Fri 15 Mar 16:00: Molecular insights into GABA-A receptor pharmacology
Dr Paul Miller
University of Cambridge, Department of Pharmacology
Biography
Paul did his PhD and a postdoc with Professor Trevor G Smart at University College London, where he applied electrophysiological and pharmacological approaches to link structure and function for, principally, glycine receptors. Subsequently, from 2010, Paul attained a Wellcome Trust OXION postdoctoral fellowship, in the Division of Structural Biology at University of Oxford, where he established methodologies for the production of membrane proteins within the department. Paul used these techniques to solve structures of GABAA Rs and for the production of antibodies with novel pharmacology and high selectivity. He joined the Department of Pharmacology, University of Cambridge as a lecturer in 2018 to advance antibody pharmacology of ion channels, and has received funding from AMS , BBSRC, Wellcome, Rosetrees Trust, and a range of industry support.
Venue: Level 2 Seminar Room.
Zoom Link: https://cam-ac-uk.zoom.us/j/86321175549?pwd=MnMxTWhub1ViUmhiYWJrSWQ0T25Tdz09
Meeting ID: 863 2117 5549
Passcode: 168608
- Speaker: Dr Paul Miller, University of Cambridge, Department of Pharmacology
- Friday 15 March 2024, 16:00-17:00
- Venue: Seminar Room (Level 2), Dept of Pharmacology .
- Series: Department of Pharmacology Seminar Series; organiser: Daniel Paolo Juan.
Fri 08 Mar 16:00: PDRA Talks: Nuclear envelope integrity in health and disease | A role for the proton
Nuclear envelope integrity in health and disease
Dr Anne Janssen
University of Cambridge, Department of Pharmacology
Biography
Anne studied Biotechnology at Wageningen University. After finishing her Masters degree she started her PhD in the lab of Lukas Kapitein (Utrecht University, the Netherlands) working on the generation of inducible tools to study protein aggregation and degradation by the autophagy pathway. During her PhD work she got interested in the nuclear envelope which is why she joined the lab of Delphine Larrieu in 2019 to work on nuclear envelope integrity and premature aging diseases. Initially at CIMR , the lab moved to the department of Pharmacology in 2022. Currently, Anne works on an independent project for which she got a Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship to discover new players in nuclear envelope integrity maintenance.
Dr Luke Pattison
A role for the proton-sensing GPCR , GPR65 in inflammatory joint pain
University of Cambridge, Department of Pharmacology
Biography
Luke studied Molecular and Cellular Biology at the University of Bath. During his undergraduate degree he undertook a placement at the Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences in Melbourne, Australia, where he studied the compartmentalised signalling of a G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) implicated in inflammatory pain. Luke undertook his doctoral research in the Smith lab, submitting his thesis in 2021, which explored the contributions of proton-sensing GPC Rs to inflammatory pain. Luke is continuing in the Smith lab as a postdoctoral researcher working on the Advanced Discovery of Visceral Analgesics via Neuroimmune Targets and the Genetics of Extreme human phenotypes (ADVANTAGE) consortium as part of the MRC Advanced Pain Discovery Platform.
Venue: Level 2 Seminar Room
Zoom Link: https://cam-ac-uk.zoom.us/j/89184640892?pwd=VnZXbEU4bDdtbkt5MEV2NWt0RUJtUT09
Meeting ID: 891 8464 0892
Passcode: 620598
- Speaker: Dr Anne Janssen, Dr Luke Pattison, University of Cambridge, Department of Pharmacology
- Friday 08 March 2024, 16:00-17:00
- Venue: Seminar Room (Level 2), Dept of Pharmacology .
- Series: Department of Pharmacology Seminar Series; organiser: Daniel Paolo Juan.
