2021 BSCB Magazine BRITISH SOCIETY FOR CELL BIOLOGY

BSCB Magazine 2021

News 2 Features 6 Book and game reviews 26 Meeting Reports 27 Summer Students 32 Society Business 39

Editorial

Welcome to the 2021 edition of the BSCB magazine. and autophagy. Please see page xx for more infor- Front cover: Structured Illumination Microscopy (SIM) It’s been an incredibly eventful year, full of challenges mation. Meanwhile in the BSCB we have continued image of a HeLa cell expressing both personal and professional for all of our working, albeit on zoom, and are delighted to launch mScarlet localised to the members. For the BSCB in particular it has been our two new medals and announce the winners of mitochondrial matrix (red). a major time of change. The first lockdown was these. We discuss how the medals were designed Mitochondrial membranes are announced so close to our Spring meeting in 2020 on page 4. As ever we also feature interviews with shown in green (MitoTracker Green), cell nuclei are labelled we ended up deferring it to 2021. Our Dynamic Cell our Hooke and WICB winners on pages 6 and 9 with DAPI (blue), and tubulin meeting was jointly organised with the Biochemical and send both Ian Chamber and Yanlan Mao well is shown in cyan. The image Society and ran from 14–19th March 2021. As deserved congratulations. We welcome new PhD and was taken using a DeltaVision always, the remit of the meeting was broad, with Postdoc reps to our committee, see page 5, as well OMX v4 imaging system (GE Healthcare). a focus on cellular dynamics and stimulated novel as new committee members Dr Tom Nightingale, Dr collaborative approaches and the application of new Victoria Cowling and Professor Giampietro Schiavo. The image was taken by Hope technologies to established fields. The meeting was Sadly we also say goodbye to several of our time Needs, University of Bristol, well attended and we would like to thank everyone served committee members including Judith Sleeman and was the winner of hte who was able to make the meeting virtually. our web editor, Andrew Carter, our Membership BSCB Image Competition 2020. See page 14. Due to the ongoing pandemic, we have made Secretary, Julie Welburn who managed the Honor the decision to change our plans for the Cell la Vie! Fell awards for several years this year Anne Straube Above: Ian Chambers, Hooke Meeting with the French Society for Cell Biology will step down after excellent service as meetings award winner; BSCB medals; again. The meeting in September will now become secretary to be replaced by Susana Godhino. BSCB imaging competition winners; Cell la Vie meeting. a one-day online meeting on 23rd September, Last summer, our summer studentship coordinator, organised by ECR’s from both British and French Maria Balda, made a bold initiative of suggesting we Societies. Details are still being worked out and will continue to offer our summer studentships online. be communicated when finalised as well as updated This resulted in some excellent but quite different on the meeting website: https://www.atoutcom.com/ projects to read about what our students got up to cell-la-vie/. Please follow our the BSCB twitter feed please see page 32. We also have meeting reports @official_bscb for updates. from the last few in person meetings our members We have been really inspired by our members were able to attend and look forwards to hearing your response to the Covid 19 pandemic. Several of our response to our online meetings and members survey early career members have taken the opportunity to in 2021. move seminars online and form new initiatives for Enjoy reading this issue of our magazine and hope scientific dfiscussion. This has resulted in a democra- to see you virtually at Cell la Vie online. tisation of science and widened access for discussion in topics such as cilia, molecular motors, cell motility Ann Wheeler – Magazine editior

Magazine Editor: Ann Wheeler Production: Giles Newton, Deadlift Media Printer: Hobbs BSCB website: www.bscb.org 1 2 NEWS of BSCBHooke Medals and that wenowhave abacklog The ongoingpandemicmeans March. award toourmedalwinnersin medals, whichwillbereadyto the designoftwonew (postdoc rep)havecoordinated (PhD rep)andAlexFellows and ournewreps,Rowan Taylor committee attheendof2020, finished theirtimeontheBSCB the prizes.JoyceandGautem and awardingof the advertising detail fromthefirstconceptsto commitment andattentionto gratefultothemfortheir very rep GautemDey. We are Joyce Yu andourpostdoc committee PhDstudentrep and championedbyourBSCB These prizeswereproposed by eachofthemedalwinners. talk accompanied byashort meeting (14–19March2021), DynamicCellIV at ourvirtual The medalswillbeawarded Molecular CellBiology, UCL). for Chaigne (Laboratory Researcher MedaltoAgathe Edinburgh) andthePostdoctoral to FloraPaldi (Universityof the Raff Medalwasawarded am delightedtoannouncethat PhD studentsandpostdocs.I research carriedoutbyBSCB reflecting thehighqualityof many excellentcandidates, competition fortheprizes,with Medal. Therewasintense BSCB Postdoctoral Researcher for PhDstudentsandthe prizes in2020:TheRaff Medal We launchedtwonewannual happening in2021. BSCB eventsinwhatwillbe to in 2020andlookforward some positiveBSCBevents todescribe this opportunity a BSCBmember. Iwanttotake that youcangetinvolvedinas insight intothemanyactivities BSCB Magazine,whichprovides I hopeyouenjoythisyear’s BSCB President’sReport2020 Society News students valuable experience students valuable experience projects online, which gavethe ended upbeingdataanalysis BSCB members.Mostofthese projects withthelaboratoriesof out6–8-weekresearch carry 12 undergraduatestudentsto summer of2020.Thisenabled summer studentshipsforthe ahead withawardingourBSCB societies, wedecidedtogo In contrasttomostUK Paris, ‘CelllaVie’. September 2021meetingin their medalsatour22–24 award presentationsandreceive London). Theywillgivetheir Award Medal,CrickInstitute, Vivian Li(WICBEarlyCareer University ofWarwick) and Stephen Royle (Hooke Medal, the 2021Medalwinners: I amalsodelightedtoannounce at ourDynamicCellIVmeeting. and receivethemedalsvirtually they willpresenttheirresearch for moreinformation).Instead, September 2021(seepage3 (SBCF). Itisnowscheduledfor French SocietyforCellBiology with anon-UKsociety, the been ourfirstinpartnership a year, whichwouldhave postpone thismeetingfor had tomake thedecisionto annual meeting.Sadly, we with theirmedalsatour2020 present the2020winners We hadoriginallyplannedto approaches. interdisciplinary regeneration, usinganarrayof mechanics oftissuegrowthand Yanlan investigatesthe of stemcellpluripotency. focuses onthemechanisms Biology, UCL).Ian’s research forMolecularCell Laboratory Early CareerAward Medal, and Yanlan Mao(WICB Medal, UniversityofEdinburgh) were IanChambers(Hooke celebrate. The2020winners Career Medalstoawardand Women inCellBiologyEarly BSCB President Anne Ridley in 2022. September 2021andinParis again at‘CelllaVie’ onlinein to seeing you look forwards online atDynamicCellIVand I enjoyedmeetingmanyofyou the BSCB. ways youcangetinvolvedwith these awards,aswellother website tofindoutmoreabout meetings. Pleasevisitour online scientificconferences/ these forregistrationvirtual Awards. We arealsoawarding Company ofBiologyTravel grants areeligibletoapplyfor any conferencefundsintheir who donotcurrentlyhave BSCB meeting.Groupleaders to cellbiology, includinga meeting, orworkshoprelevant and travelforanyconference, fund yourregistrationcosts Honor Fell travelawardtohelp postdoc, youcanapplyforan you areaPhDstudentor la Vie’ (September2021).If IV (March2021)and/or‘Cell registering forDynamicCell advantage ofthisbenefitby discounted, sopleasedotake this yeararesubstantially registration feesforourmeetings member, your As aBSCB page 32. these studentson from – seereports biological results and studyingcell in visualising

NEWS 3 Stephen Robinson, UEA, has UEA, Stephen Robinson, over from Judith Sleeman taken Imagingas our Digital content, competition and writing we competition manager; for to thank Judith would like all of her work and welcome Stephen on board. Since we have had to postpone several of our meetings and labs have been affected by closures, we have decided to extend our deadline for the imaging writing competitions to 30 June 2021. The BSCB was concerned about the additional pressures the current and ongoing COVID restrictions are placed on those with caring responsibilities. mitigate this, the BSCB To announced an initiative to provide financial support for termedthose in this situation, the Covid Assistance Fund. This funding could be used to cover any additional costs incurred, for example to support extra childcare or carer support. offered grants of £200, from We a total fund of £5,000, with application deadlines every 2 was given to weeks. Preference students, postdocs, early career PIs, and those with extraordinary circumstances. The funding was well received, and we were able to provide support to five BSCB members when they most needed it. COVID Assistance Fund with additional functionalities, such as split-screen view for easy data reference. Moving platforms has also given the Company’s journals access to a range of partner via integrations Silverchair. meeting on 23 September, meeting on 23 September, bothorganised by ECRs from Societies. British and French Details are still being worked out and will be communicated when finalised as well as updated on the meeting website: https://www.atoutcom. com/cell-la-vie/ The main Cell la vie! meeting will be postponed until 21–23rd September 2022, to be held in Paris at the Institut Pasteur list and speaker as before. Full registration details will again be advertised in due course. of Disease Journal of Cell Science, Experimental Biology, Models & Mechanisms, and Biology Open. are available via https://journals.biologists. com and have been given an updated, modern design, was online, providing a providing was online, rare opportunityfor us orto be photographed, a screenshotcaptured in If you are together. in getting moreinterested the BSCBinvolved in committee please contact our Secretary. The BSCB opened two new medals, the award and the Raff Researcher Postdoctoral medal to applicants. Several applications were received and the winners our Springwill be announced at meeting. support researchers during To lockdown the BSCB launched a Covid assistance fund – see below. Due to the ongoing pandemic, we have made the decision to change our plans for the Cell la vie! meeting with the French Society for Cell Biology in September 2020. The meeting in September will therefore now become a one-day online Journal The websites of the five journals – Development, The Company of Biologists has migrated its leading journals to the hosting platform of Silverchair. The BSCB committee went fully online, as the committee from membership is taken the whole of the UK its not uncommon for one or two members to join our twice yearly committee meetings However for our remotely. November meeting everyone Several BSCB events wentSeveral BSCB events summeronline, including our whichprojects. Dynamic cell last yearwas postponed from is now happening online to find out more about what is happening please see our webpage. Lockdown did not stop theLockdown working. Instead weBSCB from During Lockdownmoved online. providedthe BSCB twitter feed a hub for the Cell Biology community’s work in keeping debatescientific discourse and going. In particular several seriesjournal clubs and seminar which sprang up. BSCB News BSCB journal websites The Company of Biologists launches newThe Company of Biologists 4 NEWS communicate science. She communicate science.She creates auniquewayto that combiningthesepassions a greatdealincommonand realized thatthesetwohave During herresearch,she unconventional illustrations. –tocreateuniqueand and art her twopassions–science of animalcells.Shecombines biologist workingoncelldivision isamolecular Beata Mierzwa, women inStem: AAAS If/Thenambassadorfor La Jolla,USA.Beataisalsoan attheLudwigInstitute Artist Postdoctoral Fellow andScience assistance ofBeataMierzwa, our aspirationstheyengagedthe awards. To helpthemrealise our newRaff andPostdoc of designingthemedalsfor have taken onthechallenge Our PhDreps,AlexandRowan PhD Medals Designing thePostdocand October 2021 BSCB Meeting 23 September2021.Online Cell LaVie September 2021 www.biologists.com/meetings/celldynamics2021/ Company ofBiologistssponsoredworkshop 23–26 May2021.Pestana Palace Hotel,Lisbon, Portugal. Cell Dynamics:Host-Pathogen Interface May 2021 bscb.org/meeting/the-dynamic-cell-iv/ BSCB Meeting 14– 19March2021.Online The DynamicCell March 2021 www.biologists.com/workshops/october-2021/ workshop Company ofBiologistssponsored 17– 20October2021.Wiston House,West Sussex,UK The CytoskeletonRoad toNeuronalFunction microscopy fashion, I colors addeddigitally. For my pencil drawingonpaperwith bymakingadetailed artworks an experiment!Icreatemy drawingis Beata says“Every principles. beauty infundamentalbiological non-scientists todiscoverthe in arefreshingway, andfor to appreciatebiologicalfindings toenjoy–forscientists everyone She createsherdrawingsfor in anunconventionalway. fundamental scientificaspects twist, andaimtohighlight themes withanartistic designed illustratescientific community. Herdrawingsare inside andoutsidethescientific with theaimtosparkinterest scientific communication, to theconventionalformsof wanted toaddsomecreativity Meetings Calendar2021–22 types.” were abletodistinguishneuralcell the firstantibodymarkers that going aroundthemedalrefersto membranes. TheSchwanncell ofthefluidnature discovery on BandTcells,aswellthe and Igreceptorhighlighthiswork discoveries.Themembrane Raff’s aspects relatedtoProfessor Martin “I triedtohighlightseveraldifferent medal Designing thePhDaward-Raff aesthetic patterns.” find, andcompiletheminto the mostbeautifulimagesIcan microscope roomandcapture spend manyhoursinadark Transferred forthis year tomonthlyandvirtual ofEnglandCellBiologymeeting North to May2021 meetings,inpersonmeetingpostponed Held asregularvirtual Cilia meeting Postponed toMay2021 British Microtubulemeeting meetings BSCB-supported one-day BSCB Meeting 21–23 September2022.InstitutPasteur, Paris Cell LaVie September 2022 workshop Company ofBiologistssponsored 26–29 June2022.Wiston House,West Sussex,UK Creative ScienceWriting Workshop June 2022 com/shop/beatascienceart Her shopisathttps://www.etsy. beatascienceart.com/ beautiful workseehttps:// To seemoreofBeata’s and ‘community’.” stand for‘knowledge’,‘teaching’ many ways.ThewordsinLatin contribute tothecommunityin also recognisingthatPostdocs excellence insciencewhilst the internationalnatureof aimherewastoillustrate “The research Designing thePost-doc medal

NEWS 5 and Matthew added-in a useful highlighting device. Sadly it has now all gone, and as far as we know there is nothing except very advanced graphics programmes that could replace it. Electronics can be a great Information from terminator. and GreeceAncient Egypt, Rome can be deciphered and read, but not CELLpics! Schools Liaison David Archer, Officer. engaging events for the earlyengaging events for the ofcareer research members aim as PhDthe BSCB. Her key rep is to ensure postgraduate researchers are able to fully benefit from the network of peers accessible from the BSCB, to enrich their personal and career development. She is particularly looking forward to planning career workshops and the early career symposium for Dynamic Cell IV in the Spring. with is excited to work Rowan hear to the BSCB to is keen from postgraduate researchers as to what she can do for them within this role. She looks forward to meeting you virtually at the upcoming can follow BSCB events. You research and outreach Rowan’s activities on her twitter feed @ ResearchRowan. Her research is focussed onHer research the cellular andunderstanding of inheritedmolecular basis (IRD) andretinal diseases usesciliopathies. Rowan inCRISPR/Cas9 gene editing cellsinduced pluripotent stem to introduce disease variants in primary-cilia associated undergogenes. These cells then to formdirected differentiation retinal and renal organoids, to3D cell models, in order basesanalyse the molecular in aof disease pathogenesis physiologically relevant cell model. She will be carrying out a placement in the lab of Prof at Radboud Roepman Ronald Netherlands later University, this year to work on introducing endogenous tags, such as to and HALOTag, SNAP-tag disease genes for advanced proteomics and microscopy. STEM also works as a Rowan Educational Outreach Fellow at the University of Leeds. This role involves engaging with school students to encourage interest in STEM subjects by creating and delivering workshop content at the university and in schools. She hopes to apply these skills to the role of PhD representative at the BSCB to plan effective, ‘pointing device’. A big request! A then member of the BSCB Committee and Director of the Cambridge Institute for Medical Paul (CIMR), Professor Research said “leave it with me”.Luzio, magnificently supported the Paul project by asking and permitting his extremely able Microscopy Matthew Manager, Facility to help me. I wouldGratian, select the micrographs, many kindly supplied by The Wellcome write the text and explain Trust, to point to onwhat I would like the micrograph. I had it in mind to have a cross- that I would like hairs device coupled with the ability to define a grid reference point. Matthew came up trumps was developed and ‘GridPoint’ model of ALS. Interestingly, Interestingly, model of ALS. trafficking IGF1R influenced by levels of BICD1,altering the In protein. a dynein adaptor to join2019, this work led me to the Carter lab (MRC-LMB) in asCambridge for my postdoc I became incredibly interested thisin how dynein regulated continueprocess and wanted to inthis research. I now combine structuralvitro reconstitution, and neuronal cell biology techniques to further explore this process. ‘I’m really proud to represent the cell biology Postdoc community and want to help support it anyway I can. This will include continuing to promote the new Postdoc award, further developing the early career researcher section on the BSCB website and setting up new mini-symposium for ECR career development. If anyone has an ideas or ways they think I could help please get in contact.’ TAYLOR ROWAN is a final year Taylor Rowan PhD student in the new Leeds Centre for Disease Models at University of Leeds, in the Colin A. Johnson. lab of Prof of other countries including the USA, Brazil, Malaysia, India and Australia where we enjoyed link with the Australian Society The text was for Cell Biology. translated into Norwegian and used on the website of the National Education Department. In the UK it was listed by the Open University for their students, on JISC and ‘Merlot’ in the USA. It was also referred to in a highly regarded textbook for students studying biology at A-level. CELLpics had its origins in a request I made to the BSCB Committee for a facility to show micrographs in full colour with explanatory text and some sort of ALEX FELLOWS focuses onMy research trafficking inintracellular processneurons and how this is regulated by the motor The preciseprotein dynein. movement and spatial cargopositioning of cellular RNA andsuch as mitochondria, forendosomes are essential the survival and maintenance of neurons. Consequently, perturbations of intracellular to linked trafficking have been andboth neurodevelopment neurodegenerative diseases and thus represent an important area of research. I began working on intracellular trafficking during my PhD in the lab of Giampietro Schiavo at UCL. The Schiavo lab works to understand how axonal transport deficits lead to the development of the neurodegenerative disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). My work involved using light microscopy techniques both in cell and in vivo to measure transport in neurons. I uncovered a new regulator of intracellular trafficking, the 1 growth factor insulin-like receptor (IGF1R), which could be targeted to rescue trafficking deficits found in a mouse Our new Postdoc and PhD reps and PhD Postdoc Our new Schools news: The BSCB/CIMR CELLpics website for schools a year from the UK and a variety attracted nearly 7,000 viewers In its heyday (2015/16) it reticulum and Golgi apparatus. mitochondria, endoplasmic highlighted. Examples included the micrographs shown and precisely a particularon point and teachers could locate location device, students alpha-numeric ‘Cross-hairs’ Using its unique GridPoint Using its unique GridPoint for schools about cell biology. for schools about cell biology. for Medical Research] websitefor Medical Research] BSCB/CIMR [Cambridge Institute of FLASHjoint we have lost the FLASH facility. With the demise With FLASH facility. Corporation closed down its On 12 January 2021 the Adobe Hooke medal winner 2020: FEATURES Ian Chambers

Ian Chambers received the 2020 Hooke Medal, established to recognise an emerging leader in cell biology.

