Prof Carolyn Moores
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Overview
Overview
Qualifications
- PhD, Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology, University of Cambridge, UK, 1999
- BA (Hons) Biochemistry, University of Oxford, 1995
- Fellow, Higher Education Academy, 2016
Professional activities
Deputy Chair of UKRI Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Committee D
Professional memberships
The Biochemical Society Member (2006-)
The Biophysical Society Member (2006-)
The American Society for Cell Biology Member (1999-)
ORCID
0000-0001-5686-6290 -
Research
Research
Research interests
- Cytoskeleton
- Cryo-electron microscopy
- Structural biology
- Microtubules, microtubule-associated proteins and kinesin motors
- Neuronal migration and development
- Malaria kinesins and cell division
- Actin cytoskeleton in muscle development
Research overview
The cytoskeleton is essential for many cellular processes including cell division, motility, definition of cell architecture and differentiation.
Part of our current research is focused on understanding microtubule organisation and dynamics, and how these properties are harnessed for the life and health of cells. Microtubule regulation and organisation by a plethora of proteins is adapted to different functional contexts. We use a combination of biochemistry, biophysics and structural biology by cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) to elucidate the mechanisms by which kinesin motors and microtubule associated proteins interact with and regulate microtubules.
Another strand of our research is focused on the actin cytoskeleton and the Arp2/3 complex which is essential for stimulating dynamic branched actin networks in multiple cellular processes. Funded by an ERC Synergy grant in collaboration with Dr Michael Way (The Francis Crick Institute, London, UK) and Dr Edgar Gomes (Institute of Molecular Medicine, Lisbon, Portugal), we are exploring the mechanisms of Arp2/3 isoform complexes at molecular, cellular and physiological hierarchies of organisation, with a particular focus on muscle development, function and disease.
Research Centres and Institutes
Research projects
ArpComplexity: Defining the role of Arp2/3 complex diversity at multiple scales of biology.
Building blocks of molecular complexity: the neuronal cytoskeleton in health and disease.
Molecular and cellular dissection of kinesin motors in Apicomplexa to reveal roles in parasite proliferation.
Post doctoral staff
- Tianyang Liu
- Alana Cowell
- Mamata Bangera
- Lucy Troman
- Josie Ferreira
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Supervision and teaching
Supervision and teaching
Supervision
Doctoral alumni since 2013-14
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AARON SWEENEY
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TOM FORAN
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ALEX COOK
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FIONA SHILLIDAY
Teaching
Teaching modules
- Advanced Cell Biology (BCBC006S6)
- Introduction to Molecular Cell Biology (SCBS064H4)
- Laboratory Skills in Biochemistry (SCBS071H4)
- Advanced Topics in Human Disease (SCBS081H6)
- Research Project (SCBS097D7)
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Publications
Publications
Article
- Adler, A. and Bangera, Mamata and Beugelink, J.W. and Bahri, S. and van Ingen, H. and Moores, Carolyn A. and Baldus, M. (2024) A structural and dynamic visualization of the interaction between MAP7 and microtubules. Nature Communications 15 (1948), ISSN 2041-1723.
- Liu, Tianyang and Cao, L. and Mladenov, M. and Jegou, A. and Way, M. and Moores, Carolyn A. (2024) Cortactin stabilizes actin branches by bridging activated Arp2/3 to its nucleated actin filament. Nature Structural and Molecular Biology ISSN 1545-9993.
- Liu, T. and Shilliday, F. and Cook, A.D. and Zeeshan, M. and Brady, D. and Tewari, R. and Sutherland, C.J. and Roberts, A.J. and Moores, Carolyn A. (2022) Mechanochemical tuning of a kinesin motor essential for malaria parasite transmission. Nature Communications 13 (6988), ISSN 2041-1723.
- Zeeshan, M. and Rashpa, R. and Ferguson, D.J.P. and Abel, S. and Chahine, Z. and Brady, D. and Vaughan, S. and Moores, Carolyn A. and Le Roch, K.G. and Brochet, M. and Holder, A.A. and Tewari, R. (2022) Genome-wide functional analysis reveals key roles for kinesins in the mammalian and mosquito stages of the malaria parasite life cycle. PLoS Biology 20 (7), pp. e3001704. ISSN 1545-7885.
- Atherton, Joe and Stouffer, M. and Francis, F. and Moores, Carolyn A. (2022) Visualising the cytoskeletal machinery in neuronal growth cones using cryo-electron tomography. Journal of Cell Science 135 (7), ISSN 0021-9533.
- Rai, A. and Liu, T. and Katrukha, E.A. and Estévez-Gallego, J. and Manka, Szymon and Paterson, I. and Díaz, F. and Kapitein, L.C. and Moores, Carolyn A. (2021) Lattice defects induced by microtubule-stabilizing agents exert a long-range effect on microtubule growth by promoting catastrophes. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 118 (51), pp. e2112261118. ISSN 0027-8424.
- Cook, Alex and Roberts, Anthony J. and Atherton, Joe and Tewari, R. and Topf, Maya and Moores, Carolyn A. (2021) Cryo-EM structure of a microtubule-bound parasite kinesin motor and implications for its mechanism and inhibition. Journal of Biological Chemistry 297 (5), pp. 101063. ISSN 0021-9258.
