Introducing the team: The Workman Group at the Institute of Cancer Research (ICR), London

Hello everyone! My name is Hadley Sheppard, and I am an incoming Postdoctoral Fellow joining Professor Paul Workman’s Signal Transduction and Molecular Pharmacology (STMP) Team at the Institute of Cancer Research (ICR), London. Dr. Workman’s group is based in the Cancer Research UK Cancer Therapeutics Unit at ICR and has extensive experience in many areas Read More …

PRMT5 cellular assay

Background PRMT5 in complex with the WD-repeat protein MEP50 is the major type II protein arginine methyltransferase responsible for mono- and symmetric dimethylation of arginine in a great variety of proteins (Fig.1). It plays a critical role in diverse cellular processes such as genome organization, transcription, translation, differentiation, cell cycle, DNA repair,  RNA processing, and Read More …

MYST1 (KAT8, MOF) and histone H4 cellular assay

Background The mammalian MYST1 is a member of the MYST family of histone acetyltransferases and is the primary enzyme that catalyzes the acetylation of histone H4 on lysine 16 (H4K16). Acetylation of K16 is a prevalent mark associated with chromatin decondensation. MYST1 has been shown to play an essential role in embryonic formation and development, Read More …

PRMT1 cellular assay

Background PRMT1 is the type I protein arginine methyltransferase (Fig.1) which mono- and asymmetrically dimethylates histone and nonhistone proteins, mainly in glycine and arginine-rich motifs and is involved in various cellular processes such as transcription, RNA processing, DNA repair, cell cycle or signal transduction (PMID:26612103). It is responsible for depositing over 90% of the total Read More …

A blind date with an old friend: crystal structures of Cys-S-sulfonic acid GAPDH

Biologists interested in the function or the 3D shape of a certain protein face the task of isolating billions of copies of that protein from cells (a process called “protein purification” which does not involve washing or holy water). The aim of protein purification is to start with cells that contain the protein of interest Read More …

TBXT (brachyury) and Chordoma: Project Introduction

In my Chordoma Open Lab Notebook entries, I will tell you about a project that is very important to me, targeting the transcription factor brachyury (also known as TBXT) for the rare cancer chordoma. In the coming weeks and months, the amount of science strategy, science details, and science progress shared here will rise. Today’s Read More …

Expansion of UBTR012574 Chemical Series Pt. II

Structure Image Smiles Mol. Weight Cc1cc(C(=O)NCC(=O)O)ccc1S(=O)(=O)N1CCC(N2CCCC2)CC1 409.5 In a previous post, I showed the expansion of UBTR012574 chemical series from commercial sources- Enamine’s REAL database and Scifinder to shed some insight into the structural activity relationship (SAR) (Figure 1). Figure 1. UBTR012574 chemical series UBTR020988a which has an amide resulted in weaker potency for USP5 Read More …

HDAC6 ubiquitin binding domain and ubiquitin/ISG15 interaction cell assay – NanoBRET

Hi, I would like to share with you the details for cellular assay detecting interaction between histone deacetylase HDAC6 and ubiquitin, which is a unique property within the histone deacetylase family. HDAC6 is a member of the histone deacetylase family which deacetylate lysine residues of histone and non-histone proteins. It plays an important role in Read More …