Filamentous influenza viruses infect cells by triggering macropinocytosis

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Rossman JVI Extra ImageDr. Jeremy Rossman, Lecturer in Virology, comments on an article he and his collaborators published recently. The publication was selected by the Journal of Virology as the cover article. Dr. Rossman teaches Virology as a final year module within our degree programmes.

“Influenza viruses are pleiomorphic, forming both spherical and filamentous virions. The spherical viruses are known to enter cells via clathrin-mediated endocytosis; however, we now show that the larger filamentous viruses enter cells through the induction of macropinocytosis. This is the first example of different morphological variants of the same virus utilizing different entry pathways to infect the same cell type.”

J.S. Rossman, G.P. Leser, and R.A.Lamb, “Filamentous influenza virus enters cells via macropinocytosis”. Journal of Virology, 2012, 86:10950-60.

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The 3rd Annual Stacey Symposium, School of Biosciences

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“Careers Outside the Laboratory”

 The School of Biosciences will be holding the 3rd Stacey Symposium on the afternoon of 8 April 2013. The theme of this year’s Symposium is ‘Careers Outside the Laboratory’ and a number of former staff and students of the School have agreed to come and tell us about how their careers “outside the laboratory” have developed since leaving Kent. We hope this will inspire current students to think broadly about their career opportunities once they leave Canterbury. The invited speakers come from a variety of backgrounds including industry, teaching, administration, government and medicine. The programme can be found on the school web page: http://www.kent.ac.uk/bio/seminars/stacey/programme.html

The inaugural Stacey Symposium was held in September 2010 to celebrate the life and work of Professor Ken Stacey and at this year’s Symposium we will also be launching the Stacey Fund (www.kent.ac.uk/giving/staceyfund.html?tab=make-your-gift-today). With the generous support of a Biosciences alumnus, the Stacey Fund has been established to continue Ken’s work inspiring young scientists, and to enable students from low-income families to have the opportunity to undertake practical work experience in laboratories around the world. Through the Stacey Fund, the School of Biosciences will therefore be able to give more students the opportunity to gain laboratory experience, free of financial worries.

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Undergraduate applications to the School of Biosciences continue to rise

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The University of Kent is bucking the national trend of declining university applications for undergraduate degree programmes. While new applications to study at University have declined across the UK, the University’s applications have risen by 6.3% compared with last year. The School of Biosciences has seen an even more impressive increase of 29% on last year’s figures according to the lastest application data – a ringing endorsement for the quality of our undergraduate degree programmes. This follows on from annual increases over the last 5 years and reflect our strong league table position, our outstanding performance in the National Student Survey, and our high levels of graduate employability.

Read the recent university press release for more details.

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Computer simulation promotes understanding of fundamental biological processes

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Computer simulations are emerging as useful tools to study how cellular molecules form networks, thereby creating the processes of life. Dr. Tobias von der Haar, working in collaboration with expert computer scientists from the School of Computing at the University of Kent, recently applied this approach to protein synthesis, a core biological process which malfunctions in cancer cells and during viral infections. They revealed that molecules involved in protein synthesis adopt a specialised network which allows healthy cells to produce protein using a minimal amount of energy and other resources.

Dr. von der Haar is Senior Lecturer in Systems Biology in the School of Biosciences brings his expertise to our undergraduate modules in Biochemistry and delivers our cutting edge advanced practical training in our taught Master’s programmes. He is also the coordinator of the School of Biosciences’ science outreach work with the local community.

Chu DF and von der Haar T (2012) The architecture of eukaryotic translation. Nucleic Acids Res 40(20):10098-10106.

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PhD success stories

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It has been a busy period of success for our PhD programmes. In the last month we have had no less than six successful viva voce examinations, preceded by some excellent oral presentations. The “pre-viva” talk has become a rite of passage for our PhD students – an opportunity to share with the School of Biosciences their research and mark this pivotal moment in a scientist’s career. All six candidates passed subject to the completion of minor thesis corrections. The successful outcomes in the last month alone highlight the quality of our postgraduate research students, and also the supervision they receive during their time at Kent.

Many congratulations to Angelica Ozanne, Shirley Peters, Sam Taylor, Ilectra Adam, Emma Hutchinson and Denisa Doko, and best of luck for your future careers.

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Postgraduate celebrations at Canterbury Cathedral

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Late November saw the annual postgraduate congregation ceremony in the spectacular surroundings of Canterbury Cathedral and its precincts. With the introduction of an exciting range of new Master’s programmes in Cancer Biology, Reproductive Medicine and Science Communication, in addition to our existing PhD programmes, the School of Biosciences had a bumper year of graduates celebrating their achievements.

