The MRC PPU are hugely proud that one of our Dundee Research Interest Group (DRIG) members, John Minhinick, has been awarded a British Empire Medal (BEM) in the New Year Honours List. This award recognises John’s considerable contribution to the Parkinson’s community in Fife and across Scotland. We thank John for all his work and wish him many congratulations on this achievement.

Parkinson’s VPS35[D620N] mutation induces LRRK2 mediated lysosomal association of RILPL1 and TMEM55B

We previously observed that the Parkinson’s VPS35[D620N] mutation markedly enhances LRRK2 kinase activation by an unknown mechanism.

Tom Snelling (postdoc) and Anton Saalfrank (MSc student) in Philip Cohen’s lab have unveiled new insights into how mutations in the protein kinase ALPK1 cause two debilitating human diseases called ROSAH syndrome and Spiradenocarcinoma.

When cells encounter a virus, they respond by upregulating the expression of hundreds of interferon-stimulated genes (ISGs). ISG15 is a ubiquitin-like protein that is highly upregulated in response to viral infection and has critical roles in the innate immune response.

Researchers from Adrien Rousseau’s lab in the MRC Protein Phosphorylation and Ubiquitylation Unit at the University of Dundee, Scotland, have identified mechanisms contributing to the stress-induced reduction in protein translation using yeast. This new study is now published in EMBO Journal.

Dr Dina Dikovskaya, a senior research associate in the MRC PPU, has been awarded a Career Enhancing Grant by British Society for Immunology to conduct a pilot study on the importance of the oxidative stress response in Crohn’s disease.

This scheme offers flexible financial support to help BSI members at all career stages to benefit their careers.

Dr Chiara Maniaci has been awarded £1.5 million to fund her research for the next eight years, from the highly esteemed University Research Fellowship from the

Ricardo Moreno Ballesteros, a PhD student in the Virdee lab, has been awarded first prize in the Converge Kickstart Challenge. This competition is for aspiring entrepreneurs, emerging from Scottish universities, to showcase their aptitude and passion for commercialising their research.

Elin conducted her honours project focusing on lysosomal immunoprecipitation in the Sammler lab in 2022 and has received high commendation for her honours thesis in the Life Science category at the Global Undergraduate Awards 2023.

Eukaryotic cells make a single copy of their chromosomes before cell division, to ensure that the genetic blueprint can be passed on intact from one generation to the next. The molecular machinery that copies chromosomes is called the replisome and is built around an 11-subunit DNA helicase called CMG (CDC45-MCM-GINS), which unwinds the DNA duplex to allow DNA polymerases to copy the genome.