Dr Yvonne Nyathi
Assistant Professor
| Faculty/Dept/School |
School of Chemistry and Bioscience (Faculty of Life Sciences) |
|---|---|
| y.nyathi@bradford.ac.uk | |
| Telephone | +441274 234850 |
Biography
Dr Yvonne Nyathi joined the University of Bradford in February 2020 as a Lecturer in Biochemistry. The field of protein quality control (proteostasis) broadly covers Yvonne’s previous and present research interests. Her PhD research focused on elucidating the mechanisms regulating the targeting, localisation and function of an ABCD1 transporter protein pivotal in peroxisomal fatty acid beta-oxidation. In 2010 when Yvonne finished her PHD, she worked as a R&D scientist at Aptuscan Ltd (a spin-out company of the University of Leeds which is now part of the Avacta Group), developing proprietary combinatorial libraries and reagents for the platform Affimer technology (antibody mimetics with tuneable affinity and avidity) that underpins one of the key technologies in the company to date. The transition from an academic research environment to a commercial setting at a very early stage in her research career sparked her interest in translational research, which she is currently very keen to pursue. Following the acquisition of Aptuscan by The Avacta Group, Yvonne joined Dr Martin Pool’s lab at the University of Manchester, studying mechanisms that regulate protein quality control at the ribosome. Yvonne’s work showed that the quality control factors at the ribosome compete for bind and all events are tightly regulated to reduce the chances of mistakes during protein synthesis. This work led to a publication in the Journal of Cell Biology and attracted a commentary in Nature reviews. In 2014, Yvonne then joined Prof Stephen High’ lab at the University of Manchester, working collaboratively with the chemical biology/structural biology group of Dr Rivka Isaacson (Kings College) focusing on the role of chaperones in mislocalised protein quality control. In 2017, Yvonne joined the University of Lincoln to pursue her research interests in protein quality control focusing on the role of the co-chaperone SGTA in protein misfolding/aggregation in the context of age-related neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases and in the signalling pathways that regulate cancer .
Research
Protein Quality Control MechanismsProtein folding and Dynamics
Protein Aggregation and Disease
Liquid-Liquid Phase Separation
Protein Engineering for Improved Functions
| Research collaborators | |
|---|---|
| Name | Elena Piletska and Professor Sergey Piletsky |
| Company | University of Leicester |
| Country | UNITED KINGDOM |
| Type | E |
| Role | PI |
| Theme | Molecular imprinted polymers |
| Description | Lead in polymer chemistry and molecular imprinted polymers to provide a platform technology for identifying binding sites and probing conformational changes of proteins upon substrate binding. |
| Name | Christian Tiede |
| Company | University of Leeds |
| Country | UNITED KINGDOM |
| Type | E |
| Role | Co-I |
| Theme | Affimer technology for the identification of novel affinity reagents |
| Description | Combinatorial phage display libraries will be screened for binders which can discriminate isoforms and mutants of selected chaperones |
| Name | Zak Hughes |
| Company | University of Bradford |
| Country | UNITED KINGDOM |
| Type | I |
| Role | Co-I |
| Theme | Molecular dynamic simulation |
| Description | Simulation of structure for disordered chaperone proteins |
| Name | Hiroshi Doi |
| Company | Yokohama City University Graduate School of Medicine |
| Country | JAPAN |
| Type | E |
| Role | Neuroscientist with expertise in Huntington's disease |
| Theme | Protein quality control in Neurodegeneration |
| Description | Looking into of SGTA in Huntington's disease |
| Name | Dr Briony Yorke |
| Company | University of Bradford |
| Country | UNITED KINGDOM |
| Type | I |
| Role | Structural Biologist with Crystallography Expertise |
| Theme | Cataracts |
| Description | Investigating molecular mechanisms of cataract formation |
Teaching
Teaching interests
Currently teaching on the following modules:
Development of Practical Skills 1 BIS4003 Level 4
Introductory Biochemistry – BIS4007 Level 4- Module leader
Development of Practical Skills 2 BIS5003 Level 5
Clinical and Analytical Biochemistry BIS5013 Level 5
Research Projects BIS6026 Level
Research Topics 1 BIS6009 Level 6 -Module leader
Research Topics 2 BIS6010 Level 6
Biology of Disease BIS6012 Level 6
Neuroendocrine Basis of Regulation and Metabolism BIS7021 Level 7
Research Project BIS7026 Level 7
Supervised 15 undergraduate students, 2 MSc students and 2 PhD student over the past 3 years.
