Andy Howden, one of our DRIG Steering Group members and researcher at the Dundee MRC Protein Phosphorylation and Ubiquitylation Lab tells us about his work:
Research
Here you will find various links and downloads from activities, discussions and visits organised by DRIG. Other links and downloads of interest to members of the group can also be found here.
Meet the Scientists | Mollie's Blog 18
As I am now entering my final month at MRC PPU before I return to university in Bath I am determined to make as much progress with my project as possible. So what better time to learn a new technique!
Meet the Scientists | Mollie's Blog No 17
Since my previous blog, I have been working to answer the unexpected question that arose from the last set of dephosphorylation assays I had performed using whole cell extracts: where is PP1 located and active in the cell? We had hypothesized that, due to the location of its substrate (phosphorylated ubiquitin, pUb, at the mitochondria), it was likely PP1 may be tethered to the mitochondrial membrane. This would enable PP1 to be in close proximity with pUb and easily carry out its dephosphorylation activity.
Meet the Scientists | Meet Caitlin Brown from Yale
Caitlin, visiting undergraduate research student from Yale University, meets with Marc Van Grieken, Chair of DRIG, and Brendan Hawdon, co-secretary of DRIG to discuss her planned research work during her time at the lab. She found it extremely useful to hear from two people with parkinson's about their own motivation for being involved in research work. You can read all about it at the link below:
Meet the Scientists | Mollie's Blog No 16
28/05/2021
The past two weeks have been very busy tying up lots of loose ends whilst also preparing for and setting up my final big experiments.
Meet the Scientists | Mollie's Blog No 15
As I head into the final 3 months of my time at MRC PPU, I am working towards setting up the two largest, longest and most complex experiments I will have completed in my project. I am both extremely excited and itching to get started but I cannot deny the underlying nerves I am also feeling. The results of these experiments could be very informative and provide new insights into the PINK1/Parkin pathway so I am determined to see these through to completion before I finish.
Meet the Scientists | Mollie's Blog No 14
18/04/2021
Over the past two weeks I have moved from cells to proteins – clearing away the clutter and amplifying my magnifying glass to focus solely on the possible proteins that comprise the part of the PINK1/Parkin pathway that I am studying.
Meet the Scientists | Mollie's Blog No 13
02/04/2021
It has been almost a month now since I have given you an update on how my project is progressing. With just 4 months to go now until my time at MRC PPU comes to an end, I am really keen to push forward with the project and squeeze in as much science as I can before I finish.
Meet the Scientists | Mollie's Blog No 12
The last two weeks feel like they have flown by – I have been busy repeating previous experiments to validate the results and strengthen my data. This means I have no new updates regarding my project. However, this week it was published in the media that an exciting new diagnostic test for Parkinson’s Disease is on the horizon so I thought it might be nice to write a small piece about this incredible development.
Meet the Scientists | Mollie's Blog No 11
A very exciting two weeks in the lab to update you on!
The initial results of my experiments have indicated that the protein my project was focusing on (PPP2R5D) is not involved in removing phosphates (small chemical tags, PO42-) from Ubiquitin. Whilst this may seem a disappointment – no result is a bad result as long as the data quality is high and the result is unambiguous. So, whilst my work into PPP2R5D will stop here, another exciting development has arisen.