People

2012 – 2019 Postdoctoral researcher at the Gurdon Institute, University of Cambridge
2007 – 2012 PhD at the University of Dundee, Anton Gartner’s lab
2005 – 2007 MSc at the University of Amsterdam
2000 – 2005 BSc at the Middle East Technical University

Dr Tim Pearson
Senior Research Associate

I studied physiology at Southampton University and neurobiology at Durham University. After that, my postdoc positions have related to research in areas of; CNS oxygen deprivation and adenosine (stroke model), obstetric research into pre-mature labour (and IUGR, pre-eclampsia) and skeletal muscle research studying sarcopenia/ageing and the role of ROS, amino acid transport and satellite cells.

Publications
−Enhanced small neutral but not branched chain amino acid transport after epigenetic sodium coupled neutral amino acid transporter-2 (SNAT2) cDNA expression in myoblasts. Pearson, T., Wendowski, O. & Powell, P. (2021). Jnl of Cachexia, Sarcopenia and Muscle. 12(3): 811-822.
−The WD and linker domains of ATG16L1 required for non canonical autophagy limit lethal influenza A virus infection at epithelial surfaces, Wang, Y., Sharma, P., Jefferson, M., Zhang, W., Bone, B., Kipar, A., Bitto, D., Coombes, J., Pearson, T., Man, A., Zhekova, A., Bao, Y., Tripp, R., Carding, S., Yamauchi, Y., Mayer, U., Powell, P., Stewart, J. & Wileman, T. EMBO (2021) 40(5):e105543.
−The ATG5-binding domain and coiled coil domains of ATG16L1 maintain autophagy and tissue homeostasis in mice independently of the WD domain required for LC3 associated phagocytosis. Rai, S., Arasteh, Jefferson, M., Pearson, T., Wang, Y., Zhang, W., Bicsak, B., Divekar, D., Powell, P., Nauman, R., Beraza, N., Carding, S., Florey, O., Mayer, U. & Wileman, T. Autophagy (2018) 15(4): 599-612.
−The role of eEif6 in skeletal muscle homeostasis. Revealed by endurance training co-expression networks. Clarke, K., Ricciardi, S., Pearson, T., Bharudin, I., Davidson, P., Bonomo, M., Brina, D., Scagliola, A., Simpson, D., Beynon, R., Khanim, F., Ankers, J., Sarzynski, M., Gosh, S., Pisconti, A., Rozman, J., Hrabe de Angelis, M., Bunce, C., Stewart, C., Egginton, S., Caddick, M., Jackson, M., Bouchard, C., Biffo, S. & Falciani, F. Cell Reports (2017) 21(6):1507-1520.
−Long-term administration of the mitochondria-targeted antioxidant mitoquinone mesylate fails to attenuate age-related oxidative damage or rescue the loss of muscle mass and function associated with aging of skeletal muscle. Sakellariou, G., Pearson, T., Lightfoot, A., Nye, G., Wells, N., Giakoumaki, I., Griffiths, R., McArdle, A. & Jackson, M. FASEB. (2016). fj.201600450R.

Katarzyna Hencel
PhD Student

I studied at the University of Dundee, receiving a Bachelor of Science degree in microbiology. During my studies, I carried out several projects in Dr Sarah Coulthurst’s lab, whose group focuses on studying the type VI secretion system in Serratia marcescens. I will investigate how metabolism regulates RNA modifications in C. elegans during my PhD project. 

Aykut Shen
PhD Student

I completed my BSc at the University of Dundee, Scotland, in Biological Sciences, focusing on bioinformatics. Through the James Black student internship in the Holden Lab at the James Hutton Institute, I had an opportunity to contribute to a project which aimed to improve the new practice of producing foods and medicines, the vertical farms. I completed my honours project in the Simpson Lab in the division of gene regulation and expression, focusing on identifying and characterising non-coding RNAs in the plant model Arabidopsis thaliana. I will use RNA sequencing technologies during my PhD to study RNA modifications and splicing.

John Williams
PhD Student

I completed my undergraduate at the University of East Anglia. My final year project was at the Earlham Institute. I started my BBSRC-funded NRPDTP PhD project in October 2023. During my PhD, I will study how modified RNAs and RNA-modifying enzymes are deposited to oocytes.