Teaching highlights
One of the complaints raised by students during the module evaluation was that for the Biological Analysis module (which I led while working at the University of Lincoln), the content they were required to remember was in many cases very abstract as they could not perform wet lab for all the techniques covered on the module. In response to this, I applied and successfully secured a Teaching Innovation Fund to develop multimedia resources by filming and recording laboratory techniques performed in the labs at the University of Lincoln. This was a one-year student-led project which involved filming, video editing and subtitling. I introduced these resources to support teaching and learning of the module. This was accompanied by an improvement in student satisfaction scores from 69 % to 85 % compared to the previous year. Moreover, the average module mark for a cohort of 175 students increased from 62% to 69%, suggesting this approach was accompanied by significant learning gains. This is very important to me as it highlights that we need to listen to the students and make an effort to improve their learning experience.
Professional activities
- 01-JAN-17: Biochemical Society, Member
- 01-MAR-21: Equality and Diversity,
- 01-JAN-15: Fellow of Higher Education Academy
- Deputy Director of Research for the Life course theme
- I was awarded a grant by the Biochemical Society to engage sixth form students with Molecular Biosciences. My focus was on protein folding and how this lead to disease if it goes wrong.
Publications
| Peer Reviewed Journal | |
|---|---|
| Title | USP5 enhances SGTA mediated protein quality control. (2022) |
| Authors | Hill J;Nyathi Y; |
| Journal | PLoS ONE |
| DOI | 10.1371/journal.pone.0257786 |
| Title | Structural complexity of the co-chaperone SGTA: a conserved C-terminal region is implicated in dimerization and substrate quality control. (2018) |
| Authors | Martínez-Lumbreras S;Krysztofinska EM;Thapaliya A;Spilotros A;Matak-Vinkovic D;Salvadori E;Roboti P;Nyathi Y;Muench JH;Roessler MM;Svergun DI;High S;Isaacson RL; |
| Journal | BMC Biology |
| DOI | 10.1186/s12915-018-0542-3 |
| Title | SGTA interacts with the proteasomal ubiquitin receptor Rpn13 via a carboxylate clamp mechanism. (2016) |
| Authors | Thapaliya A;Nyathi Y;Martínez-Lumbreras S;Krysztofinska EM;Evans NJ;Terry IL;High S;Isaacson RL; |
| Journal | Scientific Reports |
| DOI | 10.1038/srep36622 |
| Title | Binding of SGTA to Rpn13 selectively modulates protein quality control. (2015) |
| Authors | Leznicki P;Korac-Prlic J;Kliza K;Husnjak K;Nyathi Y;Dikic I;High S; |
| Journal | Journal of Cell Science |
| DOI | 10.1242/jcs.165209 |
| Title | Analysis of the interplay of protein biogenesis factors at the ribosome exit site reveals new role for NAC. (2015) |
| Authors | Nyathi Y;Pool MR; |
| Journal | Journal of Cell Biology |
| DOI | 10.1083/jcb.201410086 |
| Title | Structure and function of the bacterial heterodimeric ABC transporter CydDC: stimulation of ATPase activity by thiol and heme compounds. (2014) |
| Authors | Yamashita M;Shepherd M;Booth WI;Xie H;Postis V;Nyathi Y;Tzokov SB;Poole RK;Baldwin SA;Bullough PA; |
| Journal | Journal of Biological Chemistry |
| DOI | 10.1074/jbc.M114.590414 |
| Title | Co-translational targeting and translocation of proteins to the endoplasmic reticulum. (2013) |
| Authors | Nyathi Y;Wilkinson BM;Pool MR; |
| Journal | Biochimica et biophysica acta |
| DOI | 10.1016/j.bbamcr.2013.02.021 |
| Title | Pseudo half-molecules of the ABC transporter, COMATOSE, bind Pex19 and target to peroxisomes independently but are both required for activity. (2012) |
| Authors | Nyathi Y;Zhang X;Baldwin JM;Bernhardt K;Johnson B;Baldwin SA;Theodoulou FL;Baker A; |
| Journal | FEBS Letters |
| DOI | 10.1016/j.febslet.2012.05.065 |
| Title | Structure-function studies of an engineered scaffold protein derived from Stefin A. II: Development and applications of the SQT variant. (2011) |
| Authors | Stadler LK;Hoffmann T;Tomlinson DC;Song Q;Lee T;Busby M;Nyathi Y;Gendra E;Tiede C;Flanagan K;Cockell SJ;Wipat A;Harwood C;Wagner SD;Knowles MA;Davis JJ;Keegan N;Ferrigno PK; |
| Journal | Protein Engineering, Design and Selection |
| DOI | 10.1093/protein/gzr019 |
| Title | The Arabidopsis peroxisomal ABC transporter, comatose, complements the Saccharomyces cerevisiae pxa1 pxa2Delta mutant for metabolism of long-chain fatty acids and exhibits fatty acyl-CoA-stimulated ATPase activity. (2010) |
| Authors | Nyathi Y;De Marcos Lousa C;van Roermund CW;Wanders RJ;Johnson B;Baldwin SA;Theodoulou FL;Baker A; |
| Journal | Journal of Biological Chemistry |
| DOI | 10.1074/jbc.M110.151225 |