Ian studied biochemistry at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, and then did his PhD in the laboratory of Paul Harrison at the Beatson Institute for Cancer Research, also in Glasgow. He studied the control of gene expression during the differentiation of erythroid pre- cursor cells, discovering that the amino acid selenocysteine is encoded by UGA, which until then was thought to work only as a termination codon. Ian did his post-doctoral work on the regulation of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) with Paul Berg at Stanford University in California, USA. In 1991, he returned to Scot- land to work on stem cell regulation with Austin Smith at the Centre for Genome Research (later the Institute for Stem Cell Research) at the Uni- versity of Edinburgh, UK. During that time, Ian identified the transcription factor Nanog, which directs efficient embryonic stem cell self-renew- al. Ian started his research group in 2006 at the University of Edinburgh, where he is also a Professor of Pluripotent Stem Cell Biology.

an’s laboratory tries to understand the regulatory net- made me curious about science was a BBC television Iworks and transcription factors that control the identity dramatization of Louis Pasteur’s life, which I found very of pluripotent embryonic stem cells, and how these interesting, and it was through listening to it that I started modulate cell fate decisions during the differentiation thinking about what an amazing person Pasteur was. process. Ian is now the Head of the Institute for Stem Cell We’d all learnt about pasteurisation, but the fact that Research at University of Edinburgh, an EMBO member Louis Pasteur was able to use reason to discover the basis and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. of a disease like rabies without being able to really see any of the causative agents involved was quite a profound What inspired you to become a scientist? thing for me. I still find it quite amazing that by pure Most of my schooling was in Ayrshire, and because reason he was able to advance knowledge. Alexander Fleming was born in Ayrshire, we heard about penicillin from an early age. However, there was one What questions are your lab trying to answer just now? instance in secondary school, when the chemistry teacher We want to know, and this is something that many other had everyone in the class around the front bench and he people are trying, too, how a cell with more than one fate asked what would happen if he mixed two measuring can choose to do one thing rather than another. Specifi- cylinders, one with dried peas and the other with dry rice cally, what we’re interested in is how transcription factors grains. He said, “I’ve got 100 ml of each, so if I pour one work – how these molecules interact with other partner into the other I’ll get 200 ml, won’t I?” and I said “No, I proteins and also with DNA to deliver function. And how disagree because there’s space between the peas for the these protein–DNA complexes connect to RNA polymer- rice to fit in.” He was talking to us about differently sized ase is an important part of the puzzle that I don’t believe atoms and how space exists between atoms. I thought, has been fully worked out yet. “Anybody can do this, this is easy.” Another thing that

6 FEATURES What has been the most influential publication or work setback. When we were designing the experiment that in your field recently? finally led to the cloning of Nanog, we decided that we We’re understanding more and more about many of the would increase our chances of catching something by molecules that are involved in embryonic stem cell (ESC) casting as wide a net as possible. We knew that self-re- self-renewal and the decisions to differentiate. Obviously, newal was more efficient when ESCs were grown on top the most important experiment was the one that Kazu- of a heterologous feeder layer of fibroblasts. We didn’t toshi Takahashi and Shinya Yamanaka did 14 years ago really know why that was at the time, but we thought it (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2006.07.024) [where they might be because fibroblasts need to be in direct contact induced pluripotent stem cells from fibroblast cultures]. I with the ESCs in order to provide them with a signal think more recently, in terms of gene transcription, there that optimised self-renewal. Anyway, that worked. We has been a lot of excitement around the concept of phase cloned Nanog from the resulting library. There’s nothing separation in biochemical systems; this has received a like failure to sharpen your mind. Thinking things through lot of attention but it’s not uncontroversial. The idea that from a previous experiment helped us do things better. high concentrations of molecules can somehow gather The ‘eureka’ moment was when we sequenced individual into a different phase, with separate physical proper- plasmids from the self-renewing colonies. There were ties from the liquid around them, and be important in multiple copies of a single transcription factor in there so controlling cellular events is interesting from the point of at that point I knew that we had it. But I didn’t talk about view of transcription. One of the experiments that has it and I didn’t tell my boss about that for several months been used to support phase separation is shown in the until it was totally nailed down. paper from Takashi Fukaya and Mike Levine (https://doi. org/10.1016/j.cell.2016.05.025). They showed that a The ‘eureka’ moment from my PhD was quite interest- developmental enhancer placed between two separate ing. I was studying the basis of differentiation of red cell promoters would activate transcriptional bursts from both precursors by focussing on the control of gene expression promoters simultaneously. That certainly suggests that of non-globin genes (many groups were already working promoters are activated in response to whatever that on globin). We didn’t know much about the gene I was enhancer-emanating event is, and people have used that working on. So, one of the things I had to do was se- argument to say that phase separation may occur, but I quence the gene. This was in the mid-1980s, so we were think there are other possibilities; for instance, local con- running our own sequencing gels. There was something centrations of regulators may be sufficient to explain that. that was puzzling me because I could see a stop codon right in the middle of the open reading frame. I thought it In terms of development, if I had to pick out one paper must be a mistake. We ran homology searches and found from the last ten years I would choose the paper from nothing. Finally, we got a match to a protein that had just Emma Farley, again from Mike Levine’s lab, which was been published, but we couldn’t access the paper at the published in Science in 2015 (https://doi.org/10.1126/ University of Glasgow, so I had to go across the city to the science.aac6948). It talks about the sub- optimisation of University of Strathclyde library, which was a 40-min bus developmental enhancers. It’s a really great piece of work. ride. Once I had the photocopied paper, I looked at the They study a particular enhancer in the sea squirt Ciona, sequence and thought ‘there’s this funny amino acid and and show that if they increase the affinity of transcription it’s sort of in the same position as this funky stop codon factor-binding sites or optimise the spacing between is’. I was a wee bit excited, so I zipped across the city transcription factor binding sites within the enhancer, the back to the lab, which took me another 40 min, and by enhancer works better. That’s no surprise, right? But then this time it was about eight or nine o’clock at night. I put they show that development doesn’t work properly and it all together but at that point I think there was only one cells don’t perform the way that the developing Ciona other PhD student in the lab. But that was definitely an would like them to. I think that is quite profound and has ‘eureka’ moment. echoes in other systems. For example, in ESC cultures, some cells self-renew while others differentiate. We can You mentioned failure is an opportunity to learn. How make self-renewal uniformly efficient by increasing the do you mentor your students or postdocs to deal with concentration of some pluripotency transcription factors, mistakes or failures? such as Nanog, or by halving the concentration of another We just have to be rigorous and systematic. There’s noth- pluripotency transcription factor, Oct4. What this means ing wrong with failure; we learn more from our failures is that the normal transcription factor circuitry in ESCs is than we do from our successes, so it’s an opportunity suboptimal and that the demise of the pluripotent state is for ‘growth and self-realisation’. We always have to try encoded within the network of transcription factors that to look at the evidence as critically as we can and try to are required to maintain pluripotency. In the embryo, the figure out what’s gone wrong. Sometimes there are too cell type that is equivalent to ESCs is transient and differ- many parameters to troubleshoot but we still have to try entiates quite quickly, which of course, is what is required to approach things in a systematic manner. You need to developmentally. look at your data critically and always be rational; one reason people can fail is because they don’t always look Have you had any ‘eureka’ moments, for example, at the evidence carefully enough. When you are doing when you discovered the selenocysteine codon or the something and you get a setback, it’s easy to quit, but it’s transcription factor Nanog? important not to. Well obviously, luck is a big part of this. Before we cloned Nanog, we spent quite a bit of time trying to clone a What is the best science-related advice you ever cDNA encoding an activity from a conditioned medium received? that modified ESC growth. What we ended up cloning There are a number of them. Louis Pasteur said: “Chance was LIF, which everybody had known for over ten years favours the prepared mind”, which just means read, read, drives ESC self-renewal. We still don’t know how that read! And then when you find something odd, you’re plasmid got into the libraries. That was a wee bit of a prepared to make sense of it. I also like a quote from

7 Left: Ian with his wife and fellow couldn’t have predicted at the beginning. At biologist Helen Wallace during a the very start, it felt like a great opportunity walk on Irvine beach, Ayrshire, to get up early in the morning and follow with the hills of Arran behind. Mark Twain’s advice – he said something FEATURES about getting up at 5 am and starting by eating frogs – I think he meant do the ugliest thing that you have to do first, and you’ll feel better and be more productive. That worked for some time, but not for four months. One of the first things that we did was try to normalise our timetables so that we were meeting regularly. We couldn’t really do lab meetings, but we did journal clubs every week. And at 4 pm every Friday, we had a virtual happy hour to try and talk over what we’d achieved during the week and just interact socially. Then we began to come out of lockdown and people are now back in the lab part-time doing Mohammed Ali. I have a poster in my office with a picture experiments. Things are beginning to change. of him training, and it says “The fight is won or lost away from witnesses – behind the lines, in the gym, and out You were due to receive your Hooke Medal at the British there on the road, long before I dance under those lights.” Society for Cell Biology annual meeting in Paris. Unfortu- I think it’s important that people get this. Everybody nately, the meeting, like many others, was postponed, wants to succeed. There was a mock version of the whereas others have gone virtual. How do you see the Lady Gaga hit, a few years ago, out of Baylor University future of scientific conferences changing? (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fl4L4M8m4d0) I was really looking forward to receiving the medal at about being stuck in a bad project. People want to have the Institut Pasteur, as you probably could tell! But I’m something interesting to say that means that they have looking forward to the meeting in spring in Bristol. I’m succeeded on a project – something they can talk about, actually organising a meeting that was due to run in Kyoto describe their fantastic findings at a conference and get in November, but we’ve had to postpone that until spring feedback on from the top people in the field. But to get 2022. We now have the opportunity to rethink how we there you need to work hard and you need to put in the do things, and one thing we will be doing is offering the hours when many other people won’t be there. People get speakers the chance to deliver their talks remotely, rather lucky, but it’s not all about luck, it’s about work. than travelling to the meeting. That’s as far as I’ve thought about it. But at [The University of ] Edinburgh, we’re What is the most important advice you would give to changing our teaching to an online format, and thinking someone about to start their own lab? about other ways that we can engage students. Hopefully, I think probably the best thing you can do is find a there might be some new ideas for us to take forward positive but critical and sympathetic mentor to talk things to meeting organisation in the future, as we have to find through with. That’s not something that everybody does. new ways to deliver an experience that is good for all the There are also networks of new PIs. Not long ago, I went participants. to an EMBO course on how to be a PI; maybe I should have done that a long time ago, but you can always learn Could you tell us an interesting fact about yourself that something. Most of the people there were just starting people wouldn’t know by looking at your CV? their labs. This is a great opportunity to get together with When I left school, I didn’t go to university straight away. people who are in the exact same position, leading to a I worked for three years in a local factory that made network of support that might help take people through amoxicillin, which is a semi-synthetic penicillin. I worked their earliest years. in a chemical plant in the first year as a lab technician. How are circumstances different now for early-career The goal of the plant was to separate a racemic mixture researchers compared with when you started your lab? of the D- and L-stereoisomers of p-hydroxyphenyl glycine, I think many things remain the same; the biggest differ- a synthetic amino acid. If you look at the β-lactam group ence in the research landscape now is our [UK’s] chang- in penicillin, there is an organic R group at the side. In ing relationship with Europe. We don’t know what is going order to get a broad- spectrum antibiotic, that R group is to happen with the European Research Council funding taken off and, in the case of amoxicillin, is replaced by the going forward. We don’t know about the Marie Curie post- D-form of p-hydroxyphenylglycine. The plant was the first doctoral fellowship scheme, which is a very prestigious industrial-scale processing plant on the planet, as far as fellowship programme run by Brussels; also the Erasmus I’m aware, that used this approach to separate out stere- mobility programme for much younger students. These oisomers into pure D- or L-forms. Pasteur had separated things are unknowns and may limit who we can bring to D- and L-tartaric acid crystals using a microscope. So the lab. I’ve had many more non-British than British peo- here I was doing something that connected Pasteur and ple in my lab, including a lot of Europeans. I think there Fleming. And that was quite something. I thought I was are going to be fewer Europeans in newly established labs just going to work in a factory! [in the UK] in the future, which is a shame. Ian Chambers was interviewed by Inês Cristo, Features How did you and your lab cope with the lockdown due & Reviews Editor at Journal of Cell Science. This piece to the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic? has been edited and condensed with approval from the There’s definitely been an element of fatigue that I interviewee.

8 FEATURES Women in Cell Biology Early Career Award Medal 2020: Yanlan Mao

Yanlan Mao was awarded the Women in Cell Biology Early Career Award Medal 2020. This annual honour is awarded to an outstanding female cell biologist who has started her own group in the UK within the last 6 years.

Yanlan graduated in Natural Sciences from the University of Cambridge, UK, followed by a PhD in developmental biology and genetics at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology (MRC-LMB), Cambridge. During this time, she studied cell signalling and epithelial patterning in Drosophila, under the supervision of Matthew Freeman. For her postdoctoral research, Yanlan moved to the Cancer Research UK London Research Institute (now part of the Francis Crick Institute), to study the role of mechanical forces in the orientation of cell division and cell shape control in Nic Tapon’s laboratory. She established her own research group in 2014 at the MRC Laboratory for Molec- ular Cell Biology (MRC-LMCB), UCL, where she addresses the importance of tissue mechanics during development, homeostasis and repair. She was awarded a L’Oreal UNESCO Women in Science Fellowship and the Lister Institute Research Prize in 2018. In 2019, she was award- ed the Biophysical Society Early Career Award in Mechanobiology and also became part of the EMBO Young Investigator Programme.

What inspired you to become a scientist? Maybe that’s why I was drawn to biology; it was more of I think probably two things. First, as a child, I was always an unknown world, with more to be discovered. I really really interested in patterns in nature, such as the ones wanted to combine biology with maths, at some point in you find in leaves, flower petals or shells. I was always my career. In a way that’s what I’m doing now: mathe- fascinated by the diversity and how beautiful nature is, matical modelling of physical forces in biology, and still just by walking around and seeing the world. Second, tackling patterns, shapes and sizes of systems. someone that’s really influenced my career has been my dad. He’s a mathematician, and he’s very passionate Patterns can help deconstruct more complex systems. about his maths. As a result, I grew up always trying Does your interest in patterns come from a curiosity to to think of the world in a very mathematical way. He understand the basics? introduced me to physics, chemistry and maths very early Absolutely. Although I don’t exactly work on patterning on, as those were subjects he studied, but not biology. per se right now, it is still a part of some of my current

9 work on tissue size and shape. The biophysics aspect gether with a common vision or a common goal to answer is probably where the maths comes in; I want to break the big question. Then it needs nurturing, just like in any things down into simpler problems or first principles, and collaboration. You have to be reliable and keep commu- try to understand, in as simple a way as possible, how nication going, especially if it’s long distance, because FEATURES shapes and patterns form and how sizes develop. My that momentum has to be kept. That’s very hard. I’ve had PhD was in genetics; very hardcore, traditional biology, collaborations where you have that initial conversation which was great to train me as a biologist, scientist and and then nothing really happens. Everyone has different experimentalist. I think maths really helps to deconstruct priorities, different interests, but you can’t be shy. If that things. We can’t possibly understand all of biology. The collaboration is really important, you’ve just got to keep important message that I always give to people is that nudging them, keep emailing them, because you might trying to mathematically model something isn’t about not be their priority. As with many things, if you really creating the perfect cell or the perfect fly; if you can get a want something, you just have to keep trying. We honestly perfect model then you already understand everything, so don’t mind getting multiple emails. Well, to some extent! there’s no point in making the model. You need to convert the problem into simple components and understand Is this a quality that you also encourage in your PhD its basic core. Maybe it’s just three interactions or four students? proteins. Is that sufficient to already give you 99% of Yes, perseverance. At all levels, you’ve got to persevere. the behaviour of a system? If so, then that already helps Don’t be shy about annoying someone. It just shows you understand a lot about the system. It’s the logic of you’re passionate about something, and that you really breaking things down and putting things back together, care about it. I think most busy PIs wouldn’t mind that. but through simplification. Another piece of advice is to work smartly. I just had a conversation with my students about how, in some labs, So how did biophysics become the main aspect of your you have to work 18 hours a day, constantly pipetting. research interests and your current work? It’s true that more work means more outcomes, but smart I guess I got more into physical modelling because of my work is the important aspect. I stopped working weekends postdoc. A year before I started my postdoc, a beautiful quite early on in my career. I worked very hard during the paper was published from the lab of the late Suzanne week, when necessary. I’d be the first to open the lab and Eaton and Frank Jülicher on generating a vertex model, I’d leave on the last tube train. I also knew that I couldn’t a mechanical model of epithelial development. At the maintain that rhythm consistently, because I would just time, I felt this was the perfect kind of model for us to burn out. It’s a marathon, not a sprint. But that meant understand [Drosophila] wing shape. I actually learnt how smart working and designing my experiments properly. I to code by generating and adapting that model. Despite can see that students sometimes feel the pressure to con- my background in maths and physics, I hadn’t learnt any stantly work, but you don’t have to if you work smartly. computer programming, which is a huge problem these With every experiment you do, you should ask yourself, days. That was what got me into biophysics, because the ‘what was the point of that, what was the purpose, what model was very much a physical model of tissues grow- was the question, what was the hypothesis?’, so you don’t ing. To explore it, I had to learn biophysical experimental waste your time. At the beginning there is exploration and skills in order to test the predictions from the model freedom, but hopefully you should quickly become more and hypotheses, as well as generate new ideas with a targeted. Being selective and smart about what you do is biophysical spin. But I always linked back to my back- really important. And this also requires reading enough ground in genetics and signalling. In a way, that’s what to know your field, to help you know what is a smart I’m doing now in the lab – trying to combine the genetics experiment. It’s your job as a scientist to learn to manage and biology with mathematical and physical analyses to that, so you can design experiments that have the highest understand how changes in size, shape and form occur. chance of giving you something interesting. After all, you Thinking back now, I’m not sure if it was an active and have a finite period of time and you can’t do everything. conscious decision. Maybe it was a lucky accident, this semi-conscious decision of moving into the field of tissue What challenges did you face when you started your mechanics. First of all, I think I was very driven by the own lab? core question, which is tissue size and shape control – The main one was probably hiring, and also learning to let growth control. You need forces to move something. It’s go. Someone said to me once that you’re only as good as fundamental. Embryologists a century ago already knew your best postdoc or student. You rely on the staff you’ve that, even before molecular biology and genomics were recruited to do the core of the work, to generate the data available. Actually, they were doing what we’re doing and to push your ideas. But hiring is much easier said now, but just in a less technically advanced way. By the than done. How do you judge someone after a 30-minute end of my postdoc, the ‘renaissance’ of cell and tissue interview, or even a day of interview? I’ve been saying mechanics really helped me define my focus. I was still this to postdocs about to start their own labs: if you in a fairly niche field and I could create my own little area know someone good, try to poach them if they’re willing. of expertise. Since then, the field has increased more and Honestly, that’s what I did! I offered a job to my first post- more. People are starting to recognise and appreciate doc before I had my own job secured [laughs]. We still biophysics and mechanics again. joke about that. I’ve always said people in my lab don’t work for me, they work with me. That’s really important. Biophysics is an interdisciplinary field. What is your Once you hire well, trust the people in your lab to do their advice on establishing good collaborations? part of the teamwork. It’s important to learn to delegate Great collaborations take initiative to make that initial and to let go. When I went on my first maternity leave, connection so that you form a link. The good ones I’ve had which was about a year after starting my lab, I learned have always been where the two groups have different that I could let go for a bit. I wasn’t completely hands skills. For me, that’s the whole point – slightly different off, but it meant that the students and postdocs didn’t skills and different backgrounds, and then you come to- come running to me immediately with a question – they’d

10 FEATURES solve it themselves hiring people smarter than you.’ He really meant people and, most of the who have different knowledge and skills from you. He time, they would said not to be scared of that because you will learn from be fine. I think that each other. That really has shaped how I recruit people. I really forced me to hire people from all different fields. There’s no way I could learn that it’s okay be as good as the person doing the modelling, but that’s to step back. If you fine. If I were scared of hiring them, then that part of the trust them then, lab would never happen. Let the experts be the experts more often than not, in their own mini- fields. I’m completely comfortable with you realise they will the fact that I can’t possibly be the expert in everything. learn faster, they will But hopefully, I’ve had the years of experience and guid- own their projects ance to know how to point my staff in the right direction. and take them to Together, we work as a team to really complement each places that you other, and I’m constantly learning from my team (and vice probably wouldn’t versa, I hope). And that has been super exciting. have initially thought about. Give them How did you and your lab cope with the lockdown due space and freedom to the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic? to develop as unique We had ten days to plan. We had to get all our flies ready scientists; you don’t and flip them onto fresh food so that they’d be okay for want a whole lab of at least a month, because we honestly thought it would ‘mini-mes’ [laughs]! just be a few weeks; we never thought it would go on for That’s when science four months. When the lockdown did happen, though, gets exciting. we were okay to stay at home for a while. Everything was then Zoom based. We continued our lab meetings once a How are the chal- week, and everyone had their own tasks to do at home. lenges that you’re Most of them still had data to analyse. We’re a quantita- facing now different? tive lab, so we can analyse data to death! They have also A huge challenge been writing PhD theses, papers, proposals or reviews. It I had recently was was a matter of every person thinking strategically about to find bridging or what they can do that will help them in the future and extension money to save them time when we do go back. We also have Zoom Above: Keeping the kids give students and postdocs enough time to finish their socials and Zoom coffee breaks, just to keep spirits up. I entertained during lockdown: papers properly and get them published. When everyone’s think the hardest thing was keeping everyone’s motiva- learning how to cook and bake money is starting to disappear, but the projects haven’t tion going, especially some of the students and postdocs lots of new things together. finished yet, what do I do? Do I make them redundant? who are living on their own; it’s very isolating. So I Who will finish those projects? A person finishing some- would check in on them and make sure that they were one else’s paper always takes longer. Most of the time, ok, but also give them their space and not push them studentships are three years. That’s not really enough now too much at the beginning. I said to them that physical to finish. And postdoc fellowships are two years! There’s and mental health are the most important things, and if no way. Most of our papers weren’t published until about you don’t have those, you can’t do science. More or less, five years in, when you include the revision process. people are still making good use of their time and being Finding the money to extend people’s time in the lab was productive. Although we are really running out of things a huge challenge, as there are not many ‘flexi-grants’ to do [laughs]! After all, we are experimentalists, and we out there, even though it’s the most efficient use of the need to generate experimental data. Luckily, our institute money: the students and postdocs can finish and leave was one of the first selected as a pilot institute to open, with publications to help them find good postdoc or PI po- so there has been a lot of amazing work to get that ready. sitions. Very fortunately I got the Lister Prize, which saved Hopefully, we can start getting new data again soon. my lab, because without it I would have had to close pretty much the whole lab down – all those 2019 papers You have been quarantined at home with your husband might have still been sitting on the bench waiting to be and two children. Recently, a US-based study came out published. But I was able to use that prize money flexibly that suggests that female PIs have been less productive, to bridge a lot of the postdocs so they could stay and posting fewer preprints and applying for fewer grants, publish. I think it’s important to help the community by during this pandemic. What are your thoughts on this? creating more of these ‘flexi-grants’ or extensions, which It’s probably true. My husband’s great and we try to share would really make the initial investment into students and everything, but for example, I have a one-year-old and I’m postdocs so much more worthwhile. More and more, the the only one who can do some of the things needed. My funding timescale doesn’t match the time it takes to pub- husband and I basically work two-and-a-half days each, lish exciting stories, especially in biology and especially but I have maybe five hours per day, broken up by lunch for those starting labs. The funding bodies haven’t really time, nap time, dinner time and bath time, rather than full taken this into account. days, to do anything, whereas the days that my husband works, he really works the whole day. Despite our best What advice did you receive that was really important effort to achieve equality in the household, there are still for your transition to a PI? natural imbalances. I can just about keep the lab going, Besides hiring the right people, another piece of advice I but I haven’t been able to think enough to write a new got was from someone who wasn’t my direct advisor but grant, even though I should. Yes, we finished papers, but a scientist I really admire. He said something that really most of them have been papers that were already under stuck with me when I was a postdoc: ‘Don’t be scared of revision. The brain needs continuity and time to start

