Electrophysiological and behavioral responses of female African rice gall midge, Orseolia oryzivora Harris and Gagné, to host plant volatiles. (2016)
Journal Article
Ogah, E., Smart, L., Woodcock, C., Caulfield, J., Birkett, M., Pickett, J., …Bruce, T. (2016). Electrophysiological and behavioral responses of female African rice gall midge, Orseolia oryzivora Harris and Gagné, to host plant volatiles. Journal of Chemical Ecology, 13 - 16. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10886-016-0788-6

African rice gall midge, Orseolia oryzivora Harris and Gagné, is a major pest of rice in Africa. Depsite its economic importance, its chemical ecology is not well understood. Here, we assessed behavioral and electrophysiological responses of O. oryzi... Read More about Electrophysiological and behavioral responses of female African rice gall midge, Orseolia oryzivora Harris and Gagné, to host plant volatiles..

Recombination events among virulence genes in malaria parasites are associated with G-quadruplex-forming DNA motifs (2016)
Journal Article
(2016). Recombination events among virulence genes in malaria parasites are associated with G-quadruplex-forming DNA motifs. BMC Genomics, 859. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12864-016-3183-3

Background Malaria parasites of the genus Plasmodium possess large hyper-variable families of antigen-encoding genes. These are often variantly-expressed and are major virulence factors for immune evasion and the maintenance of chronic infections. Re... Read More about Recombination events among virulence genes in malaria parasites are associated with G-quadruplex-forming DNA motifs.

Aphid Infestation Increases Fusarium langsethiae and T-2 and HT-2 Mycotoxins in Wheat (2016)
Journal Article
Drakulic, J., Ajigboye, O., Swarup, R., Bruce, T., & Ray, R. (2016). Aphid Infestation Increases Fusarium langsethiae and T-2 and HT-2 Mycotoxins in Wheat. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 6548 - 6556. https://doi.org/10.1128/AEM.02343-16

Fusarium langsethiae is a fungal pathogen of cereal crops that is an increasing problem in northern Europe, but much of its epidemiology is poorly understood. The species produces the mycotoxins T-2 and HT-2, which are highly toxic. It was hypothesiz... Read More about Aphid Infestation Increases Fusarium langsethiae and T-2 and HT-2 Mycotoxins in Wheat.

A Year in The Life Of A Biochemistry Lecturer (2016)
Journal Article
(2016). A Year in The Life Of A Biochemistry Lecturer

Weekly blog detailing the highs and lows of a biochemistry lecturer.

Analysis of Social Learning Strategies when Discovering and Maintaining Behaviours Inaccessible to Incremental Genetic Evolution (2016)
Book Chapter
Channon, A., Jolley, B., & Borg, J. (2016). Analysis of Social Learning Strategies when Discovering and Maintaining Behaviours Inaccessible to Incremental Genetic Evolution. In From Animals to Animats 14: The Fourteenth International Conference on Simulation of Adaptive Behavior (SAB 2016) (293-304). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-43488-9_26

Open Source Drug Discovery with the Malaria Box Compound Collection for Neglected Diseases and Beyond (2016)
Journal Article
Horrocks. (2016). Open Source Drug Discovery with the Malaria Box Compound Collection for Neglected Diseases and Beyond. PLOS pathogens a peer-reviewed open-access journal published by the Public Library of Science, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.ppat.1005763

A major cause of the paucity of new starting points for drug discovery is the lack of interaction between academia and industry. Much of the global resource in biology is present in universities, whereas the focus of medicinal chemistry is still larg... Read More about Open Source Drug Discovery with the Malaria Box Compound Collection for Neglected Diseases and Beyond.

Atomic Details of the Interactions of Glycosaminoglycans with Amyloid-beta Fibrils (2016)
Journal Article
Stewart, K. L., Hughes, E., Yates, E. A., Akien, G. R., Huang, T., Andrade De Lima, M., …Middleton, D. A. (2016). Atomic Details of the Interactions of Glycosaminoglycans with Amyloid-beta Fibrils. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 138(27), 8328-8331. https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.6b02816

The amyloid plaques associated with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) comprise fibrillar amyloid-ß (Aß) peptides as well as non-protein factors including glycosaminoglycan (GAG) polysaccharides. GAGs affect the kinetics and pathway of Aß self-assembly and can... Read More about Atomic Details of the Interactions of Glycosaminoglycans with Amyloid-beta Fibrils.

