Time: 15:00 – 16:00 GMT

The last webinar of the year is part of our dedicated Early Career Researcher (ECR) series. As a molecular bioscientist, there are a large range of careers available to you after your studies in a variety of fields where you can use your specialist skills and knowledge. Following our previous webinar on general ‘industry careers’, at this session we will explore more specific career options in non-pharmaceutical industry areas for molecular bioscientists.

Our panel will comprise representatives working in different non-pharmaceutical industry sectors, in a varied roles and with different career paths and experiences, who have entered the sector through various routes. Panellists will include:

• Rowan Moore (Senior Director, Field Marketing, Europe at Waters)
• Phillip Gut (Head of Cell Biology department at Nestle Institute of Health Sciences)

Our invited panellists will provide a brief introduction about their career path and current roles, and attendees will have the opportunity to ask them questions and get some career advice from our panel.

Register now for this free webinar!

by Dr Roser Vento-Tormo, Biochemical Society’s 2021 Early Career Research Award winner.

The webinar is part of our dedicated Early Career Researcher (ECR) series.

At this session we will hear from Dr Roser Vento-Tormo at the Wellcome Sanger Institute, Cambridge, UK,  the Biochemical Society’s 2021 Early Career Research Award winner.  She completed her postdoctoral studies under the supervision of Professor Sarah Teichmann as an EMBO and HFSP fellow. Here she developed CellPhoneDB, a unique resource of ligands, receptors and their interactions, integrated with a statistical framework to build cellular communication networks from single-cell transcriptomics data. Roser has used this cutting-edge computational framework to study maternal-fetal communication during early pregnancy in humans. More broadly, CellPhoneDB has also been key to identifying cell-cell interactions mediating fundamental biological processes including hematopoiesis and the tumour microenvironment.

Invited speaker: Dr Roser Vento-Tormo, Biochemical Society’s 2021 Early Career Research Award winner

Earlybird/abstract deadline: 11 October 2021 This meeting is co-hosted with the Society for Endocrinology and aims to bring together scientists of all career stages in the adipose biology field, to share and challenge the latest advances in adipose research, and foster new collaborations in this important area of research. The programme will feature an Early Career Workshop, presenting the opportunity to ECRs to take part in an interactive careers sessions and a discussion of advances in adipose tissue methodologies. The meeting will also include talks from leaders in the field and talented new ECRs on topics such as the cutting edge of basic molecular biology of the adipocyte, cell-cell interactions and the adipose microenvironment as drivers of disease, and the regulation of adipose tissue function by hormones released from distant cells and organs.

Related reading

This Biochemical Journal collection addresses current research and emerging concepts on Adipose Tissue Biology in health and disease. Adipose biology collection > Adipose biology research has grown rapidly offering new insights into the physiological and pathophysiological roles of different body fat depots. Adipose biology, cardiovascular and cardiometabolic disease >

Clinical Science research paper: Metformin alleviates hyperuricaemia-induced serum FFA elevation and insulin resistance by inhibiting adipocyte hypertrophy and reversing suppressed white adipose tissue beiging >

Biochemical Journal research paper: MAPK-interacting kinase 2 (MNK2) regulates adipocyte metabolism independently of its catalytic activity >

Abstract deadline: 29 October 2021

The purpose of this training event is to familiarise participants with approaches and computational programmes to generate 3D models of proteins where no structural data is available. Additionally, an introduction to molecular docking will be given. An emphasis will be placed on critically evaluating the usefulness of models and modelling in general for solving scientific problems.

This hands-on online course is aimed at early career scientists, such as PhD students and PostDocs, and established scientists who are interested in applying computational approaches to their research in the fields of protein science, molecular health, medicinal chemistry and structural biology.

Time: 14:00 – 15:00 GMT

With the global concern of climate change, both industry and academia have been instigating measures to reduce their environmental impact and to reduce the amount of waste generated through their work. This has been no less pressing in biomedical laboratories, which have a significant carbon footprint. This webinar will host speakers whose roles centre on increasing the environmental sustainability of laboratory work through the implementation of sustainable lab programmes, in particular the Laboratory Efficiency Assessment Framework (LEAF). Using data-driven objectives for reducing energy use and waste, and providing realistic and actionable processes, these schemes are increasingly being used in laboratories across the UK and the speakers will provide an introduction to them and answer any questions about the access and implementation of such schemes.

During this session we will hear an introduction to the LEAF platform, followed by a talk from the Sustainability Team in Oxford about setting up local infrastructure for sustainable labs, and finally a Lab Manager directly involved in carrying out sustainable labs initiatives.

The webinar will be chaired by Benjamin Foster, Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Oxford, and it’s aimed for students or members of the public with an active interest in this area.

Synthetic biology is a convergence of multiple fields that can generate both improved understanding of biological systems as well as cutting-edge biotechnology.

Synthetic Biology UK 2021 will be hosted by Synthetic Biology Research Centre Nottingham, and will focus on a number of burgeoning new areas of activity, including the engineering of microbial communities, microbial-plant interactions and applications for the sustainable manufacture of materials, the circular economy and climate mitigation strategies.

Abstract deadline: 11 October 2021

Quantitative proteomics is a rapidly evolving field that represents a powerful approach to the comprehensive identification and quantification of proteins expressed under different biological settings.

To fully harness its power, a detailed understanding of the principles of proteomics, experimental design concepts and technological and data analysis approaches is required. This online training event will introduce these areas and provide an overview of the emerging applications of quantitative proteomics, giving participants a global understanding of the potential of various approaches.

Time: 14:00 – 15:00 (GMT)

The webinar is part of our dedicated Early Career Researcher (ECR) series and it’s liked to a special issue with the same title published on Essays in Biochemistry. During this session we will hear from three authors from the issue who will share their work with the biosciences community.

Biological processes are orchestrated by complex networks of molecules. Conventional approaches for studying the action of biomolecules operate on a population level, averaging out any inhomogeneities within the ensemble. Investigating one biological macromolecule at a time allows researchers to directly probe individual behaviours, and thus characterise the intrinsic molecular heterogeneity of the system. Single-molecule methods have unravelled unexpected modes of action for many seemingly well-characterised biomolecules and often proved instrumental in understanding the intricate mechanistic basis of biological processes. In this webinar, the speakers will provide a sampling of current experimentation using single-molecule techniques and the application of these methods to a range of biochemical problems.

Speakers:

• George Cameron, The Francis Crick Institute London, UK
• Dr Sonja Schmidt, University of Delft, the Netherlands
• Dr Petur Heidarsson, University of Iceland

The webinar will be chaired by Dr Dominika Gruszka, Guest Editor from the special issue, and Chair of the Biochemical Society’s Early Career Advisory Panel.

The webinar is part of our dedicated Early Career Researcher (ECR) series and it’s jointly organised with Spin Up Science.

Dr Ben Miles has built a career unlocking the potential of scientists and scientific discoveries.  He is the CEO of Spin Up Science, which supports translating academic discovery into impact; co-founder of the Science Angel Syndicate, an organisation supporting investment in science and co-founder of Protolyst, a digital workspace for professional researchers.

In this webinar, Dr Miles will reflect on his exciting career to date – both academic and professional – sharing with you the knowledge which he wishes he’d have known from the beginning, and outline the options available to researchers in innovation. During this talk, he will discuss the skills and qualities you can develop to unlock your career potential, build your capability and ultimately excel in your field.

Register now and join us for this free webinar!

Time: 14:00 – 15:00 (BST)

Single cell RNA-sequencing (scRNA-seq) has been gaining popularity and it has been applied to characterising cell types and understanding disease and developmental processes. At this webinar, the speakers will introduce the most popular microfluidics approach, 10x, and outline the main steps of standard scRNA-seq analysis. They will also give examples of applying scRNA-seq to biological problems and discuss the opportunities of initiatives like the Human Cell Atlas. Finally, they will outline some open problems in the field. They will discuss the limitations of current methods for detection of cell-cell interaction and present some recent advances of studying interaction through sequencing physically interacting cells and development of computational approaches.

Invited speakers:

• Dr Thomas Otto (PI), University of Glasgow
• Ms Alexandrina Pancheva (PhD Student), University of Glasgow

This webinar will be chaired by Professor Helen Wheadon, who is Professor of Stem Cell Regulation (Paul O’Gorman Leukaemia Research Centre) at the Institute of Cancer Sciences, University of Glasgow.

Register now and join us for this free webinar!

Designed and delivered by experts from industry and academia, this training event will provide a comprehensive overview of the pre-clinical drug discovery process. The workshop will focus on small molecule target identification and validation, hit-to-lead and lead optimisation, as well as on pre-clinical drug development and toxicology.

The online programme will include lectures, case studies and small group discussions, and will provide an opportunity for delegates to engage with speakers.

Related Reading:

• Structure Based Drug Design >
• Evolution of biophysical tools for quantitative protein interactions and drug discovery >
• Cryo-EM in drug discovery >
• Protein structure and computational drug discovery >
• Drug discovery targeting the mTOR pathway >
• Bioinformatics in translational drug discovery >
• Towards the routine use of in silico screenings for drug discovery using metabolic modelling >
• Supporting research mobility in drug discovery >

The beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic launched a race to produce effective vaccines, several of which have now been rolled out with remarkable speed. Frequent emergence of SARS-CoV-2 variants, however, serves as an important warning that this will be an ongoing battle. New generations of vaccines will be required, and effective antiviral compounds will be crucial tools in the armory against newly emerging virus variants. To meet this challenge during the 2020 COVID-19 lockdown, John Diffley and his colleagues (in the Francis Crick Institute and University of Dundee) re-tooled their laboratories to identify new small molecule inhibitors of the enzymes required for SARS-CoV-2 replication. They focused on pre-existing pharmaceuticals with the hope that the inhibitors they found could be deployed rapidly in the response to COVID-19. This collection of original papers in the Biochemical Journal presents the findings for seven SARS-CoV-2 enzymes. The collection describes several drug candidates that will serve as important starting points for further development and/or tool compounds for studies of the vagaries of this virus. Read the related commentary by Ron Hay for a succinct overview of the findings and their implications in the battle against the pandemic.

During this webinar the speakers will describe the biochemical screens we used to identify inhibitors of SARS-CoV-2 encoded enzymes. John Diffley will provide an overview of the project, Jennifer Milligan will describe the screen for Nsp5/MPro inhibitors, Kang Wei Tan will describe the Nsp3/PLpro screen, Berta Canal will describe the Nsp14/10 and nsp15 screesn, and Rachel Ulferts will describe how she tested these inhibitors in viral growth assays.

