Epithelial Research Group
at Newcastle University
ERG Away Day Programmes
ERG Away Day Programme 2006
ERG Away Day Programme 2005
ERG Away Day Programme 2004
ERG Away Day Programme 2003
ERG Away Day Programme 2002
ERG Away Day Programme 2001
ERG Away Day 2006
Thursday 21st September 2006, Grey Street Hotel, Newcastle upon Tyne
Session I
9.20-10.00 Emily Abbot Streptococcus pyrogenes interactions with human epithelia
10.00-10.40 John Sayer Molecular diagnosis, pathogenesis and treatment strategies in cystic kidney diseases
10.40-11.00 Lee McCloy (Roche Diagnostics) Sequence your bacterial genome in a day!
11.00-11.20 COFFEE
Session II
11.20-12.00 Felicity May (Northern Cancer Research Institute) Trefoil proteins: interactions with mucins, other proteins and H. pylori
12.00-12.15 Jeff Pearson Evidence of increased gastric aspiration in acute lung allograft rejection
12.15-12.40 Trevor Jackson Identification of new isoforms of the SGK1 kinase
12.40-13.00 Annemieke Walker/Donald Innes (Invitrogen) The Advantages of the Alexa Fluor Dyes
13.00-13.40 LUNCH
Session III
13.40-14.20 Rob Taylor (Neurology, Neurobiology & Psychiatry) Mitochondrial DNA mutations in human pathology
14.20-15.00 Colin Brown Human proximal tubule cell monolayers - a new tool to study renal xenobiotic secretion
15.00-15.20 Russell Thompson (Merck Biosciences) Enabling Proteomic Research with Novel Proteome Sample Preparation and Analysis Tools
15.20-15.40 COFFEE
Session IV
15.40-16.20 Dianne Ford Nutrient-gene interactions; Lisa Coneyworth
Effects of DNA methylation on zinc-regulated gene expression; Kelly Jackson Transcriptional regulation of the zinc transporter ZnT5
16.20-17.00 David Thwaites, Catriona Anderson, Susan Harrison Transporters in the small intestine and neuroblastoma
17.00-17.30 Mark Carlile The Biology of Endogenous Antisense Transcripts; Andi Werner A living proof of molecular Darwinism?
17.30-18.15 Closing remarks and WINE RECEPTION
18.30 DINNER at COCO MOS
ERG Away Day 2005
Thursday 15th September 2005, Hatfield College Durham
11.00-11.10 Welcome and Introduction
1.10-11.50 Andi Werner Natural antisense transcripts and gene regulation
11.50-12.30 Dan Swan Bioinformatics support and facilities at Newcastle
LUNCH 12.30-13.30
13.30-14.10 David Thwaites, David Kennedy, Catriona Anderson Surface pH, dipeptide and amino acid uptake in mouse small intestine
14.10-14.50 Colin Brown The SLC7 family of amino acid transporters
14.50-15.30 Lee McLoy (Roche) The universal probe library Nicola Parsons (Ambion) Experimental tools for microRNA analysis
COFFEE 15.30-16.15
16.15-16.55 Sarah Newbury RNA turnover and its role in developmental processes in Drosophila
16.55-17.45 Barry Hirst, Alison Howard, Imran Tahir The role of glycine in intestinal cell protection
WINE RECEPTION 17.45-18.15
18.15-19.00 Nigel Belshaw (Norwich) Aberrant CpG island methylation as a biomarker of health/disease that is modifiable by diet
Friday 16th September 2005
BREAKFAST 8.00-9.00
9.00-9.40 Vanessa Hall Therapeutic cloning: Curing the uncurable
9.40-10.20 John Sayer The molecular genetics of renal cystic diseases
COFFEE 10.20-11.00
11.00-11.40 Simon Whitehall HIRA nucleosome assembly factors the propagation of repressive chromatin
11.40-12.20 Dianne Ford Epigenetic regulation of Zn metabolism
12.20-13.00 Cerys Huggins (Merck Biosciences) Improving recombinant protein expression in E coli; Damian Wells (Promega) HaloTag technology
LUNCH 13.00-13.45
13.45-14.20 Barry Argent The SLC26 family of anion exchangers in health and disease
14.20-15.00 Judith Hall, Panagiota Milona, Claire Townes Expression and Antimicrobial Activities of Gallinacins 4 and 7. AWAK-the continuing story.