Fri 01 Mar 16:00: A novel type of proteasome condensates that can target toxic protein aggregates
Dr Yu Ye
Imperial College London, Department of Brain Science
Biography
Yu completed his PhD training in David Komander’s lab at MRC -LMB, where they combined structural biology with biophysical techniques to study molecular details of ubiquitin chains and deubiquitinases, and interactions that underlaid regulation of the ubiquitin-proteasome system (UPS). Following this, Yu was fortunate to secure a stipendiary Junior Research Fellowship at Selwyn College followed by a Sir Henry Wellcome Research Fellowship, to study the UPS with super-resolution imaging techniques. They worked between David Klenerman’s group at Cambridge and Daniel Finley’s group at Harvard to establish their own research direction, focusing on using the UPS to remove protein aggregates. Notably, their group demonstrated that large fibrillar aggregates can be directly broken up by the 26S proteasome holoenzyme into small fragments in vitro in a ubiquitin-independent manner, defining a novel, fibril-fragmenting function of proteasomes (Cliffe et al., Cell Rep. 2019).
During this time, they also served as a Fellow and Director of Studies in Natural Sciences at Selwyn. With a generous start-up package, they moved to Imperial College London to study the interplay between UPS and protein aggregation in neuronal models. Recently, their group developed a quantitative super-resolution imaging approach to measure the ability of pathological aggregates to penetrate cells, showing that proteasomes respond to proteotoxicity within hours, leading to aggregate removal (Morten et al.,PNAS 2022). They are now expanding these findings to characterise mechanisms underlying this aggregate-induced proteasome response, which we think is driven by condensation of proteasomes and specific protein factors.
Venue: Level 2 Seminar Room
Zoom Link: https://cam-ac-uk.zoom.us/j/89654824601?pwd=QU9QNEVHVkJSR0dVeVZ4VmovV2Uydz09
Meeting ID: 896 5482 4601
Passcode: 482026
- Speaker: Dr Yu Ye, Imperial College London, Department of Brain Science
- Friday 01 March 2024, 16:00-17:00
- Venue: Seminar Room (Level 2), Dept of Pharmacology .
- Series: Department of Pharmacology Seminar Series; organiser: Daniel Paolo Juan.
Fri 23 Feb 16:00: David James Seminar: Molecular mechanisms regulating human weight regulation
Professor Sadaf Farooqi PhD, FRCP , FMedSci, FRS
University of Cambridge, Department of Clinical Biochemistry Abstract
Biography
Sadaf is a Wellcome Principal Research Fellow and Professor of Metabolism and Medicine at the University of Cambridge, UK. She is an internationally leading Clinician Scientist who has made seminal contributions to understanding the genetic and physiological mechanisms that underlie obesity and its complications. The work of Sadaf Farooqi and her colleagues has fundamentally altered the understanding of how body weight is regulated. With colleagues, she discovered and characterised the first genetic disorders that cause severe childhood obesity and established that the principal driver of obesity in these conditions was a failure of the control of appetite. Her work is often cited as an exemplar of how the translation of research into the mechanisms of disease can lead to patient benefit. She has received a number of awards including the 2024 Outstanding Clinical Investigator Award from the Endocrine Society. In 2021, she was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society in recognition of her exceptional contribution to science.
Venue: Level 2 Seminar Room
Zoom Link: https://cam-ac-uk.zoom.us/j/88598536043?pwd=Wk1QcjhYUUtkMUJLK1lwRzBMSElGUT09
Meeting ID: 885 9853 6043
Passcode: 926404
- Speaker: Professor Sadaf Farooqi PhD, FRCP, FMedSci, FRS, University of Cambridge, Department of Clinical Biochemistry Abstract
- Friday 23 February 2024, 16:00-17:00
- Venue: Seminar Room (Level 2), Dept of Pharmacology .
- Series: Department of Pharmacology Seminar Series; organiser: Daniel Paolo Juan.
