MemTrain steering committee
Dr Alan Goddard, Aston University
Alan Goddard obtained his BSc and PhD from the University of Warwick and then undertook two postdoctoral positions at the University of Oxford before taking up academic positions at the University of Lincoln and then at Aston University. His research has always focussed on lipid membranes and their integral proteins, including receptors, transporters and enzymes. His recent research has focussed on the modulation of membranes to enhance biotechnological processes. He is the Project Coordinator for MeMBrane as well as being the Programme Coordinator for the H2020 MSCA COFUND MemTrain Programme.
Prof Corinne Spickett, Aston University
Corinne Spickett is currently a Professor at Aston University, following a move from the University of Strathclyde in January 2011. Her first degree was in biochemistry at Oxford University and she has a D.Phil. (Oxon) on the application of NMR to study yeast bioenergetics in vivo. After further postdoctoral work using NMR to investigate stress responses in plants and glutathione metabolism in pre-eclamptic toxaemia, she became a Glaxo-Jack Research Lecturer in the Department of Immunology at the University of Strathclyde. Since then, she has been working on the analysis of phospholipid oxidation by electrospray mass spectrometry and the biological effects of oxidized lipids, especially relating to atherosclerosis and inflammation, and has published extensively in this field. She has also applied her expertise in analysis of phospholipids to lipidomic studies of LDL in chronic kidney disease and yeast membrane changes. More recently, she expanded her research to include lipidomics as well as ox-lipidomics, analysis of protein oxidation and formation of lipoxidation products during inflammation. Prof Spickett is currently on the Council of the Society for Free Radical Research Europe and a member of the Steering Committee of the International HNE-Club. She is the Coordinator of the H-2020 Innovative Training Network “MASTRPLAN” on MASS spectrometry TRaining network for Protein Lipid adduct Analysis.
Prof Roslyn Bill, Aston University
Roslyn is Professor of Biotechnology. Her research team characterizes and engineers yeast cells to make recombinant membrane proteins, (especially aquaporins, G protein-coupled receptors and tetraspanins) for biochemical, biophysical and structural analysis. Roslyn has a particular interest in AQP protein chemistry, which she has worked on for 20 years. She discovered the novel pathway whereby a hypotonic stimulus directly induces intracellular calcium elevations through transient receptor potential channels, which trigger AQP relocalization. Her team has published a series of articles describing this regulatory mechanism for human AQPs1, 3, 4 and 5. Roslyn also uses yeast to make a range of soluble proteins, such as enzymes, for biotechnological applications. Examples include the conversion of glucose from waste products into high-value platform chemicals such as malic acid.