Invited speakers:

• John Diffley
• Jennifer Milligan
• Kang Wei Tan
• Berta Canal
• Rachel Ulferts

The webinar will be chaired by Professor Mark Lemmon, Chair of the Biochemical Journal, and it will be held as part of Biology Week 2021.

Genome editing technologies, in particular CRISPR-based systems, have generated huge excitement over the opportunities they offer for improved agriculture. Already these technologies are allowing research to progress at a much faster pace and in a few countries, the first genome edited crops have been made commercially available.

In this webinar, we will explore the contribution that this technology could make to more sustainable agriculture, and we will hear from two experts using genome editing technologies in crops and livestock respectively. Dr Joyce Van Eck from the Boyce Thompson Institute, Ithaca, New York will provide an update on how CRISPR can fast-track crop improvements, particularly in underutilised crops. Professor Bruce Whitelaw from the Roslin Institute, Edinburgh will look at the applications of genome editing technologies in agricultural animals. Following the presentations there will be an opportunity for discussion and to pose questions to the speakers.

Invited speakers:

• Dr Joyce Van Eck, The Boyce Thompson Institute, Ithaca, New York (USA)
• Professor Bruce Whitelaw, The Roslin Institute, Edinburgh (UK)

This webinar will be chaired by Professor Wendy Harwood, Head of Crop Transformation Group at the John Innes Centre and is aimed for practising scientist in advanced

Time: 14:00 – 15:30 BST

This session, organised as part of the Global Mitochondrial Disease Awareness Week, will showcase the creation of an international network of excellence in mitochondria research bringing together experts in different aspects of mitochondrial discovery research but also generating an interdisciplinary ‘collective’ of international scientists, social scientists, bioethicists, patient groups, clinical groups and design researchers that seek to contribute to the understanding and caring for mitochondrial diseases and dysfunctions using innovative approaches

One essential aspect of the Mitochondria Collective is to empower the scientific collaborations among mitochondrial scientists, by joining forces with patient groups, educators, social scientists and designers to generate a network that goes beyond a traditional collaborative network of one single discipline and crosses over sectors. We envisage this will act as a powerful driver for communication and awareness in creative and engaging ways, stimulate new inquiries and reach new audiences globally.

The event builds on previous activities on ‘Mitochondria and Us’ in Mitochondrial Disease Awareness week 2020, several ‘Crossover workshops’ on interdisciplinary approaches between scientists, social scientists and designers and activities of the Mitochondrial Innovation Initiative, ‘MITO2i’.

Invited speakers:

• Kostas Tokatlidis (University of Glasgow): The Mitochondria and Us Showcase
• Ana Andreazza (University of Toronto): The Mito2i showcase
• Michael Johnson (GSA): The Crossover showcase
• Sonya Brijbassi, MITO2i

This webinar will be chaired by Dr Pedro Ferreira, Education, Public Engagement and Training Manager at the Biochemical Society.

Abstract deadline: 3 August 2021 Fatty acylation has emerged as an exciting, dynamic protein modification that controls many aspects of protein function, including membrane trafficking and targeting, protein-protein interactions and enzymic activity. Our understanding of the myriad of pathways that are regulated by these lipid modifications has drastically increased and has led to an abundance of new targets for therapies to treat diseases including many cancers, infections, and neurodegeneration. The structures for several enzymes that regulate fatty acylation have been identified recently, aiding the “druggability” of these targets for therapeutic gain as well as parsing apart their roles in cell biology. This online meeting will provide a forum for the discussion of new discoveries in the field of fatty acylation.

Related reading

• The molecular mechanism of DHHC protein acyltransferases >
• Therapeutic targeting of protein S-acylation for the treatment of disease >
• Short-chain fatty acid, acylation and cardiovascular diseases >

This is a joint Biochemical Society & BSRA Webinar outside of the Biochemistry Focus Webinar Series.

Time: 17:15 – 18:15 (BST)

Intergenerational activities have been shown for many years to be beneficial to both older adults and children. Whilst previously confined only to academic circles, the BAFTA nominated Channel 4 TV show Old Peoples Home for 4 Year Olds showed the benefits of intergenerational activities, and has gone on to be reproduced internationally. During this webinar, two experts from the show, Dr James Brown and Professor Zoe Wyrko, will talk about the background to intergenerational activities, what the evidence base is and what impact the 10 week intervention had on older adults in series 2.

Invited speakers:

• Dr James Brown
• Professor Zoe Wyrko

This webinar is jointly organised by the Biochemical Society and the BSRA as part of the Metabolism of Ageing meeting.

Register now and join us for this free webinar!

This is a joint between The Biochemical Society and The British Society for Research on Ageing (BSRA).

  Increased age is the major risk factor for multiple diseases including cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and neurodegeneration. Given the current global demographic shift, in which there will be over 2.1 billion people aged over 60 by 2050, new strategies to improve health in older people are urgently needed. Research has shown that common underlying biological processes, such as nutrient signalling and cellular metabolism, drive multiple age-related pathologies; these biological mechanisms of ageing have therefore emerged as viable therapeutic targets for the treatment of age-related diseases. Metabolic dysfunctions during ageing are now considered major causative factors for such diseases. This conference will bring together those working on cellular metabolism with those developing interventions to improve healthy ageing, providing an interdisciplinary forum for discussing how to translate fundamental scientific findings into clinical strategies that target ageing and its associated disease.

Related reading

• Redox signalling and ageing: insights from Drosophila >
• The role of adipose tissue senescence in obesity- and ageing-related metabolic disorders >
• Allostatic load and ageing: linking the microbiome and nutrition with age-related health >
• Sex-related differences in human plasma NAD+/NADH levels depend on age >
• Using nuclear envelope mutations to explore age-related skeletal muscle weakness >
• Rivastigmine attenuates the Alzheimer’s disease related protein degradation and apoptotic neuronal death signalling >
• Mitochondrial control of cellular protein homeostasis >

This webinar aims to promote interest in Ribosome profiling – a powerful, yet specialised genome-wide technique to capture global translation (i.e. protein synthesis) at any given time.

The two invited speakers – Drs Allen Buskirk and Noam Stern-Ginossar are prominent world leaders in the study of bacterial and viral translation dynamics, respectively, and have made extensive use of ribosome profiling in their work. By applying a modified ribosome profiling protocol to bacterial genetic mutants, Dr Buskirk and his group have recently revealed that the translation start site in bacteria is hard-wired, independently of the Shine-Dalgarno motif.

In the world of virology, besides recent revelations on the coding capacity of the SARS-CoV-2, Dr Stern-Ginossar was the first to apply ribosome profiling to a virus, notably human cytomegalovirus where she revealed hundreds of novel viral elements such as small upstream open reading frames, revealing unanticipated complexity to the HCMV coding capacity.

Invited speakers:

• Allen Burskirk, John Hopkins University (USA)
• Noam Stern-Ginossar, Weizmann Institute of Science (Israel)

The webinar will be chaired by Betty Chung, from the University of Cambridge, and is aimed for practising scientist in early years of their career.

Register now for this free webinar!

Join us for this free webinar, which is part of our dedicated Early Career Researcher (ECR) series. During this session we will hear from four ECRs who will share their current work in the field of Drug discovery with the biosciences community:

• Nicolas Bery, Inserm/Université Paul Sabatier/CNRS & Cancer Research Centre of Toulouse (CRCT) – “Discovery of a potent KRAS macromolecule degrader specifically targeting tumours with mutant KRAS”
• Louise Walport, Francis Crick Institute London – “Diverse binding to a single interface: De novo cyclic peptides as inhibitors of the BET bromodomains”
• Bethan Howells, AstraZeneca – “DNA Encoded Library Screening”
• Deepak Balaji Govindaraj, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research – Biosciences CSIR – “Ovarian Cancer for Precision Medicine”

Register now!

Abstract deadline: 21 June 2021

In anticipation of the 87^th Harden Conference on Single-molecule bacteriology in 2022, the Biochemical Society is hosting an online half-day symposium to bring together researchers working in the field of single-molecule bacteriology to present developments in the field.

The programme will present an opportunity for ECRs to showcase their work across the breadth of single-molecule bacteriology, from structural and mechanistic studies to new quantitative in vivo techniques applicable to bacteria, to studies of clinical, biomedical and biotechnological significance.

Related reading

• Essays in Biochemistry, Volume 65, Issue 1 >
• Cell biochemistry studied by single-molecule imaging >
• From single bacterial cell imaging towards in vivo single-molecule biochemistry studies >
• Visualizing the inner life of microbes: practices of multi-color single-molecule localization microscopy in microbiology >
• Single-molecule live-cell imaging of bacterial DNA repair and damage tolerance >

Professor Gurdyal S. Besra is the winner of the 2020 Morton Lecture, which is awarded to researchers who have made outstanding contributions to lipid biochemistry.

Gurdyal’s research focuses on improving our understanding of Mycobacterium tuberculosis cell-wall assembly, the discovery of novel mycobacterial lipid antigens, the identification of novel drug targets for tuberculosis, and the identification and chemical synthesis of mycobacterial CD1 lipids for evaluation of their immunological properties for a range of medical applications.

His award lecture at this webinar will cover how highly specialised lipids found in the cell envelope of M. tuberculosis contribute to the essentiality of the organism both in terms of integrity and assembly, offering the potential identification of new drug targets. Register for free now.

Ribosome profiling is still a relatively new technique. Although many people perform these types of experiments, there is still a small number of groups that have successfully published results and there are currently no standard analysis pipelines in the field.

This two half-day online workshop is aimed at PhD students and postdoctoral researchers and will provide an excellent training platform for scientists who are planning their ribosome profiling experiments, and those struggling with either wet lab or computational trouble shooting. It will offer a collaborative environment to share knowledge on many of the technical aspects of ribosome profiling, both practical and bioinformatic.

The online course will combine short technical presentations with discussions and questions aimed to help both individuals planning or just starting experiments, and those that are in the middle of analysis and would like further support.

Trainers include:

• Dr Liana Lareau, University of California Berkeley
• Dr Premal Shah, Rutgers University
• Professor Uwe Ohler, The Berlin Institute for Medical Systems Biology
• Dr Julie Aspden, University of Leeds
• Dr Edward Wallace, University of Edinburgh
• Dr Audrey Michel, University of Cork
• Dr Caia Duncan, University of Cambridge
• Professor Pasha Baranov, University of Cork

Related reading

Ribosomal profiling adds new coding sequences to the proteome >

Translation is an essential highly conserved process which is required for the synthesis of proteins in both prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells. This unique annual UK scientific meeting enable discussing the latest progress in this field and fostering collaborations between researchers.

