Latest News
September 2021
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30 Sep 2021Researchers from the Universities of Dundee and Oxford have made a discovery that helps explain why variations in the virus that causes Covid-19 spread so rapidly. Coronaviruses are so named because of the spikes on their surface that make it look like a crown, the Latin word for which is corona. The virus uses these spikes to attach to and enter cells, where they then replicate. All common SARS-CoV-2 variants have mutations in the part of their Spike proteins that binds to cells.
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29 Sep 2021Kirby Swatek will open an independent research laboratory in the MRC PPU at the beginning of 2022. He will take up a core funded MRC Investigator position to investigate the role played by the ubiquitin-like protein ISG15 in key immune responses that protect cells from invading viruses.
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Trypanosomes break more rules: evidence for the convergent evolution of glycosyltransferase function23 Sep 2021Glycosyltransferases (GTs) are enzymes that transfer sugars from donor to an acceptor molecule. There are dozens of GT gene families, classified by sequence, sequence motifs and enzymatic function. GTs are defined by their donor and acceptor specificities and the type of glycosidic linkage they make. For example, a UDP-Gal : ßGal ß1-3 galactosyltransferase transfers galactose from UDP-Gal to a ßGal acceptor residue in a ß1-3 linkage (making a Galß1-3Galß1-R product).
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10 Sep 2021Virginia De Cesare has been awarded a UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship, one of the UK’s flagship fellowship schemes for early career investigators, in addition to being promoted to an Independent Investigator position within the MRC-PPU.
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06 Sep 2021Professor Kim Dale has been appointed as Assistant Vice-Principal (International) for the University of Dundee. Kim Dale is a Principal Investigator in the Division of Cell and Developmental Biology. Kim is well known to many staff for her work in the international field. This includes throught her roles at a School (as Associate Dean, International) and the University level (as Academic Lead for International activity in the ASEAN region). She is a visiting Professor at Taylor's University, Malaysia.
