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Department
  • Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry
    • Institute
  • UK Dementia Research Institute at University of Cambridge
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    Research Theme Lifelong Brain Development and Brain Ageing
    Research Focus

    Keywords

  • Ageing
  • Alzheimer's Disease
  • Motor Neuron Disease
  • Fluorescence Microscopy
  • Super-Resolution Microscopy

    • Clinical Conditions

  • Motor neurone disease
  • Alzheimer's disease

    • Equipment & Techniques

  • Fluorescence microscopy

    • Science Culture

  • Mentorship
  • Public Outreach
  • Reproducibility in Science
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    Dr Dezerae Cox

    (she/her/hers)
    University Position
    Junior Research Fellow
    Dr Dezerae Cox is pleased to consider applications from prospective PhD students.

    Interests

    My work seeks to uncover the fundamental molecular drivers of neurodegenerative disease. These diseases, including Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and Motor Neuron (ALS) disease, are unified by a failure in the machinery that normally keeps our cells healthy in the proteostasis network. Failures in this network allow the accumulation of damaged protein molecules into clumps within the brain. We do not fully understand the role of protein clumps in disease onset and progression. Protein clumps, or aggregates, are rare and often heterogeneous, making them an elusive target when trying to understand, prevent or reverse their toxicity. Currently, I am developing novel quantitation tools to fingerprint protein aggregates released from the brains of MND patients using a toolbox of sensitive imaging and mass spectrometry techniques. These fingerprints will assist researchers to select models which produce similar aggregates in the lab, such that they can be used to identify and test novel therapies.

    Key Publications

    Sequence grammar underlying the unfolding and phase separation of globular proteins.

    DOI: http://doi.org/10.1016/j.molcel.2022.06.024
    Journal: Mol Cell
    E-pub date: 1 Sep 2022
    Authors: KM Ruff, YH Choi, D Cox, AR Ormsby, Y Myung, DB Ascher, SE Radford, RV Pappu, DM Hatters

    Hidden information on protein function in censuses of proteome foldedness.

    DOI: http://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-29661-2
    Journal: Nat Commun
    E-pub date: 14 Apr 2022
    Authors: D Cox, C-S Ang, NB Nillegoda, GE Reid, DM Hatters

    Small Heat-shock Proteins Prevent α-Synuclein Aggregation via Transient Interactions and Their Efficacy Is Affected by the Rate of Aggregation.

    DOI: http://doi.org/10.1074/jbc.M116.739250
    Journal: J Biol Chem
    E-pub date: 21 Oct 2016
    Authors: D Cox, E Selig, MDW Griffin, JA Carver, H Ecroyd

    Publications

    Characterization and super-resolution imaging of small tau aggregates in human samples

    DOI: http://doi.org/10.1101/2023.06.12.544575
    Journal:
    E-pub date: 1 Aug 2023
    Authors: D Böken, D Cox, M Burke, J Lam, T Katsinelos, J Danial, W McEwan, J Rowe, D Klenerman

    Protein painting reveals pervasive remodeling of conserved proteostasis machinery in response to pharmacological stimuli.

    DOI: http://doi.org/10.1038/s41540-022-00256-3
    Journal: NPJ Syst Biol Appl
    E-pub date: 28 Nov 2022
    Authors: D Cox, AR Ormsby, GE Reid, DM Hatters

    Deletion of the Plasmodium falciparum exported protein PTP7 leads to Maurer’s clefts vesiculation, host cell remodeling defects, and loss of surface presentation of EMP1.

    DOI: http://doi.org/10.1371/journal.ppat.1009882
    Journal: PLoS Pathog
    E-pub date: 31 Aug 2022
    Authors: OMS Carmo, GJ Shami, D Cox, B Liu, AJ Blanch, S Tiash, L Tilley, MWA Dixon

    A biosensor of protein foldedness identifies increased “holdase” activity of chaperones in the nucleus following increased cytosolic protein aggregation.

    DOI: http://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbc.2022.102158
    Journal: J Biol Chem
    E-pub date: 31 Aug 2022
    Authors: CB Raeburn, AR Ormsby, D Cox, CA Gerak, C Makhoul, NS Moily, S Ebbinghaus, A Dickson, G McColl, DM Hatters

    Probing Protein Solubility Patterns with Proteomics for Insight into Network Dynamics.

    DOI: http://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-1975-9_16
    Journal: Methods Mol Biol
    E-pub date: 1 Aug 2022
    Authors: X Sui, M Radwan, D Cox, DM Hatters

    Replicative aging impedes stress-induced assembly of a key human protein disaggregase

    DOI: http://doi.org/10.1101/2022.06.25.497591
    Journal:
    E-pub date: 1 Aug 2022
    Authors: Y Mathangasinghe, N Alberts, C Rosado, D Cox, N Payne, A Ormsby, KM Alp, R Sakson, S Uthishtran, T Ruppert, S Arumugam, D Hatters, H Kampinga, N Nillegoda

    A Census of Hsp70-Mediated Proteome Solubility Changes upon Recovery from Heat Stress.