11 writing from zero, and I just haven’t been able to do that Could you tell us an interesting fact about yourself that Yanlan Mao was interviewed with an hour or two here or there. My priority has been to people wouldn’t know by looking at your CV? by Inês Cristo, Features & make sure that everyone else in the lab is fine and happy. I’m actually quite a good ballroom dancer. Only at confer- Reviews Editor at Journal of Basically, it’s like another maternity leave for me. I’ve only ence parties do you see that appearing. I was on the Cam- Cell Science. This piece has FEATURES been back in the lab since September, after my second bridge Dancesport team for two years; I was a beginner, but been edited and condensed child, and now I’m on ‘leave’ again! It’s definitely a huge doing competitive dancing meant I improved fairly quickly. with approval from the hit. It’s hard to even quantify that. I just had to accept the That was really fun. I started that during my PhD because interviewee. fact that I was going to be less productive. It’s a matter I needed something new to do. A lot of evenings I would of adapting and taking on the right attitude. That’s also leave the lab at 6 p.m. for my dance training, and I’d be at something really important in science. You can always competitions on the weekends. That really made me more see things in a more positive way and then embrace it, productive in the lab. And ballroom dancing is fun. and enjoy it. I have enjoyed spending more time with my children. That’s been awesome and has kept me sane. So let’s hope the conferences come back so we get to Honestly though, the first day I was at home with my two see your ballroom skills! kids full time, I thought, ‘I can’t do this!’ Then, once you Yes, I miss the real conferences and the conference settle into a new routine, time goes very quickly. parties!

BSCB PhD Award – Inaugural Raff Medal Winner 2021: Flora Paldi

The BSCB PhD Award – Raff Medal was established in 2020 to recognise BSCB PhD students who have made outstanding contributions to UK/Ire- land cell biology. The medal has been named after Professor Martin Raff who was the president of BSCB from 1992-1995. Martin was instrumental in setting up and running the first 4-year PhD graduate programme in Mo- lecular Cell Biology at the MRC Laboratory for Molecular Cell Biology (LMCB) at UCL.

lora obtained her BSc with Honours in Molecular During her PhD, Flora communicated her findings FGenetics from the University of Edinburgh in 2015. to national and international conferences where her In the same year, she joined the Wellcome 4-year PhD presentations were singled out on multiple occasions. Programme in Cell Biology, University of Edinburgh. Her work was recently published in Nature and creat- Following a rotation year, she started her PhD in the lab of ed excitement in the field because it demonstrated a Professor Adele Marston at the Wellcome Centre for Cell direct, causal relationship between the 3-dimensional Biology. organisation of a specific domain with cellular function. Flora’s PhD focused on the role of pericentromeric chro- Besides research, Flora was also an active member of mosome structure in mitotic chromosome segregation. the scientific co mmunity, participating in peer support, Using budding yeast as a model, her work deciphered student representation, public engagement and the organ- the chromosomal structure in which kinetochores are isation of local scientific events. Currently, she is working embedded in mitotic metaphase, and the restructuring as a postdoc in the lab of Giacomo Cavalli (IGH-CNRS that is caused by microtubule attachment. She showed Montpellier, France), where she continues to explore the that the ring-shaped protein complex cohesin, together relationship between 3-dimensional genome organisation with centromere-flanking convergent gene pairs structure and transcription. pericentromeres. As the resulting structure promotes You can follow Flora @flora_paldi on Twitter. The med- accurate chromosome segregation, this constitutes an im- al will be awarded at a virtual medal lecture during the portant conceptual advancement, establishing the linear next joint BSCB/Biochemical Society meeting, Dynamic arrangement of transcriptional units as a novel parameter Cell IV Dynamic Cell IV which will be held on 14-19 governing genome transmission. March 2021.

12 SECTIONFEATURES HEADER 13

She then moved to London to investigate the role of cellShe then moved to London to investigate the The can follow Agathe @AgChaigne on Twitter. You division in fate transitions using mouse embryonic stem cells as a model system under the superv ision of Ewa There, she received an EMBO fellowship and a sir Paluch. postdoctoral fellowship, and discoveredHenry Wellcome in reg- abscission, role for the last step of division, a key her own lab, she In ulating exit from naive pluripotency. and roles ofis planning on investigating the mechanisms abscission modulation in multicellular animals. medal will be awarded at a virtual lecture during medal Dy- the next joint BSCB/Biochemical Society meeting, namic Cell IV in March 2021. -

Jékely Gáspár Wan and Kirsty by gathe Chaigne is a Sir Henry Wellcome postdoctoralgathe Chaigne is a Sir Henry Wellcome fellow at the MRC Laboratory for Molecular Cell Biolo She studied in cell and developmental biology in Paris, in Paris, She studied in cell and developmental biology by her interest in cell division and biophysics, Fostered gy, University College London. gy, first at Ecole Normale Superieure, then at Université et Marie Curie. Pierre actin-medi- she received her PhD for studying the role of ated mechanical properties divisions of the in asymmetric and mouse oocyte and embryo with Marie-Emilie Terret this For at the Collège de France. Marie-Helène Verlhac an earlywork, she won a PhD prize from Le Monde and Bettencourt-Schueller. career award from the Fondation A

and edited and edited organized issue December 2019December ed Theo Murphy meeting Theo Murphy meeting Unity and diversity of cilia in locomotion transport and cilia in diversity of Unity and A Publish 

The Postdoc medal was established in 2020 to recognise early career re- was established in 2020 The Postdoc medal to UK/Ireland Cell Biologyhave made a major contribution searchers who training.during their postdoctoral Inaugural PostdoctoralInaugural 2021: Agathe Chaigne Agathe 2021: Researcher Medal Winner Medal Researcher FEATURES

Image Competition 2020

1st – Hope Needs, University of Bristol the structure and function of specialised ribosomes in the Structured Illumination Microscopy (SIM) image of a HeLa gonads of Drosophila melanogaster.” cell expressing mScarlet localised to the mitochondrial matrix (red). Mitochondrial membranes are shown in 3rd – Drinalda Cela, University of Bristol green (MitoTracker Green), cell nuclei are labelled with This light microscopy image shows neutrophil extracel- DAPI (blue), and tubulin is shown in cyan. The image lular traps (NETs) in response to heme and TNF stimu- was taken using a DeltaVision OMX v4 imaging system lation. NETs are composed of DNA (in blue), cytosolic (GE Healthcare). proteins (such as neutrophil elastase, in red) and histones (in green). When neutrophils die via NETosis they release “After graduating with a BSc in Biochemistry from The these web-like structures. University of Manchester in 2017, I began my PhD at the University of Bristol, as part of the Wellcome Trust’s I hold a BSc degree in Molecular Biology and Genetics Dynamic Molecular Cell Biology programme. I am from Democritus University of Thrace, Greece. During currently in the third year of my PhD, studying the role my undergraduate studies (2011-2015), I undertook of mitochondrial protein import in neurodegenerative two summer placements abroad funded by European diseases, under the supervision of Professor Ian Collinson student mobility programmes. In summer 2014, I carried and Professor Jeremy Henley. This image was taken last out research at Sorbonne University, studying the role of year when I had the opportunity to spend two weeks ROS, UPR and inflammasome signalling in atherosclerotic at the University of Bielefeld working with Dr Wolfgang plaque formation. While in a conference in Paris, I was Hübner, where we used SIM microscopy to investigate the introduced to gut microbiota and their role in autoimmun- effects of blocking mitochondrial import on mitochondrial ity. I found the idea that microorganisms interact with our morphology and dynamics in HeLa cells.” immune system fascinating and it was clear what I would study next. For my second internship, I visited Reading 2nd– Karl Norris, University of Leeds University to explore the impact of enteric microbiota Spermatogenesis in a Drosophila melanogaster testis: in in diseases. I graduated in 2015 and moved to the UK contact with hub cells (testis tip, violet: Armadillo), the to investigate the interaction between the gut microbi- somatic and germline stem cells give rise to gonialblasts ome and mucosal immune system. Less than two years that undergo mitosis (green: Vasa), meiosis and spermio- ago, I enrolled in a PhD programme at the University of genesis. The latter two stages are stained in red (Fmr1), Bristol aiming to unravel the intracellular signalling that nuclei are stained by DAPI (blue). drives neutrophils into neutrophil extracellular trap (NET) release. NETs were initially described as an antimicrobial “I graduated from the University of Central Lancashire response, however nowadays NETs are also associated with a BSc (Hons) in Biomedical Science in 2013 and an with multiple inflammatory conditions. My mentor and MSc (by research) in Molecular Biology in 2014. I then supervisor is Dr Borko Amulic and my project is funded undertook doctoral training in Dr Susan Campbell’s lab at by the School of Cellular and Molecular Medicine of the Sheffield Hallam University where I investigated the role University of Bristol and the MRC. of eIF2B bodies in translational control. After completing my PhD research in 2018, I took a short postdoctoral role in Dr Timothy Douglas’ group at Lancaster University. I The closing date for entries to the 2021 Competition: am currently a postdoctoral research associate in Dr Julie 30 June 2021. See page 39. Aspden’s group at the University of Leeds, looking into

14 Science Writing Prize Winner FEATURES 2020 – Alexandra Bisia

One for all, all for one, or – what does it take to be multicellular?

hen people think of biology, ‘big’ often comes to by which multicellularity arose in this lineage can be Wmind: elephants, whales, redwoods. A closer look, traced by comparing its various members. Compared to though, reveals that the vast majority of organisms are their single-celled cousins, Volvox during their evolution in fact unicellular: think bacteria, archaea, and countless repurposed genes to perform functions necessary to mul- algae and fungi. But what does it take for a cell to make ticellular life. Additionally, they possess expanded ‘gene the leap to become part of something greater than itself, families’ that arose from single genes, with each ‘family a multicellular organism? Things get interesting when we member’ now carrying out a different function related to examine organisms living on the cusp between uni- and the organisation of their multicellular bodies (2). Thus multicellularity. single-celled organisms often already possess certain tools Meet Dictyostelium, a genus of eukaryotes containing useful to multicellular life. With relatively minor chang- species that can exist as both single-celled amoebae and es to their genomes, they are able to evolve into more multicellular aggregates. The life history of D. discoide- complex forms. um, the best-studied species of this genus, illustrates the Animal genomes have been compared to those of their challenges of living in multicellular structures. ‘Dicty’ cells closest relatives that exhibit facultative (optional) multicel- can live a fully unicellular life, preying on bacteria and lularity, including, but not limited to, the previously men- happily multiplying. But normally solo-operating Dicties tioned slime moulds, such as Dicty, and green algae, such sometimes find themselves in nutrient-poor environments, as Volvocaceae. These studies suggest that key players at which point they let loose a call for help in the form in the early stages of acquisition of multicellularity were of a small molecule, cyclic adenosine monophosphate genes involved in cytokinesis (the physical separation of (cAMP). Nearby Dicty cells, sensing this desperate cells during cell division) and genes encoding components cry – “cAMP! cAAAAAMP!” – will migrate towards the of the extracellular matrix (ECM – a collection of proteins signalling epicentre and form a large multicellular aggre- found in the space between cells that provides structur- gate, charmingly called a slug. This slug migrates to a al and functional cohesion in multicellular organisms). new location, where certain lucky cells form reproductive Therefore, in animals and in plants, it is almost certain spores inside a ‘fruiting body,’ which is supported by a that clonal cells (daughter cells produced by successive sterile stalk composed of considerably unluckier cells. The cell divisions of a single, original cell) banded together spores are released into the environment with the hope through incomplete cytokinesis to form the first proto-an- of reaching a more nutrient-rich location. But how do imals and proto-plants respectively (3). This overcomes these cells decide amongst themselves which ones will the ‘competition’ element that we observe in the case of get another shot at survival and reproduction in the form aggregation of heterogeneous cells, such as in the case of spore dissemination? Since the cells are not genetically of Dicty. The single-cell ‘bottleneck’ imposed on each identical, their evolutionary interests clash – and the fittest successive generation of animals and plants in the form ones, containing the most advantageous genetic variants, of the zygote ensures streamlined genetics and evolution- are likelier to produce spores (1). ary goals, reducing competition between cells of a single For some time, the cells work as a single cooperative, organism. albeit ‘sluggish’ unit: they move with coordination and Acquisition of multicellularity often and rapidly leads purpose, tightly adhering to each other. However, compe- to division of labour between different, cooperating cell tition between these genetically distinct cells arises pretty types. Organisms no longer need to temporally vary quickly, which poses a problem to becoming a bona fide their phenotype to meet the demands of a changing multicellular organism – we’ll come back to how such environment, as they allocate different functions to their competition can be avoided. For now, we can turn to different cell types. For instance, the most famous of the more concrete forms of multi-celled life to shed more light Volvox species, V. carteri, has two cell types: somatic and on what it takes to truly be multicellular… reproductive. With evolutionary time, organisms often A relevant group of organisms are the members of a develop greater numbers of increasingly specialised cell lineage of green algae, the Volvocaceae. In this lineage, types, which are in turn much more dependent on each multicellularity is a recent development in evolutionary other. Division of labour therefore makes it difficult for or- terms, with different species exhibiting different ‘stages’ ganisms to revert to an ancestral unicellular ‘multitasker’ of it. Chlamydomonas species represent the ancestral, form, instead leading to increasingly complex multicellular unicellular form of the lineage, while individuals of the lifeforms with interdependent cells (3). Pandorina species have 16 cells, and those of the genus It has recently been argued, though, that it isn’t only Volvox have thousands. Therefore, the mechanisms changes in cells that drive the evolution of multicellular-

15 References ity. It has been suggested (4) that the aforementioned

ECM itself is not in fact simply a result of multicellular 1. Castillo D, Queller D, Strassmann J. Cell condition, competi- evolution, but that its presence actively promotes it. The tion, and chimerism in the social amoeba Dictyostelium dis- ECM acts as a dynamic control structure, allowing the coideum. Ethology Ecology & Evolution. 2011;23(3):262-273. FEATURES organisation of extracellular space and coordinating the 2. Herron M. Origins of multicellular complexity: Volvox and the intercellular processes of increasingly complex organisms. volvocine algae. Molecular Ecology. 2016;25(6):1213-1223. This challenges the cell-centric dogma of the evolution of 3. Brunet T, King N. The Origin of Animal Multicellularity and Cell multicellularity, as it isn’t just cells, but also their immedi- Differentiation. Developmental Cell. 2017;43(2):124-140. ate surroundings, that must undergo changes to become 4. Bich L, Pradeu T, Moreau J. Understanding Multicellularity: compatible with a multicellular lifestyle. Characteristically, The Functional Organization of the Intercellular Space. Fron- ECM occupies the majority of the volume of V. carteri – tiers in Physiology. 2019;10. what would this species be without its ECM? About the Author: Alexandra Bisia studied Development, Regen- eration and Stem Cells at the University of Edinburgh. She is Genetic uniformity, adaptation of the (extra)cellular en- currently in her second year of doctoral studies at the Univer- vironment, cooperation and functional specialisation may sity of Oxford in the Chromosome and Developmental Biology begin to explain what it takes for a cell to be able to form Wellcome Trust programme. She is carrying out her research in part of an organism greater than itself. No matter how Prof Liz Robertson’s lab on mouse trophoblast stem cells. well these principles are understood though (and there is still a long way to go), the intricate structures that rela- tively simple single cells can build when they form part of Comments from our judge, Dr Jennifer Rohn (@Jenny- multicellular lifeforms will never stop being magnificent. Rohn) on the winner of the 2020 competition: This year’s winning entry is a tour de force of writing — nuanced, The closing date for entries to the 2021 Competetion: humorous and highly original. 30 June 2021. See page 39 FocalPlane

In July 2020, the Journal of Cell Science (JCS) and its publisher, The Company of Biologists, launched a new community website for microscopists and biologists. This is FocalPlane, a curated and centralised online meeting place to connect people, products, resources and information relating to microscopy.

he ability to tackle ever-more-refined biological ques- meetings discussing microscopy-related papers, and im- Ttions is improving as microscopy and image analysis age competitions showcasing the work of our community become increasingly more complex and sophisticated. members. However, this has made it difficult for non-experts to The website is hosted by JCS at The Company of access user-friendly resources or tools tailored to their Biologists, and is managed by a dedicated Community questions. Thus, there was a need for a platform for Manager, Dr Christos Kyprianou. With the help of the both microscope/software developers and researchers to JCS in-house editorial team and a distinguished scientific exchange ideas and information to help the field develop advisory board, FocalPlane is reaching out to the extend- and progress. ed microscopy community to encourage discussion and Since its launch, FocalPlane has accumulated a engagement with the website. variety of content from the community, from showcasing It’s a free platform to present your work, communicate a microscopy/bioimage analysis tool to interviews with microscopy-related news and connect with the microsco- experts (like the BSCB’s very own Dr Ann Wheeler). py community. In tSeptember we launched two blog series, one by Dr For more information, see: https://focalplane.biologists. Emmanuel Reynaud and Dr Elisabeth Kugler covering the com/2020/07/01/origin-story-focalplane/ basics and troubleshooting of light sheet microscopy, and For any queries about the website, please contact the other by Euro-Bioimaging, highlighting technologies FocalPlane Community Manager Dr Christos Kyprianou at offered by the Euro-Biomaging infrastructure. FocalPlane [email protected]. also organises regular events such as online journal club

16 SECTIONFEATURES HEADER 17

www.youtube.com/channel/UC-oy7UpEhRfHQ-5ePCviKFg Over the course of 5 weeks, with one 90 minute webinar each week, on a journey starting with an overview be taken of different file You’ll

our invited experts introduce you and guide you through the advanced features of the tools and frameworks they develop, customize or use daily to handle “BIG DATA”! formats and important pre-processing steps, continuing with registra- tion and stitching and finally analysis workflows adapted to the unique Then you’ll learn about the latest developments challenges of BIG DATA. annotation sharing in the cloud, before concluding with a in visualization, BIG DATA. showcase of REALLY Many of our PhD and Postdoctoral scientist BSCB Many of our PhD and Postdoctoral The BSCB is one of the organisations which supports

20 April and 20 July, over 2,400 scientists, engineers over 2,400 scientists, 20 April and 20 July, chat withand mathematicians volunteered their time to cellschool pupils within 12 science zones, including biology. members were able to participatethis. in more informationI’m a Scientist Get me Outta here . For about how to get involved. please see: https://bscb.org/ learning-resources/im-a-scientist/

and activities focused on Training in Bioimage Analysis. NEUBIAS Academy NEUBIAS Academy is a new initiative, aimed to provide sustainable materialNEUBIAS Academy is a new initiative, aimed to provide sustainable

he BSCB fully appreciates the importancehe BSCB fully appreciates of engaging and schools to help increasewith the general public

