Division of Biosciences Staff Meeting Wednesday 4 th July 2018 - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Division of Biosciences Staff Meeting Wednesday 4 th July 2018 3.30-5.00pm AV Hill Lecture Theatre

Agenda ‘State of the Division’ Frances Brodsky, Director Divisional Manager Update David Meech Mazumdar, Divisional Manager Update from the Research Departments GEE – Andrew Pomiankowski SMB – Finn Werner CDB – David Whitmore NPP – Trevor Smart Education Update Andrea Townsend-Nicholson P Block & BSU Sandrine Géranton Director’s Q&A Frances Brodsky

“State of the Division” update Frances Brodsky, Director

Academic Staff News Ongoing Recruitment and New Appointments • Associate professor of Ancient Plant Genomics – Hernan Burbano (GEE/CLOE) • Lecturer in Topographical Anatomy (CDB) – Laura Porro • Henry Dale Fellow (CDB) – Vil Fernandes • MRC Fellow (CDB) – Marc Amoyel • Lecturer in Topograpghical Anatomy (CDB) • Lecturer in Pharmacology (NPP) • Quain Professor of Botany (GEE/CLOE) • Strategic Research & Development Manager (Division) • Head of CDB • Head of SMB Promotions and re-banding for 2018 still in progress

Dignity at Work All employees are entitled to: • a workplace free from bullying, intimidation, harassment or victimization • be treated with dignity, respect and courtesy • experience no form of unlawful discrimination • be valued for their skills and abilities www.ucl.ac.uk/human-resources/equality-diversity-inclusion/dignity-work

UCL 2034 – 20 year strategy Principal themes Key enablers 1. Best student support 1. Academic leadership 2. Valuing our staff 2. Integration of research and education 3. Financing our ambitions 3. Addressing global challenges 4. Excellent systems 4. Accessible and publicly engaged 5. Sustainable estate 5. London’s Global University 6. Communicating and engaging 6. Delivering global impact www.ucl.ac.uk/2034/

David Meech Mazumdar Divisional Manager

Professional Services Staff News Welcome to the Division/New Appointments • Denise Huggan – Staffing Team Manager • Mike Deveraux– Finance Team Manager Recruitment • Teaching & Learning Administrator (Grade 7) – Maternity cover • Teaching & Learning Administrator (Grade 7) - permanent

Andrew Pomiankowski Genetics, Evolution and Environment

GEE Prizes and Research Richard Pearson Steve Jones ZSL Scientific Medal ZSL Silver Medal Francois Balloux Group (Science Paper) Recent Asian origin of chytrid fungi causing global amphibian declines Mark Thomas Group (BBC Extravaganza) Revealface of Cheddar Man Seirian Sumner Group (Nature Paper) Altruism in a volatile world

Tim Newbold – NERC £745k Pomiankowski & Fowler – NERC £792k Biodiversity change and agriculture Mate choice and meiotic drive Telford & Yang – BBSRC £425k Nazif Alic – BBSRC £524k Deep coalescence in ancient radiations Lifespan and insulin-like signalling Jurg Bahler – BBSRC £518k Linda Partridge – Alzheimers Research £420k Cellular ageing & non-coding RNAs Max Telford – Leverhulme £190k Deep homology of spiral cleavage Lane & Reuter – BBSRC £950k Mitochondria flux generator Duncan Greig – Leverhulme £200k Yeast speciation genes

CLOE UCL Centre for Life’s Origins & Evolution

Sad Goodbyes Professor Sam Berry Dr Ben Collen 1934-2018 1978-2018

Finn Werner Structural and Molecular Biology

SMB - have we got news for you!? Finn Werner Deputy HoRD SMB Division of Biosciences Staff meeting July 4 th , 2018

Evolution of our department Department Biochemistry (-2006) David Saggerson Institute and Research Department Structural and Molecular Biology* (2007-2019) Gabriel Waksman Institute or Centre (in planning phase!) Mechanisms of Molecular Machines (2019-) active search successor *currently 34 Pis [13f:21m]

Broad portfolio of research activities beyond structural biology - we have a lot to offer Multidisciplinary and Multiscalar analyses of molecular machines – and much more Membrane shape Bioremediation Secretion • Technology drivers, tools and databases  Bioinformatics Metal metabolism  NMR Redox processes  MS Endo/exocytosis • Computational biology RNA regulation Signal transduction • Microbiology Algae and biotech Cancer • Cell biology Antibodies Epigenetic markers Bio-orthogonal and synthetic biology Structural immunology Stress responses

Healthy research income… Grant income in 2017/2018: £9,367,038 Provided by project grants >100K including Lisa Cabrita (140K, Alpha-1 foundation) Flemming Hansen (210K, BBSRC) Matilda Katan (620K, MRC) Christine Orengo (725K, BBSRC) Saul Purton (890K, BBSRC) Kostas Thalassinos (705K, Wellcome*) Giuilia Zanetti (100K, Acad Med Sci) * out of £2.6M in total

