Events

Time: 14.00 – 15.00

Siân Estdale, Head of Scientific Affairs at Covance Laboratories Limited, will speak at this webinar to present a brief historical context for large molecules, the current market of approved large molecules, modalities and therapeutic targets.

At this event, we will explore the mechanism of action of some blockbuster molecules and compare with small molecules. The major differences will be highlighted and finally the drug development pathway and probability of success will be discussed.

The lecture will be chaired by Professor John Colyer, University of Leeds.

Drug repurposing represents a promising approach to find new therapeutic uses for existing drugs. This conference was originally held in November 2019 and the speaker presentations are now available to watch on demand. These talks highlighted some of the latest developments in the field of drug repurposing. There is a need for more systematic and strategic approaches and resources, and this meeting focused on showcasing such efforts and exploring recent drug repurposing studies.

The field of drug repurposing provides a natural opportunity to combine the strengths of the academic and industrial field. Anyone from the scientific community from either sector, as well as clinicians, are encouraged to attend this conference.

These talks will be available from Monday 5 October until Sunday 1 November 2020. During this time, registrants will be able to submit questions for the speakers.

Time: 15:00 – 16:30

Celebrating the last 10 years of the Royal Society of Biology (RSB), we are delighted to welcome four speakers to our latest webinar, providing a series of talks showcasing what the biosciences have done for us.

At this event, we will welcome Dr James Cherry, a Distinguished Professor at UCLA since 1973. He is a Paediatric Infectious Diseases Physician, particularly interested in vaccines and vaccine preventable diseases. His major focus has been on pertussis, measles and the anti-vaccine movement. We will also welcome Dr Karl Frontzek, a consultant neuropathologist and senior researcher at the Institute of Neuropathology, University of Zurich, Switzerland. His scientific work is focused on immunological aspects of prion diseases.

Our third invited speaker will be Dr Kim Hardie. She is an Associate Professor in the School of Life Sciences at the University of Nottingham where her research group aims to decipher the complexity of polymicrobial biofilms, especially in the context of serious chronic infections and antimicrobial effectiveness. Finally, we will hear from Dr Oliver Elemento, who directs the Englander Institute for Precision Medicine, an Institute that focuses on using genomics and informatics to make medicine more individualized. Dr Elemento is also Associate Program Director of the Clinical and Translational Science Center and Associate Director of the Institute for Computational Biomedicine.

Invited speakers:

• Dr James Cherry, UCLA
• Dr Karl Frontzek, Institute of Neuropathology, University of Zurich
• Dr Kim Hardie, School of Life Sciences, University of Nottingham
• Dr Oliver Elemento, Englander Institute for Precision Medicine

FREE for members

To communicate beyond the lab requires a different set of skills. In this online course ‘Introduction to Public Engagement and Science Policy’, we will explore how the molecular biosciences can contribute to UK policy, and share tools that can be used to engage the public effectively.

This course is ideal for early to late career bioscientists who wish to learn more about science policy and public engagement. Each module will be around 2 hours.

The course modules will cover:

• Introduction to science communication
• Science in policy-making – a guide to the UK landscape
• Public engagement activities
• Evaluation of impact

You will have access to the module for one year, and lead educators will reply to your comments in the first 6 weeks, so you’re encouraged to complete the course during this time.

Time: 15:00-16:00

This webinar will address current and emerging concepts on Adipose Biology in health and disease. Adipose tissue consists of white and brown; whose functions are to store excess energy and burn energy to maintain core body temperature, respectively. This classification into brown and white is simplistic as adipose tissue is a heterogeneous organ with the capability to interconvert between white, brown and beige in response to various physiological stimuli. Adipose tissue consists of multiple cell types including adipocytes, progenitors, immune cells and endothelial cells that interact and communicate with one another to maintain tissue homeostasis. At the whole-body level, adipose tissue supplies fatty acids as fuel through the biochemical process of lipolysis. From a therapeutic standpoint, there is much interest in studying adipose tissue as brown fat has great capacity to burn excess energy for the treatment of obesity and the dysfunction of white fat is implicated in numerous metabolic diseases.