After the success of NEUBIAS Academy in 2020, we’re happy to start This year I’m a Scientist, Stay at home puts young in • Chat with real scientists and with each other, • Ask any questions they like to the scientists • Ask any questions they like for their favourite scientist of the week • Vote 2021 by hosting a “Image Big Data” webinar series, starting in January. 2021 by hosting a “Image Big Data” webinar series, starting in January. it to the webinars the seminar materials will be make Even if you can’t channel hosted on our Youtube NEUBIAS Academy capitalizes on the success of 15 Training Schools NEUBIAS Academy capitalizes on the success of 15 Training (2016-2020) that have supported over 400 trainees (Early Career Scien- Staff and Bioimage Analysts), but could not satisfy the high tists, Facility and increasing demand (almost 1000 applicants). A team of about 20 members will interact with a larger pool of hundreds of trainers, analysts and developers to bring knowledge and bleeding-edge updates to the community. understanding of cell biology and science in general. For and science in general. For understanding of cell biology has supportedseveral years the BSCB I’m a Scientist get me out of here of a Cell Zone and promoted the creation know I’m a Scientist get mefor debate. In case you don’t scientists,outta here… is an online competition between competewhere the students are the judges and scientists a cross between a science lesson to be the most popular, challenge the scientists Usually Students and the X-Factor. can askover intense, fast-paced, online live chats. They and vote forthe scientists all the questions they want to, of Weekly their favourite scientist –which creates a series Winners. people people in direct contact with real scientists. Young could: up-to-60-minute chats real time text-based Everyone part from home, so it’s especially use- can take during theful while schools and youth groups were closed Coronavirus pandemic. Over 13 weeks, between been students have staff and university COVID-19 Lockdown, During the STEM – all without leaving pupils stay connected with keen to help school their homes. I’m a scientist, stay at home at stay a scientist, I’m T 18 SECTIONFEATURES HEADER attempt tocrossandmaywellsurvivebutinamoreisolatedway. there ispotentialdanger.Somewillfallintothecrevasse.Othersnot For thosethatcanbridgethedivideitmaybringrewards.others divide intheeducationsystemhasturnedfromacrackintocrevasse. A quickreplytothisquestionisthatithasincreasedtherateatwhicha the divisionineducation? What hasCOVID-19donefor A needed and a provider with generous limits on data down- this isnottheend ofthestory. Abroadbandconnection is funding hasnowbeenwithdrawn (October 2020).But pupils, butthedistributionwaspatchy and80%ofthat these aredisadvantagedsocially, economicallyorboth. people intheUKwhodon’t usetheinternet,90%of by King’sCollege,London(UK)foundthatofeightmillion limited meanswillnothavecomputerfacilities.Astudy desktop computerisneeded.Childreninhomeswith for socialconnecting,buton-linelearningalaptopor good and have-nots’.Manychildrenhaveasmart-phone, this, atpersonallevelistheeconomicfactorof‘haves of greatest schism,andnotonlyatschoollevel.Onepart pandemic thedigitaldivideisprobablyproducing Of allthedivisivefactorsaffectingeducationduring The digitaldivide continuous assessment. continuous assessment. education andtraining,teachinglearning,exams thoughts havebeenaddedaboutthewholeissueof the nextgroupinassessmentyears. sider [4]whatcanwedoforourownchildren, especially status and[3]epi-familialfactors. home schoolingenvironment,includingsocio-economic process, including,[1]typeandstyleofschooling,[2] factors alsoaffectedtheformalschool-basedlearning ening ofthecrackwascausedbydigitaldivide.Other teaching andlearningbecameremote,thegreatestwid- es arenamed]. on educationismainlyanecdotal.[Wherepossible,sourc- graduation. al stagetoanotherandeventsassociatedwithcollege by notexperiencing‘ritesofpassage’fromoneeducation- of othersandthemselves.Somehavealsobeenaffected expressions andgesturesaconcernforthewellbeing offacial people, howtorelatethem,theimportance The UK Government said they would supply laptops to TheUKGovernmentsaidtheywould supplylaptopsto In an afterword, and at the Editor’s request, some request,some andattheEditor’s In anafterword, tocon- In viewoftheongoingsituationitisimportant When educationalestablishmentswereclosedand At presenttheevidenceofeffectpandemic effect on young people learning about other young effect onyoungpeoplelearningaboutother ishavingamarked fromteaching,COVID-19 part class sizes. Sometimes this enabled a more individual class sizes.Sometimes thisenabledamoreindividual factor. Manyindependentschoolsusually havesmaller the subjectrequiredpracticalwork, becameadivisive evident thatpre-closurepupilclass size,andwhether provided forsomeadditionaltutoring. Overtimeitbecame key workers, wasavailablebutpatchy. Funding wasalso without acomputerorbroadband link,andthoseof providers gaveOpenAccess. Government providedsomefinanceforthis,butnotall BBC (example:Bitesize),andotherorganisations.Central with additionalonlinematerial.Thiswasprovidedbythe learning wasaidedatsomelevelsandincases but bothprovisionanduptake wasvariable.Remote schools aredoinganexcellentjobwithonlineteaching, Duringtheschoolclosureperiodsmanyteachersand [1] Typeandstyleofschooling need a translator to read them, not a redundant device. need atranslatortoreadthem,notredundantdevice. upgrade andupdatethosewhocannot.-Claytablets This presentsadividebetweenthosewhocanaffordto this isleadingtoinformationbecomingun-retrievable. of digitalequipmentandsystemsisunderstandablebut and programmeupdatingorscrapping.Theevolution is presented. also manipulateboththeinformationavailableandhowit for politicalpurposes.Multinationalcompaniestoocan some internetsites/systemsarebeingdeniedorcensored digitaldividewhere accessto witnessing ageo-political groups.Increasinglywearealso across allsocio-economic search InformationMag).Thisagaincreatesadivideand developing countries(BBCWorld radio andRe- Service availability isalsohamperingallstagesofeducationin poorornon-existent.Signal availability maybevery disadvantaged pupils more laptopswerepurchasedbyGovernmentforuse 2021 is alsouseful.Thismaynotbeavailable.InJanuary information (andmisinformation),termeddigitalliteracy, internet sources,andguidanceonhowtoaccessuse loads. Thiscouldmeanmoreexpense.Knowledgeabout Some school attendance for vulnerable children, those Someschoolattendanceforvulnerablechildren, those A further ‘digital’ problem is caused by equipment ‘digital’problemiscausedbyequipment A further In somerural,isolatedareasintheUK,broadband FEATURESSECTION HEADER 19 - The Norwegian not read until the Jens Stoltenberg could Oxford vaccinologist Sarah Gilbert’s old triplets are 21-year stress, Some home factors can cause unhappiness. Family The provision of good nutritious food on a regular basis, Another epi-familial problem has arisen during the COV ences’ of the family. Examples include: whether the child is Examples include: whether the child ences’ of the family. the number of knowledgeable olderfemale or male (see later), grandparents, aunts and or nearby; people in the household that may provide time, guidance,uncles and older siblings and encouragement and pos- personal experience, inspiration in responsesibly act as a role model. The grandparent who, says “I don’tto a question by a child they collect from school but we can go to the library on the way home” or “weknow, What will look together on the Internet”, helps enormously. have as theirmembers of the family do and talk about, and own interests or hobbies, is influential too. His parents were veryage of ten. in politics and often involved entertained world to dinner round people from all round the politics. Jens thought thisthe family table where they talked sort As a boy he im- of conversation was normal for families. bibed the talk and atmosphere. Jens is now Secretary General Minister of Norway. having already served as Prime of NATO, exposed to I wonder if they were all studying biochemistry. and Robin Raff ‘science talk’ when they were young? Jordan are also following in their father’sPerutz footsteps. But be- off completely. ware; sometimes ‘home talk’ can put children tread a fine line! Parents a tolland bereavement can take long term illness break-down, will be badly affected. Some children on a child’s education. Mario Capecchi, andOthers will have more resilience, like seeksome, who have had long periods of hospitalisation, careers in medicine. This resilience is called ‘post traumatic growth’. coupled with the minimal use of ‘junk’ food, is also vitally important, but easier said than done. Good quality adequate sleep is also needed for growth and studying. [4] What can we do for our own children, es- pecially the next group in assessment years? (a) The learning atmosphere. sure learning about anything is and foremost make First your children to a variety of places normal all the time. Take and events. Engage children in appropriate conversation and them for good work. If their work is Praise ask their opinion. condemn it outright; praise the good don’t mediocre or poor, ID-19 pandemic in the U.K. It concerns Case Conferences of vulnerable Procedures held as part of the Child Protection normally attend these face-to-face Parents age children. meetings with people from many agencies. These have gone have brought laptops toon-line but although social workers the child’s home, a good signal has not always been possible. Hour). Woman’s Report. BBC4 (King’s College, Nuffield - Compare this with a home school environment in which aCompare this with a home school environment Elsewhere in the house a supply of books and perhaps also There are of course exceptions and many able, talented During the first ‘lockdown’ the number of school days lost the During the first ‘lockdown’ [3] Epi-familial/home factors: There are several factors about a child’s family and home situation beyond those already mentioned, that can influence for as These factors can hardly be planned their education. they are often the result of the ‘life course’ and ‘life experi- As a result of the pandemic many people have had the expe- As a result of the pandemic many people have into a home– rience of home working, of turning a guest room have the space, but imagineFine if you office or study room. familythe situation for an eldest child in a single parent and of whom is a toddler, one with a three other children, a broadbandliving in a two/three room, high-rise flat without Then things are veryconnection. As the eldest, you different. an eye on the toddlermight also be given the task of keeping table will bewho might be pulling things off the table. The of distractivealso needed by others, and for meals. The list elements present is enormous. or perhaps shared with onechild has a bedroom of their own, a desk, suitableother sibling, but in which the individual has lighting and seating, a computer of their own with good facility. broadband/WiFi a parent working from home who may also have a printer. This presents some divide! A further divide is seen depending on whether the pupil is boy or girl. Some findings show that, girls are more conscientious than boys aboutin the main, studying at home. Boys tend to be ‘minimalists’ and easily distracted. - But these are generalisations. There are subject differences too with practical subjects presenting greater problems than non-practical ones. or self-motivated individuals who use education to the best Here is one example: Just before Ann Frank of their ability. a four year old boy was roaming started writing her diary, the streets looking for food and shelter after his mother was He learned to read at age imprisoned in Dachau, Germany. in Physiology or nine and in 2007 jointly won the Nobel Prize Medicine. His name; Mario Capecchi. [2] Home schooling environment, including[2] Home schooling environment, socio-economic status ‘Mind the gap’ Since schools re-opened another learning divide has emerged able to study well at who were less in some situations. Pupils as at 7th June, to be doing,home (see later) were thought, of to a loss amounting, by then, about 30% less studying, over 2.5 months (BBC). Schoolsabout 7 days of schooling are tryinghas to close the gap, but in some situations this studied well at home ‘marking time’,resulted in pupils who Comm.TB). – Good for ‘levellingwhile others catch up (pers. those who studied well at home. up’ but a disincentive for and 14 Wales varied; 11 in Scotland, 12 in N. Ireland, 13 in also var in England. (BBC). The amount of on-line studying ied. In London, the S.E. and S.W. of England 25% of school the S.E. and S.W. ied. In London, and Scotland In Wales, pupils studied for at least 4 hours/day. N.Ireland., 15% did. (BBC). approach than could be used with large classes. Interestingly with large be used than could approach the opportunity enabled some pupils remote teaching to ask too shy or embarrassed they might have been questions that It has (Pers.comm). presence of other pupils to ask in the been reported from school children gained that many fostered their bonding time with availability of increased closure by the fostering family. 20 SECTIONFEATURES HEADER gramme Mary Beard says that exams did too. In the 7th Beardsaysthatexams didtoo. Inthe7th gramme Mary BBC Sounds at: BBC Soundsat: availableon called ‘You maynowturnoveryourpaper’ and enthusiasm. maths. Fortunately somebody spottedhisoverallability astronomical, Professor BrianCoxgaineda ‘D’ inA-level is saidtheenthusiasticBBCscientist/presenterofthings suffered afamilybereavementorfriendshipbreak-up.It are unwellontheexamday, includingthose whohave ous assessmentwouldalsohelpthosecandidateswho Takingare goingtobesoimportant. accountofcontinu- and thesearchingfor, andinterrogatingdata;skillsthat long termstudy, andinternetresources, useoflibrary exam, butitcanbemoreinformativeaboutabilitytodo critically. Teacher assessmentislessobjectivethanan enthusiasm, application, andabilitytostudythink This wouldtellselectorssomethingaboutthecandidate’s which canincludemini-examsortestsandcoursework. system shouldtake intoaccountcontinuousassessment, demning exams,butIthinkafairerandmorebalanced subsequently nolongeragoodmeasure’.Iamnotcon- ameasurebecomestarget,itis law whichstates‘when has becomeatarget.Inthisrespect,itfollowsGoodhart’s For inexams bothgovernmentandschools,‘performance’ day.during oneandahalftotwohoursonparticular (ornot)prescribedinformationtobeunloaded to carry capacityoftheirbrain. Thishasbeentrained the carrying muchaboutthepupil,except andnotvery performance ernment isindangerofusingexamstomeasureschool fulness ofexams.Inthecaseschools,IthinkGov- sector. Therehasalways beenadebateabouttheuse- education for bothwould-beemployersandthetertiary effects in adreadfulexperienceforstudentsandknock-on UK. Therewasmuchmuddled,hurriedthinkingresulting aminations routinetaken byschoolpupilsthroughoutthe upsettheexternalex- pandemiccertainly The COVID-19 course work. [5] Exams,continuousassessmentand they arerespondingtotheirphysiologicalneeds. be toohardonyourlate-risingteenager. Theyarenotlazy, that teenagersalsobenefitfrom‘morningsleep’,sodon’t before bed.Thisimpedesthebrainrelaxing.Studiesshow and TVscreenssomeLEDlightsduringthe30mins children areexposedto‘bluelight’fromsmartphones It isneededforbothgrowthandstudying.Too many working. [4]Goodqualityadequatesleepisencouraged. social media,alaptopisprobablybetterforhome/school and/oratablet,anduseYouTubehave asmartphone and are availableandworking.Althoughmanyyoungpeople Appropriate electronicequipment,andInternetfacilities, glow relaxingbedroomlightisnotconducivetostudy. [3] priate lightingconditionsareavailableatalltimes.Asoft ble height,especiallyifacomputerisinuse.[2]Appro and heating,appropriatechair, table/deskspaceofsuita- least someofthetime.Thisincludessuitableventilation ensure that[1]asuitableenvironmentisavailableforat matters. Athome,resources(usuallymoney)permitting, ing somethingingreaterdepth,thestudyenvironment You canlearnanywhere,butwhenitcomestostudy- (b) Thelearningenvironment. example “Ihaveseenyoudobetterdiagramsbefore”. bits andapproachthepoorerwithapositiveslant,for It is said that COVID-19 started in China. Inherpro started It issaidthatCOVID-19 https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/b07hwwbd Beardpresentedagreatprogrammeonexams Mary - - of the‘examfittest’! indeed, the wallofexaminationcompound.-Survival, were removed,wrappedupinasheetandtossedover a chamberpotandfood.Ifyoudiedfromtheordeal and nights,Candidatescouldtake, intoathree-sidedcell, A.D.examsin Chinalastedthreecontinuousdays century that the school is using. that theschoolisusing. changes postedonthewebsiteofexaminstitution contact withtheschoolandifpossiblelookforlatest conceded infavourofteacherassessment. oftheUKexamshavebeen to copewith.Inotherparts pils who, intheirteenageyears,havemorethanenough stressfultomanypu- in England!Movingtargetsarevery some nationallymoderatedmini-exams/testsforschools discussions aregoingonaboutthepossibilityofhaving assessment wouldbeused.Currently(asat14/01/2021) a-level examsheldinsummer2021andthatteacher in EnglandannouncedthattherewouldbenoGCSEand 2021theGovernment ments. AtthebeginningofJanuary oftheUKdecidedondifferentassessmentarrange- part Following theexamfiascoof2020,inautumn2021each National assessmentsin2021 quite work,oradvise youwhattodonext.Amixof edu- (BBC). Ofcourse a dogcannotreactifthetraining doesn’t virusinpeople organs,todetecttheCOVID-19 olfactory apparently dogsandratshavebeen trained,tousetheir time andagain. Robotic machinesdothis,and grammed], sothatskillcanberepeated, withoutchange, repetitive skillcanbetaught,[orinsomecasespro often branches”. stores ofinformation, or highdegreesofskillinspecialised than iftheysentouttheirpupilsmerelypossessedofvast in whichthepupilsareplaced,theyhavedonemore ofaffairs conducive togoodjudgementinanydepartment turn outtheirpupilsinthatattitudeofmindwhichis said“Ifourschools alist, writingintheearly20thcentury own knowledgesiloandignorethecontextofyourideas. their reactionsandideas,youbecomeembeddedinyour knowledge andideaswithotherpeople,take noteof sition islike this.Unlessyoushareanddiscussyour sensed bytheactors.Inmanywaysknowledgeacqui- (BBC). you reacttothedifferentaudiencesandtheyyou” ence betweenlivetheatreandfilmisthatinthe you reactto. DameHelenMirrensaid“themaindiffer imbibed bycontactwithpeople,whoinfluenceyou,and Some ofthisistaughtinadirectway, butmuchofitis teachers, tutors,lecturers,mentorsandrolemodels. Much ofitcomesfrom,andisinfluencedbyparents, biologists). and teaching(termed‘culture’byevolutionary information, isgainedthroughself-learning,imitation and howitmightbeinfuturetime.Thisknowledge,this environment welive,abouttheuniversearrivedinto, about life,ourownlifecourse,andthatofothers.The this informationtoproduceideasandviewsofourown learn throughthesensesandthenassimilateprocess writer considerseducationtobetheprocessbywhichwe ing, examsandcontinuousassessment. The issueofeducationandtraining,teachinglearn- Afterword It is very important for pupils and parents to keep in forpupilsandparentstokeep important in It isvery At a very basic level training is a process in which an basiclevel trainingisaprocessinwhichan Atavery John Dewey, theAmericanphilosopherand education- withnochangingaudiencereactions Film is‘flat’ precise.The Definitions ofthesetermsarenotvery - - SECTIONFEATURES HEADER 21 - - - There are of course many arguments for and against final course many arguments There are of During the COVID-19 pandemic some parts of the UK As the name implies the workContinuous assessment. about Assessments can also be made (and quantified) a at theIt will be interesting to note, but hopefully not At the time of updating this article it appears that in the (BBC). It is also said that exams ‘favour’ that exams It is also said (BBC). are good boys who assessment swatting’, whilst continuous at ‘just in time ‘favours’ over time. more consistently girls who work and therefore excluding to the test (exam)’, exams. ‘Teaching perhaps being the most and experience, lots of knowledge against exams. used argument of ‘finalhave suspended the use year’ testing in schools groups of pupils have been absentbecause different exam from school for varying of time across different parts lengths with continuous Exams have been replaced of the country. work pupils have been able to do.assessment of the specific be reminded of the words ofThose in Government should who in 1963 wrote ‘Not Bruce Cameron sociologist William everything that can be counted counts and not everything that counts can be counted’. assessed over a period of time, ifof students is continuously typethis of Assessment study. of course whole the during not ‘mini-exams’can include regular monitoring using tests or can be agreedat the end of a topic or period of time. These andupon and moderated to ensure a degree of objectivity or depression.level of conformity to minimise mark elevation enthusiasm,student’s attitude to work, such as persistence, in a team. At the end of and ability to work time keeping with, ifthe year or course an overall assessment is made predictions made for extended absence due, for necessary, example, to COVID-19, bereavement and so illness, family but surely education leniency, Critics say this may cause on. Buildingshould be about encouragement, not elimination. not encour fences so high only a few can jump them, does age life-long learning. the results,expense of some pupils, any differences between at the end of the tertiary of pupils who sector of education, who satwere continuously assessed compared with those tradition ‘final year’ for example, 2019. exams in schools in, ‘Open-book’ tests. During on-line learning some teachers are using ‘open-book’ tests where students have recourse to books or on-line sourc- and but have to answer questions on-line es for information, within a limited time. This innovative method works-round the potential for ‘cheating’ and at the same time tests the students ability to search for information/data, mentally pro skills These are excellent cess it, and answer the question. But it is divisive, for the workforce of today and tomorrow. favouring those able to cope with the digital divide and who have access to books and other sources. UK there will be no formal GCSE or A level exams in the and VTQs is un- Summer of 2021.The situation over BETCs In England however (in the middle of January 2021) clear. there is now a consultation in progress to consider whether some sort of nationally moderated exam or test, should be produced for use in the summer 2021 to ‘help teachers gener help wondering how our ‘next assess a pupil’. I can’t of young people will portray us!ation’ David F Archer. Dec. 2020; some updating Jan 2021. Traditional reasons include ideas such as: providing a reasons include ideas such as: providing Traditional There is some evidence that the ‘final exam’ method is Is what humans need so that they can more quickly Is what humans need so that they can more Exams. Consider for a moment what you think is the func- tion of a traditional end of a period of study examination in the educational field, often called ‘final exams’. Do you think it adequately fulfils this role? target event to work towards; a fairly objective way of quan- tifying how much you have learnt during the course, how much knowledge you can store, select, recall and commu- nicate from the course, a test of your ability to use remem- bered knowledge to argue a case, i.e., to test your use of the knowledge; providing some evidence that you have been successful in the exam(s) by supplying a Certificate of some sort. This gives you status and stratifies you in a specific area perhaps placing you below some, of the knowledge society, but above others. In many cases this becomes an ‘entry into an occupation or select group. ticket’ especially suitable for those who have very good memory retention and recall. Government advisors say that final testing is especially suited to able but disadvantaged pupils Exams and continuous assessment. Teaching and learning. andThese are the processes through which education In the case learning a skill are transferred to the receiver. a case of ‘filling it isn’t up’ an individual withof education, experiences andfacts, but rather giving them information, ‘know how’their own observations to establish and process their ownand critical thinking to enable them to construct Skillviews and hypotheses and to communicate these. routines, astraining requires more adherences to set process in ‘teaching’ a robotic machine to perform certain actions. but the educated skilled person people it is similar, With will observe a process and question the established thinking up, or madeand consider how it may be improved, speeded saidless wasteful. Some time ago Sir David Attenborough that ‘at all levels of the education system, training was being education contains an True emphasised over true education’. element of training, but it consists of a great deal more. cation and skill acquisition is therefore desirable. Humanscation and skill acquisition is therefore desirable. ‘modifiable training’ can do this. Perhaps leavingadapt their training to what is needed in real-time, robots to do purely repetitive tasks? 22 SECTIONFEATURES HEADER and adaptthemfor theirsystem. respective fieldscanunderstand how theseproblemshavebeensolved the directeffectsofmolecularCO2 andalteredpH?Researchers fromthe sponse totheactivityofthesesensors? Howcanwedifferentiatebetween to CO2?Whatistheidentityof downstreamsignallingeventsinre- the sensor(s)thatenableananimal orplantcelltodetectandrespond and plantresearchersfacecommonproblems.Whatistheidentityof systems whilemicromolaristypicalinplants.Regardless, bothanimal concentration ishugelydifferent;tensofmillimolarcommoninanimal kingdoms investigatemodelsystemsinwhichthetotalinorganiccarbon It isinterestingtonotethatresearchersfromtheanimalandplant in eachkingdomlearnfromother? The papersspantheanimalandplantkingdoms-whatcanspecialists demonstrate quiteclearlythatCO2isbioactiveindependentofacidity. an increaseindissolvedCO2correspondstoapHdrop.Thisissuewill inorganic carbonequilibriumknowsthat with apassingknowledgeofthedissolved tection fieldoverthelastfewyears.Anyone progress thathasbeenmadeintheCO2-de- to demonstrateothersthetremendous plant CO2-detectionfields.Second,wewant which itisbuilt,coveredboththeanimaland keen thatthisissue,andthemeetingon work.We werevery aware ofeachother’s communities thatwouldtypicallynotbe between CO2-detection research,particularly want todemonstratethecommonalitiesin First,The aimoftheissueistwo-fold. we What istheaimofthisissue? altered CO2levelstoenableanappropriatephysiologicalresponse. issue investigatesthemechanismsbywhichorganismsandcellssense vironmental change,insectvector-borne diseaseandpublichealth.This researchtopicrelevanttocropresponseen- is astrategicallyimportant maintenance ofthecellularenvironmentandbehaviour. Carbondioxide of diverseprocessesincludingcellularchemicalreactions,transport, tem decay. Therefore,itisnotsurprisingthatCO2regulatesavariety lifeprocessastheproductofaerobicrespirationandpost-mor of every cess asasubstrateofphotosynthesisorchemosynthesis.Itisattheend lifepro Carbon dioxideisessentialforlife.Itatthebeginningofevery biological systems? Can youbriefly explain whatyoumeanbycarbondioxide detectionin specialists together. priorities inthisareaandthebenefitsofbringingdifferent Martin CannatDurhamUniversity,aboutthecurrentandfuture kingdoms. JessicaMillerspoketotheissueorganiser,Professor detecting carbondioxidelevelsacrosstheanimalandplant A newInterfaceFocusissueaddressestheimportanceof biological systems Carbon dioxidedetectionin - - University ofBiosciences,Durham Cann,HeadofDepartment Professor Martin Written byJessicaMiller, EditorialCoordinator, FOCUSand Interface this issue. nchus mykiss’(https://doi.org/10.1098/rsfs.2020.0026) publishedin ing solubleadenylylcyclasefromabonyfish,therainbowtroutOncorhy - cle ‘Molecularandbiochemicalcharacterizationofthebicarbonate-sens - Kwan,Image credit:Garfield Till Harter, Martin - Tresguerres; seethearti andbrowseprevioustheme issuesonthejournalwebsite. content alerts, Keep Focus uptodatewith thelatestissuesofInterface bysigningupfor for cropbreedingunderclimatechange. targets to elevatedCO2?Understandingthesemechanismscanidentify while detrimentalsideeffectsaremitigated?Third,howdocropsrespond quences ofelevatedCO2?Arethereclinicalbenefitsthatcanbeexploited defence. Consequently, tounderstand thereisstillresearchunderway and epithelialcellrepair),skeletal muscleandinnateimmunityhost harmful pathophysiologicaleffectsonthelung(alveolarfluidclearance therapeutic benefitofelevatedCO2.However, elevatedCO2canhave DistressSyndrome demonstratedthe analysis oftheAcuteRespiratory studyandretrospective physiological effectsofCO2.Alargecohort There isclinicalvalueinaddressingthemolecularmechanismsfor circumstances. that elevatedCO2mightbebeneficialtopatientsincertain consequences ifdysregulated.However, demonstrate clinicalobservations metabolic by-product,andatworst,atoxicmoleculewithsevereclinical Scientific consensushasconsideredCO2,atbest,arelativelyinert How canresearchinthisareaaffectmedicalpractice?

