Professor Neil Bulleid
- Professor in Cell Biology (Molecular Biosciences)
telephone:
01413303870
email:
Neil.Bulleid@glasgow.ac.uk
pronouns:
He/him/his
room 230, Institute of MC&SB, Davidson Building, Glasgow, G12 8QQ
Biography
Neil obtained his first degree (BSc) in Liverpool and second degree (PhD) in Glasgow in Biochemistry. He currently holds a Chair in Cell Biology at the University of Glasgow and is the Director of the Institute of Molecular, Cell and Systems Biology. He holds a Senior Investigator Award from The Wellcome Trust with additional research grant funding from the BBSRC, MRC and the Royal Society. He is the recipient of a Wolfson Merit Award. He was a Royal Society Research Fellow for ten years (1990-2000) and was awarded a Chair in Biochemistry while still on this Fellowship at the University of Manchester moving to the University of Glasgow in 2009 to take up his current post. He is on the Editorial Board of the BMC Biochemistry Journal, Antioxidants and Redox Signalling and Associate Editor for the Biochemical Journal. He has served on the executive committee of the Biochemical Society, and on the Molecules, Genes and Cells funding panel of the Wellcome Trust, the Cell Biology panel for the Finnish Academy of Sciences and has chaired grant awarding panel of the Carnegie Trust. His past achievements include the first indication that specific enzymes and chaperones are involved in folding proteins into their three dimensional structure. His research spans many areas of molecular cell biology including disulfide formation, collagen biosynthesis, MHC Class I assembly, protein folding in the cell, lipid attachment to proteins, oxidative stress and protein degradation. He is frequently asked to present his research findings at international meetings and to contribute to graduate and undergraduate training both in the UK and abroad.
Research interests
The ability of cells to correctly fold and assemble proteins is the final stage in protein synthesis. Protein folding requires a subset of proteins able to either catalyse folding reactions or act as molecular chaperones preventing non-productive protein aggregation. The inability of cells to carry out the folding process results in some of the most catastrophic mammalian diseases such as cystic fibrosis, Alzheimer's and CJD.
For cells and tissues to remain healthy they must be able to make proteins and the proteins they make must be able to function correctly. The cell has complex machinery for ensuring that when new proteins are made they are functional and are transported to the correct location, be it within the cell or outside. My group studies how proteins are made and delivered outside the cell and, in particular, how this delivery process breaks down during disease. The production and delivery of proteins can be summarised into two key stages: i) ensuring proteins are made correctly and adopt the correct shape, ii) transport of the proteins from the inside to the outside of the cell.
Proteins are made as a string of amino acids which coil-up or fold to adopt a characteristic shape or three-dimensional structure. Only one such shape is functional and the cell ensures that this shape is adopted by providing helper proteins or chaperones to aid this process. If cells are unable to correctly fold proteins then disease results. Our group wants to understand in detail the reasons behind the inability of cells to fold proteins and in order to do this we need to know how proteins are folded correctly and what causes them to fold incorrectly. To understand how cells fold and assemble proteins we are studying this process in mammalian cells using a combination of cell biological and biochemical techniques.
Grants
Grants and Awards listed are those received whilst working with the University of Glasgow.
- MonoUbiquitin signals in DNA
Medical Research Council
2022 - 2027
- Redox regulation of secretory protein folding modification and the unfolded protein response
Wellcome Trust
2020 - 2025
- Role of reversible modification of methionine residues in the regulation of protein function
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council
2020 - 2023
- Remote control: How do microbiota promote animal health?
Medical Research Council
2019 - 2023
- How does PAP, a stress-induced metabolite, regulate gene expression?
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council
2019 - 2022
- Potential neuroprotective effect of delta opioid receptor (DOR) via crosstalk between UPR, inflammatory response, and miRNA regulation in Parkinson's disease model
British Council (UK)
2019 - 2019
- How does the cytosol reduce non-native disulfides formed in the endoplasmic reticulum?
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council
2017 - 2020
- Thiol Modification and Redox Signalling
Medical Research Council
2016 - 2018
- Protein Folding and Thiol Modification in the Mammalian Endoplasmic Reticulum
Wellcome Trust
2015 - 2020
- Protein Folding & Thiol Modification
Wellcome Trust
2015 - 2020
- Protein disulfide formation and thiol modification in the mammalian endoplasmic
The Royal Society
2015 - 2019
- Resolution of the Structure and Function of Vitamin K Epoxide Reductase Isoforms
The Royal Society
2014 - 2017
- Structure / Function studies of Vitamin K epoxide reductase isoforms
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council
2014 - 2014
- Identifying the reductive pathway in the mammalian endoplasmic reticulum.
