st Jan 11 - Scientists pinpoint ancient body clock
An internal 24-hour clock that affects all forms of life has been identified by University scientists.
The research provides important insight into health-related problems linked to individuals with disrupted clocks – such as pilots and shift workers.
The findings also indicate that the 24-hour circadian clock found in human cells dates back millions of years to early life on Earth.
Daily rhythms
Circadian clocks control many of our physiological functions, including our sleep cycles, hormone function and physical strength. Such clocks also control seasonal changes seen in nature, such as animal breeding patterns and plant growth.
Gene activity
Scientists had thought that the circadian clock was driven by gene activity, but their studies showed that both algae and human red blood cells kept time without it.
One study, by scientists at the Universities of Edinburgh and Cambridge, and the Observatoire Oceanologique in Banyuls, France, identified a 24-hour cycle in marine algae that operated in the absence of DNA.
When the algae were kept in darkness, their DNA was no longer active, but the algae kept their circadian clocks ticking without active genes.
Their discovery indicates that internal body clocks have always been important, even for ancient forms of life.
Protein discovery
A further study from the University of Cambridge identified 24-hour rhythms in red blood cells. This is significant because red blood cells do not have DNA.
The scientists discovered a 24-hour cycle in proteins called peroxiredoxins in algae and blood. The proteins are found in virtually all known organisms.
This groundbreaking research shows that body clocks are ancient mechanisms that have stayed with us through a billion years of evolution. They must be far more important and sophisticated than we previously realised. More work is needed to determine how and why these clocks developed in people – and most likely all other living things on earth – and what role they play in controlling our bodies
Professor Andrew Millar
School of Biological Sciences, University of Edinburgh
Funding for the studies was provided by the Wellcome Trust, Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, the Medical Research Council, the French Agence Nationale de la Recherche, and the National Institute of Health Research.
For more information please contact: Catriona Kelly, Press and PR Office, University of Edinburgh Tel 0131 651 4401; 07791 355940; Email Catriona.Kelly@ed.ac.uk
The image was created by Brigitte Halliday at process
- 25th Oct 10 - Scientists find genes that help put plants to bed
It is not only people that benefit from a good night’s rest – scientists have pinpointed genes that help plants sense when it is dark and time to slow down.
A study led by the University of Edinburgh used computer models of gene networks in a simple cress plant to show that certain genes take effect to enable plants to reduce their activity at night and predict when the sun will rise again.
The genes allow plants to make tiny adjustments to their internal clock as light changes – a process that is crucial in helping plants to adapt to different lengths of days and changing seasons.
Researchers hope the discovery will bring them a step closer to understanding other daily rhythms that affect plants and people – such as the flowering of staple crops such as wheat, barley and rice, or the patterns of human sleep.
Scientists already knew that plant activity – such as growth and flowering – was controlled by an internal rhythm, known as a circadian clock. Previous studies have shown that even the simplest of plants have a complicated internal clock, with daylight saving time built in.
The study, a collaboration with researchers from Nagoya University in Japan, was funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council and published in the journal Molecular Systems Biology.
By understanding the various ways in which a simple plant adapts its inner clock to the changing lengths of days in different seasons, we may be able to understand more about why some plants grow better in certain regions of the world and find new varieties to grow in other locations. It may also help to understand how native species will cope with climate change.
Our systems biology approach combines experiments with the use of supercomputers for mathematical modelling. The lessons we learn from our models will also apply to the clocks that control many human rhythms, such as sleep cycles and blood pressure.
Professor Andrew Millar
School of Biological Sciences
The image is credited to Dr Ed. Himmelblau
For more information please contact:
Professor Andrew Millar, School of Biological Sciences, tel 0131 651 3325; email Andrew.Millar@ed.ac.uk
Catriona Kelly, Press and PR Office, tel 0131 651 4401; email Catriona.Kelly@ed.ac.uk
- 14th Sep 10 - Gene discovery holds key to growing crops in cold climates
Fresh insight into how plants slow their growth in cold weather could help scientists develop crops suited to cooler environments.