as alludedtoabove,whataretheclinicalconse- resolution.whose rolerequiresfurther Second, a CO2-mediatedpost-translationalmodification altered byCO2?Thereisintriguingevidencefor biomolecules interactwithandhavetheiractivity First, isthereacommonmechanismbywhich towithinterest. three areasthatIlookforward damental problems.However, Iwouldhighlight to,forward andalotofpotentialfortacklingfun- The fieldissodynamic;therealottolook this field? What arethefutureareasforinvestigationin therapeutically beneficialand/ordetrimental. under whatconditionselevatedCO2mightbe SECTIONFEATURES HEADER 23 - Read on, enjoy — and let us know what you think on Twitter, enjoy — and let us know what you think on Twitter, on, Read - humans have come up with to solve such prob worms, flies, mice and one has informed under lems — and through the decades, research in standing of another. But our report also examines some stark differences. standing of another. since look at the growing rules for trees, for example: Out of necessity, We shapes are far more plastic than animals’. move around, their they can’t of salamanders toAnd with envy we delve into the prodigious ability they do it, we might oneregrow lost limbs. Maybe, through learning how day duplicate the process in people. and by emailing the editors. And if you want to track what Facebook sign up for ourKnowable is up to each week, an easy way to do so is to https://www.knowablemagazine.org/report/building-bodies newsletter. Mestel and the Knowable Magazine team Rosie www.knowablemagazine.org/page/about-knowable-magazine

Kyra Campbell, Emily S

by

Bulgakova

and edited

issue organized Fletcher and Natalia A

2020 meeting gust Au ed discussion

Contemporary morphogenesis A Noël, Alexander G Publish  

Biologists have long been obsessed, and we have become so, too. The too. become so, Biologists have long been obsessed, and we have In this report, that push and pull cells from a we look at unseen forces that creatures likeThere are many common threads in the solutions From a single cell, a human embryo a into a collection of tens of grows From functionaries. How does ittrillions of highly integrated, highly specialized do it? result is this special report Bodies. It includes a taste of the on Building about the principles andcaptivating things that scientists have learned forms — and the manystrategies that go into sculpting animal and plant puzzles remaining. the body as a bag of branch- examine We naïve state to sophistication. And we lay outing tubes and ask how those structures are fabricated. the embryosimple-seeming questions, such as: How does know top from bottom, or lefta spleen or a lung know how big it from right? How does answers that scientists areshould grow to be? There’s an elegance to the unearthing. , a journalistic publication based in California,, a journalistic publication Knowable Magazine accessible to all. It ismaking scientific knowledge is dedicated to dedicated Reviews, a nonprofit publisher published by Annual the progress of and integrating knowledge for to synthesizing benefit of society.science and the Magazine Building Bodies – Knowable Bodies Building 24 SECTIONFEATURES HEADER could becomedysregulatedinprocesses suchascancer.. with oneanothertoproduceresponses onasystemicscaleandhowthis interestedasanundergraduateinhowcells communicated I wasvery 5) WhatinspiredyoutocomeintoCellBiology? ofmydayjob. as part questions intheUKandrunaCentreforExcellencethiscalledESRIC I wasoneofthefirsttoapplysuper-resolution microscopytocellbiology copy methodstoquestionsincellmotility, cancerinvasion. in particular research, whenIhavetimetodoit,isaroundapplyingnovellightmicros - managerwhoallowedmetodothis.My tohaveasupportive fortunate timewhenIbecame aparentandamvery in Edinburgh.Iwentpart of theadvancedimagingresourceatInsituteGeneticsandCancer Its beenalittlewhilesinceIdidany!Atthemomentammanager 4) Couldyoudescribeyourresearchinanutshell? Early Careerandstudentmembers. and Postdoc repstomake thesocietyrelevantandrepresentativeofour inspired, duringmytimeonthecommittee,byhardworkofourPhD for CellBiologistsatallstagesoftheircareer. Ihavebeenparticularly I wouldlovetheBSCBtocontinueprovideresourcesandsupport 3) AspirationsfortheBSCB? down asmagazineeditor. committee. Ihopetoattendtheconferencesthisyearbutwillbestepping Quite abitless,Ihavealmostreachedtheendofmy6yeartermon 2) Overthenext yearwhatwillbeyouuptofortheBSCB? oftheBSCBproject,publishedin2020magazine. History I’ve worked onasubcommitteetoupdateourambassadorsandthe I havebeenthemagazineeditorforpast5years.Aswellasthis 1) What’syourroleonthecommittee? age analysis.ShejoinedtheBSCBCommitteein2015. Super-resolution microscopy(SMLM),aswellquantitativeim- Illumination Microscopy(SIM)andSingleMoleculeLocalisation expertise isinadvancedlightmicroscopy,particularStructured Ann istheUniversityofEdinburghESRICfacilitymanager.Her Ann Wheeler Committee: Meet theBSCB

prizes inimagingcompetitions eton. ofcellwhich wouldhappilygainthepersonimagingit It’sthesort attractivecellwithanicecytoskelsuper-resolution- methods.Itisavery likeI particularly thesquamous cellcarcinomalineIusedtopioneer 10) What’syourfavouritecellandwhy? otherwise. plete hack.Therewouldn’t beinterestingstoriestoreadinthemagazine Networking oratanynotableevent,theBSCBmeetingIamacom - 9) AttheBSCBmeetingwherewouldwebemostlikelytoseeyou? using thecoolnewmethodsavailable. occurring andregulationofthese.I’dquitelike todomyprojectagainbut interesting toolsthatarenowavailabletousedissecttheprocesses teresting topicsintheregulationofsinglecellmotilityandsomanymore To behonestIprobably wouldn’t changeanything,therearesomanyin- topic youwouldliketofocuson. yourPhDtodaywhatwouldbetheemerging 8) Ifyouweretostart Chemistry, InfomaticsandPhysicstogetherwithCellBiologists work togethertotacklethebigquestionsandapplytheirknowledgefrom scientistswhocan in thepastdecade.Ithinkfindinginterdisciplinary There aresomanynewavenuesandtechnologieswecanuseemerging 7) WhatdoyoufeelarethebiggestchallengesfacingCellBiology? context isalwaysinteresting. it wasimpossibletovisualisethis.SeeingCellBiologyinits3Dspatial in thisproject.Prior tothedevelopmentofsuper-resolution microscopy in cellsusingsuper-resolution themost,althoughIwasacollaborator tions. IprobablyenjoyeddevelopingamethodtovisualiseHIVbehaviour There havebeenseveral,Imostenjoyapplyingnewmethodstooldques- 6) What’sbeenyourbestmomentasaCellBiologist?

SECTIONFEATURES HEADER 25

was supported and I still try piece of imaging equip- and use any new ment that comes my way. Biologist? 6) What’s been your best moment as a Cell find out or see somethingIt’s got to be those moments when you finally its first spinning disk microscope we When my old institute got new. finally started associated with clotting factor to visualise actin movements of questions we were interested in and This answered lots secretion. opened up loads more. facing Cell Biology? 7) What do you feel are the biggest challenges to ask biggermore likely I think harnessing big data, we are more and interesting hits. Thesequestions and end up with giant list of potentially all need to be validated and put in the context of the cell, tissue or organism. I sometime feel there is so much information out there that is slipping through the cracks. 8) If you were to start your PhD today what would be the emerging topic you would like to focus on. Gosh there are so many interesting and emerging topics to address. I find the whole mechanics of cell function really interesting and there are loads of cool new ways to model these processes. There is also interesting research on how cell crowding constrains cellular processes. When you you is how muchfirst do electron microscopy the first thing that strikes “stuff” is in every cell. It’s amazing. 9) At the BSCB meeting where would we be most likely to see you? Meeting with new scientists and learning about their interesting research for a while. This seen or catching up with all the scientists who I haven’t sort of thing normally happens next to a poster or with a beverage. 10) What’s your favourite cell and why? be the same without themThe endothelial cell. Blood transport wouldn’t (they are also nice and flat for imaging). -

I have always loved microscopy and visualising what is going on inside where this up a PhD and post doc positions cells. I did my best to take 5) What inspired you to come into Cell Biology? My major interest is in how the cells lining the blood vessels control physiological responses (including inflammation and blood clotting). I am particularly interested in how intracellular trafficking is important for this, allowing junctions between cell to disassemble as needed (allowing and cytokines to enter the underlying tissue) or by secretingleukocytes factors into the blood stream. key 4) Could you describe your research in a nutshell? gists. Both by funding new and bespoke conferences and by supporting conferences gists. Both by funding new and bespoke students and postdocs who perhaps are struggling to attend such events (whether due to gaps in funding, child care issues etc.). The society can really help a community who are facing all sorts of new challenges. This has never been truer with scientists trying to maintain research whilst working from home, home schooling or taking on challenging online teaching. I would love to see the BSCB continuing to support emerging cell biolo 3) Aspirations for the BSCB? I am very much looking forwardconferences that are coming to the BSCB particularly the Dynamic Cell meeting which is always great. up this year, organised and help out inI am hoping to learn a bit about how these are end of the year we might even start Maybe by the havingany way I can. Who knows… face to face conferences once again. 2) Over the next year what will be you be up to for the BSCB? year what will 2) Over the next I am one of the new people on the committee having joined at the veryI am one of the new people on the committee My role at the moment is principally to get up to speed. end of last year. how everything learn to try works and and see which of the commit- To tee’s roles I can help out on. 1) What’s your role on the committee? Tom is a group leader at Queen Mary University of London. leader at Queen Mary University Tom is a group the cells that line lab centres on the biology of Research in his interested in cells). He is particularly blood vessels (endothelial being moved in- key proteins are regulated by the way in which in endothe- a means to control dynamic changes tracellularly as monitor this, his lab uses live celllial function, secretion etc. To molecular biology and proximityimaging, electron microscopy, labelling proteomics.

Committee: Nightingale Tom Meet the BSCB the Meet REVIEWS Book and game reviews

Lab closed, looking for home entertainment? With many labs closed for ‘wet’ research many of us have been at home. Be- tween data analysis, lab meetings and online seminars here are some other ways to while away the hours.

Something to look forward to in 2021 Centre of the Cell

Molecular Cell Biology, Ninth edition will, COVID de- Centre of the Cell is a unique, cell-shaped science centre suspended lays permitting, arrive in the UK in March 2021. The above a real biomedical research laboratory in the heart of London’s textbook has been updated, some topics re-arranged East End. This digital interactive public engagement project is and a few chapter headings altered to improve clarity. based in the Blizard Institute at the Whitechapel medical and den- Previous time and student-tested features, including tal campus of Queen Mary University of London. medically relevant advances and modern experimental Since opening in September 2009, over 100,000 people have techniques, have been retained and a gives ‘Molecular participated in Centre of the Cell activities. The Centre of the Cell Cell Biology’ a unique and extra aspect to the study of has five main aims: to inspire the next generation of scientists and cell biology. healthcare professionals; stimulate dialogue, interest and excite- It will arrive with a new online learning platform that Macmillan Learning ment about biomedical research; raise aspirations, especially in the are calling ‘Achieve’. No doubt this was in planning before COVID-19, local community; widen participation in further and higher educa- but the features have clearly been designed with some degree of remote tion and to help improve health and wellbeing especially in East learning in mind. These features include material for pre-class preparation, London. org. While it isn’t possible to visit during the pandemic the in-class active learning, post-class study and assessment, and access to website hosts a variety of games and learning experinces suitable digital resources. [A Test Bank will be available soon]. With the book in for homeschooling or light relief. both print and E-book form and the ‘Achieve’ online learning platform, the There have been over one million visits to the interactive website publishers are aiming at presenting a pre-planned complete course. since its launch, www.centreofthecell. The game titles range from basic cell and tissue biology e.g. Explore a cell; Mitosis Movie; Cell Turnover; Organ Surgery to Applications is biomedicine, although perhaps ‘Flu Pandemic’ is a little too close to home this year.

https://www.centreofthecell.org/learn-play/games/

For those who prefer screen free entertainment ‘Cell Trumps’ are available from the online Centre of the cell Shop. https://www. centreofthecell.org/product/cell-trumps-1-pack/

Rebel Cell by Kat Arney

Cancer starts when cells revolt, throwing off their molecular Cytosis – A Cell Biology Board shackles, and growing and dividing out of control in a shambolic mockery of normal life. This is why we can’t avoid cancer: because Cytosis – A Cell Biology Board game launched in 2017. Cytosis takes place the very genes that drive it are essential for life itself. The revolution inside a human cell, the aim is to build and maintain a fully functional has raged, on and off, for millions of years. But it was only in the cell. Players being with a number of ‘worker’ cards. Every turn, each player twentieth century that doctors and scientists made any significant places a workers in an available location within that cell. Some locations progress in understanding and treating cancer, and it’s only in the provide resources, such as; mRNA or ATP. Others with actions (e.g. past few decades that we’ve finally begun to kick the mob’s ma- synthesise energy, make resources – which are cards that can be collect- lignant arse. Now the game is changing. Scientists have infiltrated ed). The resources then build enzymes, hormones and/or receptors, which cancer’s cellular rebellion and are finally learning its secrets. score ‘Health Points’. To win the game you collect the most Health Points. Geneticist and science writer Kat Arney takes us to the dawn of “Cytosis is a lovely, interesting, dare I say educational, worker place- life on planet earth right up to the present day to get to the heart of ment game. Complex enough to engage and require thought, yet also what cancer really is and how by be relatively simple to play. It is a well-designed, fast playing, introduction to the genre. As such Cytosis receives a firm recommendation.” Neil Bunker

26 MEETING REPORTS Meeting reports

American Society of Cell Biology (ASCB)– EMBO Annual Meeting 7–11 December 2019. Washington D.C.

The American Society of Cell Biology (ASCB) holds an annual meeting in conjunction with the European Molecular Biology Or- ganization (EMBO) each December, which in 2019 was held at the Walter E. Conven- tion centre in Washington D.C.