This year’s online meeting will cover a wide range of topics related to translation, including:

• mechanistic basis of regulation
• upstream signal transduction cascades
• genomic architecture
• ribosome structure and function
• structure of translation factors/complexes and regulatory factor
• genome-wide investigation of translation
• RNA/tRNA modifications and localisation

The conference is also an important forum for young researchers at PhD and postdoctoral levels, providing opportunities for to deliver oral and poster presentations to promote their research. As part of the programme, we will host a dedicated Early Career Researcher event to promote further networking amongst this group.

Related reading

• Out or decay: fate determination of nuclear RNAs >
• Specialized ribosomes and the control of translation >
• MicroRNAs and long non-coding RNAs as novel regulators of ribosome biogenesis >
• The composition and turnover of the Arabidopsis thaliana 80S cytosolic ribosome >
• The ERK mitogen-activated protein kinase signaling network: the final frontier in RAS signal transduction >
• Signalling to translation: how signal transduction pathways control the protein synthetic machinery >

This course is aimed at those new to teaching or supporting teaching in bioscience at Higher Education, and provides an introduction to good teaching practices that can be applied to both in-person and online teaching to improve students’ learning. Modules will cover the use of e-portfolios, effective assessment and feedback, the use of online tests to enhance student learning and how to make the most of your Virtual Learning Environment (VLE). The course will be informed by evidence and will include case studies and online discussions among participants. The Lead Educators will monitor learner comments for the first 5 weeks but access to the course materials lasts for a year, with all content pre-populated and course completion self-led.

This course is FREE for Biochemical Society members. Email training@biochemistry.org to get your discount code.

Join us at this free webinar about targeted protein degradation (TPD) and the development of a global map of the degradable kinome as a resource for degrader development. Dr Fleur Ferguson, William A. Lee Assistant Professor at the University of California San Diego will present on the chemoproteomic approaches used by her lab to annotate the degradable kinome, providing chemical leads for some 200 kinases and leading to insights into the relative degradability of the kinome.

Related reading

• Protein degradation: a validated therapeutic strategy with exciting prospects >
• Chemical approaches to targeted protein degradation through modulation of the ubiquitin–proteasome pathway >

How do you raise your professional profile? There are many ways, and we will discuss a few of them in our free webinar, part of our dedicated ECR webinar series.

During this session we will hear from four different panellists who will share their experiences and will provide their advice on how you can raise your professional profile. The areas discussed will include:

• Ideas for creating networking opportunities to raise personal profile such as presenting work at conferences/organisations, that might further give way to collaborations.
• Getting involved in organising events within your field to further raise your personal profile and gain recognition.
• Seeking opportunities and volunteering for mentoring/work experience schemes to allow you find alternative options and routes in other career paths such as industry, communications, editorial etc.

The webinar will be chaired by Professor Sheila Graham from the University of Glasgow, and Chair of the Biochemical Society, and we will welcome the following panellists:

• Dr Dominic Tisi, Director (Molecular Sciences) at Astex Pharmaceuticals, and industry member of the Biochemical Society’s Research Area II Committee for Molecular structure and function.
• Dr Helen Watson, from Plymouth University, and Chair of the Biochemical Society’s Education Committee.
• Dr Robbie Baldock, from Solent University, member of the Biochemical Society’s Research Area I Committee for Genes and he is part of the early career researcher publishing taskforce for Portland Press.

Join us on Wednesday 2 June at 14:00 (BST) for this free webinar.

A BIOCHEMICAL SOCIETY AND FEBS JOINT EVENT

This two-day online event is aimed at anyone teaching in higher education in the molecular biosciences, from early career lecturers to established professors. The course aims to share best practice and novel ideas with higher educators, to equip students with the skills they need to succeed in their careers. The event will comprise of lectures, group discussions and poster presentations from attendees. ‘Evolving molecular bioscience education’ is supported by Heads of University Biosciences (HUBS).

Topics include:

• Developing skills within a bioscience curriculum
• Students as co-producers
• Assessment and feedback
• Education research across Europe
• Teaching approaches

Attending this event will help colleagues working towards various levels of fellowship of the HEA. Being a delegate and participating in the event is evidence of the A5 and V3 dimensions of the UKPSF. In addition, there will be many ideas shared that, if implemented by delegates, could contribute to a number of the other dimensions.

Abstract deadline: 26 April 2021

Kinases fulfill allosteric, scaffolding, molecular switch and decoy roles in cell signalling. This year is the 30th anniversary of the publication of the first protein kinase structure (Knighton et al, Science 1991). Much of what we know about these diverse proteins has come from this structure, so to celebrate its publication, the Biochemical Society is hosting an online symposium for the sharing of research in the field.

The programme will feature two talks from leaders in the fields, with all further presentations being selected from abstracts submitted by Early Career Researchers.

Related Reading

• A small molecule inhibitor of HER3: a proof-of-concept study >
• Plant cell wall signalling and receptor-like kinases >
• Functions and regulation of the serine/threonine protein kinase CK1 family: moving beyond promiscuity
• T cells: a dedicated effector kinase pathways for every trait? >
• PHLPPing the balance: restoration of protein kinase C in cancer >

The self-led online course R for Biochemists 101 aims to equip early career researchers with the information, tools and techniques to use R for visualising their biological data.

It is suited to beginners that want to use the programming software but have little or no experience.

The course focusses on getting data in R, manipulating and visualizing them using various methods.

The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the evolution of molecular bioscience teaching in HE, causing rapid mutations to teaching and learning approaches, assessment and feedback design and student support. The rapid transition to remote and blended models of theoretical and practical learning has edited our teaching DNA and engineered in some new practices over the past 12 months.

We probably all experienced some nonsense mutations which didn’t translate as we hoped but, as the year has progressed, some stable enhancements have emerged. ​At this webinar, Dr Jo Rushworth, recipient of the Biochemical Society’s 2020 Teaching Excellence Award, will share some of her own remote teaching experiences around flipped remote learning, remote lab simulations, co-creation, inclusion and transitions, game-based learning, and lecturer-as-learner, as well as ask you to share your ideas and good practice. Which aspects of remote teaching are here to stay and what is the future of molecular bioscience education? As a bioscience teaching and learning community, what kind of support will staff and students want, expect and need to prepare for a newer normal? Let’s discuss and share our ideas for designing tomorrow’s excellence in blended bioscience pedagogy.

​This webinar is held ahead of the Society’s ‘Evolving molecular bioscience education’ online training course which is free to attend for members of the Biochemical Society and FEBS constituent societies. Join the discussion before and during the webinar here.

Invited speaker: Dr Jo Rushworh, De Montfort University

Register now for this free webinar!

This webinar is part of our dedicated Early Career Researcher (ECR) series and will feature presentations from Early Career Researchers working in the field of Computational biology and bioinformatics.

• Dr Robin Corey, University of Oxford – ‘Molecular dynamics towards protein-lipid interactions’
• Dr Mareike Posner, Manchester Metropolitan University – ‘A role for multimerin-1 in cancer’
• Dr Faidon Brotzakis, University of Cambridge – ‘Computational structural biology’
• Tereza Gerguri, The Francis Crick Institute London – ‘Biophysics of mitotic chromosome formation’

The session will be chaired by Dr Daniel Jamieson, CEO and Founder of Biorelate / Member, Biochemical Society Early Career Advisory Panel

DNA repair and mutagenesis are essential for the stability and plasticity of genomes in all organisms. In this webinar, Dr Stephan Uphoff, from the University of Oxford, will describe the development of advanced fluorescence microscopy methods to observe protein function at the level of single molecules in individual bacterial cells. Dr Uphoff is the Biochemical Society’s 2020 Colworth Medal winner, which he received for his work in the area.

With these advanced fluorescence microscopy methods, it is possible to directly watch the movement of DNA repair proteins as they search for and fix DNA lesions. Microscopy can also be used to visualise sites of nascent mutations, and decipher which molecular mechanisms act in the creation or prevention of mutations. Ultimately, these techniques provide direct insight into the processes that help bacteria survive and adapt to stress conditions such as antibiotic treatments.

Join us at this webinar to hear more about the latest developments in DNA repair.

Invited speaker: Dr Stephan Uphoff, 2020 Colworth Medal winner

Related reading

• Turning the Mre11/Rad50 DNA repair complex on its head: lessons from SMC protein hinges, dynamic coiled-coil movements and DNA loop-extrusion? >
• Bacterial phenotypic heterogeneity in DNA repair and mutagenesis >
• Visualizing the inner life of microbes: practices of multi-color single-molecule localization microscopy in microbiology >
• From single bacterial cell imaging towards in vivo single-molecule biochemistry studies >

In 2009, a new method was developed that allowed membrane proteins to be extracted from cells without the use of detergents. This meant that, for the first time, samples could be produced where the membrane protein was still in its lipid environment, making it much easier and more accessible to study them.

At this webinar, two leaders in the field of Membrane Proteins and SMA technology will present on this breakthrough, the research methods that have developed subsequently, and on the role of lipids in membrane protein solubilization by SMA.

This online course is aimed at researchers of all career stages who are looking to explore the application of Python to their research methods. The course teaches the core skills and principles that underlie the application of Python to complex, real-world research problems, and learners will benefit from interaction with each other and with the trainers. No prior coding experience is required to enrol. See the registration site for more details on the topics covered and course structure.

Related reading – examples of Python being used as a tool in research

• Multiscale plant modeling: from genome to phenome and beyond >
• Remodeling hydrogen bond interactions results in relaxed specificity of Caspase-3 >
• Genomic islands and the evolution of livestock-associated Staphylococcus aureus genomes >
• Carrot ‘antifreeze’ protein has an irregular ice-binding site that confers weak freezing point depression but strong inhibition of ice recrystallization >
• X-ray crystal structure and specificity of the Toxoplasma gondii ME49 TgAPN2 >

This is a joint online conference with the British Society for Cell Biology (BSCB)

The Dynamic Cell series is an inclusive cell biology meeting organized jointly by the Biochemical Society and the British Society for Cell Biology (BSCB).

The scientific remit of this conference is broad, but with a focus on cell dynamics that is intended to stimulate novel collaborative approaches and the application of new technologies to established fields. The programme for Dynamic Cell IV will explore cross-kingdom cell biology.