Researchers have shown for the first time that a gene – known as Spatula – limits the growth of plants in cool temperatures, possibly helping them adjust to cool conditions.
Researchers at the University of Edinburgh, who took part in the study, believe that by manipulating the gene, they could produce the opposite effect – enabling development of crops that grow well in cold climates.
Scientists studied the Spatula gene in a weed known as thale cress and found that when levels of the gene were low, the plant leaves grew almost twice as much at lower temperatures as they would normally.
Being able to improve crop growth under cool conditions – in which growth would typically be slow – could help ensure the availability of food supplies for future populations.
The study, carried out by the Universities of Edinburgh and York, funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, the Garfield Weston Foundation and the Royal Society, was published in Current Biology.
We have pinpointed a key gene linked to the growth of plants according to the temperature; this could be of real interest in improving crop yields and food security in temperate climates.
Dr Karen Halliday
School of Biological Sciences
For more information please contact
Dr Karen Halliday, School of Biological Sciences, tel 0131 651 9083; email Karen.Halliday@ed.ac.uk
Catriona Kelly, Press and PR Office, tel 0131 651 4401; Catriona.Kelly@ed.ac.uk
- 30th Aug 10 - Scientists shed light on plant survival
University scientists are helping to investigate how plants save enough energy to stay alive at night. Researchers hope their work will have implications for crop cultivation.
Energy models
Scientists will study a weed called thale cress to develop a mathematical model to explain the precise yet flexible regulation of the plants’ energy store and use. This will help researchers better understand any signals transmitted between the plant’s metabolism and internal clock.
Understanding this complex process may one day enable scientists to develop plants for use as crops or bio fuels.
A €5.8million grant from the European Union will fund the five-year study, a collaboration of six international institutions, led by Professor Andrew Millar from the Centre for Systems Biology at Edinburgh.
Plant Pattern
Daylight hours provide plants with time to build up a starch store in their leaves. When darkness falls this store acts as a sugar supply to keep the plant alive overnight. Amazingly, plants are able to predict how long each night will last – they can consume all their starch in a 7-hour summer evening, or eke it out over a 17-hour winter night. The supply runs out just after dawn.
It has been known for centuries that plants have internal clocks which allow them to anticipate when it will be light and dark. Professor Millar already has a model of the genetic clockwork in thale cress. However, it remains a mystery how plants are able to know exactly how much starch they have in storage and how long it needs to keep them going before the sun rises.
Partner institutions also involved in the study are the University of Aberdeen, Biomathematics and Statistics Scotland, the John Innes Centre, Norwich; the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, Potsdam; the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich and the Centre de Recerca en AgriGenomica, Barcelona.
Related links
Timing of Metabolism project website: http://www.timing-metabolism.eu
Centre for Systems Biology: http://www.csbe.ed.ac.uk
BioSS: http://www.bioss.ac.uk
- 7th Jun 10 - Helen Falconer wins poster prize
Many congratulations to Helen Falconer (Aitken lab) who won the prize for best poster at the 4th ISN Special Conference "Membrane Domains in CNS Physiology and Pathology" that was held in Erice (Trapani) Sicily on May 22-26.
Her poster was entitled alpha- and beta-synuclein interactions with 14-3-3.
The full author list is: H. Falconer, S. Beck, N. Houston, M. Vigbedor, E. Maltas, A. Cronshaw, M. Cousin and A. Aitken.
- 25th Mar 10 - Paul McLaughlin wins prestigious EUSA teaching award
Dr Paul McLaughlin has received the 2010 EUSA Simon van Heyningen Award for Teaching in Science & Engineering.
Paul received his award at a lavish evening ceremony on the 24th March in the Teviot Debating Hall. The EUSA Teaching Awards recognise and celebrate teaching excellence within the University of Edinburgh and are run by and voted for by students.
Professor Malcolm Walkinshaw said:
"I am delighted that Paul has won this prestigious award and on behalf of the Institute we warmly congratulate him."
A web cast of the awards ceremony can be found at http://www.eusa.ed.ac.uk/voice/teachingawards.