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council
2014 - 2017
- Shedding light on oxidative stress: Identifying factors modulating the redox balance in the endoplasmic reticulum of Caenorhabditis elegans.
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council
2013 - 2016
- Identifying factors modulating the redox balance in the endoplasmic reticulum using the model system Carnorhabditis elegans (ISSF Catalyst Fund)
Wellcome Trust
2011 - 2014
- Transfer of protein Folding, Assembly & Secretion Expertise to Renovo.
Innovate UK
2011 - 2011
- Disulphide formation in Plasmodium falciparum.
The Royal Society
2010 - 2012
- High throughput screen for inhibitors of plasmiodium falciparum Ero1
Scottish Universities Life Sciences Alliance
2010 - 2013
- Regulating the redox conditions within the mammalian endoplasmic reticulum
Wellcome Trust
2009 - 2015
- SULSA Chair in Cell Biology
Scottish Funding Council
2009 - 2014
Teaching
- Level 4: Cell Compartmentalisation Option
- Level 4: Coordinator, Core skills in Molecular Cell Biology Option
Additional information
Editorial Board
- 2008 - present: Biological Sciences Review - Editor
- 2004 - present: BMC Biochemistry - Editorial Board
- 2004 - present: Antioxidants and Redox Signalling - Editorial Board
- 1998 - present: Biochemical Journal - Editorial Adviser
Grant Advisory Board
- 2017 - present: Royal Society of Edinburgh - A4 (Cell and Molecular Biology) Sectional Committee member
- 2012 - 2014: Wellcome Trust - Equipment Panel
- 2012 - 2013: Finnish Academy of Sciences
- 2010 - 2013: Biochemical Society - Member of Executive Committee
- 2010 - 2015: BBSRC - Panel of Experts
- 2008 - 2011: Biochemical Society - Council Member
- 2008 - 2012: Wellcome Trust - Member of MGC Funding Panel
Invited International Presentations
- 2015: Costa Brava, Spain - ERC meeting on thiol switches
- 2015: Boston, MA, USA - SFR Meeting
- 2015: Stuttgart, Germany - SFFR Meeting
- 2014: Glasgow, UK - Plenary Lecture as ESCPB
- 2014: Vermont, USA - FASEB meeting on Protein Folding in the Cell
- 2013: Saxtons River, Vermont, USA - FASEB conference on "ER stress and disease"
- 2012: Maine, USA - Gordon conference, "Redox regulation and thiol based signalling"
- 2011: Saxtons River, Vermont, USA - FASEB meeting, "ER Stress and protein degradation"
- 2010: Girona, Spain - EMBO meeting on Function of the Endoplasmic Reticulum
- 2009: Vermont, USA - FASEB meeting on "Unfolded proteins to disease"
- 2009: Glasgow, Scotland, UK - Society for Experimental Biology
- 2008: Porto, Portugal - ESF meeting on MHC Class I
- 2007: Ambleside, England, UK - Conference Organiser, Harden conference on protein folding in vitro and in vivo
- 2004: Glasgow, Scotland, UK - Biochemical Society
- 2003: Essex, England, UK - Conference Organiser, Biochemical Society meeting on Protein synthesis and quality control, University of Essex
- 2003: Portugal - ESF meeting on Molecular chaperones
- 2002: Hamburg, Germany - Embo course on "Protein expression purification, and crystallisation (PEPC3)", European Molecular Biology Laboratory
- 2002: Vienna, Austria - European colloquium on "Protein folding in the ER"
- 2001: New London, New Hampshire, USA - Collagen Gordon conference, "Maturation of procollagen in the endoplasmic reticulum"
- 2001: Romania - Romanian Biochemical Society
Prizes, Awards and Distinctions
- 2015: Royal Society/Wolfson Merit award
- 2011: Royal Society of Edinburgh - Elected Fellow
Professional Learned Society
- 2011 - present: Royal Society of Edinburgh - Fellow
- 2008 - present: Biochemical Society - Council member