Our invited speakers will be Dr Gregory Steinberg, who is a professor of medicine at McMaster University and also the founding co-director of the McMaster Centre for Metabolism, Obesity and Diabetes Research; and Dr Emilio Mottillo, an Assistant Scientist in the Hypertension and Cardiovascular Research Division at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, Michigan.

Join us at this webinar, which is chaired by Dr Camilla Scheele, an Associate Professor at the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Basic Metabolic Research in Copenhagen, Denmark. Dr Scheele is a molecular biologist known in the field for her pioneering studies on adipose progenitors from brown adipose tissue of adult humans.

An increase in the complexity and scale of biochemical data has created many opportunities for biochemists to exploit data visualisation, modelling and machine learning methods in knowledge discovery. Leveraging such power requires at least some coding which can be a daunting prospect for many biochemists.

The online course aims to support researchers at any career stage to learn the core skills which underlie the application of Python to complex, real-world research problems. ‘Practical Python for beginners: a Biochemist’s guide’ was developed by an experienced team of Python trainers and early career researchers with first-hand experience of learning Python for biochemical problems, based at the University of York.

The course is designed to take approximately 5 hours and is divided into small chunks that can be tackled at the learner’s own pace. Learners have the opportunity to interact with each other and the course trainers. No previous coding experience is required.

The successful learner will be able to:

• explain the rationale for scripting
• use the IPython command line as a calculator and to assign variables
• use the basic data types and some simple functions
• create lists and select elements from them
• explain what a library is, import a Python library and use functions it contains
• read biochemical data from a file into a Python
• understand computing concepts such as what is meant by the working directory, absolute and relative paths and be able to apply these concepts to data import
• analyse and visualise biochemical data using powerful Python packages such as NumPy, Pandas, Sklearn and Matplotlib

ON DEMAND

Revisit presentations given in our November 2018 scientific meeting on ageing research with this OnDemand content. For a limited period, you can watch talks from leaders in the field of Geroscience as they share their research into aspects of mammalian ageing.

The symposium focusses on the underpinning mechanisms of the ageing process with the aim of assessing how we address age-related diseases and healthy ageing. Presentations will be available to registered delegates 2-30 November 2020, with the opportunity to submit questions to speakers during this time.

ONLINE CONFERENCE

Thiol redox reactions are implicated in a diverse range of physiological processes and are often dysregulated in human pathologies such as cancer, neurodegeneration and metabolic disorders. Low-molecular-weight (LMW) thiols play an essential role in maintaining the cellular redox homeostasis and exert important functions in cell growth, metabolism and detoxification pathways. This conference will be one of the first to focus on the versatile family of LMW thiols in health and disease, a family which contains structurally and functionally diverse molecules with a range of evolutionary histories.

This meeting will be run online – see the website to find out more.

This is a joint online conference with the British Society of Cell Biology (BSCB)

REGISTRATION OPENING SOON.

The Dynamic Cell series is an inclusive cell biology meeting organized jointly by the Biochemical Society and the British Society of Cell Biology (BSCB).

The scientific remit of this conference is broad, but with a focus on cell dynamics that is intended to stimulate novel collaborative approaches and the application of new technologies to established fields. The programme for Dynamic Cell IV will explore cross-kingdom cell biology.

This online meeting will bring together researchers using dynamic methods to interrogate cellular behaviour and there will be dedicated sessions covering:

• Cell Division: Mitosis and Meiosis
• Cell Migration
• Cytoskeletal Dynamics in Cells and Tissues
• Cellular Transport and Trafficking
• New Technologies for Imaging and Probing Cell Function

A BIOCHEMICAL SOCIETY AND FEBS JOINT EVENT

This two-day event is aimed at anyone teaching in higher education in the molecular biosciences, from early career lecturers to established professors. The course aims to share best practice and novel ideas with higher educators, to equip students with the skills they need to succeed in their careers. The event will comprise of lectures, group discussions and poster presentations from attendees. ‘Evolving molecular bioscience education’ is supported by Heads of University Biosciences (HUBS).

Topics include:

• Developing skills within a bioscience curriculum
• Students as co-producers
• Assessment and feedback
• Education research across Europe
• Teaching approaches

Attending this event will help colleagues working towards various levels of fellowship of the HEA. Being a delegate and participating in the event is evidence of the A5 and V3 dimensions of the UKPSF. In addition, there will be many ideas shared that, if implemented by delegates, could contribute to a number of the other dimensions.

