Research Grant Portfolio

"Stem cell fractionation using interactions with artificial matrices"

Nick Goddard and Peter Fielden (with colleagues from across the University - A Day, S Eichhorn, C Kielty, c Merry and c Ward) hae been awarded over £2M from the EPSRC to fund their project on stem cell fractionation. This project proposes to change the current stem cell sorting methods from low throughput one-by-one techniques to very high throughput alternatives that will be capable of sorting millions of cells simultaneously. The key to this will be the design of a series of filters that behave as smart sieves.

The University of Manchester is leading a £2.2 million (€2.56 Million) project to develop new green chemical processes.

The ‘Amine synthesis through biocatalytic cascades’ (AMBIOCAS) programme brings together microbiologists, enzymologists, chemists, engineers and process development experts involved in research to develop the next generation of green manufacturing methods for the chemical industry. Led by Professor Nick Turner, Director of the Centre of Excellence for Biocatalysis, Biotransformations and Biocatalytic Manufacture (CoEBio3), the three-year project involves six partners from academia and industry. Read More

“Elucidating and exploiting cytochrome P450 TxtE-catalysed tyrpotophan nitration in thaxtomin phytotoxin biosynthesis”  Andrew Munro (PI), Nigel Scrutton and Derren Heyes

This project (Funded by the BBSRC) involves a detailed structural and mechanistic characterization of a novel P450 enzyme (TxtE) that catalyses nitration of tryptophan in the pathway to synthesis of thaxtomin – a bacterial toxin affecting economically important root and tuber crops. The project will utilize structural, kinetic and spectroscopic methods to analyse the unusual biochemistry of this enzyme and its interactions with a nitric oxide synthase that generates the other substrate required for TxtE’s catalytic function. The long term aim of the project is to enable strategic chemical intervention and targeting of this system to enable crop protection and facilitate food security.

“Re-Writing HIStory: Identification and Characterisation of the Histidine Phosphoproteome” Claire Eyers - BBSRC New Investigator grant.

All bacteria, fungi and some plants rely on ‘two-component’ signalling systems, comprising a receptor histidine kinase and a response regulator, to respond rapidly to changes in their environment. Evidence has been accumulating to suggest that mammalian systems rely on histidine phosphorylation of intracellular proteins to regulate certain signalling events including neuronal and T-cell receptor signalling. However, the extent of this modification in mammals is unclear, as the instability of phosphohistidine at low pH makes it difficult to study using classical biochemical techniques. Precise roles for phosphohistidine in mammalian cell have thus been hard to define. We are therefore developing an analytical strategy based on peptide chromatography and state-of-the art techniques in tandem mass spectrometry to characterize phosphohistidine-containing peptides from human cell extracts on a global scale. Assessment of the proteins identified during the course of these investigations and characterization of the effects that this modification has on protein function will thus enable the role(s) of this modification in mammals to be defined in more detail, opening the field significantly for further study.