The ASCB-EMBO meeting is the premier cell biology conference in the world and brings together researchers from all aspects of cell biology. With over 6000 attendees, the meeting showcases the work of cell biolo- gists through varying symposiums, lectures and poster presentations. The meeting also holds professional development sessions for undergraduate and postgraduate students alike as well as a variety of networking events and receptions. We were both fortunate enough to attend the meeting to present post- ers on our research, network within our fields and get feedback on our research. We are based in a lab that studies the cytoskeleton (the struc- tures which help cells maintain their shape and organisation), but our research has both taken us in different directions. It was therefore really useful to talk to other researchers in our particular areas of cell biology and get specific project advice. It was brilliant to have top researchers come to our posters, discuss our work and provide suggestions for future Cemetery in the neighbouring state of Virginia. It was brilliant exploring directions. We both received lots of feedback and guidance that has really Washington D.C at Christmas, as there are Christmas markets, and beau- shaped our research direction. tifully decorated streets. We even managed to go ice skating! The meeting has such a wide breadth of cell biology talks and posters The meeting enabled us to meet other cell biologists from a host of that there are sessions to interest everyone, whatever their research fo- worldwide institutions and was an excellent opportunity to find out about cus. If anything, there are too many great sessions to choose from! Some cutting edge cell biology research to inform our future career plans. We of our talk highlights included Adam Horn’s presentation on mitochondri- are extremely grateful to the BSCB for awarding us Honor Fell travel al fragmentation as a mechanism for localised signalling and Wei Guo’s grants which allowed us to attend this ASCB-EMBO meeting. talk on the role of the exocyst in cell migration and tumour invasion. Hot topics at the 2019 meeting included phase separation, BioID (a screen Bethany Dean (MbyRes Student) and Lauren Adams (final year PhD for identifying protein-protein interactions) and atomic force microscopy. student) at the University of Exeter It was a great experience to listen to so many knowledgeable speakers and learn about emerging cell biology techniques and themes. As part of the annual meeting, the ASCB also offers a one-day Biotech course for graduate students and post-docs. The course was extremely insightful and informative and allowed us to learn about how the Biotech industry works. We went through case studies to understand how investment in Biotech works, heard from a panel of speakers in different industry positions, and had a workshop on how to tailor your CV and interview approaches for individual job adverts. In addition to the conference, we had the chance to explore some of Washington D.C. We visited Capitol Hill, the White House, the Wash- ington Monument and Lincoln memorial as well as Arlington National

27 14th ACTIN 2019 meeting 13 December 2019, Bristol MEETING REPORTS

The ACTIN meeting organised by Professor Harry Mellor sets the perfect stage for a day of informal talks and discussions by early ca- reer researchers. For many of us, this meeting marks the imminent end of the academic year and eases into the Christmas holidays.

Organised in the relaxing ambience of the Watershed complex at the cancer to explore how do the cancer cells utilise these structures to harbourside in Bristol, the meeting has longish coffee and lunch breaks interact with the surrounding matrix and eventually metastasise. The last allowing us to get immersed in the posters and discuss our work. Sched- talk of the first session came from Lotte de Winde from University College uled invariably on a Friday each year, this meeting enables attendees London presenting us with an answer to the dual, seemingly contradicto- from across the UK to explore Bristol during the weekend and also pivot ry functions of fibroblastic reticular cells (FRCs) in regulating lymph node to London for another one-day meeting the following Monday (Membrane expansion. She showed that the function of the protein podoplanin is Trafficking). We had about 150 attendees this year from diverse fields important for the functions of FRCs, and that the interaction with CLEC- employing a range of different approaches to understand the organisation 2, another protein on dendritic cells can switch the functions of it. of the actin cytoskeleton. We had insights from the development in flies After a short break but with a lot of exciting science chats, we’re back to studying intracellular pathogens hijacking cellular actin machinery, with session two of the day chaired by Sophie Acton. Opening this ses- across scales from understanding individual actin filament organisation sion was Evelyn Garlick from Birmingham talking about using single-par- to collective cell migration in cancer. The meeting sponsored by BSCB, ticle super-resolution microscopy to study the dynamics of membrane the Royal Microscopy society and amply supported by Lonza, Promen- receptor Adenosine-A2B. By using different methods of image analysis ga, Cytosmart, Thermo and Merck allowed for entire labs to attend and and processing, she showed us how these receptors interact with the exchange ideas. actin meshwork underneath the plasma membrane, and how they could The first session, chaired by Harry Mellor, started off with an amazing be confined by the actin filaments. Next we had Willow Hight-Warburton talk by Davide Carra from the Crick Institute. He described a new subset from King’s College London studying the effects of two Integrins alpha of the well-known actin nucleating complex Arp2/3 can be utilised by 4 and 9 on the collective migration of epithelial cells. She showed that cell to depolymerise actin filaments. The surprising results came from the these integrins localised to distinct locations on the cell membrane and observation that cells lacking a particular isoform of Arp3, when infected losing them led to morphological changes of migrating epithelial cells. with Vaccinia virus, produce longer comet tails – structures that is used And finally, we had Alexia Hervieu from the Bart Cancer Institute showing by the virus to move around. The next talk was by Megan Chastney from us how RAC1 can regulate cell migration and growth through Met-recep- the University of Manchester. By using the rising technique of Proximi- tor. ty-dependent Biotinylation in combination with proteomic and interac- After lunch we had the third session chaired by Brian Stramer. The tome analysis, she showed that the technique was able to recapitulate first talk in this session was from Anh Hoang Le from Prof. Machesky both the structures as well as discover many new interactors of the focal lab at the CRUK Beatsons Institute. Anh explained the role of the Rac adhesions. She aimed to take this finding into the context of pancreatic interactors, CYRI-A and CYRI-B isoforms in integrin trafficking and cancer

28 SECTIONMEETING HEADERREPORTS 29 Overall, the 2019 ACTIN meeting provided an exciting forum forOverall, the 2019 ACTIN focal adhesion turnover for invasive breast cancer cell migration, was for invasive breast cancer cell migration, focal adhesion turnover prize. awarded the best poster the full spectrum. Thepresenting actin biology-related research across this opportunity to express our appreciation to take authors would like for their invaluable contri- and gratitude to all the organizers and sponsors we would also like addition, butions to the organization of the meeting. In and the activeto thank all the attendee for their excellent presentations participation meeting. This is the one meeting in discussion during the biochemists, develop- that should not be missed by any cell biologists, rich and exciting biology ofmental biologists, or anyone interested in the Hope to see you in the next meeting! the actin cytoskeleton. Nan Keqian Anh Hoang Le, Ananthalakshmy Sundararaman, - In the final session of the meeting, chaired by Prof. Anne Ridley we Anne Ridley Prof. the meeting, chaired by In the final session of The poster sessions this year were held during each break with coffeeThe poster sessions this year were held during cell invasion and migration. Anh had some mesmerising videos and videos some mesmerising Anh had migration. and cell invasion was deservedly cell migration and images of cancer RMS awarded the Brian Hon-Man Sit, Anh, we had image prize. Following sponsored best roles of Cofilin in who showed us the novel lab at KCL, from Iskratsch from the Next up, Josiah Lutton at podosomes. mechanotransduction light sheet micros- the intricacies of explained Warwick University of use in identifyingcopy and its and quantifying in the macropinosomes Dictyostelium. the adhesion of cells to the extracellular matrix.had 3 talks focussed on lab at the University of Mona Nazemi, from Elena Rainero‘s had We as an how cancer cells internalise ECM proteins Sheffield who described during starvation.alternate source of energy Singh Next we had Sashi who described novel Institute Insall’s group at the Beatson’s from Robert phosphorylations cell adhesion elucidated in response to SCAR/WAVE gels. The phosphorylations on SDS PAGE through optimised low-bis and efficacy of migration in altered the complex recruitment SCAR/WAVE dispensable for activation and actin regulationcells but surprisingly was Prof. talk by Anantha Sundararaman from by the complex. The final of a less studied RhoGT Mellor group at Bristol demonstrated the role Pase, RhoJ in the regulation of endothelial fibronectin remodelling. She Pase, about the contradictoryspoke Cdc42 roles of RhoJ and its ancestral a competition for sharedprotein in regulating matrix remodelling through the BSCB sponsored bestdownstream substrates. The talk was awarded presentation prize. had more than 70 posters covering a diverse array of and snacks. We an opportunity The meeting itself provided for all attendees actin biology. and relaxed atmosphere.to present, discuss and collaborate in a friendly lab who is working on ECM-dependent Elena Rainero from Nan, Keqian Meetings in Lockdown – 2020

2020 was the year of online discussion for the BSCB community. Immediately following the national lockdown in late March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the BSCB were unfortunately obliged to postpone their annual meeting. Our one day events flourished, the move away from in-person meetings allowing much more of an international flavour to these meetings. The North of England Cell Biology meeting and the Cilia meeting were both extremely well attended and were a credit to the tenacity of the organisers.

Some of our meeting organisers saw the online format as an opportunity, inviting speakers globally. The Cilia meeting, for ex- ample, opened with a talk from a Japanese PhD student and had a much more international flavour than the BSCB one-day meetings would usually have had. It will be interesting to see which direction our one-day meetings take going forwards.

18th BSCB GenSoc UK Cilia Network e-symposium The rise of the virtual forum

Open to all, registration for each of these free events in advance was Despite several setbacks, buildings being closed and bench research required. The meeting was run under the ethos of the UK Cilia network effectively having to stop or slow down, our enterprising BSCB members – ‘sharing unpublished data from emerging talent favouring talks from were able to find new ways to collaborate, share ideas and promote students, post-docs and early career researchers’. scientific debate. The goal with this online event was provide an opportunity to support Many of our Postdoctoral members rose to the challenge that lock- our young researchers during social distancing, and to stimulate discus- down presented by providing new, exciting, international platforms for sion and feedback among our community. Talks where speakers agreed discussion in specialist disciplines. The webinars made the most of social were cloud-recorded and processed for 48 hours of on-demand viewing media platforms such as Youtube, Twitter and Slack to publicise events to available to registrants only. This was an excellent way of protecting our draw an international audience and promote debate. Previously, participa- ethos of sharing unpublished data whilst acknowledging the many com- tion in field-specific ‘clubs’ was often limited by geography, both in terms peting demands for our audience’s time – including childcare, teaching of who could attend and who could speak. The BSCB promoted Motors and time zones. in Quarantine, Cell Migration Seminars and Nucleus Science talks, all of which had excellent speaker line ups worthy of ‘big meetings’ such as our “The meeting had 100s of attendees at each sympo- annual BSCB conference. Aall content was recorded and available online, sium, and we were thrilled to this event continued to effectively democratising scientific debate and making our Cell Biology grow in popularity despite all the challenges 2020 has community more inclusive. given us.” A comprehensive list of webinars, virtual talks and events is hosted by https://www.cilialab.co.uk/ciliameetings the Node: https://thenode.biologists.com/list-of-virtual-talks-seminars-fo- rums/events

Some of the groups we have been promoting this year on our twitter feed are discussed below.

30 Motors in Quarantine Nucleus Science Talks

This is a weekly webinar series on Wednesdays at 16:00 UTC, organised This was one of the first online webinar / seminar series, starting in April by the Straube and Koster labs at Warwick University (UK). The format is 2020. The organisers are based in Paris, so talks are set at Central Eu- two 15 minute presentations plus 15 minutes Q&A. There is a ‘meet the ropean time. The resource comprises webinars and virtual meetings that speaker’ afterwards for a more informal chat and to ask questions in a are relevant to gene regulation. The Ttwitter feed is full of lively debate smaller group using a breakout room. and links to papers. There is a Slack channel for questions and discus- If the speakers agree to being recorded, the webinar is available on-de- sion by community members. mand for 48 hours after the live event. Speakers are selected from the The format has recently expanded to give an opportunity to early career sign-up form with the aim to balance gender, geography, career stages scientists to present their work through short, 20-minute talks. and topics. As well as weekly presentations online we also feature a The resource is curated by Dr Patricia Davidson, @patriciadavidso, Slack Space for community chat. previously a postdoc in the Cadot lab, and currently working on R&D at 4D Cell, and Dr Bruno Cadot, Centre of Research in Myology, Paris http://mechanochemistry.org/whatson/MiQ/#tab=up France. @cadotbru. Twitter: #MotorsInQuarantine https://generegulation.org/event/nucleus-science-talks @NucleusSciTalks

CRICK London Cell Motility Club symposium

The next CRICK London Cell Motility Club symposium will be again a virtual online symposium; please see https://cytoskeleton.wixsite.com/ londoncellmotility for more informaiton and the Zoom link

Thursday, 27 May 2021 14:00-17:00, (BST)

Cell Migration seminars: Invited Speaker: Xavier Trepat, IBEC, Barcelona, Spain Since May 2020, we have been running a once-a-week one hour seminar https://www.ibecbarcelona.eu/ on the topic of cell migration featuring the latest work from group leaders, integrative postdocs and PhD students from around the world. Seminars take place on Zoom and YouTube Live. Title: “Collective cell migration in Register online to receive weekly seminar information including links intestinal organoids” to attend live. Zoom is in the email for those registered. These interesting talks were organised and curated by Adam Shellard, Jennifer Mitchell If you are a PhD student or Postdoc and have an interesting story, and Becky Jones who are Postdocs and a PhD student in the Mayor, please fill in this short form with a title and short abstract by April 29th, Fredburg and Patel labs UCL, London. 2021, Thursday midnight (deadline) to be selected for one of the 3 short talks or one of the 5 flash talks. https://www.cellmigrationseminars.com/ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQI0OwJIn8TdvM0_z_HCLrw/live https://forms.office.com/r/GpHKZiRMJg Twitter @CellMigration

Schedule for virtual half day symposium:

14:00-14:45 Keynote talk: Xavier Trepat, IBEC, Barcelona, Spain 14:45-15:05 Discussion over BYO coffee 15:05-15:15 Short break 15:15-15:45 Flash talks: 5 Flash talks by PhD students and Postdocs each 3 slides in 5 min 15:45-16:00 “Coffee break” with 5 parallel breakout rooms for discussions on these Flash talks 16:00-16:45 Three short talks (12 min) by PhD students and Postdocs 16:45-17:00 “Wine and beer happy hour - BYO” with 3 parallel AutophagyUK Network breakout rooms for discussions on these talks

To fill the gap in the Autophagy UK network activity caused by the delay of the annual meeting to 2021, a webinar series covering a range of Image above: Breast cancer cells attached to a surface rich in collagen. The actin topics relevant to network members began in October 2020. The first cytoskeleton can be seen in green, coated with active myosin (ppMLC) in red, and the cell-cell junctions (E-cadherin) in blue. talk was by aJon Lane, University of Bristol, and has been followed by national and international speakers weekly. https://autophagy-uk.com/2020/09/29/348/ Twitter @autophagyuk

31 Summer studentships

SUMMER STUDENTS Are the top 5 candidates from a DUB siRNA library screen of TEAD4 expression linked to TEAD4 or Hippo signalling?

I applied for the BSCB scholarship to financially support me during my summer studentship programme. This funding was intended to help cover my travel costs from Manchester (where I live and study) to the research lab at the University of Liverpool. However everything changed because of Covid, so instead the funding was vital to help me obtain better technology and software necessary for a bioinformatics project. After doing a cell signalling module at university, I decided that I wanted to further explore signalling inside a cell, and in particular how this is dysregulated in cancer. The lab I chose to work with is research- ing the role of deubiquitinases (DUBs) in signalling pathways, and their expression in various types of cancer. This was an opportunity not only to expanded my knowledge of cell signalling, but also to see how the application of scientific findings at a molecular level can reveal poten- tial targets for cancer therapeutics. I had not previously met Prof Judy Coulson, who supervised my project together with Oliver Busby and Dr Francesca Querques from her lab. My research question was ‘Are the top 5 candidates from a DUB siRNA library screen of TEAD4 expression linked to TEAD4 or Hippo signalling?’ Although we had previously planned for a lab-based project, I found that the related bioinformatics-based research I did instead was equally interesting. I was able to investigate each of the 5 selected DUBs and their potential role in TEAD4 or Hippo signalling through looking at already known interactors (using BioGrid), their cellular localisation rela- tive to TEAD4, and their genetic status and protein expression in cancer using cBioPortal (TCGA data) and UALCAN (CPTAC data), respectively. Hippo signalling. I will keep in touch with the lab to see if my predictions I enjoyed exploring databases which I had not yet used during my hold true in future experiments! university experience. As a biochemist, I enjoyed using BioGrid as I could Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the labs in Liverpool were closed to see the potential interactors of the selected DUBs, through protein-protein undergraduates and I was living in an area where local lockdown meas- interactions. In addition, the final part of my project involved using pro- ures were still in place, so our research project changed from an in-lab teomics-based pan-cancer subtyping (UALCAN) in relation to the Ovarian based experience to a bioinformatic project. Although this meant that all Tumour-related proteases (OTU) family of DUBs. This was particularly contact between myself and the lab team was only online, through email, interesting as an alternative method of testing the involvement of DUBs in Zoom and Microsoft Teams, this worked effectively. I was even able to cancer, through viewing each subtype as a particular molecular signature, give a powerpoint presentation summarising my findings to the research rather than a cancer type. It highlighted potential DUBs that we had not group in an online lab meeting. yet considered as having a role in Hippo signalling. I will now be going into Year 3 of my undergraduate degree at the One of the main problems I faced whilst compiling information was the University of Manchester and, knowing that I have a particular interest lack of protein data existing for some less abundant DUBs. This prevent- in cellular physiology and signalling, my Year 3 modules will be directed ed me from mapping the pan cancer subtypes of every member of the towards such areas of research. This BSCB funding has enabled me to OTU DUB family, and I could not explore the relationship between protein take part in a research experience that I would have otherwise struggled expression of TEAD4 and certain candidate DUBs from the siRNA library to fund due to living in a low income household. I am grateful that I was screen. Despite this, the research project was overall highly effective, able to have the opportunity to not only explore areas of research I was uncovering that the two top DUB candidates interact with components interested in, but also reveal ‘bioinformatics’ as a post graduate research of Hippo signalling (YAP1 and MOB4) and show a positive correlation field I had not yet considered. Once I complete my undergraduate stud- with TEAD4 in Head and Neck cancer. Using pan cancer subtyping, we ies, I plan to apply for post-graduate research courses. also found that two OTU DUBs were highly statistically associated with pan-cancer subtypes exhibiting overexpression of YAP target genes. This Emily Edwards research therefore revealed new potential novel regulators of TEAD4/

32 SUMMER STUDENTS Hijacking of membrane contact sites by intracellular pathogens

earlier-branching species to identify any homology. I additionally did the same for four genes that are regarded essential for peroxisomal presence: PEX3, PEX10, PEX12 and PEX19, but of ten fungal species, as the closer relatives of Microsporidia than Homo sapiens. Using the results, I created BioRender “pathway maps” for non-microsporidian species (per- oxisomes present), Microsporidia in general, and M. daphniae. The latter appears to have peroxisomes, meaning it and earlier-branching species would likely not require contact sites for material uptake, whilst other species might. The maps are preliminary: the data cannot be experimen- tally tested, which is an aspect I wish were different. Another is time: we did not have enough for me to analyse electron-micrographs(EM) for potential microsporidian peroxisomes. My journey as an intern was well-planned: it consisted of daily discus- sions with my supervisors, which helped to create a daily plan based on previously done work. It also included workshops given by researchers with expertise (ImageJ, BioRender, R, EM analysis), further accentuating A penultimate Biological Sciences student with the intent of going into our successful adaptation to remote research – given the inability to gain cellular research, last spring I was searching for an internship opportunity. research skills in the lab. This internship also allowed me to be a part of I wanted to gain more experience and further develop the organisational the project design: we modified the plan throughout, and it was invalua- and problem-solving skills I obtained during my third-year research pro- ble to experience the student-to-researcher transition, even for a month. I ject that focused on analysing the prevalence of Microsporidia in selected enhanced both interpersonal, like team working and communication, and host samples. Microsporidia are intracellular parasites that infect some scientific skills, which I can apply in future research projects that I hope protists and almost all animal phyla. The project supervisor, Dr Williams, to undertake, especially next year’s master’s project on infectious disease. does research on their adaptation to the host environment. Through dis- I am grateful to have had the opportunity to do research in the current cussion, we aimed to collaborate with Dr Joseph Costello, a member of situation with the COVID-19 pandemic. When I started, I had not been the British Society of Cell Biology, and whose research involves organelle home or seen my family for five months. The internship during this interactions and their impact on cellular signalling. I found the BSCB turbulent time and uncertainty gave me an opportunity to not only learn internship perfect, for it involved both my interest in cellular biology and a new things, but to do something meaningful in a time when few things professional experience in a team of experts. seemed so. The team and our work inspired me and made me think The research aims were encompassed by the title “Hijacking of about the kind of scientist I want to be. I would like to continue on the membrane contact sites by intracellular pathogens”. Research suggests path of doing cellular biological research in the form of a PhD – the that protein interactions between nearly all organelles allow material internship helped me understand that, to work on a project for longer exchange, vital for organellar function. Some intracellular pathogens, like periods of time (such as multiple years), one naturally needs to have a Chlamydia species, were observed to hijack these mechanisms and ob- strong interest in the project, and also a professional and supportive team tain host lipids. Microsporidia do not have peroxisomes, so my research of researchers. question was whether they use membrane contact sites between Endo- The summer funding was important as I usually have part-time jobs to plasmic Reticulum and peroxisomes to obtain host peroxisomal material. sustain myself during the studies, and in the COVID-19 context they were Since microsporidian organellar biology is not well-described, the project all gone. Most of the funding and scholarships in universities that I came involved the investigation of the peroxisomal loss in them. The project across required the student to be a British or European resident, so the partly focused on peroxisomal machinery traces in the “transitionary” funded nature of the BSCB internship was very helpful for me, a Kyrgyz form of Microsporidia, Mitosporidium daphniae. Republic citizen. As the internship was paid, I had a certain “psychologi- Firstly, I screened the literature for any evidence of peroxisomes, then cal safety” and didn’t worry about the financial aspect of my well-being; I made genomic comparisons using alignment/search tools and Excel. A was working comfortably and confidently throughout. All things consid- discovery I made was BBEdit, a useful tool for comparing the relatively ered, I really enjoyed the process and hope to follow the future progress conserved peroxisomal targeting sequence 1 motifs. I then“Blasted” of the research we initiated with this internship. human peroxisomal proteins (www.peroxisomeDB.org) against Cryp- tococcus neoformans, four microsporidian species of choice and three Anna Maria

33 Investigating the Proteome of TNF-α Treated Endothelial Cells

SUMMER STUDENTS We were asked to submit a photo of us in the lab but because of COVID I spent the whole summer studentship at my desk. I thought it would be nice to represent via a drawing what working during lockdown was like for me.