The purpose of this training event is to familiarise participants with approaches and computational programmes to generate 3D models of proteins where no structural data is available. Additionally, an introduction to molecular docking will be given. An emphasis will be placed on critically evaluating the usefulness of models and modelling in general for solving scientific problems.

This hands-on course is aimed at early career scientists, such as PhD students and PostDocs, and established scientists who are interested in applying computational approaches to their research in the fields of protein science, molecular health, medicinal chemistry and structural biology.

Mutations in Leucine-Rich Repeat Kinase 2 (LRRK2) are the most common genetic cause of Parkinson’s disease (PD), responsible for up to 2-3% of all PD cases in the UK and up to 40% in some populations. Coupled with its clear genetic links to PD, LRRK2’s status as a complex, multi-domain kinase has led to this protein being flagged as one of the most promising drug targets for Parkinson’s disease.

The field is witnessing major advances in our understanding of the function of LRRK2 and its role in human disease and is the focus for this year’s biennial scientific meeting on LRRK2.

The conference programme will explore the genetic forms of PD, the LRRK2 gene and the LRRK2 protein, as well as the basic LRRK2 signalling mechanisms and physiological and pathological functions of LRRK2. In addition, non-neuronal LRRK2 signalling, particularly with respect to neuroinflammation and the immune system in PD, will be covered, as well as the role of LRRK2 in non-PD conditions.

We are welcoming abstracts for both oral communications and poster presentations, from both industry and academia and across all career stages. The meeting will be of particular interest to those working in biochemistry, neuroscience, biotechnology and pharmaceuticals.

From bacteria to eukaryotes, cells have evolved a remarkable battery of enzymes to deal with the mechanical and topological challenges presented by nucleic acid production, processing and maintenance. A clear view of the biology of the genetic material requires a molecular understanding of how these enzymes function. Such an understanding will enhance our ability to manipulate genome structure and gene expression.

The theme of this meeting revolves around the mechanisms of these enzymes, with particular emphasis on research that integrates structural, biochemical, biophysical and computational approaches. With recent technological advances in imaging (i.e., single-molecule and cryo-electron microscopies), we expect to witness a flourish of key biological systems to be characterised with unprecedented detail.

The meeting will cover many of the molecular mechanisms by which large macromolecular machines carry out a diverse range of nucleic acid processes including DNA replication and repair, gene transcription and regulation, RNA processing and splicing, translation, nucleic acids structures and chromatin structure and epigenetic mechanisms. The meeting will also explore new quantitative techniques as well as theoretical approaches.

Sponsored by

Collaborating societies

Translation is an essential highly conserved process which is required for the synthesis of proteins in both prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells. This unique annual UK scientific meeting enable discussing the latest progress in this field and fostering collaborations between researchers.

This year’s meeting will cover a wide range of topics related to translation, including:

• mechanistic basis of regulation
• upstream signal transduction cascades
• genomic architecture
• ribosome structure and function
• structure of translation factors/complexes and regulatory factor
• genome-wide investigation of translation
• RNA/tRNA modifications and localisation

The conference is also an important forum for young researchers at PhD and postdoctoral levels, providing opportunities for to deliver oral and poster presentations to promote their research. As part of the programme, we will host a dedicated Early Career Researcher event to promote further networking amongst this group.

Ribosome profiling is still a relatively new technique. Although many people perform these types of experiments, there is still a small number of groups that have successfully published results and there are currently no standard analysis pipelines in the field.

This one-day workshop is aimed at PhD students and postdoctoral researchers and will provide an excellent training platform for scientists who are planning their ribosome profiling experiments, and those struggling with either wet lab or computational trouble shooting. It will offer a collaborative environment to share knowledge on many of the technical aspects of ribosome profiling, both practical and bioinformatic.

The course will combine short technical presentations with discussions and questions aimed to help both individuals planning or just starting experiments, and those that are in the middle of analysis and would like further support.

*Please note that delegates are required to bring their own laptops.

