Centre News

News

2013
- 14 June
- 17 May
- 19 April
- 22 March
- 22 February
- 8 February
- 18 January
2012
- 20 December
- 23 November
- 9 November
- 12 October
- 28 September
- 10 August
- 6 July
- 1 June
- 21 May
- 27 April
- 13 April
- 23 March
- 9 March
- 24 February
- 10 February
- 27 January
2011
- 16 December
- 2 December
- 18 November
- 21 October
- 23 September
- 9 September
- 29 July
- 15 July
- 23 June
- 10 June
- 20 May
- 6 May
- 15 April
- 1 April
- 18 March
- 4 March
- 18 February
- 4 February
- 21 January
2010
- 17 December
- 26 November
- 12 November
- 22 October
- 8 October
- 24 September
- 10 September
- 20 August
- 6 August
- 23 July
- 25 June
- 11 June
- 28 May
- 14 May
- 29 April
- 16 April
- 1 April
- 12 March
- 26 February
- 12 February
- 29 January
- 15 January

Paper published

Lu, P., Weaver, V.M., Werb, Z. (2012). The extracellular matrix: A dynamic niche in cancer progression. J Cell Biol. 196, 395-406. PubMed

Invited talks

David Briggs, "Science vs Skepticism" panel, QEDcon conference, Manchester, 10-11 March.

Michal Dudek, Arthritis Research UK Annual Fellows' Meeting, Loughborough University, Loughborough, 14-15 March. Investigation of the role of Ufm1 Specific Peptidase 2 in Beukes Hip Dysplasia

Rachel Lennon, Academic Renal Unit, University of Bristol, 21 March. Proteomics applied to the glomerulus

Mark Morgan, Institute for Experimental Musculoskeletal Medicine, University of Münster, 15 March. Syndecan-4 phosphorylation: A critical control point regulating integrin trafficking and cell migration

Dave Thornton, “Chronic cough in children: A roadmap for appropriate management” symposium, Bergamo, Italy, 23 March. Airway Mucus

Poster presentation

Tony Day, Biochemical Society Workshop: Carbohydrate analysis and glycomics: where next? London, 21 March.Creation of novel biomaterials through functionalization with heparan sulphate.

Public engagement

The Body Experience

“The Body Experience” was a major event held at the Manchester Museum on Saturday 17 March, and was a huge success! The event saw people from across the Centre and the Faculty of Life Sciences take over all floors of the museum in celebration of National Science and Engineering Week 2012.

Hundreds of visitors (including a troop of scouts!) descended on the museum to collect their ‘Body Experience Passports’ and work their way through the museum visiting each stand to collect stamps in their passports in the hope to collect their certificate and a prize at the end.

Public engagement (cont.)

The public had the opportunity to make body-like slime with Dave Thornton and his group (Adele Williams, Amanda Gallagher, Heather Davies, Caroline Ridley, Alex Horsley, Holly Birchenough, Ross Dryden and Gavin Connolly) and to measure their own lung volume and watch a (recorded!) bronchoscopy. Charles Streuli and his team (Franchesca Gifford, Joanna Kelly, Mike Leverentz and James Spacie) enthused the public about breast biology in cell-matrix research through a whole host of games and the chance to look at real mammary glands down the microscope, which the public loved. Visitors also had the opportunity to discover more about the brain, the heart and blood vessels, liver and gut in this fun event. A huge thank you to each and every member of the Cell-Matrix Centre who contributed to what was a fantastic event, and to those of you who brought families and friends along to join in the fun.

A' level Study Day

“The Rogue Cell” is a brand new study day developed by members of the Centre in collaboration with Alexa Jeanes from The Manchester Museum. The study day ran for the first time on Tuesday 20 March with 30 pupils from Llandrillo College, and turned out to be a really enjoyable and successful day! “The Rogue Cell” day gives AS and A Level students the chance to find out what really happens in cells during cancer, the importance of basic science research in the development of cancer treatments in the future as well as learning about traditional and new “targeted” cancer therapies.

The day centered around five ‘hallmarks’ of cancer, with Charles Streuli, Keith Brennan, Claudia Wellbrock, Fiona Foster and John Worthington each running a fantastic mini-workshop about one of these hallmarks. Students were really interested to discover how cancer is caused by normal cellular mechanisms going “Rogue”, and enjoyed using information from each workshop to create their own Rogue Cell poster.

Public engagement (cont.)

These ideas were developed in a genetic engineering practical held at the LifeLab at the Manchester Museum, ran by Becky Brading and Ruth Steer. During the practical, students were given the chance to learn how to use a micropipette, digest a plasmid for future “oncogene” transfections, view their cut plasmid via gel electrophoresis, learn about the uses of genetic engineering and debate the use of animals in research- all in the space of 90 minutes!

A massive thanks to Ceri Harrop for her help in the development of the day, as well as to everyone in the Centre who contributed to the workshop resources. Also a big thank-you to Llandrillo College staff and pupils for travelling all the way from mid-Wales to visit us!

Congratulations to...

Adam Byron who got married to Sarah on Saturday 10 March at Manchester Town Hall and held his reception at Christies - a truly Manchester affair!

Douglas Dyer from the Day/Milner lab successfully defended his PhD thesis on Monday 19 March TSG-6 binds the pro-inflammatory chemokine CXCL8 and modulates its activity. Mauro Perretti (William Harvey Research Institute, London) was the external examiner and Stuart Allan was the internal examiner. Doug will start his postdoctoral position with Tracy Handel (Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmacology, UCSD) in April.

Other news

Tony Day has recently joined the Arthritis Research UK's New Agents Advisory Committee, which is a newly founded committee that will assess applications for funding of translational research. See: arthritisresearchuk