Fri 16 Feb 16:00: StaRs™ and Structures – a door to the GPCR pharmacological and drug discovery universe
Dr Alastair Brown
Sosei Heptares, Translational Biosciences
Biography
Currently Senior Vice President of Translational Medicine at Sosei Heptares, a world leading GPCR biotech, responsible for delivering projects from hit identification through to clinical Phase2 development. They are passionate about translating scientific pre-clinical laboratory data into early clinical studies to increase the probability of success of new medicines. With a background in molecular pharmacology, Alastair has over 20 years’ experience in the pharmaceutical industry in both large and small companies delivering multiple clinical drug candidates across neuroscience, inflammation, and oncology therapy areas.
Venue: Level 2 Seminar Room
Zoom Link: https://cam-ac-uk.zoom.us/j/87912324368?pwd=VTJJdXNzV0dUQVdRTHgxZGptMEtxdz09
Meeting ID: 879 1232 4368
Passcode: 772713
- Speaker: Dr Alastair Brown, Sosei Heptares, Translational Biosciences
- Friday 16 February 2024, 16:00-17:00
- Venue: Seminar Room (Level 2), Dept of Pharmacology .
- Series: Department of Pharmacology Seminar Series; organiser: Daniel Paolo Juan.
Fri 02 Feb 16:00: Biophysical methods in small molecule drug discovery
Dr Stanislava Panova
Astex Pharmaceuticals, Senior Research Associate
Biography
Stanislava Panova, PhD, is a senior research associate in the Molecular Sciences group at Astex Pharmaceuticals, Cambridge UK. She has studied biophysics in Lomonosov Moscow State University, where she has first been introduced to biomolecular NMR spectroscopy. She has earned her PhD from the University of Manchester in 2017 in the group of Prof Jon Waltho, her research delved into applying NMR spectroscopy methods to study inter and intramolecular interactions in proteins, intrinsically disordered proteins in particular. Transitioning to Astex in 2018, Stanislava assumed the role of a research associate, contributing her expertise to support early-stage drug discovery initiatives by applying biophysical methods. Currently her work focuses on optimizing the integration of NMR methods into the drug discovery pipeline.
Venue: Level 2 Seminar Room
Zoom Link: https://cam-ac-uk.zoom.us/j/81545010900?pwd=NnNmWmQ0OVV5WTRxL1hhSUxNd2ZzUT09
Meeting ID: 815 4501 0900
Passcode: 200209
- Speaker: Dr Stanislava Panova, Astex Pharmaceuticals, Senior Research Associate
- Friday 02 February 2024, 16:00-17:00
- Venue: Seminar Room (Level 2), Dept of Pharmacology .
- Series: Department of Pharmacology Seminar Series; organiser: Daniel Paolo Juan.
Fri 09 Feb 16:00: Not just an affair of the heart: A look at ERG channels and Kv7 channels in
Professor Iain Greenwood
St George’s University, Department of Life and Environmental Science
Biography
Iain joined St George’s, University of London in 1993 as a postdoctoral researcher. He has held a variety of academic positions here since then and became Professor of Vascular Pharmacology in August 2013.
He is an adjunct Professor in the Department of Biomedical Sciences (Heart and Circulatory Research Section) at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark. This appointment stems from a five-year collaboration with Professor Søren P Olesen looking at mechanisms involved with vascular disease.
Prof Greenwood obtained a First class Honours Degree in Physiology and Pharmacology at the University of Hertfordshire in 1990. He then studied for a PhD at the University of Manchester in the Smooth Muscle Research Group, under the supervision of Professor AH Weston. In 1998, he was awarded a prestigious four-year Wellcome Trust Career Development Fellowship.
This enabled him to spend four months working with Professor Normand Leblanc at the Montreal Heart Institute, and one year working with Professor Burt Horowitz in the Department of Physiology and Cell Biology at the University of Nevada Medical School, Reno, USA .