- Gaillard, N. and Sharma, A. and Abbaali, I. and Liu, Tianyang and Shilliday, Fiona and Cook, Alex D. and Ehrhard, V. and Bangera, Mamata and Roberts, Anthony J. and Moores, Carolyn A. and Morrissette, N. and Steinmetz, M.O. (2021) Inhibiting parasite proliferation using a rationally designed anti-tubulin agent. EMBO Molecular Medicine (e13818), ISSN 1757-4684.
- Atherton, Joe and Moores, Carolyn A. (2021) Cryo-EM of kinesin-binding protein: challenges and opportunities from protein-surface interactions. Acta Crystallographica Section D Biological Crystallography D77, pp. 411-423. ISSN 0907-4449.
- Atherton, Joe and Hummel, J.J.A. and Olieric, N. and Locke, J. and Peña, A. and Rosenfeld, S. and Steinmetz, M. and Hoogenraad, C.C. and Moores, Carolyn A. (2020) The mechanism of kinesin inhibition by kinesin binding protein. eLife ISSN 2050-084X.
- Manka, Szymon and Moores, Carolyn A. (2020) Pseudo-repeats in doublecortin make distinct mechanistic contributions to mi-crotubule regulation. EMBO Reports (e51534), ISSN 1469-3178.
- Zeeshan, M. and Brady, D. and Stanway, R.R. and Moores, Carolyn A. and Holder, A.A. and Tewari, R. (2020) Plasmodium berghei Kinesin-5 associates with the Spindle Apparatus during cell division and is important for efficient production of infectious Sporozoites. Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology 10, ISSN 2235-2988.
- von Loeffelholz, O. and Purkiss, A. and Cao, L. and Kjaer, S. and Kogata, N. and Romet-Lemonne, G. and Way, M. and Moores, Carolyn A. (2020) Cryo-EM of human Arp2/3 complexes provides structural insights into actin nucleation modulation by ARPC5 isoforms. Biology Open pp. bio.054304. ISSN 2046-6390.
- Peña, A. and Sweeney, A. and Cook, A.D. and Topf, Maya and Moores, Carolyn A. (2020) Structure of microtubule-trapped Human Kinesin-5 and its mechanism of inhibition revealed using Cryoelectron Microscopy. Structure 28 (4), pp. 450-457. ISSN 0969-2126.
- Rai, A. and Liu, T. and Glauser, S. and Katrukha, E.A. and Estévez-Gallego, J. and Rodríguez-García, R. and Fang, W.-S. and Díaz, J.F. and Steinmetz, M.O. and Altman, K.-H. and Kapitein, L.C. and Moores, Carolyn A. and Akhmanova, A. (2020) Taxanes convert regions of perturbed microtubule growth into rescue sites. Nature Materials 19, pp. 355-365. ISSN 1476-1122.
- Cook, A.D. and Manka, Szymon W. and Wang, S. and Moores, Carolyn A. and Atherton, Joe (2020) A microtubule RELION-based pipeline for cryo-EM image processing. Journal of Structural Biology 209 (1), pp. 107402. ISSN 1047-8477.
- Atherton, Joe and Luo, Y. and Xiang, S. and Yang, C. and Rai, A. and Jiang, K. and Stangier, M. and Vemu, A. and Cook, A.D. and Wang, S. and Roll-Mecak, A. and Steinmetz, M.O. and Akhmanova, A. and Baldus, M. and Moores, Carolyn A. (2019) Structural determinants of microtubule minus end preference in CAMSAP CKK domains. Nature Communications 10 (1), ISSN 2041-1723.
- Gubbels, M.-J. and Zeeshan, M. and Shilliday, F. and Liu, T. and Abel, S. and Mourier, T. and Ferguson, D.J.P. and Rea, E. and Stanway, R.R. and Roques, M. and Williams, D. and Daniel, E. and Brady, D. and Roberts, A.J. and Holder, A.A. and Pain, A. and Le Roch, K.G. and Moores, Carolyn A. and Tewari, R. (2019) Plasmodium kinesin-8X associates with mitotic spindles and is essential for oocyst development during parasite proliferation and transmission. PLoS Pathogens 15 (10), pp. e1008048. ISSN 1553-7374.
- von Loeffelholz, O. and Moores, Carolyn A. (2019) Cryo-EM structure of the Ustilago maydis kinesin-5 motor domain bound to microtubules. Journal of Structural Biology 207 (3), pp. 312-316. ISSN 1047-8477.
- Adib, R. and Montgomery, J.M. and Atherton, J. and O’Regan, L. and Richards, M.W. and Straatman, K.R. and Roth, D. and Straube, A. and Bayliss, R. and Moores, Carolyn A. and Fry, A.M. (2019) Mitotic phosphorylation by NEK6 and NEK7 reduces microtubule affinity of EML4 to promote chromosome congression. Science Signaling 12 (594), pp. eaaw2939. ISSN 1945-0877.
