Biosciences Staff Profile

Professor Bill Gullick, Ph.D., FRCPath. is Emeritus Professor of Cancer Biology in the School of Biosciences at the University of Kent, U.K. He trained at the University of Leeds and then did postdoctoral research at the Salk Institute in San Diego and then at the Imperial Cancer Research Fund. He worked for eleven years as a Principal Scientist at the ICRF Molecular Oncology Unit at the Hammersmith Hospital and as Professor of Molecular Oncology at the Imperial College School of Medicine before moving to the University of Kent in 2000. Professor Gullick’s research interests include investigations of the role of growth factor receptors in signal transduction, both from the experimental, laboratory perspective but also as a target for the development of new, designed, anti-cancer drugs. His principle area of research was the involvement of the EGF family of ligands and receptors in cancer and their use as prognostic factors and as targets for new treatments. He has been the President of the European CanCer Organisation and the President of the European Association for Cancer Research.

Bill is a member of the Biomolecular Medicine Group

Chairman of the Council of the EACR (2008-2010)
President of the European CanCer Organisation (2001-2003)
President of the European Association for Cancer Research (2004-2006)
Scientific advisor for the Kent Cancer Trust (2004-2012)

Dr Emma Hargreaves joined the School of Biosciences in February 2007

Career

1999 –2003
University of Kent at Canterbury BSc (Hons.) Biochemistry. Including 2001 –2002 industrial trainee within the orphan G-Protein Coupled Receptor (oGPCR) group of Pfizer, Sandwich, U.K.

2003
Summer studentship within the Drug Metabolism group of Pfizer, Sandwich U.K. Research interest in cytochrome P450 inhibitors.

2003-2007
PhD in clinical pharmacology in the group of Dr. Anthony Davenport, University of Cambridge. The emerging pharmacology of orphan GPCRs.

2007-2009
Post-Doctoral Research Associate in the group of Prof. Mark Smales, University of Kent. Characterising post-transcriptional constraints that determine recombinant protein yield during bioprocessing in mammalian cells.

2010-2011
Senior Post-Doctoral Research Associate in the group of Prof. Mark Smales, University of Kent. Generation of cell lines with improved protein synthesis/mRNA translation and growth characteristics for enhanced mAb production.

2012-Present
Leverhulme Early Career Fellow, University of Kent. Determining control of mRNA translation via changes of translation factor levels.

Mark Howard joined the School of Biosciences as NMR Facility Manager in 2001 and has developed as an internationally respected researcher in Biological Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) Spectroscopy specialising in the uses of NMR to study metabolic pathway intermediates, peptides and proteins. Mark attended Aston University from 1988 to 2004 obtaining a BSc in Chemistry and a PhD in Physical Chemistry in the study of NMR and Ultrasound for novel method development in solid-state NMR spectroscopy. Following his PhD, Mark became a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Cambridge where we worked on NMR investigations of pyruvate dehydrogenase multi-enzyme complex in the laboratory of Prof Richard Perham FRS. Following this post, he became the Technical Officer of the 600 MHz NMR facility in Kent Biosciences from 1997-98. However, Mark was lured back to Cambridge to work under the directorship of Prof. Sir Alan Fersht FRS as manager of the NMR facility in the Medical Research Council Centre for Protein Engineering. In 2000, Mark pursued a brief 18 month excursion into industry, working for GE Healthcare on DNP Hypersense before returning to Kent in 2001 as NMR Facility Manager. From 2001 to present, Mark has risen through the ranks of Lecturer and Senior Lecturer to become Reader in Biological NMR Spectroscopy in 2011.

Mark’s research focus is centred on the continued development and application of NMR spectroscopy to biology, biotechnology and medicine. His interests circulate around the utilisation of NMR to study the identification, structure and dynamics of important biomolecules that relate to function, disease and therapies. A current particular interest is in the area of engineering new methods to inform on protein-ligand interactions for biochemical, pharmaceutical drug discovery and medical applications.
Mark is a member of the Protein Form and Function Group.

Mark Howard is a Chartered Chemist, Chartered Scientist and Member of the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC). He has served from 2008-2013 as a member of the Advisory Board of the RSC Journal: Molecular Biosystems. He was also the executive chair of the BBSRC funded Collaborative Computing Project for NMR (CCPN) from 2010-2012. In addition, Mark holds Panel Memberships with both The Society of Biology and The Royal Society.

Dr Peter Klappa joined the School of Biosciences in 1995. He is a member of the Protein Form and Function Group.

Dr Dan Lloyd joined the School of Biosciences in 2001 as a Lecturer. After a degree in Chemistry at the University of York, he completed his PhD at the Institute of Cancer Research in London and 3 years as a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford University in California, before taking up his position at Kent. As a member of the Cell Biology, Cancer Targets and Therapies Group, research interests relate to the cellular response to DNA damage induced by environmental and clinical agents, and how this relates to human health, disease and therapy. Dr Lloyd was also recently awarded a National Teaching Fellowship from the Higher Education Academy for his work on science communication final year projects.

