NWSGC Seminars (archive)
This series of seminars has been very successful due to the high quality of the seminars and we would like to take the time to thank all the speakers for presenting the seminars for us.
Professor
Simon Geskall (center). His Seminar
title was "New Techniques for Qualitative and Quantitative Proteomics" where
he described the application of Mass Spectroscopy to Biology in the contest
on the recent developments in Genomics.
Professor Steve Oliver (second from the right) is currently developing new biology
based on his Yeast
Research. His seminar "From Genomes to System Biology : The Future
Way of Biology" gave the audience the opportunity to familiarize with his
discoveries.
Professor
Michael Woolfson (centre) with Prof. Samar Hasnain (left) and Prof. John Helliwell
(right).Currently Professor
Woolfson is developing ACORN a
new program for automated structure determination.
Sir
Tom Blundell (left) and Prof. Samar Hasnain.
Sir Tom Blundell's research
interests cover various sections of biochemistry and crystallography including rhizopuspepsin and Pantothenate
Synthetase.
The seminar brought together many people from various sections of the scientific
community in the North West.
Prof.
Janet Thornton (centre) with Prof. Samar Hasnain and Prof. John Helliwell. Prof.
Thornton is heavily involved in protein structure analysis and is Director of
the European Bioinformatics Institute.
Prof.
Keith Hodgson (centre) with Prof. Samar Hasnain and Prof. John Helliwell.
Prof.
Hodgson's research involves the fields of bioinorganic and biophysical chemistry.
"In
general, we are asking how structure at different organizational levels relates
to function. Studies are being done at the molecular and macromolecular levels
using a number of spectroscopic and scattering techniques on a variety of different
scientific problems."
Dr.
Naomi Chayen (centre) with Prof. Samar Hasnain and Prof. John Helliwell.
Prof. Udo Heinemann (centre)
with Prof. Samar Hasnain and Prof. John Helliwell. Also in the picture are Mike
Cianci (right) and Mark Ellis (left) who are the first scientists employed by
the NWSGC.
Prof. Heinemann is leader
of the MDC, Crystallography group, Berlin. His current interests are : Structures
and interactions of biological macromolecules. X-ray crystallography, biochemistry,
molecular biology of proteins and nucleic acids. Protein folding and stability.
Proteins of medical, pharmaceutical and biotechnological interest.
Prof.
Julia Goodfellow (centre) with Prof. Samar Hasnain and Prof. John Helliwell.
Prof.
Goodfellow is Chief Executive at the BBSRC's Swindon office and has been on
the BBSRC Council since 1997. Her research interests include the use of computer
simulation techniques to study the structure and function of large molecules.
Professor Goodfellow's highly regarded research group is studying the properties
of proteins implicated in the onset of disease.
Dr.
Ken Duncan (centre) with Prof. Samar Hasnain and Prof. John Helliwell.
Ken Duncan
is the programme manager for Action
TB at Glaxo SmithKline Research and Development in Stevenage. Glaxo Wellcome's
Action TB initiative is currently the largest coordinated research effortin
the world. The initiative has been running since 1993 with a £20m investment
commitment from Glaxo Wellcome, which will enable it to continue at least until
the year 2003. It brings together researchers from academe and industry, and
funds study groups in the UK, US, South Africa and Canada.;
Dr.
Murray Gibson (middle left) with Prof. Samar Hasnain and Prof. John Helliwell.
Also present in the picture is Prof. Friso Van der Veen (far right), director
of the Swiss Light Source.
Prof.
James Sacchettini with Prof. Samar Hasnain
Prof. Sacchettini's
laboratory primarily studies the interactions between proteins and their ligands,
substrates or inhibitors. They use several techniques in the examination of
the molecular details of these types of interactions including x-ray crystallography,
microcalorimetry, and molecular biology. An area of research for several years
has been proteins and enzymes involved in lipid biosynthesis.
Dr. Harren Jhoti , Prof. Hasnain and Prof. Helliwell.
Astex Technology is
a structure-based drug discovery company pioneering the use of high throughput
X-ray crystallography. Dr. Jhoti (Founder and Chief Scientific Officer) previously
led the Structural Biology and Bioinformatics groups at Glaxo Wellcome (1991-1999),
applying protein structure analysis to drug discovery. In addition, he was also
involved in structure-based drug design projects aimed at a variety of therapeutic
targets.
Prof. Guy Dodson FRS working out in the new User Amernity Area at DL. Joined
on the bicycles by Samar.
Prof. Guy Dodson's research
groups main focus is on proteins involved in the regulation of cellular functions.
Much of the research is collaborative with other groups within the Institute.
Professor Sue Bailey with Prof. Samar Hasnain and Prof. John Helliwell
Prof.
Bailey is a former research scientist at Daresbury Laboratory where she was
project leader of the CCP4 group. She is also an experienced protein crystallographer,
involved in research on a number of metalloproteins involving molybdenum and
tungsten metal centres (DMSO reductase) and novel iron centres (Prismane).
Professor Keith Moffat with Prof. Samar Hasnain and Prof. John Helliwell
Prof. Moffat's laboratory
in the division of biological sciences at the university of Chicago (see
web site)concentrates on the application of synchrotron radiation techniques
to dynamic X-ray diffraction studies of macromolecules. Over the past 15 years,
they have developed the theoretical foundation of polychromatic (Laue) x-ray
diffraction from single crystals, and the experimental protocols, hardware and
software necessary to apply this diffraction technique to nanosecond time-resolved
crystallography. They have successfully introduced the time domain into
crystallography, hitherto regarded as purely a static technique.
Professor Louise Johnson with Prof. Samar Hasnain and Prof. John Helliwell
Professor John Collinge with Prof. Samar Hasnain and Prof. John Helliwell
Prof. Collinge heads The MRC Prion
Unit based at University College London. This research group has furthered our
understanding of human prion diseases, for example Creutzfeldt-Jacob Disease
(CJD) which destroys the brain. The work of his group hsa also raised new research
questions about susceptibility to exposure to the infective agent from that
causes bovine spongiform encepathalopathy (BSE) a similar disease that affects
cows. (Source MRC)
Professor Malcolm Walkinshaw with Prof. Samar Hasnain and Prof. John Helliwell
Prof. Walkinshaw's research
group have three main areas of interest 1. Protein-Ligand Interactions. 2. Immunophilin
Structure and 3. Metal-binding and RedoxProteins.
Professor
David Hopwood with Prof. Samar Hasnain and Prof. John Helliwell. Also present
are Prof. Keith Chater and Dr. Mark Buttner, both from the John Innes Centre