Venue: Level 2 Seminar Room
Zoom Link: https://cam-ac-uk.zoom.us/j/84556752610?pwd=bDlXNWhQUDArZjJyODZsZHkwa2RJQT09
Meeting ID: 845 5675 2610
Passcode: 565725
- Speaker: Professor Iain Greenwood, St George’s University, Department of Life and Environmental Science
- Friday 09 February 2024, 16:00-17:00
- Venue: Seminar Room (Level 2), Dept of Pharmacology ..
- Series: Department of Pharmacology Seminar Series; organiser: Daniel Paolo Juan.
Fri 26 Jan 16:00: Why it’s important to think about equity, diversity and inclusion when designing, running, analysing and reporting clinical trials
Professor Shaun Treweek
University of Aberdeen, Health Services Research Online only
Biography Shaun is a health services researcher interested in efficient trial design, particularly around inclusive recruitment and retention and the effective presentation of research evidence. He led the development of the NIHR INCLUDE Ethnicity framework, a tool to help trialists design inclusive trials and PRECIS -2, a tool to match trial design decisions to what the users of the results need.
He leads an initiative called Trial Forge (http://www.trialforge.org) that aims to be more systematic about how we identify, generate and use research evidence in making trial design, conduct, analysis and reporting decisions. In 2019 Trial Forge won the international Cochrane-REWARD Prize for outstanding work in reducing waste in research. Finally, Shaun is an Editor-in-Chief of the journal Trials.
Venue: Zoom
Zoom Link: https://cam-ac-uk.zoom.us/j/83434713412?pwd=R2pDRStEVStmblREeHdzNGFicXcyUT09
Meeting ID: 834 3471 3412
Passcode: 585571
- Speaker: Professor Shaun Treweek University of Aberdeen, Health Services Research
- Friday 26 January 2024, 16:00-17:00
- Venue: Zoom.
- Series: Department of Pharmacology Seminar Series; organiser: Daniel Paolo Juan.
Thu 14 Mar 14:00: Stimulating speech: auditory-motor interactions during perception and production
Abstract not available
- Speaker: Kate Watkins (U. of Oxford)
- Thursday 14 March 2024, 14:00-15:00
- Venue: MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, 15 Chaucer Road, Cambridge - Lecture Theatre.
- Series: Chaucer Club; organiser: Vicky Collins.
Thu 07 Mar 14:00: Restoring communication with intracortical brain-computer interfaces
Abstract not available
- Speaker: Jaimie Henderson (Stanford University)
- Thursday 07 March 2024, 14:00-15:00
- Venue: MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, 15 Chaucer Road, Cambridge - Lecture Theatre.
- Series: Chaucer Club; organiser: Vicky Collins.
Thu 29 Feb 14:00: Consolidation of memory and model-based planning
Abstract not available
- Speaker: Neil Burgess (UCL
- Thursday 29 February 2024, 14:00-15:00
- Venue: MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, 15 Chaucer Road, Cambridge - Lecture Theatre.
- Series: Chaucer Club; organiser: Vicky Collins.
Thu 22 Feb 14:00: Mind Hacking – How magicians exploit psychological biases and limitations
Abstract not available
- Speaker: Gustav Kuhn (U. of Plymouth)
- Thursday 22 February 2024, 14:00-15:00
- Venue: MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, 15 Chaucer Road, Cambridge - Lecture Theatre.
- Series: Chaucer Club; organiser: Vicky Collins.
Thu 08 Feb 14:00: Cognitive mechanisms of antidepressant drug action; from established treatments to novel developments
Abstract not available
- Speaker: Cath Harmer (U. of Oxford)
- Thursday 08 February 2024, 14:00-15:00
- Venue: MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, 15 Chaucer Road, Cambridge - Lecture Theatre.
- Series: Chaucer Club; organiser: Vicky Collins.
Thu 01 Feb 14:00: Towards early identification and prevention of child mental health problems
Abstract not available
- Speaker: Anna Moore (UoC, Dept of Psychiatry)
- Thursday 01 February 2024, 14:00-15:00
- Venue: MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, 15 Chaucer Road, Cambridge - Lecture Theatre.