Contributed by program grants Andres Ramos MRC programme £1.6M ‘Molecular mechanisms regulating mRNA transport and local translation in neurons' John Christodoulou Wellcome Investigator £2.1M ‘Integrative structural biology of protein folding’ Finn Werner Wellcome Investigator £2.1M ‘Mechanisms and regulation of RNAP’

Technical capabilities • Darwin Research Facility (Vernon Skinner) general purpose biochemistry, chromatography and detection • Molecular Interactions Facility (Steve Perkins / Jayesh Gor) two analytical ultracentrifuges (AUC), one with fluorescent detection [one of the best AUC setups in the UK], BIAcore, dual polarisation interferometry • NMR Facility (one of the best in the UK) (Angelo Figueiredo) 800 MHz TXI, 700 MHz, 600 and 500 MHz with cryogenic probes • EM Facility (rivalled only by the LMB) (Carolyn Moores at Brickbeck College) Titan Krios 300kV microscope (K2 and Falcon III detectors), Polara 300kV microscope (DE20 and K2 detectors) and T10/12/F20 microscopes

Publications SMB scientists published 80+ research articles in 2017/2018 • Hak… and Emmanuel Boucrout ‘FBP17 and CIP4 recruit SHIP2 and Lamellipodin to prime the plasma membrane for Fast Endophilin-Mediated Endocytosis’ in Nature Cell Biology • Diaz… and Alan Cheung, ‘Cryo-EM structure of the SAGA and NuA4 coactivator subunit Tra1 at 3.7 angstrom resolution’ in eLife • Bunny… and Matilda Katan ‘Disease Variants of FGFR3 Reveal Molecular Basis for the Recognition and Additional Roles for Cdc37 in Hsp90 Chaperone System’ in Structure • Sharma... and Peter Rich ‘Insights into the function of the H channel of cytochrome c oxidase from atomistic molecular dynamics simulations’ in PNAS • Meir… and Gabriel Waksman ‘Legionella DotM structure reveals a role in effector recruiting to the Type 4B secretion system’ Nature Communications • Ilangovan… and Gabriel Waksman ‘Cryo-EM Structure of a Relaxase Reveals the Molecular Basis of DNA Unwinding during Bacterial Conjugation’ Cell • Fouqueau… and Finn Werner ‘The transcript cleavage factor paralogue TFS4 is a potent RNA polymerase inhibitor’ Nature Communications • Smollett… and Finn Werner ‘A global analysis of transcription reveals two modes of Spt4/5 recruitment to archaeal RNA polymerase’ Nature Microbiology

Recognition • Christine Orengo’s databases including CATH, was endorsed as an ELIXIR European Core Resource (there are only 3!) • Filipe Cabreiro receives EMBO Young Investigator Award SMB–led wider initiatives • Jo Santini MICROBIOLOGY@UCL • Andres Ramos London RNA Club • Liz Shephard and Kaila Srai London Metabolism Club • Ivan Gout International Association for Cellular Coenzymes • Steve Perkins – UK PI of CCP-SAS http://www.ccpsas.org Collaborative Computational Project in Small Angle Scattering

Meetings and symposia Jill Banfield 1 st Microbiology@UCL symposium on April 13 th • ‘…to celebrate the wonders of the microbial world and the diversity of microbiology research at UCL’ 1 st IACC symposium on July 2 nd • ‘…to promote basic and applied research on cellular coenzymes in health and disease’ 12 th ISMB symposium on June 18 th • ‘…to showcase multi-disciplinary research in structural, computational and chemical biology’ • Computational and Chemical Biology session Tom Blundell, UK and Birte Höcker, Germany • Structural Biology session https://www.ucl.ac.uk/research/domains/food- Kenneth Holmes, Germany and Eva Nogales, USA metabolism-society/microbiology-ucl/symposium • Biophysics and Proteomics session https://www.ucl.ac.uk/research/domains/food- Jody Puglisi, USA and Petra Schwille, Germany metabolism-society/events\iacc-ymposium • Biochemistry and Cell Biology session Andrea Musacchio and Friedrich Förster, Germany http://www.ismb.lon.ac.uk/2018/06/15/18-19june2018/

Outreach and Public engagement • Matilda Katan in THES : ‘ Universities should immerse themselves in virtual reality. Embracing immersive content will aid public engagement and bring research and teaching closer together' Jo Santini at the Eden Project : Rock microbe mirror pool • • Andrea Townsend-Nicholson at the Cheltenham Science Festival : ‘ Building a Virtual Human . CompBioMed shows the promise of supercomputer-facilitated personalised medicine’ [funded by H2020] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZrAaDsfBYY

Thanks for listening Any questions? Any answers?

David Whitmore Cell and Developmental Biology