This online meeting will bring together researchers using dynamic methods to interrogate cellular behaviour and there will be dedicated sessions covering:

• Cell Division: Mitosis and Meiosis
• Cell Migration
• Cytoskeletal Dynamics in Cells and Tissues
• Intracellular Transport and Trafficking
• New Technologies for Imaging and Probing Cell Function

Related reading

At this webinar, Early Career Researchers will present their work in the field of signalling, including novel research approaches. Visit the registration page to find out more.

Join us at this webinar, chaired by Professor Helen Walden, University of Glasgow, to hear Dr Youdong Mao share his knowledge and expertise on the 26S proteasome.

Dr Mao is currently a Tenured Associate Professor of Biological Physics and Cryo-Electron Microscopy (cryo-EM) at the School of Physics and Center for Quantitative Biology at the Peking University in Beijing, China.

Working in science is not limited to conducting practical laboratory research. An important role in science is to promote public understanding of scientific issues, which has never been more important than now during this global pandemic. Communicating science in a clear, engaging way is important for politicians, businesses, and funders to be able to make informed decisions and to help understand the issues at hand. This latest webinar features a number of individuals who worked in this particular field. Each speaker will deliver a short presentation of ~10 minutes, followed by an opportunity for attendees to ask questions to the panel.

Our speakers are:

• Stuart Rulten, Principal Medical Writer at Prime Global
  Stuart worked in the pharma industry for three years (he cloned the gene that codes for the target of Viagra). He then went into academia and worked as a research scientist for 19 years. After that, he became a medical writer, and now has a small team of ex-academics working on anti-cancer therapies. They assist with publications for one of the largest pharma companies in the world.
• Dr Sorrel Bunting, Engagement Manager at the British Pharmacological Society
  Sorrel is currently the Engagement Manager at the British Pharmacological Society. Following her undergraduate degree in biochemistry at Imperial College London, she completed her PhD in cell signalling and cancer cell biology at King’s College London, graduating in 2016. Since then, Sorrel’s career has focused on engaging diverse audiences with science and health through roles in both membership organisations and the charity sector. Her current role at the British Pharmacological Society encompasses managing the Society’s public engagement portfolio, connecting and communicating with the global pharmacology research community, and bringing pharmacology to life for varied audiences around the world.
• Dr Aimee Eckert, Senior Research Communications Officer at Breast Cancer Now
  Aimee is a cancer biologist by training, and undertook her PhD at the University of Sussex. During this time she spoke about biology to anyone who would listen – at pubs, schools, comedy nights, science festivals, and museums. She has been a Senior Research Communications Officer at Breast Cancer Now for two years, where she helps the Fundraising and PR teams to raise the profile of the charity’s research, and helps Breast Cancer Now fund researchers to communicate their work. She is usually found with her cat on her lap and a cup of tea in hand!

This webinar will be chaired by Dr Robbie Baldock, Senior Lecturer in Biochemistry at Solent University and member of the Biochemical Society’s Research Area Committee for Genes.

Register your place at this event to hear our speakers share their experience and learn more about the variety of scientific career options available.

Globally, >1.9Bn people were overweight or obese, resulting in >4M excess deaths in 2017. Since then, obesity was also identified as an added risk factor for severe outcomes of COVID19. The limited success of lifestyle intervention for obesity leaves only invasive surgery for severe obesity or medications with adverse side–effects as therapeutic options. We need a deeper understanding of the molecular basis of obesity to broaden our therapeutic repertoire. One effective approach investigates genetic extremes of bodyweight. Whilst successful for monogenic human obesity, extreme healthy leanness is rare and eludes medical scrutiny. A powerful alternative approach interrogates the genetics of bodyweight extremes in animal models. We identified candidate obesity and “lean” genes in unique Fat and Lean mouse lines that were genetically selected (60 generations) for divergent adiposity (>5–fold), focussing on adipose tissue mechanisms. The causal “lean gene”, thiosulfate sulfur transferase (Tst) improved mitochondrial function of adipocytes, making them resistant to the biochemical insults associated with obesity and able to maintain a healthy hormone secretion profile.

Population level analysis of fat mass by non-invasive imaging in humans is another effective way of identifying novel adiposity genes. We developed a mathematical approach to predict fat distribution from imaging combined with metabolic markers of the 500K participant UK Biobank to predict and validate novel adiposity genes that may regulate the extracellular matrix of the adipose tissue.

Combining tractable animal model and large-scale human genetics approaches has revealed biochemical pathways that could be exploited for novel obesity therapeutics.

At this session, we will hear from Nicholas Morton, Personal Chair of Molecular Metabolism at the University of Edinburgh and Chair of the Biochemical Society’s Energy and Metabolism Research Areal; and Katherine Kentistou, an MRC-funded Research Fellow at the University of Edinburgh. The speakers will cover discovery approaches to obesity genes (mouse models and a GWAS approach) and their biochemistry.

The webinar will be chaired by Professor Roger D. Cox, who leads the genetics of type 2 diabetes group in the Mammalian Genetics Unit at the MRC Harwell Institute, Harwell, Oxfordshire.

Speakers: Nicholas Morton and Katherine Kentistou, University of Edinburgh

Register for this free webinar by clicking the ‘register’ button.

We look forward to your online attendance!

The first webinar of 2021 is part of our dedicated Early Career Researcher (ECR) series. This online event will be chaired by Professor Clare Stanford, Emeritus Professor of Translational Neuropharmacology at UCL and Associate Editor of our Neuronal Signaling journal. During this session, we will hear from four ECRs who will share their current work in neuroscience:

• Louis Dwomoh (University of Glasgow) will discuss the disease modifying effects of targeting the M1 mAChR with a novel positive allosteric modulator in prion disease mice. He will show that deficits in learning and memory in prion neurodegeneration is restored by acute intra-peritoneal administration of VU0486846. In addition, chronic administration of these prion neurodegeneration mice with VU0486846 increased survival compared to prion mice treated with a vehicle. Using mass spectrometry-based proteomics, he will show that proteins that are elevated in prion neurodegeneration are associated with neuroinflammation, neurodegeneration and other key disorders in the CNS.

• Shaun Sanders (University of Guelph) will talk about the palmitoyl acyltransferase ZDHHC14 controls Kv1-family potassium channel clustering at the axon initial segment. One key factor that controls the threshold of neuronal excitability is the clustering of voltage-gated ion channels at the axon initial segment (AIS), the proximal part of the axon that regulates whether or not a neuron fires a nerve impulse to its neighbours. Modification with the lipid palmitate, through a process called palmitoylation, controls targeting of neurotransmitter receptors and associated ‘scaffold’ proteins to neuronal synapses and several palmitoyl acyltransferases (PATs) are implicated in this process. Shaun has identified a PAT enzyme called ZDHHC14 as a direct interactor and regulator of scaffold proteins and potassium channels at the AIS. This is the first identification of a role for ZDHHC14 in neurons and the first description of palmitoylation-dependent control of AIS ion channel regulation.

• Michelle Sahai (University of Roehampton) will present her work on elucidating the molecular mechanism of action of stimulant new psychoactive substances (NPS) that target the high-affinity transporter for dopamine. This talk will describe how computer simulations are used to investigate in 3D structural models of DAT, embedded in physiologically-relevant environments, what determines binding specificity and the mechanisms triggered by NPS in DAT, in comparison and in relation to the binding of its substrate, dopamine (DA). The effects of these drugs are complex and understanding the molecular mechanism depends on detailed information about the binding modes and the dynamic consequences of the ligand-DAT interactions.

• Janosch Heller (Dublin City University) will talk about how using super-resolution single molecule localisation microscopy (SMLM) can help revealing the nano-environment of tripartite synapses – the intricate relationship of astrocytic processes and synapses across the brain. This imaging technique relies on the sequential activation, imaging and bleaching of a sparse subset of fluorescent molecules. Thus, images can be obtained with sub-diffraction resolution by localising individual activated molecules in each frame. Using dSTORM, Janosch was able to localise cytoskeletal proteins as well as clusters of receptors and transporters in astrocytic and neuronal membranes in fixed cultured cells and in brain slices.

Register now for this free webinar!

Time: 13:00 – 14:00

The latest webinar in our Biochemistry Focus series is organized in association with ELRIG and explores career options in industry for bioscientists. Our panel comprises representatives working in industry, in a few different roles, who have entered the sector through various routes. This event will provide attendees with the opportunity to gain an insight into working in industry and offer the chance to ask questions directly to our panel.

This session will be chaired by Malcolm Weir, Executive Vice Chairman at Sosei Heptares and Chair of the Biochemical Society’s Industry Advisory Panel. Our panellists at this event are:

• Gerard Collins is Human Resources Director at Sosei Heptares, an international biopharmaceutical group focused on the design and early development of new medicines originating from its proprietary GPCR-targeted StaR® technology and structure-based drug design platform capabilities

• Scott Cribbes is the Business Development Director – EMEAI at Nexcelom Bioscience and sits on a working group for ELRIG. Having worked in research labs in academia, biotech, pharma and diagnostics for a decade, he moved to a more commercial role where he became an application specialist and has also dabbled in product management and marketing!

• Panchali Goswami is a Scientific Investigator at GlaxoSmithKline. On completing her PhD in structural biology, Panchali changed fields and undertook post-doctoral training in biomarker discovery and clinical proteomics, and later post-doctoral training where she studied protein complexes involved in DNA replication. With this multidisciplinary scientific background, she made a smooth transition to the pharmaceutical industry where she is part of a team studying health and disease related macromolecues to support the development of medicines.

• Jennifer Mitchell is a Research Scientist at Redx Pharma and a board member of ELRIG. She completed her integrated undergraduate and Masters degree in Biological Sciences from the University of Liverpool, and took on a graduate industrial role as an Associate Scientist working for a biotech company. After two years, Jennifer went back to academia to complete a PhD and is now working back in industry at Redx Pharma.

Join us for this free webinar! Click the link to register and find out more.

ONLINE CONFERENCE

Thiol redox reactions are implicated in a diverse range of physiological processes and are often dysregulated in human pathologies such as cancer, neurodegeneration and metabolic disorders. Low-molecular-weight (LMW) thiols play an essential role in maintaining the cellular redox homeostasis and exert important functions in cell growth, metabolism and detoxification pathways. This conference will be one of the first to focus on the versatile family of LMW thiols in health and disease, a family which contains structurally and functionally diverse molecules with a range of evolutionary histories.

This meeting will be run online – see the website to find out more.

