International Institutional Awards Tranche 1 Kings College
Lead Research Organisation:
King's College London
Department Name: Craniofacial Dev and Stem Cell 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.
Organisations
- King's College London (Lead Research Organisation)
- Masaryk University (Collaboration)
- Charles University (Collaboration)
- University of Iowa (Collaboration)
- Max Planck Society (Collaboration)
- IRCAN (Collaboration)
- Academia Sinica (Collaboration)
- KING'S COLLEGE LONDON (Collaboration)
- University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) (Collaboration)
- New York Structural Biology Center (Collaboration)
- The National Centre for Biological Sciences (Collaboration)
- ETH Zurich (Collaboration)
- University of Montpellier (Collaboration)
- Uppsala University (Collaboration)
- Universidade de São Paulo (Collaboration)
- Pasteur Institute, Paris (Collaboration)
- University of Southampton (Collaboration)
- Pompeu Fabra University (Collaboration)
Publications
Ulmschneider JP
(2024)
Melittin can permeabilize membranes via large transient pores.
in Nature communications
| Description | This block grant funding 18 individual projects that covered both new and existing international collaborations. Three examples are outlined below: Transformative technologies: One successful project established an RNA factory hub at King's College London through a new research collaboration with leading experts at the University of Uppsala. By taking advantage of the partner expertise, the hub was created to allow for the production of RNA for functional and structural applications on order to support a wide user community. As a community resource for King's researchers, this was an important achievement that will benefit the research of a wide group of researchers within the BBSRC remit. The project involved setting up at King's Facility for in vitro transcription of RNAs, establishing an RNA biology RIG (Research interest group), and with the international partnerships, producing initial datasets. This newly established RNA factory hub will support follow up activities of the RNA RIG including applications for a doctoral training centre, RNA therapeutics and, longer-term, establishment of a funded RNA biology Centre at King's. Tackling strategic challenges One successful project focused on understanding the ecology of new atypical E. coli strains isolated from illegally trafficked birds. The research programme focused on two animal pathogens (APEC and EPEC), which have been isolated from wild birds in Brazil, and can cause disease in other birds (e.g. poultry), animals and humans. In this study, environmental pathogen growth in the absence of animal/human host, and pathogen growth on avian cell lines were investigated. The collaboration between King's and researchers in Brazil provided new insights into biofilm formation and adhesion in atypical APEC and EPEC strains and provided a model to examine mechanisms of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in the future. In this future this collaboration aims to identify new ways of combatting medical biofilms, biofilms of veterinary importance, and AMR. Engineering Biology: One successful project aimed to designing Robust and Reliable Task-triggering Genetic Circuits for Molecular Communications. Through the partnership with researchers in Spain, the team were able to design a genetic counter module and a genetic timer module. In the future, these two modules can be integrated with other modules to develop a reliable task-triggering circuit for molecular communication. One important applications of this task-triggering circuit will be in the creation of precise targeted drug delivery, which would avoid unintended drug release that causes adverse effects on the body (e.g., nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea). In addition, the team also engineered some single-input single output cells and proposed a quadruple concentration shift keying modulation and demodulation implementation, which will allow the connection of different modules for the task-triggering circuit. |
| Exploitation Route | Outcomes are being taken forward with continued collaborations, and applications for future funding. |
| Sectors | Agriculture Food and Drink Environment Healthcare Manufacturing including Industrial Biotechology Pharmaceuticals and Medical Biotechnology |
| Description | Collaboration on in vitro transcription methodologies |
| Organisation | Uppsala University |
| Country | Sweden |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Investigations of biological relevant systems |
| Collaborator Contribution | Training in in vitro transcription methods, and advice on setting up an RNA factory hub at King's. |
| Impact | None yet |
| Start Year | 2024 |
| Description | Collaboration on lipidomic analysis of midmody remnants |
| Organisation | Pasteur Institute, Paris |
| Country | France |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | We performed an initial lipidomic analysis of midbody remnants prepared by the Pasteur team. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The Pasteur team prepared midbody remnant samples for the first analysis. |
| Impact | not yet |
| Start Year | 2024 |
| Description | Collaboration on subcellular organellar proteomics |
| Organisation | New York Structural Biology Center |
| Country | United States |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | We generated preliminary data relating to Golgi labelling and are training an AI to auto-recognise Golgi puncta for overnight imaging. We have made new collaboration with Mykhailo (Misha) Kopylov and Alex DeMarco from the New York Structural Biology Centre |
| Collaborator Contribution | We have provided cells, performed staining and delivered to NYSBC; Alex and Misha have imaged cells and provided data to us. We have trained an AI image recognition algorithm to identify mitotic cells but exclude non-mitotic cells. |
| Impact | Work in progress |
| Start Year | 2024 |
| Description | Collaboration with researcher studying emergence of hyper virulent E. coli in wild birds |
| Organisation | Universidade de São Paulo |
| Country | Brazil |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | hosted visiting research student from Brazil for 6 months to generate new data for future joint grant |
| Collaborator Contribution | visiting research student |
| Impact | multidisciplinary collaboration. No outputs yet |
| Start Year | 2024 |
| Description | Collaboration with researchers on bat research |
| Organisation | University of Montpellier |
