Previous Biochemical Society Seminars

A list of our previous Biochemical Society Seminar speakers and titles.

2024

Carbon dioxide conversion using microbial electrosynthesis

  • Speaker: Eileen Yu, Loughborough University
  • Date: Wednesday 28th February, 14:00
  • Venue: Elizabeth Fry Building, UEA, EFRY 01.08
  • Host: Tom Clarke

2023

Getting to the root of the arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis

  • Speaker: Professor Natalia Requena
  • Date: Friday 30 June, 10am
  • Venue: Zoom/ McClintock Rooms, G34/G35, Chatt Building, John Innes Centre
  • Host: Dr Marisela Garduno Rosales

How modifying plant lipid metabolism can help us achieve net zero

  • Speaker: Peter Eastmond, Rothamsted Research
  • Date: Friday 29th September, 10:00
  • Venue: G34/35, John Innes Centre
  • Host: Neftaly Cruz-Mireles

Symplastic, not a simplistic, path: new insights into the role and structural properties of plasmodesmata cell walls

  • Speaker: Yoselin Benitez-Alfonso, University of Leeds
  • Date: Monday 23rd October, 15:00
  • Venue: G34/35, John Innes Centre
  • Host: Vincent Were

2022

Use of Objective Structured Practical Examinations (OSPE’s) to assess science student practical skills and graduate attributes

  • Speaker: Professor Derek Scott
  • Date: Wednesday 6 July, 2pm
  • Venue: Zoom/ NEWSCI 0.03, UEA
  • Host: Dr Audrey Heppleston, University of East Anglia

How to study host-pathogen interactions when your pathogen is not a ‘model’

  • Speaker: Ross Waller, Department of Biochemistry, University of Cambridge
  • Date: Friday 21st July, 12:00
  • Venue: Zoom/ Conference Centre, John Innes Centre 
  • Host: Neftaly Cruz-Mireles

Autophagy, leaf senescence and nutrient management at the whole plant level

  • Date: Friday 18 March, 10:00
  • Speaker: Dr Céline Masclaux-Daubresse, Institut Jean-Pierre Bourgin, INRA Versailles
  • Room: Conference Centre G34/35, John Innes Centre
  • Host: Dr Janneke Balk

2021

Activation of bacterial peptidoglycan hydrolases by a Type VII ABC transporter

  • Date – Friday 3 December, 10:00
  • Speaker – Dr Alistair Crow
  • Room – Zoom/ Conference Centre G34/G35, John Innes Centre
  • Host – Professor Mark Banfield

2020

Using structural biology to understand the predator Bdellovibio

  • Date – Tuesday 25 February, 13:30
  • Speaker – Dr Andrew Lovering, University of Birmingham
  • Room – Conference Centre G34/35, John Innes Centre
  • Host – Professor Mark Buttner

Investigating the cell biology of plant infection by the rice blast fungus Magnaporthe oryzae

  • Speaker: Professor Nick Talbot, The Sainsbury Laboratory
  • Date: Wednesday 5 February
  • Venue: EFRY 01.05, UEA
  • Host: Professor Tamas Dalmay

2019

Visualising human telomerase using cryo-electron microscopy

Poliomyelitis – why do we need new vaccines and how close are we to developing them?

Self-regulation of autophagy gene expression by ATG8-family proteins

Light activated processes to study DNA damage and repair

  • Speaker: Dr Susan Quinn, University College Dublin
  • Date: Wednesday 1 May
  • Venue: LT4, UEA
  • Host: Prof Steve Meech, School of Chemistry, UEA

A Circuitous Career Path: Confessions of a Forensic Scientist

  • Speaker: Dr Georgina Meakin, Centre for the Forensic Sciences, University College London
  • Date: Friday 1 March
  • Venue: EFry 01.05, UEA
  • Host: Dr Gary Rowley, School of Biological Sciences, UEA

2018

The mechanisms of building a biofilm

Speaker: Professor Nicola Stanley-Wall, University of Dundee
Date: Wednesday 25 April
Venue: Efry 01.02, UEA
Host: Dr Richard Bowater, School of Biological Sciences, UEA

