Collins, Mark, Dr

Research interests

We are interested in how proteins are regulated by post-translational modifications and how cell signalling pathways are perturbed in disease. PTMs such as phosphorylation, ubiquitination, acetylation and palmitoylation regulate overlapping and distinct aspects of protein function, but the interplay of these modifications is not well understood.

We exploit biochemical and quantitative mass spectrometry-based approaches to understand how proteins are dynamically regulated by protein synthesis and degradation and an array of post-translational modifications.

Research themes

Neuroproteomics

We have a long-standing interest in understanding how brain proteomes relate to fundamental aspects of learning and memory and how they are altered in disease. We have been at the forefront of proteomic studies of synapses from the interrogation of the composition of pre and post-synaptic fractions to the characterisation of postsynaptic glutamate receptor associated protein complexes and their regulation by post-translational modifications.

We are currently investigating how the synapse proteome is regulated by palmitoylation and lysine acetylation; important PTMs that regulate association of proteins with pre and post synaptic membranes and protein stability, respectively.

We are together with our collaborators investigating the composition of synapse proteomes in several mouse models of disease and human iPS cell derived neuronal models of disease including Schizophrenia, Alzheimer's disease and ALS. Furthermore, we are currently conducting clinical proteomics studies of ALS patient cohorts to identify biomarkers of oxidative stress to enable the action of therapeutics to be assessed.

Regulation of membrane protein function by S-acylation (Palmitoylation)

Palmitoylation, the only known reversible lipid modification of proteins, is a critical regulator of protein trafficking, stability and signalling and is important for all cell types, and organisms from yeast to humans.

Proteins can be palmitoylated by a family of 23 protein acyl transferases (PATs) in humans and many of these enzymes have been shown to regulate important aspects of cell biology and in particular in neuronal cells in the brain where palmitoylation of receptors and associated proteins are essential for communication between brain cells and therefore functions such as learning and memory.

Indeed, several PATs have been implicated in the pathophysiology of neurological disorders from Huntington’s disease to intellectual disability and schizophrenia and well as other diseases such as diabetes and cancer.

The identification of determinants of substrate specificity of palmitoyl acyltransferases is an important goal toward understanding how palmitoylation regulates cell function. Development of strategies to enrich, identify and quantify proteins and PTMs is also a major focus of research in our lab.

Perturbed signalling pathways in neurodegenerative diseases

Motor Neurone Disease or Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a disorder that results in fatal paralysis within a few years of symptom onset. Defects in a growing list of genes are associated with the development of ALS/MND.

Many of these gene defects result in the accumulation of aggregates in cells of patients with ALS and these aggregates are believed to cause neurons to die, resulting in the symptoms of the disease.

Recently, a number of large exome sequencing studies of ALS patients have independently identified several loss of function mutations in protein kinases but it is not known how dysregulation of these kinases might contribute to development of disease.

We are using protein biochemistry, immunofluorescence microscopy and phosphoproteomic approaches to understand how human mutations lead to molecular and cellular changes that contribute to to the pathogenesis of ALS.

Mass spectrometry-based proteomics

The key enabling technology for our research is shotgun proteomics; in which protein samples (whole cell lysates, organelles, protein complexes etc.) are digested with into peptides, separated using nanoflow chromatography and analysed using high-resolution tandem mass spectrometry (Faculty of Science Mass Spectrometry Facility). This approach permits unbiased, quantitative analysis of protein levels and PTMs, with unrivalled accuracy and sensitivity.

We exploit affinity purification and proximity labelling strategies to purify and characterise multiprotein complexes formed by protein kinases and palmitoyl-acyltransferases to identify their substrates as well as regulatory proteins that determine substrate specificity or target these enzymes to different subcellular compartments or membrane microdomains.

Collaborations

(University of Leicester)

Dr Daniel Humphreys (University of ��«Ӱҵ)

Prof Dave Kelly (University of ��«Ӱҵ)

Dr Stéphane Mesnage (University of ��«Ӱҵ)

Dr Andrew Peden (University of ��«Ӱҵ)

(University of ��«Ӱҵ)