I first started looking for an internship in January during my second year comparing different proteomes in Excel, I also spent time investigating of a BSc Biochemistry course at the University of Birmingham. I contact- ways to graphically represent our data, focusing especially on R Studio ed Professor Harry Mellor at Bristol University and he was kind enough and Cytoscape. It was this aspect of the project that I enjoyed far more to help me apply for the BSCB summer studentship. Although the initial than I initially expected – it was very rewarding, and there was always arrangement was to complete a wet lab project, as 2020 progressed it an undercurrent of excitement that everything I was looking at was entire- soon became apparent that the project would have to be adapted in order ly new and I just had to find a way to make sense of it! to be undertaken remotely. During the internship, I worked in a team alongside Maimounah al The project’s area of research was senescence of vascular endothe- Mahrizi, a PhD student, and Hanah Batholomew, a Masters student. lial cells, with experiments focusing on how the secreted proteome of Despite spending the entire internship working from home in my room, endothelial cells changed after treatment with TNF-a. I joined the project I felt connected to the project and the people I worked with. This was at quite an early stage – they had two sets of data from cells had been thanks to weekly 1-to-1 Zoom meetings with my supervisor, as well treated with TNF-a for two days, as well as controls. To me that initially as additional meetings each week with the whole team and a separate didn’t sound like a lot, but I realised how much information that was group chat with Mai and Hanah. These methods of communication when I saw the spreadsheet containing the mass spectrometry results! helped me easily to engage with the project right from the very start and The studentship ended up focusing heavily on data analysis, something meant that I didn’t feel lost at any point during the internship. I’d not spent as much time doing in the past, and the majority of the time As a conclusion to the project, I wrote up my findings for my supervi- was spent comparing our two-day TNF-a proteome to other senescence sor and had a final debrief over Zoom. Additionally, during the summer proteomes in literature. Professor Mellor offered me the chance to visit the lab for a few days There were several questions we wanted to answer – how was our during the Christmas holidays (if the coronavirus situation improves) to two-day TNF-a endothelial secreted proteome similar to senescence run experiments on proteins identified as potential senescence markers. proteomes in literature and were there any proteins that were consistently Hopefully, I will have a chance to see first hand the experiments behind overexpressed? Are the differences found between proteomes unique the data I’ve spent the summer analysing! to endothelial cells, or to cells treated with TNF-a? And how does the The eight weeks passed quickly. Not only has this studentship allowed proteome of endothelial cells treated with TNF-a change with short term me to explore an area of Biochemistry I hadn’t covered yet at university, and long term exposure? it more importantly gave me the experience of being part of a research We hoped that through working to answer these questions we would group and helped me develop my confidence in working on my own and gain a greater understanding of the pathways involved at different stages as part of a team. It has also further emphasised my desire to further my of the aging of vascular endothelial cells, as well as finding potential studies in Biochemistry and to pursue a career in research. biological markers for this process that could be investigated further. Al- I am extremely grateful to the BSCB and Harry Mellor for supporting though after eight weeks we only had the start of some answers, I really me during this internship – without them both I would never have been loved being part of the process. able to have this experience. Thank you also to Mai and Hanah who were Whilst working on the project I enjoyed learning more about how to lovely and helped me feel part of the lab despite being unable to visit it extract and analyse information from large datasets. Spending time on in person. this allowed me to identify errors in a literature data set we were using, which had a large effect on our protein comparisons. As well as Anna Rooth

34 SUMMER STUDENTS Effects of Phosphoinositide 3-Kinase (PI3K) Signalling on Microtubule Dynamics

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic and uncertainty about the post-pandemic in mammalian cells [3] and even small changes in dynamics might have future, receiving an 8-week Undergraduate Summer Studentship from considerable global effects. Surprisingly, inhibiting the pathway showed the BSCB to work with Dr. Elina Vladimirou at the University College the same trend however this might be attributed to a previously reported London (UCL) Cancer Institute was a unique opportunity to strengthen time-dependent re-activation of the pathway. We next focused on under- my scientific training. standing the effects of PI3K signalling on the spatial cellular distribution In my second year as a BSc Biochemistry student at UCL, triggered by of microtubule tracks from within single cells. PI3K is known to act at the interdisciplinary research conducted in the Chromosomal Instability the leading edge of migrating cells stabilising microtubule dynamics Research Group, I contacted Dr. Vladimirou expressing my wish to gain [4]. We found no relationship between microtubule dynamics and their experience in the imaging techniques used in the lab to study chromo- position within the cell. This could, nonetheless, be attributed to the fact some abnormalities in cancer. Alongside a Ph.D. student, Katie Dale, I that HeLa cells have indistinguishable leading and trailing edges. We started to acquire hands-on experience in live-cell imaging and widefield established an RPE1 cell line stably expressing EB1-GPF and our pre- microscopy while working on chromosome missegregation, centrosome liminary experiments suggest that activated PI3K signalling results in a amplification and spindle polarity. These projects raised my interest in larger number of polymerized microtubules, a greater proportion of which the mechanistic regulation of mitosis and its deregulation in cancer, and, concentrate at the leading edge. We are in the process of repeating these given that PI3K signalling is frequently altered in cancer and a therapeu- experiments imaging single cells at higher magnification using different tic target, I was keen on spending my summer answering a key question: drug concentrations. what are the effects of PI3K signalling on microtubule dynamics? We Although I have thoroughly enjoyed working on a dry-lab project at knew that the BSCB was the perfect ally to support this cell biological the interface of microtubule biology and cell signalling, I missed being project, since, albeit many mechanisms have been put forward to explain in the lab to acquire new data especially after getting results and posing the promotion of tumourigenesis by the amplification of PIK3CA – encod- new hypotheses, including imaging single interphase and mitotic cells ing the p110α catalytic subunit of the class I PI3K enzyme – the effects and being able to investigate chromosome dynamics in response to PI3K of oncogenic PI3K signalling on microtubule growth dynamics remain signalling. When preparing the application, we were aware of possible elusive [1]. COVID-19 access restrictions in August and September, yet upon receiv- To answer this question, we activated and inhibited the PI3K signalling ing the news that I had been awarded the Studentship, I looked forward pathway in HeLa cells stably expressing EB3-eGFP, a microtubule polym- to carrying out a mixed wet-dry project. The initial disappointment was, erisation marker. Fields of interphase cells were imaged for 50 seconds in however, rapidly replaced with enthusiasm about the critical thinking 2D at a rate of one frame per 500 milliseconds using scanning disk con- towards the literature and useful computational skills I have indeed focal microscopy. The MATLAB-based package u-track was used for mi- developed. I am now back in the lab and I am excited about obtaining crotubule plus-end tracking and quantification of the microtubule tracks new results. from each field. In order to extract positional information of microtubule As I progress into the third year, I feel prepared for a Ph.D. and hope dynamics from single cells, images of single cells were cropped from the to keep learning about microtubule bulk populations using ImageJ. Custom-built MATLAB programs were dynamics and the implications of used to determine the growth speed and lifetime of microtubule tracks. aberrant PI3K signalling on mitosis. According to the classification adopted in previous work by Nishimura et I am thankful to the BSCB, Dr. al [2], individual tracks were classified as either slow (speed < threshold) Elina Vladimirou, Katie Dale and Dr. or fast (speed > threshold), and short- (lifetime < threshold) or long-lived Jonathan Armond for the opportunity (lifetime > threshold), based on how their speed and lifetime compared and support. with the respective thresholds, which were defined as the mean value of the corresponding control groups. Maria Carreira Activating the PI3K signalling increased the mean growth speed and reduced the mean growth lifetime of microtubules. The changes were sig- nificant but small in magnitude, however, there are thousands of tracks

35 SUMMER STUDENTS

Mitochondrial trafficking and function in ageing dorsal root ganglion neurons

Last spring, I contacted Dr Alessio Vagnoni of the Department of Basic dataset consisted of two channels, one recording the Fluo-4 dye that and Clinical Neuroscience at King’s College London with the intention of binds to cytoplasmic Ca2+, while the other visualizing the mitochondrial carrying out a wet lab project in his laboratory over the summer. Dr Vag- Ca2+-binding Rhod-2 dye. Upon application of 50mM KCL solution, noni’s lab had done extensive characterization of mitochondrial function the cells depolarized and the somas’ and processes’ response in the two and trafficking in ageing sensory neurons in Drosophila and mice, and channels was measured as relative increase/decrease of fluorescence over worked in an area of neuronal cell biology that I found very intriguing. time (fold change) and the time it took for them to reach peak fluores- Unfortunately, the spreading of SARS-CoV-2 and subsequent lockdown cence (lag time). Statistically significant difference was seen between of numerous countries prevented a wet lab project to materialise, so in- fold changes of Fluo-4 and Rhod-2 in the soma of young DRG neurons stead, Dr Vagnoni offered me an in silico data quantification and analysis (higher Fluo-4 compared to Rhod-2), whereas old cell bodies had similar project. Their lab had obtained large amounts of yet unquantified data on fold changes. The vastly different recorded lag times in cytoplasmic vs mitochondrial trafficking, Ca2+ buffering and membrane potential from mitochondrial response (i.e. Ca2+ signal peaks earlier in the cytoplasm) cell cultures of mouse dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neurons that needed in the same populations was expected due to the well-established chron- to be analysed for an upcoming manuscript. I researched numerous ological order of events in neuronal Ca2+ influx and subsequent mito- summer studentship grants for undergraduates, but the BSCB Summer chondrial sequestering. However, in old cell bodies, both the cytoplasmic Studentship was the clear choice since Dr Vagnoni has been a BSCB and mitochondrial lag times were substantially longer than in young DRG member and the studentship also offered a generous stipend that is of somas. tremendous help in a pandemic-riddled world. In retrospect, the project was an overwhelmingly positive experience, During the project I quantified two different datasets using the imaging as it helped me acquire invaluable skills in cell biological data quan- software Fiji/ImageJ and analysed the results obtained via Excel and tification and analysis. Dr Vagnoni and I had numerous conversations GraphPad Prism. During the first five weeks I investigated mitochondrial throughout the project that made me feel welcome in their lab and trafficking in the axons of mouse DRG neurons as described in the project helped me understand the biological basis of the data as well as the po- proposal. Straightened axonal segments were used to create kymographs tential results. Although on occasion I felt frustrated with the monotonous that represented mitochondrial motile behaviour. Data on total number of workflow and was tired of looking at a computer screen throughout the stationary, as well as moving mitochondria (in anterograde, retrograde or day for weeks on end, it was certainly a very productive and useful way bidirectional fashion) was acquired along with the organelles’ run lengths to spend my summer. I had the opportunity to have an inside look into and transport velocity. Statistically significant results indicated that DRG cutting-edge research and to realise that the in silico aspect of science is neurons from young mice had a higher percentage of anterogradely mov- just as important as the usually more interesting wet-lab side of it. The ing mitochondria compared to the cells from old animals, despite very experience I gained will not only help me in my 3rd year thesis project, similar retrogradely moving and stationary numbers in the two groups. but will also prove to be a key component of my master’s and PhD Additionally, anterogradely moving mitochondria in young cells had longer applications in the field of molecular and cellular neuroscience. Moreover, run lengths than those in their older counterparts. Interestingly however, the BSCB grant will certainly elevate the level of my CV and show my velocities in any directionality did not seem to be affected by ageing. ambition and dedication in pursuing a career in science that could be a The last three weeks of the studentship consisted of quantification of deciding factor in getting the positions I aspire for. fluorescent signal from dyes that specifically report on the abundance of cytoplasmic and mitochondrial Ca2+. The time-lapse movies in this István Darabán

36 SECTIONSUMMER HEADERSTUDENTS 37 Pereira, G., T.U. Tanaka, K. Nasmyth, and E. Schiebel. 2001. Modes of spindle K. Nasmyth, and E. Schiebel. 2001. Tanaka, G., T.U. Pereira, pole body inheritance and segregation of the Bfa1p-Bub2p checkpoint protein EMBO J. 20:6359-6370. doi: 10.1093/emboj/20.22.6359. complex. Geymonat, M., and M. Segal. 2017. Intrinsic and Extrinsic Determinants Linking and Asymmetric Cell Division in the Budding Spindle Polarity, Fate, Spindle Pole 61:49-82. doi: 10.1007/978-3- Cell. Differ. Probl. S. cerevisiae. Results Yeast 319-53150-2_3. ten Hoopen, and M. Z. Guo, R. E. Tunnacliffe, Twyman, Juanes, M.A., H. Segal. 2013. Spindle pole body history intrinsically links pole identity with Biol. 23:1310-1319. doi: 10.1016/j. asymmetric fate in budding yeast. Curr. cub.2013.05.057. Analysis of and S.L. Jaspersen. 2018. Functional B.D. Slaughter, Unruh, J.R., Using Fluctuation Spectroscopy and Super-Resolution LINC Complex the Yeast Imaging. Methods Mol. Biol. 1840:137-161. doi: 10.1007/978-1-4939-8691- 0_12. Jaspersen, S.L., and M. Z., Unruh, J.R., Q., Guo, Z., Yu, Geymonat, M., Peng, Segal. 2020. Orderly assembly underpinning built-in asymmetryyeast in the centrosome duplication cycle requires cyclin-dependent kinase. Elife 9:e59222. doi: 10.7554/eLife.59222. My analysis revealed that in the mutant impaired for S-phase CDKMy analysis revealed that in the mutant impaired studentship scheme for making to thank the BSCB summer I’d like References 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. software developed conjunction with custom plugins and macros FIJI in by our colleagues to perform(4). I also ex- 3-D SIM quantitative analysis gain a better understanding of the broader contextplored the literature to that to analyse various cell cycle mutants of my project. I then proceeded - fluorescently tagged proteins: a reference com expressed two different and a query or Tub4 either Spc72 protein, ponent fused to mTurquoise2 of these query Both proteins(yeast gamma tubulin), fused to Venus. and new SPBs in wild typeshowed asymmetric marking between the old how inactivation of CDK turned Spc72 question was then cells. The key label increased allowingsymmetric in quantitative terms — e.g. was total label shared between SPBsfor excess recruitment at the new SPB or was without overall increase? to that measured in wild type Spc72 total label was comparable activity, with intensities thereforecells, but marking of SPBs was more even, This observationintermediate to those found in wild type cells. suggests between the two SPBs.that CDK may normally restrict Spc72 mobility These findings support proposed based on biochemical a model recently Spc72 bias by increasingdata (5) stating that CDK effectively enforces Spc72 affinity toward the SPBold. of the Segal lab forthis project possible, as well as Marisa and members supportivededicating the time to teach me and being as and welcoming difficulties associated withas possible despite Covid-19 situation and the carrying out a remote project. Megan Hardy Department of Genetics, University of Cambridge -

In one of my second year courses, Dr Segal ran a practical class in- In one of my second year courses, Dr Segal ran yeast) is a unique model to seekSaccharomyces cerevisiae (bakers’ My project involved implementing two-color structured illumination I am just beginning my third year of an undergraduate degree in NaturalI am just beginning my Sciences (Biochemistry) University of Cambridge. I have thor at the

