a state of the art facility for the study of protein trafficking in vivo
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Leeds
Department Name: Institute of Membrane & Systems Biology
Abstract
Abstracts are not currently available in GtR for all funded research. This is normally because the abstract was not required at the time of proposal submission, but may be because it included sensitive information such as personal details.
Technical Summary
Determining protein localisation and dynamics is important for answering many questions in biology. To understand how proteins function and are regulated in vivo, we need approaches by which we can determine where proteins go and when, as well as when and where two proteins interact. New and emerging technologies will go a long way towards helping us answer these questions. The first is the development of photo-activatable GFP (PA-GFP). By tagging proteins with PA-GFP, and then using photo-activation to observe a subset of fluorescently labelled molecules on a low fluorescent background, their fate can be accurately determined. The second is the recent developments in the GFP and RFP fluorophores that have improved behaviour in FRET, enabling us to use this approach to investigate protein-protein interactions in vivo. Furthermore, microscopy is now being developed as a tool for high throughput screening approaches, to investigate the effects of mutations, or for screening large numbers of small molecules for ones that have useful effects in cell biology. The major goal of this application is to upgrade our existing bio-imaging facility into a state-of-the-art facility that can exploit these new technologies, with the focus of studying protein trafficking in vivo.
Publications
Harrison SM
(2007)
Characterisation of cyclin D1 down-regulation in coronavirus infected cells.
in FEBS letters
Henderson Z
(2010)
Co-localization of PRiMA with acetylcholinesterase in cholinergic neurons of rat brain: An immunocytochemical study
in Brain Research
Henderson Z
(2010)
Distribution and role of Kv3.1b in neurons in the medial septum diagonal band complex.
in Neuroscience
Hess K
(2012)
A novel mechanism for hypofibrinolysis in diabetes: the role of complement C3.
in Diabetologia
Hong Y
(2011)
Herpesvirus saimiri-based endothelin-converting enzyme-1 shRNA expression decreases prostate cancer cell invasion and migration.
in International journal of cancer
Hong Y
(2012)
The impact of amyloid precursor protein signalling and histone deacetylase inhibition on neprilysin expression in human prostate cells.
in International journal of cancer
Jackson BR
(2011)
An interaction between KSHV ORF57 and UIF provides mRNA-adaptor redundancy in herpesvirus intronless mRNA export.
in PLoS pathogens
James NJ
(2010)
The role of Cajal bodies in the expression of late phase adenovirus proteins.
in Virology
Li J
(2011)
Orai1 and CRAC channel dependence of VEGF-activated Ca2+ entry and endothelial tube formation.
in Circulation research
Macnab SA
(2011)
Herpesvirus saimiri-mediated delivery of the adenomatous polyposis coli tumour suppressor gene reduces proliferation of colorectal cancer cells.
in International journal of oncology
Description | The aim of this project was to improve our ability to use light microscopy to image cells, and within cells. The funding allowed us to buy additional equipment to upgrade our existing confocal microscopes, so that we could improve our imaging. These microscopes are used by over 20 different research groups within the Faculty of Biological Sciences at the University, and have supported a wide range of research, from imaging organelles and how they move in living plants, to imaging receptors in mammalian cells. |
Exploitation Route | The research can be used by those interested in developing treatments for infections and disease (e.g. pharma companies, clinicians). Imaging is central to understanding the healthy human organism, plants and animals. Without knowledge of how things work, it is very difficult to understand what goes wrong in disease states. The new microscopes are essential for using imaging to understand cellular processes, and in detecting what goes wrong in diseases from virus infections, to inherited mutant |
Sectors | Healthcare Pharmaceuticals and Medical Biotechnology |
URL | http://www.fbs.leeds.ac.uk/facilities/bioimaging/ |
Description | This funding provided an upgrade to our bio-imaging facility which is used by over 40 different research groups across biological sciences and medicine. It has had impact in a broad range of healthcare and biological sciences. |
First Year Of Impact | 2007 |
Sector | Healthcare,Other |
Impact Types | Economic |