Dr Anthony Roberts
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Overview
Overview
Biography
Anthony is a Wellcome Trust Senior Research Fellow within the Institute of Structural Molecular Biology at Birkbeck/UCL. Anthony’s research focuses on the action of ‘motor proteins’; specialised proteins that travel inside cells and help them organise their contents, move, divide and respond to signals. Following PhD studies in cryo-electron microscopy with Prof. Peter Knight and Dr. Stan Burgess at the University of Leeds, Anthony trained as a Sir Henry Wellcome Postdoctoral Fellow based in the single-molecule laboratory of Prof. Samara Reck-Peterson at Harvard Medical School. He started his own group at Birkbeck investigating microtubule-based transport in late 2014, supported by a Sir Henry Dale Fellowship. Now, Anthony’s group is using structural biology, cell biology, and single-molecule techniques to investigate the following questions: How do dynein and kinesin motor proteins generate force and movement? How are they regulated in living cells? How and why does their malfunction give rise to human diseases?
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Research
Research
Research overview
We are investigating the mechanisms by which molecules are spatially organized within living cells. A main focus is on dynein, a large but poorly understood motor protein that uses ATP hydrolysis to transport cellular components and signals along microtubules. The overarching goal of our research is to understand how dynein works as a force-generating machine, and how dynein molecules are regulated to bring about coherent cellular functions. We are also interested in how defects in the dynein machinery cause human disease, and how dynein operates with the other class of microtubule motor, kinesin. Core techniques in our research are cryo-electron microscopy, in vitro reconstitution, cell biology, and single-molecule fluorescence microscopy.
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Publications
Publications
Article
- Vig, A. and Poulter, J.A. and Ottaviani, D. and Tavares, E. and Toropova, K. and Tracewska, A.M. and Mollica, A. and Kang, J. and Kehelwathugoda, O. and Paton, T. and Maynes, J.T. and Wheway, G. and Arno, G. and Genomics England Research, C. and Khan, K.N. and McKibbin, M. and Toomes, C. and Ali, M. and Di Scipio, M. and Li, S. and Ellingford, J. and Black, G. and Webster, A. and Rydzanicz, M. and Stawiński, P. and Płoski, R. and Vincent, A. and Cheetham, M.E. and Inglehearn, C.F. and Roberts, Anthony J. and Heon, E. (2020) DYNC2H1 hypomorphic or retina-predominant variants cause nonsyndromic retinal degeneration. Genetics in Medicine ISSN 1530-0366. (In Press)
- Mukhopadhyay, A.G. and Webb, S. and Roberts, Anthony (2020) Intraflagellar transport trains and motors: insights from structure. Seminars in Cell & Developmental Biology 107, pp. 82-90. ISSN 1084-9521.
- Toropova, K. and Zalyte, R. and Mukhopadhyay, A.G. and Mladenov, M. and Carter, A.P. and Roberts, Anthony J. (2019) Structure of the dynein-2 complex and its assembly with intraflagellar transport trains. Nature Structural & Molecular Biology 26 (9), pp. 823-829. ISSN 1545-9993.
- Roberts, Anthony (2018) Emerging mechanisms of dynein transport in the cytoplasm versus the cilium. Biochemical Society Transactions ISSN 0300-5127.
- 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.
- Toropova, K. and Mladenov, M. and Roberts, Anthony (2017) Intraflagellar transport dynein is autoinhibited by trapping of its mechanical and track-binding elements. Nature Structural & Molecular Biology 24, pp. 461-468. ISSN 1545-9993.
External Repositories