School of Life Sciences

University of Dundee

CLS Impact and Outreach

Ganley Lab has mitophagy covered

Mitochondria are the essential energy-generating powerhouses that provide our cells with the energy of life. However, their malfunction has a dark side. Damaged mitochondria have the potential to release destructive reactive oxygen species that have serious and deleterious consequences for the cell. To cope with this, our cells have evolved a protective mechanism to prevent such a “mitochondrial meltdown”, by eliminating damaged mitochondria through a process termed mitophagy.

Internship Success for Sophie Cassidy

Third Year undergraduate, Sophie Cassidy, was successful in securing a paid 12 week internship with The Industrial Biotechnology Innovation Centre (IBioIC) through the Scotgrad Life Science summer internship programme and has written an account of her experience: http://www.scotgrad.co.uk/news/success-stories/learning-the-abcs-of-ibioic

Sophie will begin her 4th year of study towards her BSc Honours Degree in Biomedical Sciences in September.

Custom cappuccino is cherry on the cake of site-visit!

Sensing that the site-visit on Wednesday August 3rd was important, barista Justine Torano, who operates the Caffeine Café in the Street, decided to customize her delicious cappuccinos with the Drug Discovery Unit ‘molecular structure’ logo – with a little help from the DDU’s Irene Hallyburton. This attention to detail and team spirit was not lost on the 14-strong VIP site-visit team, here to consider a proposal to create a Wellcome Trust Centre for Neglected Tropical Diseases Drug Discovery in Life Sciences.

Life Sciences Honours Graduate to attend Roche Continents 2016

Hot on the heels of graduating in June, Daniel Bode is one of only 100 students to be invited to join Europe’s finest students at the highly prestigious Roche Continents 2016, which takes place in Salzburg, Austria from 10-16 August 2016.

Daniel, from Hamburg Germany, completed 4 years of study, including a successful Honours Project in the laboratory of Dr Sonia Rocha in the Centre for Gene Regulation and Expression, before graduating with 1st Class Honours BSc in Biochemistry on 23 June 2016. 

Lab method sheds light on how genetic mutations cause inherited Parkinson’s disease

Researchers led by the University of Dundee’s Professor Dario Alessi have developed a new method of measuring the activity of disease-causing mutations in the LRRK2 gene, a major cause of inherited Parkinson’s disease.

The team believes this research, which is published in Biochemical Journal, could help pave the way for future development of a clinical test that could facilitate evaluation of drugs to target this form of the condition.

2016 Wain medal for Nicola Stanley-Wall

Prof. Nicola Stanley-Wall, in the Division of Molecular Microbiology, has been named as the recipient of the 2016 Wain Medal.

This prize is awarded to a scientist aged 40 years or under and recognises excellent research in biochemistry. The Medal Lecture is a public lecture held at the University of Kent and in addition to receiving the Medal, Nicola will also receive an Award of £1,000.

The Näthke lab shows that increased variability of precancerous tissue structure can be ‘heard’ by micro-ultrasound

Altered tissue structure is a feature of many disease states and is usually measured by microscopic methods. This limits analysis to small areas so that regions with early transformation are easily missed.  Means to rapidly and quantitatively measure the structure and organisation of large tissue areas would represent a major advance not just for research but also in the clinic.  The Näthke lab worked with Prof.

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