- Series: Chaucer Club; organiser: Vicky Collins.
Thu 25 Jan 14:00: Talk title tbc
Abstract not available
- Speaker: Speaker details tbc
- Thursday 25 January 2024, 14:00-15:00
- Venue: MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, 15 Chaucer Road, Cambridge - Lecture Theatre.
- Series: Chaucer Club; organiser: Vicky Collins.
Thu 18 Jan 14:00: Developmental brain plasticity: a few insights from stroke and epilepsy in children
Abstract not available
- Speaker: Torsten Baldeweg (UCL)
- Thursday 18 January 2024, 14:00-15:00
- Venue: MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, 15 Chaucer Road, Cambridge - Lecture Theatre.
- Series: Chaucer Club; organiser: Vicky Collins.
Tue 13 Feb 13:00: Competition between predictive processes and prefrontal cortex functions: from non-invasive brain stimulation to local sleep
Human learning and predictive processing depend on multiple cognitive systems related to dissociable brain structures. These systems interact not only in cooperative but sometimes competitive ways in optimizing performance. Previous studies showed that manipulations reducing the engagement of prefrontal lobe-mediated explicit, attentional processes can improve non-declarative learning performance. Here, we present four studies – non-invasive brain stimulation, functional brain connectivity, lifespan development, local sleep, and mind-wandering – in which we investigated the competitive relationship between perceptual statistical learning and prefrontal lobe-mediated executive functions. Our result sheds light on the competitive nature of brain systems in cognitive processes and could have important implications for developing new methods to improve human learning and predictive processing.
- Speaker: Dezső Németh (Chaire Professeur, Lyon Neuroscience Research Center (CRNL), INSERM, France)
- Tuesday 13 February 2024, 13:00-14:00
- Venue: Kenneth Craik Room, Craik-Marshall Building, Downing Site.
- Series: Craik Club; organiser: John Mollon.
Thu 25 Jan 12:00: Title to be confirmed
Abstract not available
- Speaker: Prof Zoltan Takats, Imperial College London
- Thursday 25 January 2024, 12:00-13:00
- Venue: Seminar Room, John van Geest Centre for Brain Repair, Forvie Site.
- Series: Clinical Neurosciences Seminars; organiser: Louise Massara.
Fri 26 Jan 12:00: What Cephalopods Might Reveal About the Evolution of Cognition The host for this talk is Clive Wilkins
The soft-bodied cephalopods including octopus, cuttlefish, and squid possess a suite of cognitive attributes that are comparable to those found in vertebrates. Inspired by our previous work on the cognitive capacities of jays and other members of the corvid family such as ravens and New Caledonian crows (“feathered apes”), we have found evidence that cuttlefish, for example, remember the ‘what, where and when’ of past events, and that they exhibit self control as well as making future-oriented decisions such as eating less crab at lunchtime if their favourite shrimp are available for dinner. These findings will be discussed in terms of an evolutionary framework of why these invertebrates may have evolved such cognitive capacities, and the implications for our understanding of the evolution of cognition in general~ in humans and other animals.
The host for this talk is Clive Wilkins
- Speaker: Nicky Clayton (Psychology Department, Cambridge)
- Friday 26 January 2024, 12:00-13:30
- Venue: Ground Floor Lecture Theatre, Department of Psychology.
- Series: Zangwill Club; organiser: John Mollon.
Fri 19 Jan 13:00: "The Importance of Behavioural Bioassays in Neuroscience"
Abstract not available
- Speaker: Prof Richard Brown, Dalhousie University, Canada
- Friday 19 January 2024, 13:00-14:00
- Venue: Seminar Room, John van Geest Centre for Brain Repair, Forvie Site.
- Series: Clinical Neurosciences Seminars; organiser: Louise Massara.