James Dunce Email & Phone Number

United Kingdom

Cambridge, England, United Kingdom

Leveraging marine microorganisms for sustainable production.

Cambridge, England, United Kingdom

I am combining genetic manipulation of trypanosomes with super-resolution microscopy to track the movements of surface receptors with the aim of determining how nutrients are acquired without raising an immune response. Trypanosomes are parasites which infect mammals and cause sleeping sickness. They acquire nutrients from our blood using specialised receptor molecules on their surface. These receptors should elicit an immune response in our bodies leading to clearance of the infection but this does not happen. I am trying to figure out why.

Cambridge, England, United Kingdom

I spent a year developing methods aimed towards tracking the movement of single molecules on the surface of trypanosomes.

Cambridge, England, United Kingdom

BravelyCultured was founded through the Carbon13 accelerator program.

Newcastle Upon Tyne, England, United Kingdom

During the production of gametes, homologous chromosomes are paired by a protein structure known as the synaptonemal complex. I used X-ray crystallography alongside biochemical and biophysical techniques to solve the structure of components of this structure and elucidate their roles on chromosome organisation.

Newcastle Upon Tyne, United Kingdom

Drug Discovery and Imaging Group. Supervisor: Prof. Jane Endicott. I contributed to the studies directed towards defining the structural differences between the catalytic site of cyclin-dependent-kinases 1 and 2 by co-crystallising each kinase in complex with a panel of 8 known inhibitors. In this, I gained further experience in protein expression and purification utilising affinity chromatography with gravity flow and size exclusion chromatography using an ÄKTA-based system and UNICORN software. I was further involved in the crystallisation process including the preparation of crystallisation plates using the high-throughput liquid handlers BIOMEK and Mosquito. I also received an introduction to (including some practise of) crystal selection and cryo-protection. Finally, I gained experience performing circular dichroism and fluorescence spectroscopy to probe the secondary structure of Cks2.

Newcastle Upon Tyne, United Kingdom

Clinical and Translational Group. Supervisor: Prof. Alan BoddyI utilised various in vitro assays and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) to characterise the differences between the metabolism of the anticancer pro-drug Phortress (NSC 710305) into its active metabolite 5F 203 (NSC 703786) in both the red blood cell fraction and plasma of both mice and humans. This involved inhibition assays using a panel of 3 known non-specific hydrolase inhibitors and I further suggested and executed a plasma protein binding assay. I carried out data and statistical analysis using a combination of Empower, Prism 3.0 and MSExcel software.

Newcastle Upon Tyne, United Kingdom

Supervisor: Prof. Bernard ConnollyWhile studying the effect of targeted mutations in archaeal polymerases (Pyrococcus furiosus and Thermococcus kodakarensis) with regard to the enzymes ability to extend and/or degrade a primer-template, I gained first-hand experience in the processes of: - site-directed mutagenesis by QuikChange PCR, - competent cell transformation and antibiotic selection, - bacterial culture and the induction of protein expression, - affinity chromatography with gravity flow, - in vitro biochemical assays (primer-template extension/exonuclease assays) - electrophoresis - and an understanding of EMSA by shadowing.

Biochemistry Bsc (Hons), First-Class Honours

A Levels, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics

Gcses