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Staff Profile

Dr Tom McAllister

Royal Society University Research Fellow

  • Address: School of Natural and Environmental Sciences
    Bedson Building
    Newcastle University
    Newcastle upon Tyne
    NE1 7RU
Background

I am a Royal Society University Research Fellow in the School of Natural and Environmental Sciences. My research group uses chemical biology approaches to investigate and modulate protein:carbohydrate interactions.

I  was awarded my PhD in 2013, which I undertook with Mike Webb at the Univeristy of Leeds. I stayed in Leeds working as a postdoc with Bruce Turnbull before a brief spell as a Teaching Fellow at the University of York. From there I joined the Kawamura Group at the University of Oxford in mid-2014 and moved to Newcastle University in 2019.


Google Scholar Profile

Research

Research in the McAllister group focuses on the interaction of proteins with carbohydrates and their biological consequences. This process is involved in many important biological processes across all Kingdoms of life and we use a variety of techniques including mRNA-display, peptide synthesis, in vitro assays, biophysics and chemical synthesis to study some of these.

We have an interest in the family of human N-α-acetylgalactosaminyltransferase enzymes (GalNAcTs), which catalyse the addition of N-α-acetylgalactosamine (GalNAc) on to proteins. These modified proteins are typically displayed on the cell surface or secreted into the extracellular space with the archetypal example being mucins; highly glycosylated proteins where the protein backbone can account for less than 50% of the total molecular weight. There are 20 enzymes in humans which all perform this GalNAc addition reaction suggesting redundancy between isoforms, however recent discoveries have shown that certain isoforms modify specific positions on some proteins, which are involved in regulating cellular pathways. To truly understand the roles of these fascinating enzymes precise information how they identify which proteins to modify is vitally important and currently this is not well understood.


We also have an interest in carbohydrates in other organisms. The fungus Zymoseptoria tritici is a plant pathogen and the causative agent of Septoria Leaf Blotch disease, which is a major global problem for wheat production causing up to 50% loss in crop yield in infected areas. Z. tritici has an unusual growth pattern during infection with an asymptomatic growth phase lasting 7-10 days before leaf damage is visible (by which point it is too late), making detection very tricky before significant damage is done to the crop. Z. tritici produces many extracellular carbohydrate binding proteins, which may be involved in its pathogenicity. Improved diagnostics and/or new treatment regimens would be hugely beneficial for more efficient wheat production and this is a further area of research within the group.

Publications