The protein phosphatase 4 - PEA15 axis regulates the survival of breast cancer cells (2016)
Journal Article
(2016). The protein phosphatase 4 - PEA15 axis regulates the survival of breast cancer cells. Cellular Signalling, 1389-1400. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cellsig.2016.06.011

Background
The control of breast cell survival is of critical importance for preventing breast cancer initiation and progression. The activity of many proteins which regulate cell survival is controlled by reversible phosphorylation, so that the rel... Read More about The protein phosphatase 4 - PEA15 axis regulates the survival of breast cancer cells.

Cytotoxicity effects and apoptosis induction by cycleanine and tetrandrine (2016)
Journal Article
Li, W., & Richardson, A. (2016). Cytotoxicity effects and apoptosis induction by cycleanine and tetrandrine. Phytotherapy Research, 1533-1539. https://doi.org/10.1002/ptr.5660

Triclisia subcordata Oliv (Menispermeaceae) is a medicinal plant traditionally used for the treatment of various diseases in West Africa. The ethanol extract of T.?subcordata and its fractions were screened for in vitro anti-ovarian cancer activities... Read More about Cytotoxicity effects and apoptosis induction by cycleanine and tetrandrine.

Awareness of rabies and response to dog bites in a Bangladesh community (2016)
Journal Article
Ghosh, S., Chowdhury, S., Haider, N., Bhowmik, R., Rana, M., Prue Marma, A., …Ahmed, B. (2016). Awareness of rabies and response to dog bites in a Bangladesh community. Veterinary Medicine and Science, 161 - 169. https://doi.org/10.1002/vms3.30

Community awareness regarding rabies and treatment seeking behaviours are critical both for the prevention and control of the disease in human and animals. We conducted a study to explore people's awareness about rabies, their attitudes towards dogs... Read More about Awareness of rabies and response to dog bites in a Bangladesh community.

Trisulfate disaccharide decreases calcium overload and protects liver injury secondary to liver ischemia/reperfusion (2016)
Journal Article
Vasques, E., Cunha, J., Coelho, A., Sampietre, S., Patzina, R., Abdo, E., …D’Albuquerque, L. A. (2016). Trisulfate disaccharide decreases calcium overload and protects liver injury secondary to liver ischemia/reperfusion. PloS one, 11, e0149630--e0149630. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0149630

Background
Ischemia and reperfusion (I/R) causes tissue damage and intracellular calcium levels are a factor of cell death. Sodium calcium exchanger (NCX) regulates calcium extrusion and Trisulfated Disaccharide (TD) acts on NCX decreasing intracell... Read More about Trisulfate disaccharide decreases calcium overload and protects liver injury secondary to liver ischemia/reperfusion.

The genomic basis of parasitism in the Strongyloides clade of nematodes. (2016)
Journal Article
(2016). The genomic basis of parasitism in the Strongyloides clade of nematodes. Nature genetics, 299 - 307. https://doi.org/10.1038/ng.3495

Soil-transmitted nematodes, including the Strongyloides genus, cause one of the most prevalent neglected tropical diseases. Here we compare the genomes of four Strongyloides species, including the human pathogen Strongyloides stercoralis, and their c... Read More about The genomic basis of parasitism in the Strongyloides clade of nematodes..

A CRISPR-Cas9 gene drive system targeting female reproduction in the malaria mosquito vector Anopheles gambiae (2016)
Journal Article
Hammond, A., Galizi, R., Kyrou, K., Simoni, A., Siniscalchi, C., Katsanos, D., …Nolan, T. (2016). A CRISPR-Cas9 gene drive system targeting female reproduction in the malaria mosquito vector Anopheles gambiae. Nature Biotechnology, 78 - 83. https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt.3439

Gene drive systems that enable super-Mendelian inheritance of a transgene have the potential to modify insect populations over a timeframe of a few years. We describe CRISPR-Cas9 endonuclease constructs that function as gene drive systems in Anophele... Read More about A CRISPR-Cas9 gene drive system targeting female reproduction in the malaria mosquito vector Anopheles gambiae.

The proteome of the infectious bronchitis virus Beau-R virion. (2015)
Journal Article
(2015). The proteome of the infectious bronchitis virus Beau-R virion. Journal of General Virology, 3499 - 3506. https://doi.org/10.1099/jgv.0.000304

Infectious bronchitis is a highly contagious respiratory disease of poultry caused by the coronavirus infectious bronchitis virus (IBV). It was thought that coronavirus virions were composed of three major viral structural proteins until investigatio... Read More about The proteome of the infectious bronchitis virus Beau-R virion..