What’s that smell? The biochemistry of human body odour formation

Speaker: Professor Gavin Thomas, University of York
Date: Monday 12th November 2018
Venue: Jane Rogers EI Seminar Room
Host: Dr Abbas Maqbool, The Sainsbury Laboratory

Oxidation, oxidation, oxidation – investigating secondary metabolite biosynthesis in filamentous fungi

Speaker: Professor Russell Cox, Leibniz University, Hannover, Germany
Date: Tuesday 18 December 2018
Venue: G34/35 Seminar Room, John Innes Centre
Host: Dr Andy Truman, John Innes Centre

2017

Bioorganic chemistry with catalytic DNA and modified RNA

Speaker: Professor Claudia Höbartner, Georg-August-University, Göttingen
Date: Wednesday 29 March 2017
Venue: ARTS 01.02
Host: Dr Tom Storr, School of Chemistry, UEA

Targeting DNA methylation with non-nucleoside inhibitors in cancer cells: combining chemistry and biology

Speaker: Dr Paola Arimondo, CNRS
Date: Monday 15 May 2017
Venue: Queens 1.03
Host: Dr Leanne Stokes, School of Pharmacy, UEA

Membrane ammonium transporters

Speaker: Professor Susana Andrade, Institut für Biochemie, University of Freiburg
Date: Wednesday 14 June 2017
Venue: EFRY 01.02
Host: Dr Tom Clarke, School of Biological Sciences, UEA

De novo design of lanthanide coiled coils – for applications in MRI and beyond

Speaker: Dr Anna Peacock, Birmingham
Date: Wednesday 8 November 2017
Venue: UEA Queens 1.03
Host: Dr Tom Storr, School of Chemistry, UEA

The whereabouts of iron and manganese in plant cells

Speaker: Professor Cathy Curie, Laboratoire de Biochimie et Physiologie Moléculaire des Plantes, Montpellier (France)
Date: Thursday 3 November 2017
Venue: Biffen Annexe Seminar Room 117, John Innes Centre
Host: Dr Janneke Balk, John Innes Centre

Exploring the mechanism of nutrient acquisition by prominent members of the human gut microbiota

Speaker: Dr David Bolam, University of Newcastle
Date: Thursday 14th December 2017
Venue: Quadram Institute Bioscience Leture Theatre
Host: Nathalie Juge, Institute of Food Research

2016

Arsenic as an energy source for microbes

Speaker: Dr Joanne Santini, Institute of Structural and Molecular Biology, University College London
Date: 17 February 2016
Venue: School of Biological Sciences, UEA
Host: Dr Tom Clarke, School of Biological Sciences, UEA

Molecular dynamics simulations of bacterial membranes: adding the chemical complexity to biosimulations

Speaker: Dr Syma Khalid, University of Southampton
Date: 16 March 2016
Venue: UEA Lecture Theatre 4
Host: Dr Amit Sachdeva, School of Chemistry, UEA

Chloroplast to nucleus communication: Are tetrapyrroles the elusive signalling molecules?

Speaker: Professor Matthew Terry, Centre for Biological Sciences, University of Southampton
Date: 20 April 2016
Venue: EFry 01.02
Host: Dr Richard Bowater, School of Biological Sciences, UEA

The utilisation of complex glycans by the human gut microbiota

Speaker: Professor Harry Gilbert, University of Newcastle
Date: 25 May 2016
Venue: IFR Lecture Theatre
Host: Dr Nathalie Juge, Institute of Food Research

Understanding and exploiting cellular mechanisms for DNA break repair

Speaker: Professor Mark Dillingham, Dept of Biochemistry, University of Bristol
Date: 14 September 2016
Venue: Genome Centre Seminar Room, Earlham Institute
Host: Professor Tony Maxwell, John Innes Centre

Developments in fragment-based approaches in chemical biology

Speaker: Professor Chris Abell, University of Cambridge
Date: Tuesday 15 November 2016
Venue: Watson and Crick Seminar Rooms, John Innes Centre Conference Centre;
Host: Professor Tony Maxwell, John Innes Centre