ORCID ID: 0000-0002-4888-6790

I graduated with a BSc (Hons) in Applied Biology from Chelsea College, University of London.  I then did my PhD which was entitled ‘Factors Affecting Photosynthesis and Research into Possible Functions for Photorespiration’; this was in the area of Plant Biochemistry and Physiology and was carried out at Rothamsted Experimental Station, (PhD registered at the University of London) and supervised by Dr Alfred J.Keys.  I was then a post doc research Fellow at the Research School of Biological Sciences, at the Australian National University, Canberra, Australia; I was there for a year and carried out research studies on the regulation of the uptake and export of metabolites by spinach chloroplasts, working with Dr K.C.Woo in Professor Barry Osmond’s photosynthesis group.  Returning to the UK, I then ventured into things clinical and worked as a clinical research associate at the MRC Clinical Research Centre, Middlesex in the Division of Clinical Cell Biology with Professor T.J.Peters.  The first project here was in collaboration with Amersham International Radiochemicals and looked at the purification and characterisation of cancer specific isoforms of galactosyltransferase from human samples.  I then worked on a short-term project supported by the Cancer Research Campaign looking at the characterisation of gamma-glutamytransferase in normal and malignant hepatic cells.  Following a career break of one year to take care of my first child, I then returned to ‘things green’ and was an associate research assistant in the Department of Biology, University College London  working on an OECD supported project carrying out metabolic studies of Striga hermonthica, a parasitic plant of C4 crops.  I then took an extended career break to raise a family.  I was then awarded a Daphne Jackson Fellowship supported by Pfizer Research and Development where I worked in Discovery Biology in the Department of Allergy and Respiratory at Pfizer, Sandwich, UK looking at potential inhibitors of phosphodiesterase 4 activity associated with development of treatment for inflammatory lung disease.

I joined the School of Biosciences at the University of Kent in 2004 as a teaching focussed lecturer in Biosciences.  I completed a PGCHE and became a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

Martin studied pharmacy and completed his PhD in pharmaceutics in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, working on drug carrier systems including nanoparticles and liposomes. Then, he took a post as postdoc at the Institute for Medical Virology, Clinics of the Goethe-University, Frankfurt/Main, Germany, and started to work on the identification and investigation of anti-cancer and antiviral drugs. From 2005, he joined the charity “Hilfe für krebskranke Kinder Frankfurt e.V.”, Frankfurt am Main, finally resulting in a joined affiliation at the private research institute of the charity’s trust Frankfurter Stiftung für krebskranke Kinder (Dr. Petra Joh-Forschungshaus) and at the Institute of Medical Virology in Frankfurt am Main. Martin joined the School of Biosciences in July 2011 and is a member of the Cell Biology, Cancer Targets and Therapies Group.

ORCID: 0000-0002-5710-5888

Dan Mulvihill acquired expertise in cell cycle and cytoskeleton research during his PhD (co-supervised by Profs Iain Hagan and David Glover FRS) and subsequent postdoctoral position in the lab of Prof. Jerry Hyams, where he used fission yeast to study the function of the actin associated motor proteins, myosins. In 2003 he was awarded a BBSRC David Phillips Fellowship and established his own group at the University of Kent to continue research on these conserved molecular motor proteins. In 2012 he was awarded a 4-year Royal Society Industry fellowship to work with Cairn Research Ltd to develop rapid multi-dimensionlive cell imaging systems. Researchers within his lab are investigating the regulation and function of the actomyosin cytoskeleton in eukaryotes. To do this they use a variety of cross discipline approaches to elucidate how differences in the kinetic and physical properties of the actomyosin cytoskeleton, relate to its cellular properties to uncover cellular functions. Recent studies include discovering a novel regulatory mechanisms by which formin nucleation affects recruitment of tropomyosin (an actin regulator) and subsequently modulates myosin activity, as well as exploring how cell cycle and stress dependent phosphoregulation affects the motor activity and function of myosin motors.

Dan is a member of the Cell Biology, Cancer Targets and Therapies Group and the Kent Fungal Group.

Research Career

• 1999 PhD Cell Biology, Universities of Dundee and Manchester.
• 1999-2003 Postdoctoral Research Fellow Dept of Biology, UCL, London.
• 2003 Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Max Planck Institute, Heidelberg.
• 2003-2008 BBSRC David Phillips Research Fellow, University of Kent.
• 2008-2010 Lecturer in Cell and Molecular Biology, University of Kent
• 2010-2013  Senior Lecturer in Cell and Molecular Biology, University of Kent
• 2013 – present, Reader in Cell and Molecular Biology, University of Kent

Orchid: 0000-0003-2502-5274

Dr Peter Nicholls joined the School of Biosciences in 1995. He is an immunologist with over 20 years of expertise in antibody engineering that includes experience in industry (Celltech Therapeutics Ltd) as well as academia. He has had previous direct involvement in projects that resulted in clinical trials for the treatment of cancer, and has been the recipient of project funding from the Leukaemia Research Fund since 1998.

Peter is a member of the Cell Biology, Cancer Targets and Therapies Group.

Dr Pauline Phelan joined the School of Biosciences in 2000. Her research focuses on the roles of gap junctions in the nervous system. Pauline is currently Director of Education for the School and Sciences Faculty Director of Student Experience.