This three-day training event for early career researchers will focus on the function on biological membranes and on the biophysical techniques available to study their components in the context of biology and biotechnology. The event will comprise lectures, computer and laboratory-based practical sessions. Participants will leave the event with new knowledge and protocols that will allow them to use biophysical techniques for studying components of biological membranes in their research.

Topics include:

• High throughput membrane protein expression
• Solubilisation strategies
• Membrane protein purification
• Structural determination via circular dichroism, crystallography and EM
• Lipid nanoparticles and their analysis.
• Lipidomics via mass spectroscopy
• Biophysical analyses including NMR and neutron scattering.

This training event will be followed by the ‘European SMALP meeting 2020’.

The application of styrene-maleic acid (SMA) co-polymers to extract small discs of membrane, termed SMA lipid particles (SMALPs), has changed the established landscape of research in biological membranes. Membrane proteins play a vital role in cellular communication and the control of transport  across the membrane, making them key therapeutic targets for many human diseases. Their location within the membrane, tightly packed with so many different proteins and lipids has, until now, made them extremely challenging to study. By allowing membrane proteins to be purified and studied whilst maintaining their lipid environment, the SMALP methodology enables the study of membrane protein structure and function using techniques that were previously impractical.

New applications of SMALPs are rapidly emerging making membrane protein study more accessible and widespread. This meeting will explore the latest developments within the field, including novel polymers, techniques and targets, bringing together a wide range of researchers to share their findings.

This is a joint between The Biochemical Society and The British Society for Research on Ageing (BSRA).

Increased age is the major risk factor for multiple diseases including cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and neurodegeneration. Given the current global demographic shift, in which there will be over 2.1 billion people aged over 60 by 2050, new strategies to improve health in older people are urgently needed.

Research has shown that common underlying biological processes, such as nutrient signalling and cellular metabolism, drive multiple age-related pathologies; these biological mechanisms of ageing have therefore emerged as viable therapeutic targets for the treatment of age-related diseases. Metabolic dysfunctions during ageing are now considered major causative factors for such diseases.

This conference will bring together those working on cellular metabolism with those developing interventions to improve healthy ageing, providing an interdisciplinary forum for discussing how to translate fundamental scientific findings into clinical strategies that target ageing and its associated disease.

Single-molecule imaging has revolutionized our ability to study molecular processes underlying bacterial function. New fluorescent proteins and dyes, ultrasensitive microscopy, and image-analysis software have helped visualize reactions, interactions and motions inside single bacteria. In a sense, we are “re-discovering” bacteria with a new set of eyes.

The agenda of this interdisciplinary meeting will showcase exciting developments in this young field. This will include structural/mechanistic studies using super-resolution imaging and single-molecule microscopy, new quantitative in vivo techniques applicable to bacteria, complementary theoretical modelling approaches, and studies of clinical/commercial significance.

This topic is the theme of the 87th Harden Conference, an event series unique to the Biochemical Society, providing residential research conferences covering a specialist topic. These events are widely recognised for their emphasis on free and open discussion to encourage the exchange of the latest data and a critical discussion of the technical challenges that these developments face.

Without a template, the biosynthesis of glycans heavily relies on the organisation of enzymes in the Golgi apparatus. In addition, glycan functions often feedback on important basic cell biological processes such as membrane trafficking and signalling. Therefore, understanding the interfaces between intracellular organisation and glycobiology is crucial to provide new tools and understanding for the functional investigation of glycans.

This scientific meeting will bring together glycoscientists with cell biologists to foster new ideas and collaborations between both disciplines. A range of topics from traditional cell and glycobiology through analytics and synthetic carbohydrate chemistry all the way to systems level studies will be explored at the event to encourage more joined-up thinking.

Kinases and pseudokinases fulfill allosteric, scaffolding, molecular switch and decoy roles in cell signalling. The recent attention on pseudokinases has shone a light on under-appreciated non-catalytic functions that can be mediated by kinases, raising the prospect that novel and specific therapeutics could target these functions.

This topic is the theme of the 88th Harden Conference, an event series unique to the Biochemical Society that is widely recognised for its emphasis on free and open discussion to encourage the exchange of the latest data and a critical discussion of the technical challenges that these developments face.