| Country | France |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | A team of researchers from King's joined a field trip to Trinidad organised by the University of Montpellier in partnership with the Biodiversity Unit at the Environmental Management Authority in Trinidad and Tobago, and Trinibat organisation. The team was involved in catching pregnant bats and sharing of the embryonic material. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The field station was provided by the Trinidad partners, the permits were organise by Montpellier. |
| Impact | Bat embryonic tissue collected and distributed between partners for analysis of different aspects of bat development. UK partners provided with ear tissue for understanding rules of echolocation. |
| Start Year | 2024 |
| Description | Collaboration with researchers on human motor development |
| Organisation | King's College London |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Using BBSRC seed funds, I drew together a collaboration between my own team, the research software engineering team at King's, and my international collaborators at the University of Iowa. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Research software engineers: coding University of Iowa: scientific consultants |
| Impact | Outputs: -Multi-disciplinary capacity building: software engineering, fundamental neuroscience, human neuroscience -First draft of paper written, expected European conference abstract submission April 2025 and manuscript submission summer 2025 -Fed into an MRC grant application (triaged, expected to hear outcome April 2025) |
| Start Year | 2024 |
| Description | Collaboration with researchers on human motor development |
| Organisation | University of Iowa |
| Country | United States |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Using BBSRC seed funds, I drew together a collaboration between my own team, the research software engineering team at King's, and my international collaborators at the University of Iowa. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Research software engineers: coding University of Iowa: scientific consultants |
| Impact | Outputs: -Multi-disciplinary capacity building: software engineering, fundamental neuroscience, human neuroscience -First draft of paper written, expected European conference abstract submission April 2025 and manuscript submission summer 2025 -Fed into an MRC grant application (triaged, expected to hear outcome April 2025) |
| Start Year | 2024 |
| Description | Collaboration with researchers on reptile development |
| Organisation | Charles University |
| Department | First Faculty of Medicine |
| Country | Czech Republic |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Research team worked with chameleon embryos in Brno and collected Komodo dragon embryos from Prague. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Prague researchers collaborated with Prague zoo and arranged CITES permits to enable transport of fixed embryonic samples to UK. Brno researchers organised chameleon eggs for analysis. |
| Impact | Paper on komodo dragons in process. |
| Start Year | 2024 |
| Description | Collaboration with researchers on reptile development |
| Organisation | Masaryk University |
| Country | Czech Republic |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Research team worked with chameleon embryos in Brno and collected Komodo dragon embryos from Prague. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Prague researchers collaborated with Prague zoo and arranged CITES permits to enable transport of fixed embryonic samples to UK. Brno researchers organised chameleon eggs for analysis. |
| Impact | Paper on komodo dragons in process. |
| Start Year | 2024 |
| Description | Collaboration with researchers to design robust task triggering circuits |
| Organisation | Pompeu Fabra University |
| Country | Spain |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Our team proposed a general framework to achieve any order concentration shift keying modulation and demodulation, which can be further integrated into the task triggering circuits. |
| Collaborator Contribution | My partner checked our circuit design and provided the materials to build the corresponding platform in his lab. |
| Impact | This is a multi-disciplinary collaboration, including the telecommunication and synthetic biology disciplines. The main outcome of this collaboration is that it enabled us to send one PhD student to visit the partner's lab and built a platform to achieve the binary and quadruple concentration shift keying modulation and demodulation functions. We are currently processing the data and drafting a paper about it. |
| Start Year | 2024 |
| Description | Collaboration with researchers to study epithelial memory ro fungal infections |
| Organisation | University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) |
| Country | United States |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Obtained transcriptomics and immunophenotyping data of memory epithelial cells. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Data analysis and discussion, alongside extra experiments. |
| Impact | Multidisciplinary collaboration. No outputs yet |
| Start Year | 2024 |
| Description | Development of a novel nanocarrier for targeted central nervous system delivery |
| Organisation | Academia Sinica |
| Country | Taiwan, Province of China |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | We have developed a new targeting approach for preferential nanocarrier uptake by the brain microvasculature. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Our partner in Taipei have developed the carrier together with my PhD student who is visiting there. The carrier is currently being tested. |
| Impact | This is a multidisciplinary collaboration bring together drug development, nanocarrier design, computational targeting compound design, and in vitro and in vivo evaluation. We have successfully developed a nanocarrier and are currently at the evaluation stage. Results are expected by mid-to-late 2025. |
| Start Year | 2024 |
| Description | Hydrogen-deuterium exchange mass spectrometry on membrane protein ribosome nascent chains |
| Organisation | University of Southampton |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Novel samples to study co-translational membrane protein folding by an infrared technique |
| Collaborator Contribution | The partners at Berlin develop infrared methods for study of biological samples and have applied a surface enhanced method to probe co-translational folding of proteins in membranes |
| Impact | none yet. This is early stage feasibility |
| Start Year | 2024 |
| Description | Sane and Williams joint project |