P2X 7 receptor activity regulation: the role of CD44 proteoglycan GAG chains (2015)
Journal Article
Moura, G., Lucena, S., Andrade De Lima, M., Nascimento, F., Gesteira, T., Nader, H., …Tersariol, I. (2015). P2X 7 receptor activity regulation: the role of CD44 proteoglycan GAG chains. Cell death and disease, https://doi.org/10.1038/cddis.2015.340

P2X7 receptors have received special attention in the literature for their involvement in several diseases characterized by inflammatory processes such as cancer, arthritis, neurodegenerative pathologies and chronic pains.

Picomolar Inhibition of Plasmepsin V, an Essential Malaria Protease, Achieved Exploiting the Prime Region (2015)
Journal Article
Russo. (2015). Picomolar Inhibition of Plasmepsin V, an Essential Malaria Protease, Achieved Exploiting the Prime Region. PloS one, e0142509 - e0142509. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0142509

Malaria is an infectious disease caused by Plasmodium parasites. It results in an annual death-toll of ~ 600,000. Resistance to all medications currently in use exists, and novel antimalarial drugs are urgently needed. Plasmepsin V (PmV) is an essent... Read More about Picomolar Inhibition of Plasmepsin V, an Essential Malaria Protease, Achieved Exploiting the Prime Region.

The molecular characterisation of Escherichia coli K1 isolated from neonatal nasogastric feeding tubes (2015)
Journal Article
Masood. (2015). The molecular characterisation of Escherichia coli K1 isolated from neonatal nasogastric feeding tubes. BMC Infectious Diseases, https://doi.org/10.1186/s12879-015-1210-7

Background
The most common cause of Gram-negative bacterial neonatal meningitis is E. coli K1. It has a mortality rate of 10–15 %, and neurological sequelae in 30–50 % of cases. Infections can be attributable to nosocomial sources, however the pre-c... Read More about The molecular characterisation of Escherichia coli K1 isolated from neonatal nasogastric feeding tubes.

Post-translational allosteric activation of the P2X 7 receptor through glycosaminoglycan chains of CD44 proteoglycans (2015)
Journal Article
Moura, G., Lucena, S., Andrade De Lima, M., Nascimento, F., Gesteira, T., Nader, H., …Tersariol, I. (2015). Post-translational allosteric activation of the P2X 7 receptor through glycosaminoglycan chains of CD44 proteoglycans. Cell Death Discovery, 1, 15005--15005. https://doi.org/10.1038/cddiscovery.2015.5

Here, we present evidence for the positive allosteric modulation of the P2X7 receptor through glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) in CHO (cell line derived from the ovary of the Chinese hamster) cells. The marked potentiation of P2X7 activity through GAGs in t... Read More about Post-translational allosteric activation of the P2X 7 receptor through glycosaminoglycan chains of CD44 proteoglycans.

Non-cardiovascular comorbidity, severity and prognosis in non-selected heart failure populations: A systematic review and meta-analysis (2015)
Journal Article
(2015). Non-cardiovascular comorbidity, severity and prognosis in non-selected heart failure populations: A systematic review and meta-analysis. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijcard.2015.05.180

BACKGROUND: Non-cardiovascular comorbidities are recognised as independent prognostic factors in selected heart failure (HF) populations, but the evidence on non-selected HF and how comorbid disease severity and change impacts on outcomes has not bee... Read More about Non-cardiovascular comorbidity, severity and prognosis in non-selected heart failure populations: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

A cross-laboratory preclinical study on the effectiveness of interleukin-1 receptor antagonist in stroke (2015)
Journal Article
Wong, R., Pradillo, J. M., Denes, A., Dhungana, H., Malm, T., Koistinaho, J., …Maysami, S. (2015). A cross-laboratory preclinical study on the effectiveness of interleukin-1 receptor antagonist in stroke. Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolism, 36(3), 596-605. https://doi.org/10.1177/0271678X15606714

Stroke represents a global challenge and is a leading cause of permanent disability worldwide. Despite much effort, translation of research findings to clinical benefit has not yet been successful. Failure of neuroprotection trials is considered, in... Read More about A cross-laboratory preclinical study on the effectiveness of interleukin-1 receptor antagonist in stroke.