Many congratulations to all of our graduates, but a special mention in particular to James Nicol (L) and Zacharie Amant (R), joint winners of the prize for best performing student on the MSc Cancer Biology. This prize is part of a generous support package provided by the Kent Cancer Trust. We will profile both prize winners in the New Year and catch up with what they are doing after completing their Master’s programme.

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Graduate profile: Sara Sandbach

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Sara Sandbach graduated with a PhD in Biochemistry in 2006. She is now an Associate Clinical Programme Manager for a large, multi-national pharmaceutical company, having progressed from a role as Senior Clinical Research Associate. She has also been a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Paterson Institute of Cancer Research before moving on to clinical trial management.

Describe a typical working day.

 Being responsible for global clinical trials means you have several starts to the day depending on which time zone has just woken up and which time zone you are in! Each time zone brings its own challenges and problems, ranging from preparing ethics committees responses, to protocol questions, to issues with customs. I coordinate a team that helps resolve all these issues. Once resolved I then start my day job, which involves budgeting and planning to guarantee we deliver excellent scientific data to enable successful drugs to be delivered to the market.  

What do you most enjoy about your job?

Using my scientific background in a strategic, focused way to help bring new medicine from the bench to the bedside.

Do you have any particular memories of your time at the University and the degree programme?

I have the most amazing memories of smiles, fun and happy times that I spent with almost every person I met at the University.

How was the teaching?

Excellent! I could recall almost every person at Kent who helped me to achieve my goals through teaching and support. In fact, with the help and support I got from the University of Kent it felt more like a family. I was an individual that was never alone.

Was your degree hard work?

Yes! You get out what you put in and the University of Kent helps to nurture the hard work out of you.

Do you have any advice for students interested in your career path?

Scientific research either in academia or in industry is a tough game, but if you are determined to make it you will. Connections and a good solid educational background will help you achieve your goals. 

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Record turnout for Biosciences outreach event

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September 26th saw the first MBP2 day of the 2012/13 academic year, with record numbers of students queuing to take part in this school-led research project. MBP2 (the Myelin Basic Protein Project) was conceived in 2008 by Dr David Colthurst, biology teacher at the Simon Langton Grammar School for Boys and a former postgraduate student in the School of Biosciences.

MBP2 aims to provide a genuine research experience for year 12/13 pupils, allowing the students to experience modern biomolecular and computational techniques through hands-on experience under the guidance of active university research scientists. The students use modern molecular biological procedures including gene cloning, protein analyses and bioinformatics approaches. The subject of the study is myelin basic protein (MBP), an important molecular component of the neuronal myelin sheath which is thought to malfunction in patients suffering from multiple sclerosis.

This year’s first MBP2 day attracted around 170 students from the Langton, a record number that highlights the popularity of this project with students. This was matched by a record number of participants from the School of Biosciences, as 15 of us (from postgraduate to professorial level) took part in the day. There were also scientific successes, as the students were able to demonstrate the production of recombinant MBP in yeast and bacterial cells, which now paves the way for studying the post-translational modification patterns of MBP in these heterologous expression hosts.

MBP2 is one example among the School of Biosciences’ outreach portfolio that has demonstrable impact. Since conception of the project, the numbers of students studying biology at the Simon Langton has more than doubled. The project has also raised awareness of multiple sclerosis, with increasing numbers of students acting as occasional volunteer helpers or fund-raisers for the MS Society Centre neighbouring Simon Langton. MBP2 has now gone on to inspire similar projects by School/University partnerships across England, under the Wellcome Trust funded “Authentic Biology” programme. The School of Biosciences also recently applied for a Guardian HE award based on their involvement in this pioneering project.

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Research study investigates human cardiac myosin function

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Mike Geeves, Professor of Physical Biochemistry in the School of Biosciences, comments on a research article published recently featuring work from his laboratory.

“Myosin is the motor protein that drives cardiac muscle contraction and blood circulation.  Mutations in myosin cause inherited heart disease but obtaining human tissue to study the proteins has been difficult. Colleagues in the USA have now expressed human myosin in cells and purified the myosin. We show the two human cardiac myosin isoforms (α-from atria, and β-from ventricles) differ much more than had been thought. α-myosin, in fact, surprisingly behaving like a fast skeletal muscle myosin. The work will now allow a new study of the effect of mutations on human myosin function.”

Prof. Geeves teaches all of our undergraduate students the function of muscle in our core Physiology module. In the final year, his research group’s pioneering work on molecular motors features strongly in Protein Structure and Function, a core module on our Biochemistry degree programme. 

Deacon, J. C., Bloemink, M. J., Rezavandi, H., Geeves, M. A. & Leinwand, L. A. (2012) Identification of functional differences between recombinant human alpha and beta cardiac myosin motors. J Cell Mol Life Sci  69, 261-77. 

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