    DOI: http://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jproteome.1c00920
    Journal: J Proteome Res
    E-pub date: 6 May 2022
    Authors: X Sui, D Cox, S Nie, GE Reid, DM Hatters

    PINK1 signalling in neurodegenerative disease.

    DOI: http://doi.org/10.1042/EBC20210036
    Journal: Essays Biochem
    E-pub date: 22 Dec 2021
    Authors: DR Whiten, D Cox, CM Sue

    A biosensor to gauge protein homeostasis resilience differences in the nucleus compared to cytosol of mammalian cells

    DOI: http://doi.org/10.1101/2021.04.19.440383
    Journal:
    E-pub date: 1 Aug 2021
    Authors: C Raeburn, A Ormsby, N Moily, D Cox, S Ebbinghaus, A Dickson, G McColl, D Hatters

    Virulence determinant, PTP7, controls vesicle budding from the Maurer’s clefts, adhesin protein trafficking and host cell remodeling inPlasmodium falciparum

    DOI: http://doi.org/10.1101/2021.08.12.456062
    Journal:
    E-pub date: 1 Aug 2021
    Authors: O Carmo, G Shami, D Cox, B Liu, A Blanch, S Tiash, L Tilley, MWA Dixon

    Nascent mutant Huntingtin exon 1 chains do not stall on ribosomes during translation but aggregates do recruit machinery involved in ribosome quality control and RNA.

    DOI: http://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0233583
    Journal: PLoS One
    E-pub date: 1 Aug 2020
    Authors: AR Ormsby, D Cox, J Daly, D Priest, E Hinde, DM Hatters

    N- and C-terminal regions of αB-crystallin and Hsp27 mediate inhibition of amyloid nucleation, fibril binding, and fibril disaggregation.

    DOI: http://doi.org/10.1074/jbc.RA120.012748
    Journal: J Biol Chem
    E-pub date: 17 Jul 2020
    Authors: EE Selig, CO Zlatic, D Cox, Y-F Mok, PR Gooley, H Ecroyd, MDW Griffin

    Arginine in C9ORF72 Dipolypeptides Mediates Promiscuous Proteome Binding and Multiple Modes of Toxicity.

    DOI: http://doi.org/10.1074/mcp.RA119.001888
    Journal: Mol Cell Proteomics
    E-pub date: 1 Apr 2020
    Authors: M Radwan, C-S Ang, AR Ormsby, D Cox, JC Daly, GE Reid, DM Hatters

    Protein aggregation in cell biology: An aggregomics perspective of health and disease.

    DOI: http://doi.org/10.1016/j.semcdb.2018.05.003
    Journal: Semin Cell Dev Biol
    E-pub date: 1 Mar 2020
    Authors: D Cox, C Raeburn, X Sui, DM Hatters

    Single-Molecule Characterization of the Interactions between Extracellular Chaperones and Toxic α-Synuclein Oligomers.

    DOI: http://doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2018.05.074
    Journal: Cell Rep
    E-pub date: 19 Jun 2018
    Authors: DR Whiten, D Cox, MH Horrocks, CG Taylor, S De, P Flagmeier, L Tosatto, JR Kumita, H Ecroyd, CM Dobson, D Klenerman, MR Wilson

    The small heat shock protein Hsp27 binds α-synuclein fibrils, preventing elongation and cytotoxicity.

    DOI: http://doi.org/10.1074/jbc.M117.813865
    Journal: J Biol Chem
    E-pub date: 23 Mar 2018
    Authors: D Cox, DR Whiten, JWP Brown, MH Horrocks, R San Gil, CM Dobson, D Klenerman, AM van Oijen, H Ecroyd

    A biosensor-based framework to measure latent proteostasis capacity.

    DOI: http://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-017-02562-5
    Journal: Nat Commun
    E-pub date: 18 Jan 2018
    Authors: RJ Wood, AR Ormsby, M Radwan, D Cox, A Sharma, T Vöpel, S Ebbinghaus, M Oliveberg, GE Reid, A Dickson, DM Hatters

    The small heat shock proteins αB-crystallin (HSPB5) and Hsp27 (HSPB1) inhibit the intracellular aggregation of α-synuclein.

    DOI: http://doi.org/10.1007/s12192-017-0785-x
    Journal: Cell Stress Chaperones
    E-pub date: 1 Jul 2017
    Authors: D Cox, H Ecroyd

    Preventing α-synuclein aggregation: the role of the small heat-shock molecular chaperone proteins.

    DOI: http://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbadis.2014.06.024
    Journal: Biochim Biophys Acta
    E-pub date: 1 Sep 2014
    Authors: D Cox, JA Carver, H Ecroyd

    The structured core domain of αB-crystallin can prevent amyloid fibrillation and associated toxicity.

    DOI: http://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1322673111
    Journal: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A
    E-pub date: 22 Apr 2014
    Authors: GKA Hochberg, H Ecroyd, C Liu, D Cox, D Cascio, MR Sawaya, MP Collier, J Stroud, JA Carver, AJ Baldwin, CV Robinson, DS Eisenberg, JLP Benesch, A Laganowsky