Background

Research

I am currently a post-doctoral research associate working as part of the structural biology group led by Professors Jane Endicott and Martin Noble in the CRUK Newcastle Drug Discovery Centre.

I completed my PhD in 2015 at Durham University under the supervision of Dr. Ehmke Pohl, using virtual screening methods to identify novel inhibitors of the bacterial transcriptional regulator EthR from Mycobacterium tuberculosis. During this time I was awarded an EMBO Short-Term Fellowship to work in the lab of Professor Lynn Kamerlin in Uppsala University, where I utilised molecular dynamics and linear interaction energy (LIE) calculations to investigate the binding energies and binding modes of protein-ligand complexes identified during my doctoral work.

I have a particular interest in studying DNA-binding proteins, particularly in disease settings, and using both biophysical and computational techniques to investigate transcription factor structure and function. My areas of expertise are drug discovery, computational chemistry and biophysics.

Outreach & Engagement

I have a long-standing passion for science outreach and communication. In 2016 I was part of the team which brought the Pint of Science festival to Newcastle for the first time, running the social media and publicity efforts for the highly successful three days of events. In 2017, I took on additional responsibility for organising and chairing the Our Society theme, liaising with the SAgE and HaSS faculties to bring social science research to Pint of Science in Newcastle.

I am currently the Deputy Chair of the Young Crystallographers Group of the British Crystallographic Association.

Google Scholar: Natalie J. Tatum

Publications

• Tatum NJ, Endicott JA. Chatterboxes: the structural and functional diversity of cyclins. Seminars in Cell and Developmental Biology 2020, 107, 4-20.
• Lochhead PA, Tucker JA, Tatum NJ, Wang J, Oxley D, Kidger AM, Johnson VP, Cassidy MA, Gray NS, Noble MEM, Cook SJ. Paradoxical activation of the protein kinase-transcription factor ERK5 by ERK5 kinase inhibitors. Nature Communications 2020, 11(1), 1383.
• Wood DJ, Korolchuk S, Tatum NJ, Wang L-Z, Endicott JA, Noble MEM, Martin MP. Differences in the conformational energy landscape of CDK1 and CDK2 suggest a mechanism for achieving selective CDK inhibition. Cell Chemical Biology 2019, 26(1), 121-130.e5.
• Tatum NJ, Duarte F, Kamerlin SCL, Pohl E. Relative binding energies predict crystallographic binding modes of ethionamide booster lead compounds. Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters 2019, 10(9), 2244-2249.
• Lightfoot HL, Hagen T, Tatum NJ, Hall J. The diverse structural landscape of quadruplexes. FEBS Letters 2019, 593(16), 2083-2102.
• Haffez H, Chisholm DR, Tatum NJ, Valentine R, Redfern C, Pohl E, Whiting A, Przyborski S. Probing biological activity through structural modelling of ligand-receptor interactions of 2,4-disubstituted thiazole retinoids. Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry 2018, 26(8), 1560-1572.
• Tatum NJ, Liebeschuetz JW, Cole JC, Frita R, Herledan A, Baulard AR, Willand N, Pohl, E. New leads for Tuberculosis booster drugs by structure-based drug discovery. Organic and Biomolecular Chemistry 2017, 15(48), 10245-10255.
• Tatum NJ, Yufit DS, Cobb SL, Coxon CR. Synthesis, Ni(II) Schiff base complexation and structural analysis of fluorinated analogs of the ligand (S)-2-[N-(N′-benzylprolyl) amino] benzophenone (BPB). Journal of Fluorine Chemistry 2015, 173, 77-83.
• Tatum NJ, Villemagne B, Willand N, Deprez B, Liebeschuetz JW, Baulard AR, Pohl E. Structural and docking studies of potent ethionamide boosters. Acta Crystallographica Section C: Crystal Structure Communications 2013, 69(11), 1243-1250.
• Colgin N, Tatum NJ, Pohl E, Cobb SL, Sandford G. Synthesis and molecular structure of a perfluorinated pyridyl carbanion. Journal of Fluorine Chemistry 2012, 133, 33-37.