Image drawn by Claire Holland, a student in the 2010 Biochemistry Honours class.
- 22nd Mar 10 - 'Second secret of life' revealed
Scientists have gained new insights into how the activity of proteins may be controlled by changes in shape and flexibility.
Cells routinely carry out thousands of chemical processes, all of which must be tightly controlled to ensure responsiveness to changing needs and surroundings. A useful analogy is to picture cells as factories with numerous assembly lines each of which is responsible for the production of a different essential molecule. The workers on the assembly lines are proteins (usually enzymes), and these proteins are capable of working faster or slower depending on the demands of their assembly line. Indeed they must be readily controllable, because an inability to respond correctly can lead to biological disasters such as the aggressive growth that is characteristic of cancer cells or even to cell death.
Ever since the first protein structures were determined in the 1960s the search has been on for an explanation for how proteins manage to be so responsive to cellular requirements. How in fact are they controlled? An indication of the significance of protein regulation is that it has been termed ‘the second secret of life’, second only to the genetic code. This term was coined about 40 years ago by the Nobel Prize winner Jacques Monod.
This second secret of life has remained elusive because in order to decode the secret it is necessary to trap a protein at several different stages of its activity, much as time-lapse photography was necessary to work out the gait of a horse.
Dr Hugh Morgan, a postdoctoral researcher in the group of Professor Malcolm Walkinshaw, has now managed to obtain atomic-resolution snapshots of the four different stages of the major house-keeping enzyme pyruvate kinase. This enzyme is present in all our cells, and is necessary for the process of converting the glucose that we eat into the energy we need to survive.
‘This is the first time that a complete set of structural snapshots has been obtained for any enzyme,’ explains Dr Morgan. ‘We can now see that the way the activity of pyruvate kinase is controlled involves a rocking motion of the core of the structure, as well as the formation of additional chemical interactions to lock the enzyme in its most active form. It is likely that many other enzymes will have similar types of regulation.’
The results obtained by Dr Morgan and his colleagues have the additional significance that the pyruvate kinase they studied was isolated from Leishmania mexicana one of the family of single-cell pathogenic parasites that cause tropical diseases such as sleeping sickness. The knowledge of the way in which the enzyme’s activity is controlled will assist in their search for molecules that can block its activity, and therefore be used for the development of much-needed new medical treatments.
The study, carried out in collaboration with the de Duve Institute, Brussels, is published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry. The work was supported by the Medical Research Council, the European Commission through its INCO-DEV programme, the Wellcome Trust and the BBSRC.
The figure shows a schematic representation of the crystal structures of Leishmania mexicana pyruvate kinase.
For further information, please contact Professor Malcolm Walkinshaw, School of Biological Sciences, tel 0131 650 7056; Email Malcolm.Walkinshaw@ed.ac.uk, or Catriona Kelly, University of Edinburgh Press Office, Tel 0131 651 4401; 07791 355940; Email Catriona.Kelly@ed.ac.uk
- 26th Feb 10 - Study offers new clues in bid to beat girls' autism condition
Fresh insight into the cause of an autism spectrum disorder could aid the search for treatments for the condition, which affects more than 1,000 girls in the UK.
Scientists investigating Rett syndrome, which can leave girls unable to walk or talk properly, believe the biological mechanism behind the disorder may be simpler than was previously thought.
Researchers at the University of Edinburgh found that a faulty protein which causes the condition interacts with all the genes in brain cells, contradicting previous thinking that the protein affected only a handful of genes.
The discovery suggests that impact of the faulty gene, known as MeCP2, may be similar in different types of brain cells.
Symptoms of Rett syndrome, which affects mainly girls, develop at around one year of age. They include poor communication skills and reduced mobility. Those affected may also suffer seizures, digestive and breathing problems and often need constant care.
The study, funded by the Wellcome Trust, was published in the journal Molecular Cell.
Professor Adrian Bird, who led the study, said: “This debilitating disorder is caused by a protein that is much more abundant in brain cells than we had realised and can therefore interact with the entire human genome, rather than with a few selected genes.
