Host: Ralista Madsen

Venue: MSI Small Lecture Theatre, SLS

Abstract:

Stable isotope tracing is an important technique for studying metabolism but it has a major limitation. Isotope labelled metabolites have to be administered broadly from exogenous sources, such as the medium for cell culture or an injected/dietary bolus for animals. This makes it difficult to track metabolite transport from one specific cell or tissue type to another. A long-standing challenge in the field, therefore, has been to develop genetically-encoded methods to label metabolites within a specific cell type of a living animal. Here, we harness bioorthogonal reactions of selected xenoenzymes from microbes to add innocuous isotope or other tags to metabolites in a conditional cell-type specific manner. We establish that this methodology can be utilized to tag and trace fatty acids and branched-chain amino acids in vivo in Drosophila and in mice. The xenoenzyme approach is a powerful quantitative technology that enables the intercellular and interorgan exchange of metabolites to be analysed with unprecedented spatiotemporal resolution.

Bio:

Alex Gould FRS is a Principal Group Leader at the Francis Crick Institute in London. Research in his lab uses Drosophila and mouse models to understand how early-life environmental stresses affect the metabolism and physiology of the developing brain.

https://www.crick.ac.uk/research/labs/alex-gould

Host: Prof Angus Lamond

Bio: Robert Pacifici is the Chief Scientific Officer of CHDI Foundation, a private, not-for-profit research organization that works with an international network of scientists to accelerate therapeutics development for Huntington’s disease. He received a BS in Biochemistry from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and a PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Southern California. Previous to joining CHDI, Robert was the Site Director and Chief Scientific Officer at the Research Triangle Park Laboratories of Eli Lilly and Company. There, he oversaw the company's global screening and quantitative-biology efforts. Prior to joining Eli Lilly, Robert was Vice President of Discovery Technologies at Xencor, a biotechnology company that applied rational design principles to the development of protein therapeutics. At Amgen for nearly ten years, Robert held several positions, including Director of their automation, high throughput screening and information technologies groups. In addition to his post at CHDI, Robert Pacifici has extensive experience serving on external scientific boards and advisory committees. 

Robert’s seminar will provide an overview of Huntington's disease and the work of the CHDI Foundation, whose mission is to deliver effective therapeutics for the treatment of Huntington’s patients.

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At a time when questions about climate change are both critical and contested, this exhibition explores the environmental and social significance of water. Why are we having more extreme floods? Are our rivers polluted? Is our drinking water supply safe? Showcasing the work of the University’s UNESCO Centre for Water Law, Policy & Science (celebrating its 20th anniversary this year), artist-in-residence Jean Duncan presents a series of artworks in response to these themes, alongside historic environmental records from the University Archives and related art and artefacts from the Museum Collections.

The exhibition is open Monday-Friday 9.30am-7pm (last entry 5pm). 

Top image: Photomicrograph by Dr Alan Prescott of a microscope slide of the alga Chaetophoropsis elegans collected at Tentsmuir.

Main image: Detail from Cloud, Puddle, Rain by Jean Duncan

Special event on Thursday 15 May 5-6.30pm: Flow: using archives to understand our changing rivers and the environment

Find out more about University of Dundee Museums