analysis of SPB maturation by SIM by maturation of SPB analysis a career in to pursue so far and am keen oughly enjoyed my studies wanted to experience what embarking on researchacademic research, so a BSCB Summer I was therefore excited to be awarded first-hand. is like Marisa Segal’s with Dr. a project to undertake Studentship, allowing me group in the Genetics Departmentthe University of Cambridge. at mutants. Learningvolving imaging analysis of different yeast cytoskeletal tractability andabout yeast allowed me to appreciate their experimental importance interest to gain practical experi- as a model, prompting my the ordered sequence ofence on the yeast cell cycle. The cell cycle is with its control mechanismsevents underlying accurate cell duplication, defective cell cycle highly conserved Importantly, throughout evolution. applied for the We control can disrupt development or promote cancer. funding with both wet lab and dry though I very projects in mind, and promise for blendingmuch hoped to do the wet lab project with its forced me to undertake the Covid-19 situation genetics and biochemistry, from home. This posed a number of significant the dry project remotely, with online communica- challenges, from wifi problems and difficulties group without steppingtions to the disappointment of joining a research fulfilling and enjoyable. in the lab. Despite this, I still found the process in a cell dividingintegrative understanding of fundamental controls among others, to stem cells. which are also applicable, asymmetrically, One important linking spindle orientation with cell aspect is the program pole body (SPB; the yeast This centres on the yeast spindle polarity. duplicates conservativelyequivalent of the animal centrosome), which from the previous celland is then asymmetrically inherited — the SPB cycle (SPBold) is practically always targeted to the bud cell (1). Although we know that intrinsic and extrinsic asymmetries are involved (2), wheth- er SPB asymmetry by the cell cycle control core machinery is governed remains mysterious. The SPB, while rooted in the nuclear envelope, from its nuclear and cy- organises spindle and astral microtubules (aMTs) are critical determinants for SPB The aMTs toplasmic faces, respectively. Spc72, the cytoplas- protein importantasymmetric fate. One to my study, mic receptor for the gamma-tubulin complex, may link SPB history (old vs new) and fate by favouring the SPBold (3). Spc72 bias promotes pref- erential targeting of SPBold to the incipient bud cortex by aMT capture. cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) has been implicated in More recently, Indeed, disruption of S-phase CDK (otherwise consisting SPB asymmetry. of Cdc28-Clb5) abrogated both Spc72 and gamma tubulin complex which decouples SPB history and fate. asymmetry, using images pre- microscopy with single-particle averaging (SPA-SIM) during her sabbatical leave in Sue Jaspers- Segal viously acquired by Dr. laboratory to quantifyen’s at the Stowers Institute for Medical Research Spc72 bias imparted by CDK. The project began with a short training pe- Segal’s supervision to recognize the landmark events along riod under Dr. used the the spindle pathway and learn how to process SIM images. We Spindle pole body intrinsic asymmetry – quantitative asymmetry body intrinsic pole Spindle 38 SUMMERSECTION STUDENTS HEADER eses on the role of kinesins during transport and to model how changes andtomodelhowchanges eses ontheroleofkinesinsduringtransport data.Thishelpedbuildhypoth- side analysisofthemassspectrometry etc.)along- trafficking systems(melanosome,synapticvesicletransport new novelregulatorsinvolvedinmicrotubuledependentWPBtransport. changedduringexocytosisandtoidentify ment ofcandidatemachinery datatodeterminehowtheenrich- analysis ofexistingmassspectrometry As aresult,contingencyplanwasdrawnupandinsteadIcarriedout outwetlabprojects. pandemic,wewereunabletocarry the COVID-19 WPB. However, given thecircumstancesandunpredictablenatureof fortheregulatedexocytosisof determine whichofthesewerenecessary Myinitialprojectwasthereforeto fortransport. molecules necessary following endothelialstimulation, andhaveidentifiedcandidatekinesin ofWPBsatrestand teomics todeterminetheproteinsnearsurface WPB arecurrentlyunknown. andthatregulatethemovementof the moleculesthatarenecessary term anterogrademovementsaremicrotubuledependant3,4.However, number ofinteractionswithactinandmicrotubules.Themajoritylong- the cellduringformation, maturationandexocytosisisknowntorelyona tigate novelregulatorsofVWFsecretion. ThemovementofWPBaround to unfurlintoproteinstringsthatformsitesforplateletattachment1. tosed, releasetheircontentintothevasculatureallowingtubulesofVWF tein Von Willebrand Factor (VWF).Uponstimulation, WPBareexocy- contentprotein,most important intermsofhaemostasis,istheglycopro proteins.The Bodies (WPB)thatcontainpre-made,pro-haemostatic cells containspecialisedrodshapedorganellesknownasWeibel Palade andinflammation. Endothelial and microvascularresearchduringinjury this project. toworkon Institute whowaskindenoughtograntmethisopportunity how IcameacrossDr. Tom Research NightingaleattheWilliam Harvey year. Therefore,Idecidedtolookforasummerprojectinthisfield.Thisis duringmyintercalatedyearthird eager topursueitfurther keen interestinthefieldofcellanddevelopmentalbiologyIwas a protocols. Throughthefirsttwoyearsofmydegree,Ihaddeveloped niques andtobroadenmyknowledgeofmolecularbiologylaboratory skills,Ihopedtobeabledevelopthesetech- some basiclaboratory a researchlaboratory. Throughmycourse,Ihavebeenexcitedtolearn of field ofscientificresearchandtogetanunderstandingtheworkings As asecond-yearmedicalstudentatUCL,Iwaseagertoexplorethe Motor controlofVWFsecretion I made use of what was known of kinesin function in other organelle I madeuseofwhatwasknownkinesinfunctioninotherorganelle The Nightingalelabhadpreviouslycarriedoutproximitylabellingpro enoughtobeinvolvedinwasinves- The projectthatIwasfortunate The workattheNightingalelabfocussesonendothelialcellbiology - - weeks doingthisproject. tospend6 to thanktheBSCBforgivingmethisamazingopportunity and knowledgethatIhavegainedoverthese6weeks.wouldalsolike different methodsofanalysis.Iwillforeverbegratefulforthisexperience patientlyexplainingdifferentconceptsandteachingmeabout for very toworkwithhim,butalso preciousopportunity only givingmethisvery I wouldlike togivemysincerestthanksDr. Tom Nightingalefornot data willhopefullyhelpmegetalabprojectinthefuture.Inconclusion, my experiencedoingaremoteprojectandanalysingmassspectrometry to getanywetlabexperience,Iwillcontinuelookforpracticalwork, tedious andthatit’snotalwaysnecessarilyglamorous.AsIwasunable datahastaughtmethatscientificresearchcanbeextremely trometry and VWFsecretionassaystotestthesehypotheses. out experimentssuchassiRNAdepletion, ELISA,immunofluorescence genes thatencodesomeoftheproteinsIhaveidentifiedandcarry might relatetoexocytosis.Future workwouldbetodesignprimersfor tional proteinsetc.andallowedustopredicthowothercellularfunctions endothelial proteinsandstructuresincludingadhesionmolecules,junc- means ofregulation. allowed analysisofthepotentialfunctiontheseproteinsandastotheir adaptor proteinsandkinases.Thedatasetswithwithoutstimulation key proteins.Newcandidatesincludedmicrotubuleassociatedproteins, basedonP-values likelyidentifying machinery andthefoldchangesof knownkinesininteractors,excludingand used stringanalysistoidentify in theirfunctionmightbereflectedaschangesproteinlevel.Ialso 4. 3. 2. 1. References Having been given the hands-on opportunity toanalysemassspec- opportunity Having beengiventhehands-on Some ofthenewlyidentifiedproteinswerealsoassociatedwithother 1371-82 (2011). regulate acutevon-Willebrand factorreleasefromendothelialcells.Traffic 12, Rojo Pulido, I.etal.MyosinVa withRab27aandMyRIPto actsinconcert endothelial cells.Blood113,5010-8(2009). and MyRIPregulatetheamountmultimericstateofVWFreleasedfrom Nightingale, T.D., Pattni, K.,Hume,A.N.,Seabra,M.C.&Cutler, D.F. Rab27a (2007). provides insightsintoWeibel-Palade bodybiogenesis.JCellSci120,2117-25 Zenner, H.L., Collinson,L.M.,Michaux,G.&Cutler, D.F. High-pressurefreezing Formation andfunctionofWeibel-Palade bodies.JCellSci121,19-27(2008). Metcalf, D.J.,Nightingale,T.D., Zenner, H.L., Lui-Roberts, W.W. &Cutler, D.F. Society Business

BSCB funding to support members throughout their careers Two joint officers support the BSCB’s Company of Biologists’ support funds for members’ conference travel and career development. Folma Buss and Sharon Tooze came on board in summer 2019. The BSCB Honor Fell and Support Grants schemes continue to be popular and we ask that applications are uploaded at least 6 weeks ahead of time to allow for assessment and transfer of funds to successful applicants. We expect all successful applicants to acknowledge BSCB funding using our logos found on our website. We have recently updated our process for ap- plying for all BSCB Travel awards to use an online portal which is part of the BSCB Members area. All funding applications from July 2019 should be uploaded in PDFf format to the application portal found at bscb.org/ members-login/

Honor Fell Travel Awards, sSponsored by the Company of Biologists provide financial support for BSCB members at the beginning of their research careers to attend meetings and courses. Applications are con- sidered for any meeting or course relevant to cell biology. The amount of the award depends on the location of the meeting or course. Awards will be up to £400 for travel within the UK (except for BSCB Spring Meeting for which the full registration and accommodation costs will be made), up to £500 for travel within European and up to £750 for meetings and courses in the rest of the world. The application form and more information about the scheme are available at https://bscb.org/competitions-awardsgrants/travel-bursaries/ honor-fell-company-of-biologists-travel-awards/

Company of Biologists Support Grants are available for independent group leaders/PIs with no current funds for travel to attend meetings, conferences, workshops, practical courses, PI laboratory management courses and courses to re-train. For more information and to apply please see https://bscb.org/competitions-awardsgrants/cob-support-grants/

Childcare Award: The BSCB now accepts applications to provide financial help with childcare or care for dependents when the applicant is presenting at a scientific meeting. All claims will require approval with appropriate receipts. You will be notified within 2–3 weeks of the outcome. For example, these claims can be for:

• Home-based childcare/dependent care expenses incurred because of meeting attendance (funds may not be applied to normal ongoing expenses). • Travel of a relative or other care provider to your home to care for your child(ren) or dependent while attending a meeting. • Travel of a care provider to the meeting with you to care for your child(ren)

For more information and to apply please see: https://bscb.org/competi- tions-awardsgrants/travel-bursaries/childcare-award/

The closing date for entries to the 2021 Competetions: 30 June 2021.

39 The British Society for Cell Biology Statement of Financial Activities for the Year to 31 December 2019

Unrestricted Restricted Total 2019 Unrestricted Restricted Total 2018 Funds Funds Funds Funds

Income from: £ £ £ £ £ £ Grants 35,000 62,500 97,500 35,000 62,500 97,500 Investments 8,932 – 8,932 2,389 – 2,389

Charitable activities Meetings 759 – 759 – – - Subscriptions 32,389 – 32,389 33,425 – 33,425

Total income 70,537 62,500 133,037 77,357 62,500 139,857

Expenditure on:

Charitable activities

Grants payable: CoB – 63,663 63,663 – 68,274 68,274 Other grants – – – 3,099 - 3,099

Studentships 17,600 – 17,600 17,100 – 17,100 Costs of meetings 18,697 – 18,697 10,808 – 10,808 Website expenses 690 – 690 2,429 – 2,429 Newsletter costs 3,493 – 3,493 - – - Membership fulfilment services 14,933 – 14,933 16,365 – 16,365 Executive Committee expenses 1,923 – 1,923 3,352 – 3,352 Examiner’s remuneration 2,707 – 2,707 2,644 – 2,644 Miscellaneous 2,286 – 2,286 915 – 915 Subscriptions 2,896 – 2,896 2,299 – 2,299 Insurance 1,114 – 1,114 1,114 – 1,114

Total expenditure 66,339 63,663 130,002 60,125 68,274 128,399

Net (expenditure)/income 4,198 (1,163) 3,035 17,232 (5,774) 11,458

Transfer between funds – – – – – –

Net movement in funds 4,198 (1,163) 3,035 17,232 (5,774) 11,458

Funds brought forward at 221,615 25,298 246,913 204,383 31,072 235,455 1 January 2018

Funds carried forward at 225,813 24,135 249,948 221,615 25,298 246,913 31 December 2019

40 BSCB Committee 2021

The Society is run by a Committee of unpaid Meetings Secretary: Dr Anne Straube Postdoc Representative: Alex Fellows volunteers elected by the Members. The Director MSc in Interdisciplinary Biomedical MRC Lab of Molecular Biology Officers of the Society, who are all members Research Francis Crick Ave of the Committee, are directly elected by the Warwick Medical School CB2 0QH Members. The BSCB committee is comprised Gibbet Hill Campus, Coventry CV4 7AL [email protected] of eight office-holders (President, Secretary, [email protected] Treasurer, Meetings Secretary, Membership Summer studentship Coordinator: Professor Secretary, Magazine Editor and Web Co-ordi- Honor Fell/COB Coordinators: Dr Sharon Tooze Maria S. Balda nator) and up to 12 other ordinary members, and Dr Folma Buss Department of Cell Biology including one PhD student representative, one Dr Sharon Tooze UCL Institute of Ophthalmology postdoc representative and a schools liaison The Francis Crick Institute University College London officer which are coopted onto the committee. 1 Midland Road, London NW1 1AT 11-43 Bath Street [email protected] London EC1V 9EL The committee is always interested in hearing [email protected] from cell biologists who wish to contribute to Dr Folma Buss the society’s activities. Members of the society University of Cambridge, Schools Liaison Officer: Mr David F. Archer are encouraged to nominate candidates for the Cambridge Institute for Medical Research, British Society for Cell Biology committee or officers positions at any time. Cambridge Biomedical Campus Hills Road, 43 Lindsay Gardens Formal nominations should be seconded by Cambridge CB2 0XY, UK St Andrews, Fife KY16 8XD another member of the society. The committee [email protected] [email protected] is also happy to receive un-seconded informal nominations. Nominations should be sent to Membership Secretary: Dr Jason King Professor Victoria Cowling the BSCB secretary. School of Biomedical Sciences, Centre for Gene Regulation and Expression University of Sheffield, School of Life Sciences The committee generally meets twice a year, Firth Court, Dow Street at the spring meeting and in the autumn in Western Bank, University of Dundee London. Additional meetings are arranged from Sheffield, S10 2TN Dundee DD1 5EH time to time. Items for consideration by the [email protected] UK committee should be submitted to the secretary [email protected] prior to the meetings. Science Advocacy Officer: Dr Jennifer Rohn Centre for Nephrology Dr Tom Nightingale The BSCB has charitable status (registered Division of Medicine Centre for Microvascular Research charity no. 265816). The BSCB AGM is held University College London William Harvey Research Institute every year at the Spring Meeting. London WC1E 6BT Barts and The London School of Medicine and [email protected] Dentistry President: Professor Anne Ridley FRS FRSB Queen Mary University of London FMedSci FRMS Magazine Editor: Dr Ann Wheeler London EC1M 6BQ School of Cellular and Molecular Medicine Institute of Genetics and Molecular UK Biomedical Sciences Building Medicine (IGMM) [email protected] University Walk University of Edinburgh, Bristol BS8 1TD Edinburgh EH4 2XU Professor Giampietro Schiavo London SE1 1UL [email protected] UCL-Institute of Neurology [email protected] Queen Square House, Queen Square Web and Social Media Officer: Dr Stephen London Secretary: Dr Carine De Marcos Robinson WC1N3BG Reader in Cell Biology and Biochemistry Quadram Institute Bioscience [email protected] Biomedical Sciences Norwich Research Park School of Clinical and Applied Sciences Norwich, NR4 7AU Dr Vas Ponnambalam Leeds Beckett University, PD611 [email protected] School of Molecular & Cellular Biology City Campus, Leeds LS1 3HE, UK University of Leeds [email protected] Joint Meetings Secretary: Dr Susana Godinho Leeds LS2 9JT Barts Cancer Institute – CRUK Centre [email protected] Treasurer: Professor David Elliott Queen Mary University of London Institute of Human Genetics Charterhouse Square The International Centre for Life EC1M 6BQ, London Central Parkway [email protected] University of Newcastle Upon Tyne Newcastle NE1 3BZ [email protected]

41 BSCB Ambassadors 2021

The BSCB Ambassadors are the society’s advocates in the UK cell Anyone who wishes to volunteer to become a BSCB ambassador at any

AMBASSADORS biology community. They should be your first point of call for information Institutes not represented in the list below please contact the BSCB. about what the society can do for you and also how you can get involved. They should also be the people readily available to ask about sponsoring you for membership.

University of Aberdeen Anne Donaldson [email protected] Aberystwyth University John Doonan [email protected] Anglia Ruskin University Richard Jones [email protected] Aston university Martin Griffin [email protected] University of Bath Paul Whitley [email protected] The Queen’s University of Belfast William Allen [email protected] University of Birmingham (Biosciences Saverio Brogna [email protected] University of Birmingham (Medical School) Vicki Smith [email protected] Bournemouth University Paul Hartley [email protected] University of Bradford Michael Fessing [email protected] University of Bradford Kirsten Riches [email protected] University of Bristol Mark Dodding [email protected] University of Bristol Helen Weavers [email protected] Brunel University Joanna Bridger [email protected] University of Cambridge Catherine Lindon [email protected] University of Cambridge Simon Cook [email protected] University of Cambridge Folma Buss [email protected] Wellcome Trust/Cancer Research UK Gurdon Institute Emma Rawlins [email protected] MRC LMB Liz Miller [email protected] University of Cambridge Heike Laman [email protected] University of Cambridge Isabel Palacios [email protected] University of Kent Dan Mulvihill [email protected] Cardiff University Adrian Harwood [email protected] Cardiff University Catherine Hogan [email protected] The Francis Crick Institute Eustace Johnson [email protected] The Francis Crick Institute Simon Boulton [email protected] The Francis Crick Institute JP Vincent [email protected] Trinity College Dublin James Murray [email protected] University of Dundee Vicky Cowling [email protected] University of Dundee Angus Lamond [email protected] University of Dundee Inke Nathke [email protected] University of Durham Tim Davies [email protected] MRC Human Genetics Unit Luke Boulter [email protected] University of Edinburgh Ian Chambers [email protected] University of Edinburgh Margarete Heck [email protected] University of Edinburgh Hiro Ohkura [email protected] University of Exeter James Wakefield [email protected] University of Glasgow Lilach Sheiner [email protected] University of Glasgow Kristina Kirschner [email protected] ity of Huddersfield Nik Georgopoulos [email protected] University of Hull Justin Sturge [email protected] Institute of Cancer Research Clare Isacke [email protected] University of Cambridge Jon Pines [email protected] Imperial College London Vania Braga [email protected] Imperial College London Mandy Fisher [email protected] Keele University Stuart Jenkins [email protected] King’s College London Anatoliy Markiv [email protected] King’s College London Claire Wells [email protected] King’s College London Alex Ivetic [email protected] King’s College London Simon Hughes [email protected] University of Lancaster Nikki Copeland [email protected] University of Leeds Patricija van Oosten-Hawle [email protected] Leeds Beckett University Carine De Marcos Lousa [email protected] University of Leicester Andrew Fry [email protected]

42 AMBASSADORS Liverpool University Daimark Bennett [email protected] University of Liverpool Sylvie Urbe [email protected] The University of Manchester Nancy Papalopulu [email protected] The University of Manchester Iain Hagan [email protected] The University of Manchester Sarah Woolner [email protected] The University of Newcastle Jonathan Higgins [email protected] University of Nottingham Alistair Hume [email protected] University of Nottingham Bill Wickstead [email protected] Nottingham Trent University Mark Turner [email protected] University of Oxford Alison Woollard [email protected] University of Oxford Yoshi Itoh [email protected] University of Oxford Jordan Raff [email protected] University of Oxford Rosemary Wilson [email protected] Peninsula Medical School David Parkinson [email protected] Plymouth University Claudia Barros [email protected] Queen Mary University London Vicky Sanz Moreno [email protected] Queen Mary University London Susana Godhino [email protected] Queen Mary University London Ana O’Loghlen [email protected] Queen Mary University London Viji Draviam-Sastry [email protected] Queen Mary University London Tom Nightingale [email protected] University of Reading Jonathan Gibbins [email protected] University of Roehampton Yolanda Calle-Patino [email protected] The Royal Veterinary College Steve Allen [email protected] Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute Matthew Garnett [email protected] University of Sheffield Andy Grierson [email protected] University of Sheffield Liz Smythe [email protected] University of Southampton Jane Collins [email protected] University of Southampton David Tumbarello [email protected] University of St Andrews Judith Sleeman [email protected] St George’s University of London Ferran Valderrama [email protected] University of Stirling Tim Whalley [email protected] University of Strathclyde Margret Cunningham [email protected] University of Sussex Alison Sinclair [email protected] Swansea University Venkateswarlu Kanamarlapudi [email protected] University College London Giampietro Schiavo [email protected] University College London Sophie Acton [email protected] University of East Anglia Stephen Robinson [email protected] University of East Anglia Grant Wheeler [email protected] UEA / JIC Janneke Balk [email protected] University of Warwick Anne Straube [email protected] University of York Nia Bryant [email protected] University of York Dawn Coverley [email protected]

43 The BSCB Magazine is published once a year in winter in hard copy. Invoices News is updated frequently through our website and BSCB Twitter feed. Send to: Follow us at @Official_BSCB Professor David Elliot Institute of Human Genetics Submission The International Centre for Life If you have an idea for an article please e-mail the editor a brief outline Central Parkway first.I t is preferable to send all articles, reports and images by e-mail University of Newcastle Upon Tyne (though alternatives can be arranged after contacting the editor). NE1 3BZ Tel: +44 (0) 191 241 8694 Attachments for text can be in txt, rtf or doc format. Email: [email protected] Please send images as 300dpi JPEG, TIFF or PSD files. Journals Submission of articles and images should be made to BSCB members are entitled to a range of discounts from journal and book publishers. These are correct at the time of going to press but mem- Dr Ann Wheeler bers should check www.bscb.org for the latest information. Institute of Genetics and Molecular Medicine University of Edinburgh Offers include a 25% discount from the individual subscription rate to Crewe Road South all journals published by the Company of Biologists, and other discounts Edinburgh EH4 2XU from other publishers. To take advantage of this offer, quote your BSCB Tel: +44 (0) 131 651 8665 membership number when ordering your subscription. Email: [email protected] Company of Biologists discounted prices: Advertising Information Journal of Cell Science: paper only £172/$295; online only £45/$77; Single advertisement: paper and online £215/$365 Back cover £425 Journal of Experimental Biology: paper only £158/$270; online only Inside front cover £275 £44/$75; paper and online £200/$340. Full inside page £220 Development: paper only £187/$325; online only £46/£80; paper and 1/2 Inside page £110 online £232/$400 1/4 Inside page £55 The following journals from John Wiley & Sons have discounts of Advertisements can by supplied on CD or by email. Please send as JPG, 25–65% TIF or PSD at 300dpi, or as PDF (with fonts embedded). (https://secure.interscience.wiley.com/order_forms/bscb.html)

Page size A4: 210x297mm. Journal BSCB rate Standard rate The Anatomical Record $150 * There is no charge to advertise a scientific or educational meeting. Please BioEssays $99 $160 contact the editor with details of any meeting you wish to advertise. Cell Motility and the Cytoskeleton $150 $425 Developmental Dynamics $125 $165 For further information on commercial advertising contact: Genesis $60 $99 Dr Silke Robartzek; Email: [email protected] Journal of Cellular Biochemistry $350 * Journal of Morphology $175 * BSCB Subscription information Microscopy Research and Technique $295 $595 The online application form can be found at www.bscb.org. The annual fees are: * No standard individual rate available; only available to BSCB Individual Full £45 institutions BSCB Individual direct debit £35 BSCB Student £20 NB: The price for the Journal of Morphology is now $175. If there are any members who have ordered the journal at the $150 rate, those Membership runs from January – December. If you join after October orders will be honored. 31st you will not be asked to renew until the January after next. Eligibility for some funding schemes requires 1 year membership or 1 membership Traffic discounted prices: renewal – whichever comes sooner. Print and online: $155 / EUR144 Online only: $147 / EUR137 Membership enquiries To become a BSCB member please go to: www.hg3.co.uk/bscb/membersregistration.aspx

If any of your personal details have changed please login to the BSCB members area online and update your information. bscb.org/members/become-a-member/

Please email HG3 to report any difficulties with the membership page: [email protected]

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