Time: 17:00 – 18:00

Scepticism and misinformation relating to vaccines is not new. The benefits of all our present routinely used vaccines outweigh any risks. In relatively recent times there has been a ‘war on science’ and, relating to this, is the present anti-vaccine movement. Today, social media is a major contributor to vaccine misinformation. A recent Gallup poll noted that public support for vaccines today is significantly lower than it was in 2001. Social scientists have presented the problem of the anti-vaccine movement quite well; but mechanisms for addressing it are far from clear.

Professor James Cherry from UCLA will speak at this webinar, discussing a longer-term approach for physicians and other health care workers, to introduce epidemiological education in school as well as in college.

As a distinguished research Professor of Pediatrics at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Professor Cherry has been involved in research related to vaccine preventable diseases for over 50 years. Following his infectious diseases fellowship training, Professor Cherry established one of the first formal pediatric infectious diseases fellowship programs in the world of which numerous trainees have gone on to be leaders in pediatric infectious diseases in the US and in other countries. He is also the senior editor of Feigin and Cherry’s Textbook of Pediatric Infectious Diseases which is now in its 8th edition.

Our second invited speaker is Helen Bedford, Professor of Children’s Health Population, Policy and Practice Research and Teaching Department at the UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health. With a nursing and health visiting background, Helen joined UCL in 1986 to work on The Peckham Report a national study of the determinants of childhood vaccine uptake; vaccine acceptance has continued to be her main focus.

In the UK, uptake of childhood vaccines is high overall but there is considerable variation between and within areas. In this presentation, Helen will discuss factors affecting vaccine uptake including anti vaccine sentiment along with interventions to improve uptake. In particular, the issue of mandatory vaccination will be addressed.

This webinar will be chaired by Professor Rosalind Smyth, Director of the UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health.

Invited speakers:

– Professor James Cherry, UCLA
– Helen Bedford, UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health

Time: 15:00 – 16:00

At this webinar, we will hear from researchers working in the field of industrial biotechnology.

Speakers and topics will include:

“Microscale bioreactors mimicking industrial scale conditions to speed up bioprocess”
Dr Leonardo Rios Solis – SynthSys Centre for Synthetic and Systems Biology, University of Edinburgh

“Metabolic engineering of Cupriavidus necator H16 for the sustainable production of monomers and biopolymers”
Dr Katalin Kovacs – Synthetic Biology Research Centre Nottingham

“Engineering microbial production strains towards de novo production of gatekeeper (2S)-flavanones”
Dr Mark Dunstan – SYNBIOCHEM, University of Manchester

Join us for this free webinar – click the link to register and find out more.

Time: 15:00-16:00

At this webinar, we will hear from researchers using advanced computational approaches to examine existing – and engineer novel – biological processes.

These approaches have led to the recent discovery of a druggable pocket in the electron cryo-microscopy structure of the SARS-CoV-2 spike glycoprotein. We will be joined by one of the leaders of the team who made this discovery, Professor Christiane Berger-Schaffitzel, to hear about the finding and what it could mean for treating Covid-19.

We will also be joined by Dr Nicole Pearcy who has developed genome scale metabolic models of industrial chassis engineered for the sustainable production of platform chemicals and biofuels. These models are invaluable tools for simulating a bacterium’s metabolic behaviour at the systems level.

Time: 14:00 – 15:00

Inflammasomes are vital molecular complexes that initiate the inflammatory response in response to infection and tissue damage, by promoting the processing and release of the pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-1β and IL-18. In particular, dysregulated or inappropriate activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome is implicated in the worsening of numerous non-communicable diseases including atherosclerosis and Alzheimer’s disease, making it an attractive therapeutic target. After completing his PhD, Jack Green began his postdoc at the University of Manchester, focusing on understanding mechanisms regulating activation of inflammasomes, with a particular interest in the NLRP3 inflammasome. Following this work, he was awarded a Presidential Fellowship to further explore his work in this field and Jack will speak at this webinar on how ion flux regulates inflammation and the role of Cl- in NLRP3 inflammasome activation.

The plant resistosome and the inflammasome share important similarities, reflecting the importance of studies in different kingdoms and how this can lead to new and very important discoveries. Plants and animals detect and respond to pathogens with intracellular nucleotide-binding leucine rich repeat (NLR) immune receptors. Plant NLRs often co-operate as pairs or networks, with “sensors NLRs” responsible for detecting the pathogen and “helper NLRs” executing downstream immune responses which typically culminate in programmed cell death. Following Jack’s presentation, Cian Duggan from Imperial College London will discuss the plant resistosome, exploring how this ancient cell-intrinsic self-destructive machinery can eliminate pathogen spread.

This event will be chaired by Gloria Lopez-Castejon, a Welcome Trust and Royal Society Sir Henry Dale Research Fellow at the Lydia Becker Institute of Immunology and inflammation (University of Manchester), and a member of the Biochemical Society’s Research Area IV – Cells. We are delighted to provide this opportunity for Jack and Cian – both early career researchers – to share their work with the biosciences community.

Invited speakers:

• Jack Green, University of Manchester, UK.
• Cian Duggan, Imperial College London, UK.

An increase in the complexity and scale of biochemical data has created many opportunities for biochemists to exploit data visualisation, modelling and machine learning methods in knowledge discovery. Leveraging such power requires at least some coding which can be a daunting prospect for many biochemists.

The online course aims to support researchers at any career stage to learn the core skills which underlie the application of Python to complex, real-world research problems. ‘Practical Python for beginners: a Biochemist’s guide’ was developed by an experienced team of Python trainers and early career researchers with first-hand experience of learning Python for biochemical problems, based at the University of York.

The course is designed to take approximately 5 hours and is divided into small chunks that can be tackled at the learner’s own pace. Learners have the opportunity to interact with each other and the course trainers. No previous coding experience is required.

The successful learner will be able to:

• explain the rationale for scripting
• use the IPython command line as a calculator and to assign variables
• use the basic data types and some simple functions
• create lists and select elements from them
• explain what a library is, import a Python library and use functions it contains
• read biochemical data from a file into a Python
• understand computing concepts such as what is meant by the working directory, absolute and relative paths and be able to apply these concepts to data import
• analyse and visualise biochemical data using powerful Python packages such as NumPy, Pandas, Sklearn and Matplotlib

ON DEMAND

Revisit presentations given in our November 2018 scientific meeting on ageing research with this OnDemand content. For a limited period, you can watch talks from leaders in the field of Geroscience as they share their research into aspects of mammalian ageing.

The symposium focusses on the underpinning mechanisms of the ageing process with the aim of assessing how we address age-related diseases and healthy ageing. Presentations will be available to registered delegates 2-30 November 2020, with the opportunity to submit questions to speakers during this time.

Time: 15:00 – 16:00

Chronic pain is defined as pain experienced for a period of six months or longer and there are currently 28 million people in the UK that live with pain. NaV1.7 is a key ion channel in pain signaling. Gain-of-function mutations in the human NaV1.7 gene produce sensory neurons hyperexcitability associated with severe pain; whereas loss-of-function mutations generate congenital insensibility to pain syndromes. Efforts to develop NaV1.7 inhibitors for pain therapeutics have consistently failed.

Post-translational modifications of NaVs and/or auxiliary sub-units and protein-protein interactions have been reported as NaV-trafficking mechanisms. It was recently identified that modification of the axonal collapsin response mediator protein 2 (CRMP2) by a small ubiquitin-like modifier (SUMO) controls both trafficking and currents of NaV1.7.

Speakers at this webinar will present an innovative approach of focusing on a unique mechanism of action of compounds that involve an indirect targeting to control surface expression and activity of the NaV1.7 channel. At this event, you will hear how researchers are capitalizing on this unique pathway for NaV1.7 regulation and have identified compounds designed to inhibit enzyme interactions to block relevant proteins. Over 266 compounds have been identified in this manner and these presentations will explore some of the results where there has been inhibition of interactions, anti-allodynic activities without loss of motoric performance or sympathetic side effects. Animal pharmacological studies have also indicated where some of the compounds displayed extended duration of action compared with morphine upon intrathecal administration to rats. Additional studies demonstrated inhibition of NaV1.7 currents in human and porcine sensory neurons, thus increasing likelihood of translational success and ‘de-risking’ compound selection.

We are pleased to welcome Dr Eilís Dowd, Lecturer in Pharmacology at National University of Ireland, Galway, and Neuronal Signaling journal Associate Editor, as chair of this webinar, along with speakers, Professor Rajesh Khanna who will discuss channeling chronic pain, and Professor David Finn who will speak on pain and negative affect.

Invited speakers:

• Professor Rajesh Khanna, Professor of Pharmacology at the University of Arizona College of Medicine. Neuronal Signaling journal Associate Editor
• Professor David Finn, Professor and Head of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Principal Investigator, Co-Founder and Co-Director of the Centre for Pain Research at the National University of Ireland, Galway.

Time: 15:00-16:00

This webinar will address current and emerging concepts on Adipose Biology in health and disease. Adipose tissue consists of white and brown; whose functions are to store excess energy and burn energy to maintain core body temperature, respectively. This classification into brown and white is simplistic as adipose tissue is a heterogeneous organ with the capability to interconvert between white, brown and beige in response to various physiological stimuli. Adipose tissue consists of multiple cell types including adipocytes, progenitors, immune cells and endothelial cells that interact and communicate with one another to maintain tissue homeostasis. At the whole-body level, adipose tissue supplies fatty acids as fuel through the biochemical process of lipolysis. From a therapeutic standpoint, there is much interest in studying adipose tissue as brown fat has great capacity to burn excess energy for the treatment of obesity and the dysfunction of white fat is implicated in numerous metabolic diseases.

Our invited speakers will be Dr Gregory Steinberg, who is a professor of medicine at McMaster University and also the founding co-director of the McMaster Centre for Metabolism, Obesity and Diabetes Research; and Dr Emilio Mottillo, an Assistant Scientist in the Hypertension and Cardiovascular Research Division at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, Michigan.

Join us at this webinar, which is chaired by Dr Camilla Scheele, an Associate Professor at the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Basic Metabolic Research in Copenhagen, Denmark. Dr Scheele is a molecular biologist known in the field for her pioneering studies on adipose progenitors from brown adipose tissue of adult humans.

Invited speakers:

• Dr Gregory Steinberg, Professor of medicine at McMaster University in Ontario (Canada)
• Dr Emilio Mottillo, Assistant Scientist in the Hypertension and Cardiovascular Research Division, Henry Ford Hospital in Michigan (USA)

Time: 15:00 – 16:00

Join us on 14 October, ahead of Open Access Week, to ask your questions to a panel comprising perspectives from an institution, researchers at different stages of their career and a publisher.