- Zeeshan, M. and Ferguson, D.J.P. and Abel, S. and Burrrell, A. and Rea, E. and Brady, D. and Daniel, E. and Delves, M. and Vaughan, S. and Holder, A.A. and Le Roch, K.G. and Moores, Carolyn A. and Tewari, R. (2019) Kinesin-8B controls basal body function and flagellum formation and is key to malaria transmission. Life Science Alliance 2 (4), pp. e201900488. ISSN 2575-1077.
- von Loeffelholz, O. and Peña, A. and Drummond, D.R. and Cross, R. and Moores, Carolyn A. (2019) Cryo-EM structure (4.5-Å) of Yeast Kinesin-5–Microtubule Complex reveals a distinct binding footprint and mechanism of drug resistance. Journal of Molecular Biology 431 (4), pp. 864-872. ISSN 0022-2836.
- Manka, Szymon and Moores, Carolyn A. (2018) Microtubule structure by cryo-EM: snapshots of dynamic instability. Essays in Biochemistry 62 (6), pp. 737-751. ISSN 1744-1358.
- Moores, Carolyn A. and Manka, S.W. (2018) The role of tubulin-tubulin lattice contacts in the mechanism of microtubule dynamic instability. Nature Structural & Molecular Biology 25, pp. 607-615. ISSN 1545-9993.
- Atherton, J. and Stouffer, M. and Francis, F. and Moores, Carolyn A. (2018) Microtubule architecture in vitro and in cells revealed by cryo-electron tomography. Acta Crystallographica Section D: Structural Biology D74, pp. 572-584. ISSN 2059-7983.
- von Loeffelholz, Ottie and Venables, N.A. and Drummond, D.R. and Katsuki, M. and Cross, R. and Moores, Carolyn A. (2017) Nucleotide– and Mal3-dependent changes in fission yeast microtubules suggest a structural plasticity view of dynamics. Nature Communications 8 (1), ISSN 2041-1723.
- Vemu, A. and Atherton, J. and Spector, J.O. and Moores, Carolyn A. and Roll-Mecak, A. and Blanchoin, L. (2017) Tubulin isoform composition tunes microtubule dynamics. Molecular Biology of the Cell 28 (25), pp. 3564-3572. ISSN 1059-1524.
- Locke, Julia and Joseph, Agnel Praveen and Pena, Alejandro and Mockel, M. and Mayer, T. and Topf, Maya and Moores, Carolyn A. (2017) Structural basis of human kinesin-8 function and inhibition. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 114 (45), pp. E9539-E9548. ISSN 0027-8424.
- Atherton, Joseph and Yu, I-M. and Cook, Alexander and Muretta, J. and Joseph, Agnel Praveen and Major, J. and Sourigues, Y. and Clause, J. and Topf, Maya and Rosenfeld, S. and Houdusse, A. and Moores, Carolyn A. (2017) The divergent mitotic kinesin MKLP2 exhibits atypical structure and mechanochemistry. eLife ISSN 2050-084X.
- Atherton, Joe and Jiang, K. and Stangier, M.M. and Luo, Y. and Hua, S. and Houben, K. and von Hooff, J.J.E. and Joseph, Agnel Praveen and Scarabelli, G. and Grant, B.J. and Roberts, Anthony and Topf, Maya and Steinmetz, M. and Baldus, M. and Moores, Carolyn A. and Akhmanova, A. (2017) A structural model for microtubule minus-end recognition and protection by CAMSAP proteins. Nature Structural and Molecular Biology 24, pp. 931-943. ISSN 1545-9993.
- Britto, M. and Goulet, A. and Rizvi, S. and von Loeffelholz, O. and Moores, Carolyn A. and Cross, R.A. (2016) Schizosaccharomyces pombe kinesin-5 switches direction using a steric blocking mechanism. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 113 (47), pp. E7483-E7489. ISSN 0027-8424.
- Vemu, A. and Atherton, Joe and Spector, J.O. and Szyk, A. and Moores, Carolyn A. and Roll-Mecak, A. (2016) Structure and dynamics of single-isoform recombinant Neuronal Human Tubulin. Journal of Biological Chemistry 291 (25), pp. 12907-12915. ISSN 0021-9258.
- Randall, T.S. and Moores, Carolyn A. and Stephenson, F.A. (2013) Delineation of the TRAK binding regions of the kinesin-1 motor proteins. FEBS Letters 587 (23), pp. 3763-3769. ISSN 1873-3468.
- Moores, Carolyn A. and Milligan, R.A. (2006) Lucky 13-microtubule depolymerisation by kinesin-13 motors. Journal of Cell Science 119 (Pt 19), pp. 3905-13. ISSN 0021-9533.
Book Section
- Manka, Szymon and Moores, Carolyn A. (2019) Cryo-TEM and Biological Structure Determination. In: Ramesh, V. (ed.) Biomolecular and Bioanalytical Techniques: Theory, Methodology and Applications. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. pp. 471-499. ISBN 9781119483960.
External Repositories
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Business and community
Business and community
Outreach
August 2019
Interviewed on BBC East Midlands news segment about cryo-electron microscopy
March 2019
Hosted visit of year 10 class from local school in the EM lab