15:00-15:30 Jeff Pearson
15:30-15:35 Closing remarks
5:35-16:15 Round Table (ERG staff)
ERG Away Day 2004
Thursday 16th September 2004, Hatfield College, Durham
11.00-11.15 Welcome and Introduction
11.15-12.00 Andi Werner, Gavin McHaffie, Mark Carlile Transport, adaptors proteins and epigenetics
LUNCH 12.00-13.00
13.00-14.00 David Thwaites, Catriona Anderson, Emily Abbot, David Kennedy
14.00-15.00 Barry Hirst, Imran Tahir, Gerry Siou A role for fimbriae in Streptococcal infection of human tonsils
POSTERS and EXHIBIT 15.00-16.00
16.00-17.00 Amersham Biosciences Utilizing the CodeLink bioarray platform to detect gene expression levels in heritable lysosomal storage disease; Ambion siRNA
17.15-17.45 Colin Brown, Amy Windass Hepatic and renal clearance of the lipid lowering drug rosuvastatin;
Rachel Sayer The SLC7 family of amino acid transporters
WINE RECEPTION 17.45-18.15
18.15-19.00 Invited pre dinner speech: Paul Sharp (Surrey) Diet-gene interactions: The effects of dietary trace metals on intestinal iron absorption?
Friday 17th September 2004
BREAKFAST 8.30-9.00
9.00-9.45 Dianne Ford, Louise Pritchett The production and biological activity of isoflavone metabolites; Luisa Watson The impact of genetic polymorphism on isoflavone absorption and metabolism; Kelly Jackson The regulation and function of splice variants of the zinc transporter ZnT5 (SLC30A5).
9.45-10.30 Nick Simmons Functional organisation of the rumen epithelium
COFFEE AND POSTERS 10.30-11.00
11.00-11.45 Invited speaker: David Bassett (Newcastle)
11.45-12.45 Talks from Industry: VWR International Limited; Abgene; Sigma An introduction to Proteomics
LUNCH 12.45-13.30
13.30-14.15 Jeffrey Pearson Jeff the baker
14.15-15.00 Barry Argent Inversin and polycystic kidney disease; Zoltan Rakonczay A novel basolateral HCO3- transport mechanism in pancreatic duct cells
15.00-15.45 Judith Hall The innate immune system of avian epithelia; M. Panagiota Avian b-defensin antimicrobial peptides
Closing remarks 15:45-16:00
ERG Away Day 2003
Thursday 18th September 2003, Hatfield College, Durham
11:00 Welcome 
Session 1 Imaging
11:00–11:20 Georgina Carr The role of CLC-5 in Dent’s disease
11:20–11:40 John Sayer Deaf, dented and donor kidneys
11:40–12:05 Anna Brown Mechanistic and functional changes in Ca2+ entry following retinoic acid-induced differentiation of neuroblastoma cells
12:05–12:25 Fiona Riddoch Calcium signalling in a human neuroblastoma cell line
12:25–13:30 Lunch
Session 2 Transport
13:30–14:00 David Kennedy Amino acid transport by the novel transporter rPAT2
14:00–14:20 Sarah Waring Alternative transcription of the Glyt1 glycine transporter during intestinal response to diet
14:20–14:40 Zoltan Rakonczay pH regulation of human pancreatic duct cells
14:40 – 15:30 Coffee and poster session
Session 3 Interactions
15:30–16:00 Elizabeth Veal (Newcastle) The yeast-2-hybrid system
16:00–16:20 Gavin McHaffie Do iNOS and Shank 3b interact?
16:20–16:40 Gerard Siou Group A streptococcal interaction with human epithelial cells. An in vitro model of tonsil epithelial cell infection?
