Martin Humphries
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News and Events
20 April 2010
Presentation at ProteoMMX meetingPosted by Adam Byron
- Adam Byron was selected to present a talk at the ProteoMMX meeting, Chester. The meeting, entitled “Strictly Quantitative”, covered all aspects of quantitative proteomics and was organised by Rob Beynon (University of Liverpool) and Simon Hubbard (University of Manchester).
- Adam has written about this talk on his website.
13 April 2010
Wellcome Trust Centre retreatPosted by Adam Byron
- Most of the lab enjoyed two days in Kendal, Cumbria, for the Wellcome Trust Centre for Cell-Matrix Research retreat. A combination of scientific talks, Centre-wide discussions, social activities and some glorious Lake District weather resulted in a very successful retreat.
- Several lab members presented posters at the poster sessions, Nikki helped organise a quiz and games, Janet headed up a debate on cell culture and Adam gave an overview of proteomics activity in the Centre.
30 March 2010
Presentation at BSMB meetingPosted by Adam Byron
- Mark Morgan was selected to present a talk at the Spring 2010 BSMB meeting, Hulme Hall, Manchester. The meeting, entitled “Vascular Matrix in Health & Disease”, was organised by Ann Canfield with Anna Fildes (University of Manchester).
- Mark spoke in the BSMB Open Session about his work on the regulation of integrin trafficking and focal adhesion dynamics by syndecan-4 phosphorylation.
- Martin also chaired the Stem Cells & Vascular Regeneration Session, which saw Gill Murphy (University of Cambridge) give her BSMB Fell Muir Award lecture.
22 March 2010
Paper published in Journal of Cell BiologyPosted by Adam Byron
- Work by Janet Askari and others has been published in today's issue of Journal of Cell Biology.
- The activation state of integrin adhesion receptors is specified by global conformational changes from bent (inactive) to extended (active or primed) forms. Thus far, information used to build these models has been restricted to nonadherent cells, and the details of receptor extension in vivo are unclear. This study demonstrates that major structural rearrangements of β1-integrin subunits occur in adherent cells. Furthermore, ligand binding and integrin clustering in focal adhesions results in integrin extension and leg-domain separation.
- The paper was originally published online as a Journal of Cell Biology Early Release Article on 15 March 2010.
Citation
- JA Askari, CJ Tynan, SE Webb, ML Martin-Fernandez, C Ballestrem and MJ Humphries (2010) Focal adhesions are sites of integrin extension. J. Cell Biol. 188: 891-903. Full text | PubMed entry
7 February 2010
Humphries Lab on TwitterPosted by Adam Byron
- You can now follow updates from the Humphries Lab on Twitter. Our tweets will provide news and updates from our lab. (The initials of the author will be appended to each tweet.) Our Twitter feed is also integrated into the lab website – you can find it in the Lab Updates column on the left of each webpage.
18 January 2010
Angélique Millon-Frémillon joins the labPosted by Adam Byron
- We welcome Angélique Millon-Frémillon to the lab. Not even some of the worst snow of the past half century could prevent Angélique's arrival in Manchester! She joins us as a postdoc from Joseph Fourier University, Grenoble, France, and will be working on the analysis of integrin adhesion complexes.
5 January 2010
Paper nominated for 2009 Signaling Breakthrough of the YearPosted by Adam Byron
- Our recent Science Signaling Research Article is featured in Signaling Breakthroughs of the Year published in the current issue of Science Signaling.
- The Signaling Breakthroughs of the Year Editorial Guide is an annual feature that shortlists the most important cell signalling advances of the previous year. Science Signaling Chief Scientific Editor Michael Yaffe (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA) highlighted our proteomic analysis of integrin signalling complexes as a notable contribution to the development of methodologies that enable network-level analyses of signal transduction, an important theme of this year's selected signalling breakthroughs.
18 December 2009
Lab Christmas mealPosted by Adam Byron
- Members of the lab celebrated the impending winter break and enjoyed a festive Christmas meal in Restaurant Bar & Grill, Manchester, on Friday. This was followed by the traditional Lab Secret Santa, which involved the exchange of some imaginative and somewhat interesting gifts over a mulled wine.
- Photos of the frivolities will be posted in the Lab pictures gallery soon.
