Metals in biology. How metal ions contribute to all aspects of biology (In-person)

About this event

Please join us for the talk from 18:00, with a drinks reception from 19:00.

This event takes place on our Cambridge campus. You can also join us virtually.

Metal ions have a central role in many biochemical processes and are essential for life.

The study of metal ions, how they are moved within cells and organs, and the effects that they have on diverse processes such as blood clotting, the beating of heart cells, and activation of immune cells has been central to Prof. Pugh’s research during his career.

His lecture will provide an introduction to how ions support various biochemical processes, and will explore how ion channels are able to transmit ions at incredible speed whilst maintaining near perfect selectivity. He will also provide some of his recent data about how metal ions affect the processes of blood clotting and thrombosis, and how better understanding of ion handling may lead to the identification of new antithrombotic therapies.

If you have accessibility requirements please contact [email protected].

About our speaker

Prof. Nick Pugh studied Biology for his undergraduate degree at Southampton University, graduating in 1996. After working for a short time at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, he embarked on a British Heart Foundation funded PhD at the National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College, London under the supervision of Prof. Alan Williams. The project involved the investigation of the structure of the Ryanodine Receptor, which is central to calcium signalling in cardiomyocytes and other cells, and began a career-long relationship with ion signalling in biology.

On completing his PhD in 2003, he moved Dr. Geoff Butcher’s laboratory at the Babraham Institute in Cambridge, where he studied the GIMAP family of small GTPases, which are involved in T cell development, and with which he maintains a research interest. In 2005, he moved to Prof. Richard Farndale’s laboratory at the Department of Biochemistry, University of Cambridge, working on a British Heart Foundation funded programme grant looking at the interaction between platelets, and collagen, which is an important process during blood clotting and thrombus formation during heart attacks and strokes. Central to this work was imaging platelets as they interacted with collagenous substrates in flowing blood, using confocal microscopy. He also examined changes in calcium signalling during thrombus formation, which helped to develop his interest in the role of zinc in platelet behaviour, and in biology more widely.