16:40–17:30 Heiko Peters Region-specific differentiation of the surface ectoderm - the role of Pax9
19:00 Dinner at Restaurant Venezia
Friday 19th September 2003
Session 4 Electrophysiology
9:30–10:15 John Winpenney (Sunderland) Tissue distribution and functional studies of the mCLCA3 (alias Gob-5) protein, a putative calcium-activated chloride channel
10:15–10:35 John Linley Zinc Regulation of an Outwardly Rectyfying Cl- Conductance in Mouse Inner Medullary Collecting Duct Cells (mIMCD-3)
10:35–11:00 Coffee
Session 5 ‘Down and Out’
11:00–11:30 Ambion (Nicola Parsons) Latest news on siRNA
11:30–12:15 Andi Werner Natural antisense RNA
12:15–13:30 Lunch / Posters
Session 6 Aspects Of Digestion
13:30–14:15 Hari Hundal (Dundee) Stress encounters of the lipid kind - The role of ceramide as modulator of insulin action and glucose transport in muscle cells
14:15–14:35 Ruth Cragg The effect of zinc supplementation in human subjects on the expression in small intestine of zinc transporters
14:35–14:55 Kathyrn Atherton The role of xenobiotic-metabolising enzymes in isoflavone metabolism
14:55–15:15 Ian Brownlee Alignates as a source of dietary fibre
15:15–15:35 Chris Nile Isolation and characterisation of novel antimicrobial peptides from the avian gut
ERG Away Day 2002
Thursday 19th September 2002, Hatfield College, Durham
11.00-11.05 Welcome and Introduction
11.05-12.20 Presentations from Industry: Nicola Parsons (Ambion); Liz Homer (Quiagen); Andrew Harrison (Sigma) 
LUNCH 12.30-13.30
13.30-15.00 Intestinal absorption of nutrients:
Barry Hirst
David Thwaites
COFFEE AND POSTERS 15.00-16.00
16.00-17.30 Water and ion transport in the kidney
Dave Marples (Leeds)
Nick Simmons
BREAK with a pint or a glass of wine
The success story of a Newcastle graduate by Lee McCloy (Abgene)
DINNER and BAR 18.30-23.00
Friday 20th September 2002
BREAKFAST 8.30-9.15
9.15-10.45 RNA / protein sorting
Zosia Lightowlers (Newcastle)
Andi Werner
COFFEE AND POSTERS 10.45-11.15
11.15-12.45 Biological and Nutritional Sciences
Dianne Ford
Judith Hall
LUNCH 12.40-13.20
13.20-14.00 Mucus
Jeff Pearson
14.00-15.20 Channels, transporters and disease
Mike Gray
Barry Argent
COFFEE & discussions 15.20-16.00
16.00-16.30 Reports, general discussion, concluding remarks
ERG Away Day 2001
Thursday 13 September 2001, Hatfield College, Durham
12.15-13.15 arrival and registration
13.15-13.20 Welcome
13.20-14.05 A. Werner The various aspects of Na/Pi cotransport
14.05-14.50 John H Robinson (Newcastle) How do T lymphocytes recognize bacterial proteins?
14.50-16.00 Coffee and Poster session
16.00-16.45 John Kirby (Newcastle) T cell interactions with epithelia
16.45-17.30 Barry Hirst Gut epithelial barrier: from nutrient transport to vaccine delivery
18.00-19.15 Dinner
19.30-20.15 David Thwaites Optimisation of nutrient absorption in the human small intestine requires the coordinated activity of multiple transport proteins
20.15-23.00 Drinks and Discussion in the bar area
Friday 14th September 2001
8.30-9.15 Breakfast
9.30-10.15 Mike Gray Epithelial Cl- channels
10.15-11.00 Barry Argent, Angela Wright Cl- channels in the pancreas
11.00-11.30 Coffee and Posters
11.30-12.15 Nick Simmons, John Sayer, Stefan Boese Cl- channels in the kidney
12.30-13.15 Lunch
13.15-14.00 Colin Brown Molecular insight into the targeting of statins
14.00-14.30 Dianne Ford Epithelial zinc transport - a molecular insight
14.30-15.30 Coffee, Group-internal strategic discussion
15.30-16.15 Reports, general discussion
16.15 concluding remarks
