Craig MacKay from the MRC Protein Phosphorylation Unit has been awarded the 2010 Howard Elder Prize for his discovery in John Rouse's

lab of the FAN1 nuclease that acts as a 'molecular scissors' during DNA repair (MacKay et al, Cell 14 …more

Glucose sugar surges into our bloodstream after a meal, and is directed to enter muscle and fat cells under control of the hormone insulin. Understanding how insulin controls glucose distribution is of enormous practical significance because an incre …more

Craig MacKay has been awarded the 2010 Howard Elder Prize for his discovery in John Rouse's lab of the FAN1 nuclease that acts as a 'molecular scissors' during DNA repair (MacKay et al, Cell 1 …more

Pleckstrin homology (PH) domains play vital roles in enabling proteins to recognise phosphoinositides. Simon Dowler (Dario Alessi's 2nd PhD Student) identified two proteins over 10 years ago now termed the Tandem PH containing Protein-1 (TAPP1) a …more

In the latest issue of the journal Cell (Cell 143, 686-693), MRC Protein Phosphorylation Unit Director Sir Philip Cohen gives his perspective on whether components of the ubiquitin system will become as important drug targets as protein kinases for t …more

David Komander, who undertook his PhD jointly between the labs of Dario Alessi and Daan van Aalten between 2002 and 2005, has been admitted into the  …more

Laura Pearce was awarded her PhD on November 18th on her work characterising the mechanism by which PROTOR regulates mTORC2. Her examiners were Chris Proud of the University of Southampton and Calum Sutherland of Ninewells Hospital, Dundee. Laura pla …more

The PDK1 kinase has been the focus of great attention since it was discovered over 13 years ago in the MRC Protein Phosphorylation Unit as a key enzyme that activated Akt. Work carried out in Dundee on PDK1 over these years have uncovered most of the …more

Glycogen breakdown and synthesis plays a critical role in regulating glucose homeostasis. The current issue of Cell Metabolism contains a paper published by Michale Bou …more

On November 1st Hilary Smith delivered her final Ph.D. lecture entitled 'Regulation of the E3 Ubiquitin Ligase Pellino in innate immune signalling', which was followed by a (3.5 hour!) viva conducted by external examiner Luke O'Neill from Trinity Col …more