The transition to open access (OA) is accelerating, from the launch of Plan S in 2018 to the introduction of transformative publishing deals and flipping journals. This free online event will discuss what today’s rapid evolution to OA means for the global research community.

The timing of this webinar coincides with the anniversary of the publication of the Biochemical Society’s position statement on Open Scholarship. Join us for this panel discussion to discover the progress made in this changing landscape and demystify the terminology. Our panellists all engage with OA but represent different aspects of the research community. Attending this event will provide you with the opportunity to ask the questions you always wanted to and find out more about latest developments and what lies ahead.

This webinar will be chaired by Dr David Pye, Honorary Policy Officer, Chair of the Biochemical Society’s Policy Advisory Panel, and Head of Chemical Sciences at the University of Salford.

Panellists include:

• Dr James Brown, Lecturer in Cell Biology, University of Limerick
• Dr Simon Kerridge, Director of Research Policy & Support, University of Kent
• Malavika Legge, Director of Publishing, Portland Press, and Chair of the Society Publishers’ Coalition
• Dr Helen Walden, Professor of Structural Biology, University of Glasgow

FREE for members

To communicate beyond the lab requires a different set of skills. In this online course ‘Introduction to Public Engagement and Science Policy’, we will explore how the molecular biosciences can contribute to UK policy, and share tools that can be used to engage the public effectively.

This course is ideal for early to late career bioscientists who wish to learn more about science policy and public engagement. Each module will be around 2 hours.

The course modules will cover:

• Introduction to science communication
• Science in policy-making – a guide to the UK landscape
• Public engagement activities
• Evaluation of impact

You will have access to the module for one year, and lead educators will reply to your comments in the first 6 weeks, so you’re encouraged to complete the course during this time.

Time: 15:00 – 16:30

Celebrating the last 10 years of the Royal Society of Biology (RSB), we are delighted to welcome four speakers to our latest webinar, providing a series of talks showcasing what the biosciences have done for us.

At this event, we will welcome Dr Karl Frontzek, a consultant neuropathologist and senior researcher at the Institute of Neuropathology, University of Zurich, Switzerland. His scientific work is focused on immunological aspects of prion diseases.

Our second invited speaker will be Dr Kim Hardie. She is an Associate Professor in the School of Life Sciences at the University of Nottingham where her research group aims to decipher the complexity of polymicrobial biofilms, especially in the context of serious chronic infections and antimicrobial effectiveness. Finally, we will hear from Dr Oliver Elemento, who directs the Englander Institute for Precision Medicine, an Institute that focuses on using genomics and informatics to make medicine more individualized.

Invited speakers:

• Dr Karl Frontzek, Institute of Neuropathology, University of Zurich
• Dr Kim Hardie, School of Life Sciences, University of Nottingham
• Dr Oliver Elemento, Englander Institute for Precision Medicine

Drug repurposing represents a promising approach to find new therapeutic uses for existing drugs. This conference was originally held in November 2019 and the speaker presentations are now available to watch on demand. These talks highlighted some of the latest developments in the field of drug repurposing. There is a need for more systematic and strategic approaches and resources, and this meeting focused on showcasing such efforts and exploring recent drug repurposing studies.

The field of drug repurposing provides a natural opportunity to combine the strengths of the academic and industrial field. Anyone from the scientific community from either sector, as well as clinicians, are encouraged to attend this conference.

These talks will be available from Monday 5 October until Sunday 1 November 2020. During this time, registrants will be able to submit questions for the speakers.

Time: 14.00 – 15.00

Siân Estdale, Head of Scientific Affairs at Covance Laboratories Limited, will speak at this webinar to present a brief historical context for large molecules, the current market of approved large molecules, modalities and therapeutic targets.

At this event, we will explore the mechanism of action of some blockbuster molecules and compare with small molecules. The major differences will be highlighted and finally the drug development pathway and probability of success will be discussed.

The lecture will be chaired by Professor John Colyer, University of Leeds.

Time: 3:00 – 4:00 pm (BST)

The biopharma drug development pathway: origins and comparison with small molecule discovery

In this webinar, Professor Alexander Breeze will provide a historical context for the development of modern biopharmaceutical drug discovery pathways. He will compare and contrast the evolution of biologics (large molecule) development with that of ‘traditional’ small molecule pharma R&D, from which the biopharmaceuticals processes have largely been modelled and adapted.

In this presentation, we will explore the scientific and clinical challenges, attrition/risk profiles, economic drivers, and licensing approaches across the key stages in discovery and development for the two contrasting modalities of therapeutic agent.

Along the way, Professor Breeze will touch on the factors behind the rapid rise in prominence of biopharmaceuticals, as well as the reasons that, despite this apparent conquest by biologics, small molecule therapeutics will remain an important tool in the clinician’s armoury.

R for Biochemists 101 aims to equip early career researchers with the information, tools and techniques to use R. It is suited to beginners that want to use the programming software but have little or no experience.

The course will focus on getting data in R, manipulating and visualizing them using various methods. Each module will use a biochemical experiment and data as a starting point.

The course is divided in 5 modules:

• Draw a protein standard curve using base R and ggplot2
• Extracting data from objects
• Drawing an enzyme kinetics plot
• Customizing and reusing plots with R
• Getting your data into R for exploration

The estimated time of completion for each module is one hour, however, participants will be able to learn at their own pace and will benefit from the interaction with the course lead educator and other fellow participants. Dr Paul Brennan will reply to your comments and queries for five weeks. After this time, you’ll be able to still access the course, but the interaction with the course leader won’t be available.

Time: 14:00 (BST)

This is a joint webinar with the British Society for Research on Ageing.

Ageing has a profound impact on human society and modern medicine. Although its causes remain largely mysterious, hundreds of genes are now known to regulate ageing in model organisms. Genes can increase longevity by up to 10 fold and delay the process of ageing as a whole in animal models. Applying this knowledge to improve human health would have huge benefits. Besides, lifespan varies dramatically between similar species: mice die of old age at 3-4 years of age, dogs cannot live more than 30 years, yet humans can live over 100 years and some animals can live even longer. The study of species with exceptional longevity or disease resistance may help treat and prevent human diseases.

In this webinar, Professor Joao Pedro de Magalhaes, Senior Lecturer at the University of Liverpool’s Institute of Ageing and Chronic Disease, will share his research into the biology of ageing.

Time: 15:00 (BST)

Due to social distancing, shielding and travel restrictions, lab time and bench space will be limited for many final year biomolecular science undergraduates in the 2020/2021 academic year. To meet the aims and learning objectives of final year honours research projects under these conditions, projects will require adaptation. In this two-part webinar series, researchers who have successfully delivered – and students who have undertaken – biomolecular science undergraduate projects under restricted lab time conditions will share their experiences.

In Part II, we will be joined by Dr Aysha Divan, Associate Professor in the School of Molecular and Cellular Biology at the University of Leeds, who will talk about her experience of running non-traditional research projects under the constraints of limited access to the lab.

Time: 12:00 – 13:00 (BST)

This webinar will explore embryonic development in mammalian and non-mammalian species, focusing on the comparison of epigenetic reprogramming between species. More specifically, from a non-mammalian perspective, inheritance and developmental reprogramming of non-CpG methylation in zebrafish will be covered. We will then provide an insight to early mammalian development, from fertilization to gastrulation with a focus on epigenetic dynamics and transcriptional regulation. The exciting area of zygotic genome activation and the transfer of control from the mother (oocyte) to embryo will also be discussed.

This is perhaps one of the most fascinating and important fields of biology as it pertains to how much of life is created and there is still a lot to learn on the complexity underlying these processes.

Our invited speakers will be Dr Melanie Eckersley-Maslin, BBSRC Discovery Fellow at the Babraham Institute (UK) and Dr Ozren Bogdanovic, Senior Research Fellow at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research and the University of New South Wales in Sydney.

Join us at this webinar, which is chaired by Professor Marnie Blewitt, who jointly leads the Epigenetics and Development Division at The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research and she is also an Associate Editor for the Biochemical Society Transactions journal.

Time: 15:00 (BST)

Due to social distancing, shielding and travel restrictions, lab time and bench space will be limited for many final year biomolecular science undergraduates in the 2020/2021 academic year. To meet the aims and learning objectives of final year honours research projects under these conditions, projects will require adaptation. In this two-part webinar series, researchers who have successfully delivered – and students who have undertaken – biomolecular science undergraduate projects under restricted lab time conditions will share their experiences.

In Part I, we will be joined by Dr Douglas Houston, Senior Lecturer in Computational Biochemistry at the University of Edinburgh, and his student, Vincent Blay, who will share their experiences of supervising and completing research projects under limited lab space and time. They will tell us what worked well for them, what they would rethink in the future, and answer your audience questions.

Time: 15.00 (BST)

If you’re reaching the end of your studies or completing a piece of research and considering what happens next, then why not register to attend our latest webinar? At this event, you will hear from qualified scientists who have chosen a non-academic route for their career.

James Brown, who has a background in biochemistry, and has previously worked as a school teacher, is now Public Engagement Project Management Officer at the University of Warwick, and he will discuss the wonderful world of science communication. Emma Pettengale achieved a Masters in Biomedical Sciences and since 2008 has worked in scientific publishing. Saleha Patel has previously worked in academia and for the last three years has worked as Senior Research Scientist at AstraZeneca; at this event she will be providing an insight to working in industry.  Neil Jones, a cell biologist by training, now leads a group focused on target validation and disease positioning at CRUK – Therapeutic Discovery Laboratories.

This webinar will be chaired by Helen Watson, Associate Professor of Bioscience at the University of Plymouth, and Chair of the Society’s Education, Training & Public Engagement Committee, who introduce the variety of career options. The format of this webinar has been devised so that each panellist will provide a short overview of their career path, followed by an extended Q&A session so that attendees can find out more and gain a better understanding into the wide range of non-academic careers available.

Time: 2pm (BST)

Professor Dame Kay Davies from the MDUK Oxford Neuromuscular Centre will present her work in this field at the latest webinar organized by the Biochemical Society and Portland Press. Kay is the 2020 recipient of the Biochemical Society’s Centenary Award and her lecture will provide a summary of the current status of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) therapy with a particular focus on those genetic strategies which have been taken forward to the clinic.