“It may be that, in Rett patients, many brain cells share a generic defect – which would mean this disease is less complicated than we feared. More work is needed to investigate this possibility.”
The image shows the results of high-throughput DNA sequencing and confirms genome-wide MeCP2 binding. Figure 4 from Skene et al., Molecular Cell, 37(4), 457-468 (2010).
For more information please contact:
Prof Adrian Bird, School of Biological Sciences, tel 0131 650 5670; email A.Bird@ed.ac.uk
Catriona Kelly, Press and PR Office, tel 0131 651 4401; email Catriona.Kelly@ed.ac.uk
- 18th Jan 10 - Plants measure shortest day
It is not only people who feel the effects of short winter days – new research has shed light on how plants calculate their own winter solstice.
A study led by the University of Edinburgh used computer models of a plant known as mouse-ear cress to examine how the plant’s internal clock – which regulates the plant’s daily activities – is affected by changes in day length from winter to summer.
It is hoped that the findings will help scientists develop crops that can cope with climate change.
Scientists found a complex connection between the genes that create this internal rhythm – known as a circadian clock – and the genes that cause the plant to flower. The findings give researchers a greater understanding of how daylight affects the daily rhythms of the plant. The rhythms of gene activity shift as daylight changes with the seasons. This gene activity in turn affects seasonal changes in plants, such as flowering.
The study with researchers from the University of Warwick, which drew on data from labs in Europe, the US and Japan, was funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council and published in the journal Cell.
Professor Andrew Millar, of the University of Edinburgh’s School of Biological Sciences, who led the study, said: “By understanding how flowering genes work together in a simple plant, we stand a much better chance of understanding how the same genes operate in more complex crops, such as barley and rice.
“Our systems biology approach, which combines mathematical modelling with experiments, gives a new way to explain how a plant’s internal rhythms react and respond to a changing environment. The same approach could be applied to understand how seasonal variations affect breeding in animals, such as sheep.”
“We’re interested in whether all plants have evolved a similar way of sensing day length, and whether the strategy is the same in plants and animals.”
For more information please contact:
Professor Andrew Millar, School of Biological Studies, tel 0131 651 3325; email Andrew.Millar@ed.ac.uk
Catriona Kelly, Press and PR Office, tel 0131 651 4401; 07791 355940; email Catriona.Kelly@ed.ac.uk
Image design by Dr. Neeraj Salathia
- 20th Oct 09 - How weather shapes our body clocks
Scientists have shed light on why our body clocks are so complicated, which could help researchers understand how better to tackle sleep problems caused by shift work or jet lag.
A team led by the University of Edinburgh used computer models to show how internal clocks are shaped not only by the seasons, but also by the weather.
Researchers created models of internal clocks and examined how they worked in different environments. They found that these timekeepers – known as circadian clocks – have to be complex so that they can deal with the effects of varying amounts of light from hour to hour and day to day, as well as the changing seasons.
The findings give researchers a greater understanding of what drives the internal rhythms of people, animals and plants. Environmental signals, such as hours of daylight, affect the daily rhythms which many plants use to control flowering and ripening. The findings may also help scientists develop crops that can cope with climate change.
The study, involving researchers from the California Institute of Technology and University of Warwick, was funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council and published in Current Biology.
Dr Carl Troein, of the University of Edinburgh’s School of Biological Sciences, who carried out the study, said: “By better understanding why biological clocks are so complex, we stand a better chance of controlling them.
“Our study goes some way to explaining how and why these in-built rhythms have developed. We hope it will be useful in informing treatments for sleep disorders as well as helping scientists develop crops that can survive in the long term.”
This story has been featured in The Daily Express, The Sun, Metro, The Herald, The Scotsman, The Press and Journal, GMTV, BBC Radio Scotland, BBC Radio Borders, Radio Forth and BBC Online
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/edinburgh_and_east/8314332.stm
For more information please contact:
Dr Carl Troein, School of Biological Sciences, tel 0131 651 3348; email Carl.Troein@ed.ac.uk
Catriona Kelly, Press and PR Office, tel 0131 651 4401; email Catriona.Kelly@ed.ac.uk
