Viewing archives for Biochemistry


Introduction

I am from Madagascar, having grown up in a village called Soavinandriana, Itasy.

I started my scientific journey in earnest when I moved to France in 2011 and completed a BSc and an MSc in Life Sciences at the University of Strasbourg. Inspired by my master project to continue in the field of structural biochemistry, I moved to Bordeaux in 2016 and spent time as a graduate student at the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research (INSERM, nouvelle-Aquitaine, France). In 2019, I obtained my PhD from the University of Bordeaux with the dissertation “Understanding the roles of the Nob1/PNo1 and RPS14/Cinap complexes in the cytoplasmic maturation of the small subunit (pre-40S) in eukaryotes”.

In 2020, I took up an exciting new position and joined the Biochemistry Department in Oxford, working as a post-doctoral researcher within the Seiradake Group.

Building on this experience, I will join the Queen’s College Oxford as a Junior Research Fellow (October 2021), presenting a fantastic opportunity to expand my research into new areas.

Research

Broadly speaking, my research to date has been in studying proteins or ‘worker molecules’ within cells. Based on their functions, there are different types of proteins including antibodies, chaperones, enzymes, hormones, and receptors.

Specifically, my research project aims to study the biological properties of cell surface receptors in the nervous and vascular systems through the use of approaches including bioinformatics, molecular biology (cloning), biochemistry (recombinant protein expression and purification) and structure determination using x-ray crystallography.

During my Fellowship, I will also undertake structural and functional studies on large receptors with the aim of applying additional techniques such as cell biology and cryo-electron microscopy.

Understanding how these receptors function on the molecular level is important in order to decipher their roles in different biological processes and any related diseases.

Publications

Raoelijaona, Finaritra, Stéphane Thore, and Sébastien Fribourg. ‘Domain Definition and Interaction Mapping for the Endonuclease Complex hNob1/hPno1’. RNA Biology 15, no. 9 (2018): 1174–80. https://doi.org/10.1080/15476286.2018.1517013.

Research

My research group uses the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae and the nematode worm, Caenhorrhabitis elegans as model organisms in which to study how transcription, non-coding RNAs, higher order structures in chromatin, and histone modifications influence the response to changes in nutrient availability, metabolic state and ageing. Caloric restriction is known to increase lifespan in a wide range of organisms, including yeast, and may ameliorate the effects of age-related diseases but the mechanism involved are poorly understood.

Yeast and worms offer powerful tools for dissecting the pathways that allow cells to switch from active growth into a long-lived quiescent state. We use bioinformatics, 3C analysis, RNA-FISH, ChIP-seq, RNA-seq, nascent transcript mapping and most standard wet techniques. In addition, we produce models of cellular events such as gene expression and metabolic cycles in collaboration with physicists and mathematicians.

Publications

  • Mellor, J., Woloszczuk, R. & Howe, F.S. The Interleaved Genome. Trends Genet 32, 57-71 (2016).
  • Murray, S.C., Haenni, S., Howe, F.S., Fischl, H., Chocian, K., Nair, A. & Mellor, J. Sense and antisense transcription are associated with distinct chromatin architectures across genes. Nucleic Acids Res 43, 7823-37 (2015).
  • Nguyen T, Fischl H, Howe FS, Woloszczuk R, Serra Barros A, Xu Z, Brown D, Murray SC, Haenni S, Halstead JM, O’Connor L, Shipkovenska G, Steinmetz LM, Mellor J.
  • Transcription mediated insulation and interference direct gene cluster expression switches.
  • Elife. 2014 Nov 19;3:e03635. doi: 10.7554/eLife.03635. PMID:25407679
  • Howe FS, Boubriak I, Sale MJ, Nair A, Clynes D, Grijzenhout A, Murray SC, Woloszczuk R, Mellor J.
  • Lysine acetylation controls local protein conformation by influencing proline isomerization.
  • Mol Cell. 2014 Sep 4;55(5):733-44. doi: 10.1016/j.molcel.2014.07.004. Epub 2014 Aug 7. PMID:25127513
  • Murray SC, Serra Barros A, Brown DA, Dudek P, Ayling J, Mellor J.
  • A pre-initiation complex at the 3′-end of genes drives antisense transcription independent of divergent sense transcription. 
  • Nucleic Acids Res. 2012 Mar;40(6):2432-44. doi: 10.1093/nar/gkr1121. Epub 2011 Nov 28. PMID:22123739

Biography

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Teaching

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Publications

The course

The University syllabus reflects the breadth and multi-disciplinary nature of Biochemistry, which is practised in one form or another in most of the science departments. The Department of Biochemistry is probably the largest in the country and provides most of the lectures and classes for the four-year course, although the opportunity is often taken to use the special expertise of colleagues in other departments when they are available. A particular feature of the Oxford course is the opportunity to specialize progressively, so that during the last year students spend almost half of their time on their own research project in one of the many research laboratories of the University, and also study in depth, by advanced lecture courses and seminars, two selected branches of Biochemistry.

College teaching

The College is responsible for tutorial teaching, and many of these tutorials will be with either the Tutor or the Lecturers in Biochemistry, whose specialties are complementary. Further specialist topics may be dealt with by tutors from other colleges, but there is no rigid plan of tutorial teaching; we try to balance the interests and abilities of individual students with the requirements of the course and its examinations.

Admissions

We appreciate that Biochemistry is not taught at school in a systematic way, and therefore we look for applicants with enthusiasm for the subject rather than deep understanding of much of the field. However, a good grounding in Chemistry is important (to A-level or equivalent), together with an interest in applying aspects of Chemistry to the study of biological systems. The course also has significant maths and biology content, and some physics. The first-year course provides the necessary background in biology, physics and mathematics for those who have not studied these subjects beyond GCSE, however Biology and Mathematics to at least AS-level or equivalent can be helpful.

Courses

  • M.Biochem in Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry (a four-year integrated Masters course)

Contact

The Queen’s College,
High Street, Oxford,
OX1 4AW

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Tel: 01865 279120

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