Genetic approaches for the diagnosis and treatment of inherited muscle diseases have advanced rapidly in recent years. Most of the advances have occurred in the treatment of DMD, a muscle wasting disease where affected boys are typically wheelchair bound by 12 years of age and generally die from respiratory failure or cardiomyopathy in their twenties. DMD is caused by mutations in the dystrophin gene encoding the large cytoskeletal protein which associates with other proteins at the muscle membrane to form the dystrophin-associated protein complex (DAPC). In the absence of dystrophin, the DAPC is lost, making the muscle membrane more susceptible to contraction-induced injury. The identification of the gene causing DMD in 1986 resulted in improved diagnosis of the disease and the identification of hotspots for mutation. However there is currently no effective treatment.

There are several promising genetic therapeutic approaches at the preclinical stage or in clinical trials including exon-skipping, read-through of stop codons, delivery of dystrophin minigenes and the modulation of expression of the dystrophin related protein, utrophin.

This webinar will be chaired by Dr Augustin Amour, Adaptive Immunity Project Leader at GSK and member of the Society’s Clinical & Translational Research Theme Panel.

Time: 15:00 – 16:00 (BST)

Dr Sara Priego Moreno is one of the Biochemical Society’s 2020 Early Career Research Awards recipients. Her research has focused on understanding the molecular mechanisms that govern the poorly characterized termination stage of eukaryotic DNA replication. Using egg extracts from the African clawed frog Xenopus laevis to run in vitro DNA replication reactions, Sara was able to characterize for the first time the biochemistry underlying one of the most important events taking place during replication termination: Replisome disassembly upon replication forks convergence.

During this webinar, Sara will explain the current knowledge built from the last six years of research in regards to the mechanisms of CMG disassembly and their importance for the maintenance of genome integrity as well as emerging questions and future directions.

Join us for this lecture, chaired by Dr Martin Pool from the University of Manchester and the Biochemical Society’s Local Ambassador Representative.

Time: 14:00 – 15:00 (BST)

Professor Maria Grazia Spillantini is the 2020 Thudichum Medal recipient, which is awarded to honour eminent scientists who have made outstanding contributions to neurochemistry and related subjects. Maria Grazia is Professor of Molecular Neurology in the Clinical School of the University of Cambridge and her work focusses on the molecular neuropathology of diseases characterised by tau and alpha-synuclein aggregates. With her collaborators, she identified alpha-synuclein as the major component of the filaments that form the Lewy bodies in Parkinson’s disease and dementia with Lewy bodies, and described one of the first mutations in the Tau gene leading to frontotemporal dementia and Parkinsonism linked to chromosome 17. At this webinar, Maria Grazia will give her Thudichum Medal lecture, entitled Alpha-synuclein, a central player in neurodegenerative diseases, presenting her research into the causal involvement of alpha-synuclein in disease development.

This lecture will be chaired by Stefan Roberts, Professor of Cancer Biology at the
University of Bristol, and the Biochemical Society’s Honorary Meetings Secretary.

Organ-on-a-Chip is a hot topic and one of keen interest to many scientists working in translational sciences. Whilst the technology is still in its infancy, Organ-on-a-Chip is expected to deliver game changer solutions and progressively increase our capacity to gain greater insight into mechanisms of human disease, toxicity and early efficacy assessment of new therapies.

This conference was originally held in December 2019 and the speaker presentations are now available to watch on demand. These talks will review where the current state of the art is, where the bottle necks are and where the future directions lay. Join us online to benefit from hearing a candid and critical perspective on the technology by leading academics, end users, regulators and manufacturers, and determine if the technology is able to replace more conventional approaches and, if not, where the remaining gaps are.

Anyone from the scientific community who is either already working in the area of complex in vitro systems or who is interested in learning more is encouraged to attend this conference and explore this new, exciting and promising area of research.

The talks will be available from Monday 29 June until Sunday 19 July 2020. During this time, registrants will be able to submit questions for the speakers.

Time: 14:00 – 15:00 (BST)

Dr Sarah Teichmann is the 2020 GlaxoSmithKline Award recipient, which is made in recognition of research leading to new advances in medical science. She is Head of Cellular Genetics at the Wellcome Sanger Institute and her work focuses on deciphering the immune system with genomics and bioinformatics approaches. The Human Cell Atlas (HCA) is an ambitious global initiative aiming to create a comprehensive reference map of all human cells—the fundamental units of life—as a basis for both understanding human health and diagnosing, monitoring, and treating disease. Co-founded by Dr Teichmann and Dr Aviv Regev from the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard in the US, the HCA was launched in London in 2016. The HCA’s ground-breaking approach is providing unprecedented understanding of human cells and tissue architecture in health and diseases including COVID-19 infection, cancer, respiratory and auto-immune disease.

This lecture will be chaired by Colin Bingle, Professor of Respiratory Cell and Molecular Biology at the University of Sheffield, and Chair of the Biochemical Society’s Awards Committee. Join us for this webinar to hear about Sarah’s awarding-winning research and how the HCA initiative promotes a richer understanding of the cellular basis of health and disease.

The course is aimed at anyone teaching or supporting teaching in bioscience at Higher Education, from early career to experienced lecturers, interested in embedding relevant technology in their practice to improve students’ learning. The course will be informed by evidence and will include case studies and online discussions among participants, who will be encouraged to share their experiences.

The course is composed of five modules:

• E-portfolios for evidencing professional practice
• Supporting assessment and feedback through digital technologies
• Online test: different approaches to enhance student learning
• Using your VLE to support teaching
• Making the most of the tools in your VLE

Discussions among participants and with lead educators will be central to the course, and delegates will have the opportunity to share their experiences by posting case studies outlining how they use technology in their teaching and what works best for them.

Completing this course will help colleagues working towards various levels of fellowship of the HEA.

Time: 15:00 – 16:00 (BST)

Dr Andrew Hammond was one of the 2020 Early Career Research Awards recipients. He completed his PhD at Imperial College London working on gene drives. Gene drives are genetic modifications with incredible potential to modify entire populations of the malaria mosquito for sustainable vector control. Andrew’s PhD research established CRISPR and gene drive technologies in the African malaria mosquito, including the first demonstration that gene drives can invade insect populations. During his postdoctoral training, Andrew investigated the molecular basis of evolved resistance to the technology, and incorporated this understanding to build the first gene drive capable of eliminating entire populations of laboratory-contained mosquitoes.

This lecture will be chaired by Sheila Graham, Professor of Molecular Virology at the University of Glasgow. Join us for this webinar to hear about Andrew’s work and how knowledge of genomic conservation, sex-determination and DNA-repair have guided the development of a new tool to combat malaria.

Time: 2-3pm

Professor Matt Dalby, recipient of the Biochemical Society’s Industry and Academic Collaboration Award 2020, will talk about the technology that is being developed towards use for providing osteoinductive cells for cell therapy and cell scale up.

This will be followed by Steve Swioklo, Senior Scientist at Atelerix, a biotechnology company, who provide tools that enable the shipment of cells and cellular therapies at room temperature, thus avoiding the need for cryo-logistics and the subsequent loss of viability, from the freeze-thaw cycle.

Time: 2pm – 3pm (BST)

Professor Rhian Touyz from the University of Glasgow, and Editor-in-Chief of Clinical Science, will chair this hour-long webinar which will explore Angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) – the major enzyme responsible for conversion of Ang II into Ang-(1-7), and receptor for severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)-coronavirus (CoV)-2, which causes Coronavirus Disease (COVID)-19.

The programme will cover the historical background and ACE2 discovery, and explore the enzymatic and non-enzymatic functions of ACE2. Other speakers include Professor Anthony Turner from the University of Leeds and Professor Michael Bader from The Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine.

An increase in the complexity and scale of biochemical data has created many opportunities for biochemists to exploit data visualisation, modelling and machine learning methods in knowledge discovery. Leveraging such power requires at least some coding which can be a daunting prospect for many biochemists.

The online course aims to support researchers at any career stage to learn the core skills which underlie the application of Python to complex, real-world research problems. ‘Practical Python for beginners: a Biochemist’s guide’ was developed by an experienced team of Python trainers and early career researchers with first-hand experience of learning Python for biochemical problems, based at the University of York.

The course is designed to take approximately 5 hours and is divided into small chunks that can be tackled at the learner’s own pace. Learners have the opportunity to interact with each other and the course trainers. No previous coding experience is required.

The successful learner will be able to:

• explain the rationale for scripting
• use the IPython command line as a calculator and to assign variables
• use the basic data types and some simple functions
• create lists and select elements from them
• explain what a library is, import a Python library and use functions it contains
• read biochemical data from a file into a Python
• understand computing concepts such as what is meant by the working directory, absolute and relative paths and be able to apply these concepts to data import
• analyse and visualise biochemical data using powerful Python packages such as NumPy, Pandas, Sklearn and Matplotlib

R for Biochemists 101 aims to equip early career researchers with the information, tools and techniques to use R. It is suited to beginners that want to use the programming software but have little or no experience.

The course will focus on getting data in R, manipulating and visualizing them using various methods. Each module will use a biochemical experiment and data as a starting point.

The course is divided in 5 modules:

• Draw a protein standard curve using base R and ggplot2
• Extracting data from objects
• Drawing an enzyme kinetics plot
• Customizing and reusing plots with R
• Getting your data into R for exploration

The estimated time of completion for each module is one hour, however participants will be able to learn at their own pace and will benefit from the interaction with the course lead educator and other fellow participants. Dr Paul Brennan will reply to your comments and queries for six weeks. After this time, you’ll be able to still access the course, but the interaction with the course leader won’t be available.

24 February 2020

FREE for members

To communicate beyond the lab requires a different set of skills. In this online course ‘Introduction to Public Engagement and Science Policy’, we will explore how the molecular biosciences can contribute to UK policy, and share tools that can be used to engage the public effectively.

This course is ideal for early to late career bioscientists who wish to learn more about science policy and public engagement. Each module will be around 2 hours.

The course modules will cover:

• Introduction to science communication
• Science in policy-making – a guide to the UK landscape
• Public engagement activities
• Evaluation of impact

You will have access to the module for one year, and lead educators will reply to your comments in the first 6 weeks, so you’re encouraged to complete the course during this time.

Starting: 27 January 2020

The course is aimed at anyone teaching or supporting teaching in bioscience at Higher Education, from early career to experienced lecturers, interested in embedding relevant technology in their practice to improve students’ learning. The course will be informed by evidence and will include case studies and online discussions among participants, who will be encouraged to share their experiences.

Topics include using e-portfolios for evidencing professional practice and approaches to enhance assessment and feedback.

Discussions among participants and with lead educators will be central to the course, and delegates will have the opportunity to share their experiences by posting case studies outlining how they use technology in their teaching and what works best for them.

Completing this course will help colleagues working towards various levels of fellowship of the HEA.

