Satpal Virdee and his research group in the MRC PPU have uncovered a striking new role for a family of enzymes in a vital pathway that regulates cell activity and underpins our understanding of health and disease - the result of nearly a decade of collective and sustained scientific efforts to understand the ubiquitin pathway.

Wnt signalling pathway is fundamental during development but it’s overactivity drives many cancers, particularly colorectal cancers (CRCs). New research led by Karen Dunbar (postdoctoral fellow in Sapkota lab) has uncovered FAM83F as a novel mediator of the Wnt signalling pathway.

To help support worldwide research on LRRK2 biology, the groups of Dario Alessi and Miratul Muqit (University of Dundee) Suzanne Pfeffer and

To help support worldwide research on LRRK2 biology, the groups of Dario Alessi and Miratul Muqit (University of Dundee) Suzanne Pfeffer and

Dr Yogesh Kulathu, MRC Investigator and Group Leader at the MRC PPU has just been awarded an European Research Council (ERC) Consolidator Grant of 2.1 million euros, that will enable his team to develop new technologies and methodologies to investigate unexplored areas of ubiquitin biology.

Dysfunctional mitochondria have been linked to a range of rare diseases, such as MELAS (Mitochondrial Encephalopathy, Lactic acidosis, and Stroke-like episodes), Pearson Syndrome and mitochondrial DNA depletion, as well as more prevalent diseases, including Parkinson’s.

Congratulations to MRC PPU PIs Gopal Sapkota and Satpal Virdee who have been promoted to Professorial Chairs by the University of Dundee.

Congratulations to MRC PPU PIs Gopal Sapkota and Satpal Virdee who have been promoted to Professorial Chairs by the University of Dundee.

Protein kinases are enzymes that attach phosphate to proteins, a process known as “phosphorylation”. Phosphorylation can change the shape of proteins and hence their ability to function, so that kinases are key controller enzymes that regulate almost every process in human cells.

Missense mutations that hyperactivate the LRRK2 protein kinase are a common cause of familial Parkinson’s disease. Recruitment of LRRK2 to membranes leads to its activation, where it phosphorylates a group of Rab GTPase proteins, including Rab10 and Rab12, within the effector-binding switch-II motif.