Emeritus Professors Jean Beggs and Malcolm Walkinshaw. Image Jean Beggs, Emeritus Professor of Molecular Biology Prior to closing in June 2019 when Jean retired, the Beggs lab used biochemistry, cell biology, genetics and quantitative systems biology approaches to investigate RNA processing pathways in budding yeast, with a focus on pre-mRNA splicing and links between RNA splicing, transcription and chromatin modifications. Selected publications Maudlin, I.E. and J.D. Beggs (2019) Spt5 modulates cotranscriptional spliceosome assembly in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. RNA 25:1298–1310. doi: 10.1261/rna.070425.119. Aslanzadeh, V. and Beggs, J.D. (2020) Revisiting the window of opportunity for cotranscriptional splicing in budding yeast. RNA 26:1081–1085. doi:10.1261/rna.075895.120 Maudlin, I.E. and Beggs, J.D. (2021) Conditional depletion of transcriptional kinases Ctk1 and Bur1 and effects on cotranscriptional spliceosome assembly and pre-mRNA splicing. RNA Biol. 18:782-793. doi: 10.1080/15476286.2021.1991673 Image Malcolm Walkinshaw, Emeritus Professor of Structural Biochemistry Malcolm Walkinshaw’s interest is in mechanisms of molecular recognition and in the regulation of protein-ligand and protein-DNA interactions. Structural and enzymatic studies of allosteric proteins in the glycolytic pathway have been used to develop biologically active drug-like molecules that are active against trypanosome parasites. Similar approaches have been used to develop small molecule ligands that inhibit cyclophilin isoforms and these are currently being investigated for their potential antiviral and anti-cancer activities. Selected publications McNae IW, Kinkead J, Malik D, Yen LH, Walker MK, Swain C, et al. Fast acting allosteric phosphofructokinase inhibitors block trypanosome glycolysis and cure acute African trypanosomiasis in mice. Nat Commun. 2021;12:1052. Zhong W, Li K, Cai Q, Guo J, Yuan M, Wong YH, et al. Pyruvate kinase from Plasmodium falciparum: Structural and kinetic insights into the allosteric mechanism. Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 2020;532:370-6. Pinto Torres JE, Yuan M, Goossens J, Versees W, Caljon G, Michels PA, et al. Structural and kinetic characterization of Trypanosoma congolense pyruvate kinase. Mol Biochem Parasitol. 2020;236:111263 This article was published on 2024-06-17