Synthetic biology is a convergence of multiple fields that can generate both improved understanding of biological systems as well as cutting-edge biotechnology.

Synthetic Biology UK 2019 explored the unique opportunities of research in a number of areas of synthetic biology, establishing likely future directions and facilitating discussion about appropriate strategies. It provided an excellent framework for younger scientists and engineers to learn about burgeoning new areas of activity, including the engineering of microbial communities and of microbial-plant interactions.

Organ-on-a-Chip is a hot topic and one of keen interest to many scientists working in translational sciences. Whilst the technology is still in its infancy, Organ-on-a-Chip is expected to deliver game changing solutions and progressively increase our capacity to gain greater insight into mechanisms of human disease, toxicity and early efficacy assessment of new therapies. There are many Organ-on-a-Chip start-ups that have developed within academic institutions and are now attracting interest and financial investment. This conference reviewed where the current state of the art is, and where the bottle necks and future directions lay.

Participants attending this event benefited from hearing a candid and critical perspective on the technology by leading academics, end users, regulators and manufacturers, and determine if the technology is currently able to replace more conventional approaches and, if not, where the remaining gaps are. Anyone from the scientific community who is either already working in this area of complex in vitro systems or who is interested in learning more was encouraged to attend this conference and explore this new exciting and promising area of research.

This meeting was designed to gather scientists working in transcription across all domains of life including eukaryotes, archaea and bacteria. The meeting encompassed all aspects of transcription control including basic mechanisms, epigenetics, chromatin organisation and long-range gene control.

Our aim was to provide a platform to bring together transcription researchers working in a diverse range of settings that include development, signalling, disease states (including cancer) and viral infections to share new and exciting developments and knowledge and to develop links and contacts.

Drug repurposing represents a promising approach to find new therapeutic uses for existing drugs. This two-day meeting provided a platform to highlight some of the latest developments in the field of drug repurposing.

There is a need for more systematic and strategic approaches and resources, and this meeting wanted to highlight and showcase such efforts besides recent drug repurposing studies.

The field of drug repurposing provides a natural opportunity to combine the strengths of the academic and industrial field. Therefore, we encouraged scientists from both sectors, as well as clinicians, to attend this meeting and use it as a networking opportunity and an interdisciplinary forum for discussion.

During this two-day small-scale conference, the attendants had the opportunity to hear international senior experts in the field of maternal obesity and hypertensive disorders of pregnancy. The program was framed to allow for intensive questioning and interaction with the speakers.

Also, young and established researchers were invited to present their research related to the themes in posters and oral communication sessions. The best abstracts were awarded a special prize! The organisers aimed for a low impact and healthy meeting focussing on accessibility for public transport, a healthy meeting environment and time for social activities and interaction.

Learn more and register via the link to the right

This training event explored strategies to engineer proteins for structural and functional studies. Discussions were focused on construct optimization, novel thermostability assays, crystallization tools and ‘tricks of the trade’ to enable structure determination. This event was ideal for graduate students in the biomedical sciences, anyone embarking on a structural biology project and those interested in generating soluble and functional expression of proteins using recombinant techniques.

Topics covered included:

• cryo-EM preparation for membrane proteins
• optimization of proteins for NMR studies
• engineering of protein-DNA samples for structure determination
• novel and established methods for evaluating purity and homogeneity of macromolecules

Participants gained a better understanding of the purity and characteristics of proteins samples needed for crystallization, cryo-EM and NMR studies, and of the current strategies to optimize solubility, purity, and homogeneity of proteins for structural and functional studies, including bioinformatics tools and post-production modifications.

Programme coordinators:

• Dr Amir Khan, Trinity College Dublin
• Dr Rivka Isaacson, King’s College London

The interplay between cell signaling and intracellular trafficking is implicated in fundamental cellular processes including cell growth and motility, whereas aberrant membrane trafficking events and signaling pathways are frequently associated with malignant transformation and cancer.

The aim of this scientific conference was to merge advanced topics in cancer cell signaling together with emerging research themes in lipid metabolism, intracellular organelles and membrane trafficking. We discussed oncogenic pathways and signaling networks as therapeutic targets and highlight their regulation by endomembranes and trafficking events.

The attendants were exposed to the most advanced topics at the interface between oncogenic signaling and membrane trafficking including:

1. Phosphoinositides Signaling and conversion in the endolysosomal system
2. Lysosomal signaling, Iron Metabolism and Ferroptosis
3. RTK signaling and RTK-associated drug resistance (cMet, AXL, EGFR etc)
4. Non-receptor tyrosine kinases and integrin trafficking
5. System analysis of Signaling networks in cancer and targeted therapies.
6. EMT, Stemness, and Metastasis

This training event aimed to provide a comprehensive overview of the pre-clinical drug discovery process. Designed and delivered by experts from industry and academia, the event was suitable for recent graduates, PhD students and early career scientists interested in working in the pre-clinical drug discovery industry.

The course focused on small molecule target identification and validation, hit-to-lead and lead optimisation, as well as on pre-clinical drug development and toxicology. ‘Key aspects of modern drug discovery’ comprised lectures, case studies, group discussions and a drinks reception to encourage networking and collaboration among delegates and speakers.

Programme coordinators:

• Rick Davies, AstraZeneca
• Jacqui Piner, GSK
• John Unitt, Sygnature Discovery
• Heather Wallace, University of Aberdeen
• John Ladbury, University of Leeds
• John Colyer, University of Leeds

Sponsored by:

                      RSC >                                                         ABCR >

Supported by:

                      RSB >                                                         BPS >

This meeting gathered renowned experts who highlighted recent advances in understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying cAMP signalling in nano-scale compartments and how such local signalling regulates key cellular and physiological processes in the cardiovascular system. A further focus was the relevance of cAMP signalling compartments as pharmacological targets for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases.

Cutting-edge methodology such as the use of various high-resolution imaging techniques and advanced biosensors, animal models, and the current state of drug development, were discussed.

The meeting brought together established and younger scientists, and aimed at providing a platform for investigators in the early stages of their career to present their latest research and provides ample opportunities for networking.

This two-day meeting focused on new advancements and technological developments in mass spectrometry for studying the structure and function of membrane proteins. It brought together MS practitioners and structural biologists from academia and industry and included sessions across many aspects of structural mass spectrometry of membrane proteins.

The conference programme focused on the ever-growing developments and applications of structural mass spectrometry of membrane proteins and their complexes, as well as new advancements and technological developments in mass spectrometry.

Over the last ~5 years, cryo-electron microscopy single-particle reconstruction and tomography have resulted in an extraordinary amount of structural information of respiratory membrane complexes, the value of which is yet to be fully explored. Even more recently, the importance of membrane protein dynamics, formation of supercomplexes and organisation within microbial (inner membrane) or mitochondrial cristae has been highlighted. These new insights have shaken the classical view of respiratory chains. An interdisciplinary evaluation of these results with experts from neighbouring fields such as protein-protein interactions, computational biology, dynamic membrane transport mechanisms and lipid biophysics is now needed to retain and even accelerate this momentum. Translation to the clinical sciences or an enhanced understanding of the structural dynamics for the functional properties of respiration and transport can also provide an opportunity to open up new fields of research.

The programme was designed to bring leaders in the fields of molecular respiration together with scientists working at the forefront of membrane transport, membrane structural biology and lipid biochemistry to create a more complete understanding of respiration and transport and explore further the relationship between function and disease.

This conference was focused on the biology and signalling of the class I isoforms of PI3K, their downstream targets such as Akt/PKB and the drugs that have been generated to interfere with their function in disease. The speaker programme brought together researchers to bridge the gap between basic science and translation, as well as industry figures who will provide an update on their PI3K programmes, and clinicians to share their feedback from some of the clinical trials.  

This exciting event aimed to provide a forum to share the latest discoveries, expand on the understanding of the basic biology science and signalling and examine novel translational opportunities, including neuroprotection and the treatment of rare diseases driven by PI3K pathway deregulation.

This practical event explored the use of modern Python and associated resources for analysing and exploring biological data in the big data world. This course was ideal for any beginner/intermediate user of Python, with or without prior experience in other programming languages.

During this session, participants focused on how best to solve problems using this resource. The course will cover data handling and manipulation using the Pandas library, visualisation with the Matplotlib/Pyplot library and machine learning and statistics with the Scikit-learn library. Live demonstrations were given, as well as an open session for questions. By the end of the course, participants should be able to install a Python IDE, read data in many formats, and apply some visualisation and analysis techniques.

The ability to engineer proteins to tackle new challenges has had a transformational effect across the biological and physical sciences, in both industrial and academic settings. The rate at which new methods are being developed shows no sign of slowing. This timely meeting will cover recent developments in the engineering of proteins.

Themes include new methods such as computational design, high throughput screening, and genetic code expansion, targets such as new biotherapeutics, scaffolds and catalysts, and the applications to which these are being applied, including diagnostics and sensing, nanotechnology, and synthetic biology.

As such this was an interdisciplinary meeting that demonstrated the state-of-the-art of the field, and brought together a diverse set of researchers, making this an ideal forum for the exchange of new ideas.

This event has sold out. To be added to the waiting list please email
Conferences >
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Translation UK is an annual meeting for a research community interested in understanding the mechanisms and control of mRNA translation and its implications for development, disease, agriculture and biotechnology.

It aimed to:

Provide a forum for UK and European scientists working in this field to meet, present their latest findings and exchange ideas and potentially establish new research collaborations.
Provide opportunities for junior researchers to present their work and engage with leaders in this research field.
Invite speakers to enhance the meeting program and the stature of the UK translation field.

Topics in this meeting were invited to submit to our journal, Biochemical Society Transactions, or other publication published by Portland Press, the wholly-owned trading subsidiary of the Biochemical Society.

A joint Biochemical Society and BSRA Scientific Conference

The goal of this meeting was to bring biochemists, cell and systems biologists investigating redox-signalling mechanisms in a variety of systems, together with those working on the biological mechanisms underlying ageing and age-associated diseases. As such this meeting provided an interdisciplinary forum for discussion of new approaches to the study of redox regulation, the mechanisms involved, and the role of redox dysregulation in health, ageing and disease.

Topics included:

• Biological sources and metabolism of reactive oxygen species
• Tools for measuring ROS, redox changes and elucidating redox-signalling mechanisms
• Redox-regulated physiological processes and stress responses
• Biochemistry of redox-signalling; thiol oxidation, redox-relays, redoxin systems and glutathione
• The roles of ROS in ageing and disease