| Organisation | The National Centre for Biological Sciences |
| Country | India |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | Professor Sanjay Sane is the leader of the Flight Lab at NCBS and we became interested in each other's work through mutual collaborator. Since that time have made great efforts to communicate about research and have started to collaborate. Dr Sane is a world leader in the biomechanics and behaviour of movement in insects. His lab uses large insect model systems, state-of-the-art high-speed videography, kinematic analysis with machine learning tools and classical single-cell electrophysiological recordings to study the sensorimotor function in behaving animals. We wish to develop unique synergies by bringing together our complimentary expertise and gain insights in hitherto intractable questions about the development and function of sensorimotor systems in insects. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Simran Vridi, a PhD student from the Sane lab, visited King's to train in the Williams lab. Both groups to move forward an exciting multi-disciplinary project building bespoke genetic tools that the Sane lab will use in Drosophila. Simran also trained members of the Williams lab in behavioural approaches. |
| Impact | We are still at the early stages of our collaboration as the pandemic destroyed many of the opportunities that we'd designed and we are only now able to execute. We are currently applying for a HFSP grant together. |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | Tabler Mesenchymal stiffness (J. Tabler) |
| Organisation | Max Planck Society |
| Department | Max Planck Institute for Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics |
| Country | Germany |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Introduced the idea of using a novel nanoindenter instrument to map the stiffness of craniofacial mesenchyme in facial prominences and palatal shelves |
| Collaborator Contribution | Provided access and basic training to use the Optics11 Chiaro nanoindenter for measurement of tissue stiffness |
| Impact | Led to purchase of one instrument for King's College London and likely the purchase of a second to promote opportunities for upcoming grant application opportunities. |
| Start Year | 2024 |
| Description | Understanding astringency through immobilised mucins |
| Organisation | ETH Zurich |
| Country | Switzerland |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Kings research team provided mucins and astringents |
| Collaborator Contribution | ETH team provided immobilisation techniques. |
| Impact | Paper has been drafted, grant submitted to UKRI cross-disciplinary scheme (due to hear March 2025), collaborations are continuing, new grant applications being explored. |
| Start Year | 2024 |
| Description | collaboration with researchers investigating telomere biology |
| Organisation | IRCAN |
| Country | France |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | We have worked with Dr. Ferreira at IRCAN to explore the impact of telomere attrition on resident stem cell activity in zebrafish. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Dr. Ferreira has formulated a plan for exploring telomere lengths in our experimental animal system which we can relate to resident stem cell activity during regeneration. |
| Impact | Ongoing |
| Start Year | 2024 |
| Description | DevNeuro Academy |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | My group has been participating in the activity of "The DevNeuro Academy ", which is Widening Participation project consists of a regular programme of activities designed to improve the progression and success of students currently under-represented at our university and other institutes of higher education. The contribution of the PIs and lab members supported by the BBSRC has been an excellent platform to engage the educational activity for students from non-selective state schools are widely under-represented at top universities. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014,2015,2016,2017,2018,2024,2025 |
| Description | DevNeuroAcademy |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | The DevNeuro Academy Widening Participation project consists of a regular programme of activities designed to improve the progression and success of students currently under-represented at our university and other institutes of higher education. The project combines a series of four in-school interactive 'Discovery workshops' with a two-week laboratory summer research work experience in our Centre. At the end of the work experience there will be a graduation ceremony here at Guy's campus. The students' families, class-mates and teachers will be invited and the students will be presented with a certificate. Students from non-selective state schools are widely under-represented at top universities. 48% of privately educated children go on to study at a highly selective university, whilst only 18% of state school children, and a staggering 2% of children eligible for free school meals, gain a place at a highly selective university. The primary objective of the DevNeuro Academy project is to engage with challenging local non-selective state schools and contribute towards changing these numbers. The workshops were designed with the goal of providing the students with solid conceptual foundations, as well as skills and new ideas to further build on. Each workshop combines theoretical talks and lots of interactive activities about the exciting field of developmental neurobiology. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015,2016,2017 |
| URL | http://tinyurl.com/jsmvsep |
| Description | WWTP Microbiome Workshop |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The workshop aimed to engage wider King's research communities and external collaborators to discuss the emerging challenges and machine learning methodology and applications that have potential to advance microbiome research and discovery. The workshop focused on environmental microbiome and biotechnologies in particular bioprocesses for microbial food innovation and resource recovery. The workshop allowed us to engage global leading experts in microbiome from USA, Belgium and strengthened our existing collaboration with Italy. This programme allowed us to bring an expert team from diverse backgrounds.The seminars, workshop presentation and discussion based on cross-disciplinary were very inspiring. As the outcome, the team from workshop submitted a joint perspective artilcle and formed cross-country collaborative research. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/kcl-special-seminar-on-microbiome-tickets-911442427837?aff=oddtdtcrea... |