3 December 2009
“Omics Meets Cell Biology” Meeting ReportPosted by Adam Byron
- Adam Byron's Meeting Report on the Keystone Symposia meeting entitled “Omics Meets Cell Biology” has been published in the Autumn 2009 issue of the BSCB Newsletter.
- You can find more details of Adam's visit to snowy Colorado on his website.
- Adam also designed the cover of the magazine featuring his Meeting Report.
15 November 2009
Review published in Journal of Cell SciencePosted by Adam Byron
- Our review on anti-integrin antibodies has been published in today's issue of Journal of Cell Science.
- The Cell Science at a Glance article provides an overview of the mechanisms of antibody regulation of integrin adhesion receptors. The accompanying poster catalogues the best-characterised examples of function-regulating and non-functional antibodies. This review provides a resource for researchers to assess key reagents used in the study of integrin-mediated cell adhesion.
Citation
- A Byron, JD Humphries, JA Askari, SE Craig, AP Mould and MJ Humphries (2009) Anti-integrin monoclonal antibodies. J. Cell Sci. 122: 4009-11. Full text | PubMed entry
11 November 2009
Paper published in Biochemical JournalPosted by Adam Byron
- Work by Paul Mould and others has been published in today's issue of Biochemical Journal.
- This study shows that zebrafish α5 integrins do not bind human fibronectin or human α5β1 antagonists, the latter of which have therapeutic potential as anti-angiogenic agents in cancer and diseases of the eye. Exploiting the ligand-binding features of zebrafish α5 integrin, a gain-of-function mutagenesis approach was used to identify the regions of the α5 subunit required for interactions with human fibronectin ligand or human α5β1 antagonists. These results will aid the development of more potent α5β1 antagonists and of in vivo models suitable for drug screening or discovery.
- The article was selected by the journal editors as this issue's Spotlight paper for the BJ Signal knowledge environment.
- The paper was originally published online as a Biochemical Journal Immediate Publication on 14 September 2009.
Citation
- AP Mould, EJ Koper, A Byron, G Zahn and MJ Humphries (2009) Mapping the ligand-binding pocket of integrin α5β1 using a gain-of-function approach. Biochem. J. 424: 179-89. Full text | PubMed entry
8 October 2009
Recent work featured in university magazinePosted by Adam Byron
- The October issue of UniLife, the University of Manchester's monthly magazine, features an article reporting our recent Science Signaling Research Article.
- UniLife aims to highlight the progress the University is making towards achieving its ambitious 2015 vision.
25 September 2009
Perspective on Science Signaling paperPosted by Adam Byron
- This week's issue of Science Signaling features a Perspective by Erik Danen that discusses our recent Science Signaling Research Article.
- The Perspective is also highlighted on the cover of the journal.
9 September 2009
Paper published in Science SignalingPosted by Adam Byron
- Our paper has been published in this week's issue of Science Signaling.
- Our work describes a methodology for the isolation and proteomic analysis of ligand-induced integrin adhesion complexes. Using this approach, we identified regulator of chromosome condensation 2 (RCC2) as a component of fibronectin-activated integrin signalling pathways that regulate cell migration.
- There is an associated research summary written by the editors of the journal.
- The paper is featured on the cover of the journal using an image that Adam Byron designed based on our data.
Citation
- JD Humphries*, A Byron*, MD Bass, SE Craig, JW Pinney, D Knight and MJ Humphries (2009) Proteomic analysis of integrin-associated complexes identifies RCC2 as a dual regulator of Rac1 and Arf6. Sci. Signal. 2: ra51. Full text | PubMed entry
8 September 2009
Press release issuedPosted by Adam Byron
- A press release has been issued in advance of publication of our paper in Science Signaling.
- The way the cells in our bodies communicate with each other and their environment is of fundamental importance to human biology. This complex process of cellular crosstalk, or signalling, must be precisely controlled. When signalling goes wrong, it can lead to disease. We have developed a technique to examine how receptors on the surface of cells pass information to the hundreds of proteins inside the cell that form the signalling machinery. Uniquely, our findings enable scientists to look at the hundreds of components of cell signalling at the same time. This will provide a completely new insight into how our bodies work and opens up new avenues for drug development and testing.
*These authors contributed equally to this work.