Publications

Show: Featured publications All publications

Featured publications

Journal articles

ElGhazaly M, Collins MO, Ibler AEM & Humphreys D (2023) . Cell Reports, 42(10), 113181-113181.
Wang S, Fairall L, Pham TK, Ragan TJ, Vashi D, Collins MO, Dominguez C & Schwabe JWR (2023) . Nucleic Acids Research.
Sanders B, D'Andrea D, Collins MO, Rees E, Steward TGJ, Zhu Y, Chapman G, Legge SE, Pardiñas AF, Harwood AJ , Gray WP et al (2022) . Nature Communications, 13(1), 27-27.
Barnes C, English D, Broderick M, Collins M & Cowley SM (2021) . Molecular Omics.
Pham TK, Buczek WA, Mead RJ, Shaw PJ & Collins MO (2021) . Frontiers in Molecular Neuroscience, 14.
Woodley KT & Collins MO (2021) . The FEBS Journal.
Zhu F, Collins MO, Harmse J, Choudhary JS, Grant SGN & Komiyama NH (2019) . European Journal of Neuroscience.
Woodley KT & Collins MO (2019) . EMBO reports.
Ampah KK, Greaves J, Shun-Shion AS, Asnawi AW, Lidster JA, Chamberlain LH, Collins MO & Peden AA (2018) . Journal of Cell Science, 131(20).
Raouf R, Lolignier S, Sexton JE, Millet Q, Santana-Varela S, Biller A, Fuller AM, Pereira V, Choudhary JS, Collins MO , Moss SE et al (2018) . Science Signaling, 11(535).
Fernández E, Collins MO, Frank RAW, Zhu F, Kopanitsa MV, Nithianantharajah J, Lemprière SA, Fricker D, Elsegood KA, McLaughlin CL , Croning MDR et al (2017) . Cell Reports, 21(3), 679-691.
Collins MO, Woodley KT & Choudhary JS (2017) . Scientific Reports, 7(1).
Bayés À, Collins MO, Reig-Viader R, Gou G, Goulding D, Izquierdo A, Choudhary JS, Emes RD & Grant SG (2017) . Nature Communications, 8.
Oakes JA, Davies MC & Collins MO (2017) . Mol Brain, 10(1), 5-5.
Purcell SM, Moran JL, Fromer M, Ruderfer D, Solovieff N, Roussos P, O'Dushlaine C, Chambert K, Bergen SE, Kähler A , Duncan L et al (2014) . Nature, 506(7487), 185-190.
Kirov G, Pocklington AJ, Holmans P, Ivanov D, Ikeda M, Ruderfer D, Moran J, Chambert K, Toncheva D, Georgieva L , Grozeva D et al (2012) . Mol Psychiatry, 17(2), 142-153.
Bayés A, van de Lagemaat LN, Collins MO, Croning MDR, Whittle IR, Choudhary JS & Grant SGN (2011) . Nat Neurosci, 14(1), 19-21.

All publications

Journal articles

Alamri H & Collins M (2024) . Clinica Chimica Acta, 558, 118675-118675.
Wood SL, Lopez-Guajardo A, Oliva M, Collins M, Clézardin P, Croset M & Brown JE (2024) . Journal of Bone Oncology, 45, 100570-100570.
Wood SL, Lopez-Guajardo A, Oliva MR, Collins M, Pham K, Dunning M, Chambers EV & Brown JE (2024) . Journal of Bone Oncology, 45, 100566-100566.
Nazemi M, Yanes B, Martinez ML, Walker HJ, Pham K, Collins MO, Bard F & Rainero E (2024) . PLOS Biology, 22(1).
ElGhazaly M, Collins MO, Ibler AEM & Humphreys D (2023) . Cell Reports, 42(10), 113181-113181.
Wang S, Fairall L, Pham TK, Ragan TJ, Vashi D, Collins MO, Dominguez C & Schwabe JWR (2023) . Nucleic Acids Research.
Bonaud A, Gargowitsch L, Gilbert SM, Rajan E, Canales-Herrerias P, Stockholm D, Rahman NF, Collins MO, Taskiran H, Hill DL , Alloatti A et al (2023) . Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 120(2).
Moll T, Odon V, Harvey C, Collins MO, Peden A, Franklin J, Graves E, Marshall JN, Dos Santos Souza C, Zhang S , Castelli L et al (2023) . Life Sci Alliance, 6(1).
Herman KD, Wright CG, Marriott HM, McCaughran SC, Bowden KA, Collins MO, Renshaw SA & Prince LR (2022) . Frontiers in Immunology, 13.
Parker MD, Stewart H, Shehata OM, Lindsey BB, Shah DR, Hsu S, Keeley AJ, Partridge DG, Leary S, Cope A , State A et al (2022) . Communications Biology, 5.
Clifton NE, Bosworth ML, Haan N, Rees E, Holmans PA, Wilkinson LS, Isles AR, Collins MO & Hall J (2022) . Human Molecular Genetics.
Sanders B, D'Andrea D, Collins MO, Rees E, Steward TGJ, Zhu Y, Chapman G, Legge SE, Pardiñas AF, Harwood AJ , Gray WP et al (2022) . Nature Communications, 13(1), 27-27.
Barnes C, English D, Broderick M, Collins M & Cowley SM (2021) . Molecular Omics.
Patel AV, Turner RD, Rifflet A, Acosta-Martin AE, Nichols A, Awad MM, Lyras D, Gomperts Boneca I, Bern M, Collins MO & Mesnage S (2021) . eLife, 10.
Pham TK, Buczek WA, Mead RJ, Shaw PJ & Collins MO (2021) . Frontiers in Molecular Neuroscience, 14.
Klionsky DJ, Abdel-Aziz AK, Abdelfatah S, Abdellatif M, Abdoli A, Abel S, Abeliovich H, Abildgaard MH, Abudu YP, Acevedo-Arozena A , Adamopoulos IE et al (2021) . Autophagy, 1-382.
Woodley KT & Collins MO (2021) . The FEBS Journal.
Sharma S, Carmona A, Skowronek A, Yu F, Collins MO, Naik S, Murzeau CM, Tseng P-L & Erdmann KS (2019) . Nature Communications, 10(1).
Zhu F, Collins MO, Harmse J, Choudhary JS, Grant SGN & Komiyama NH (2019) . European Journal of Neuroscience.
Woodley KT & Collins MO (2019) . EMBO reports.
Pattrick CA, Webb JP, Green J, Chaudhuri RR, Collins MO & Kelly DJ (2019) . mSystems, 4(4).
Ampah KK, Greaves J, Shun-Shion AS, Asnawi AW, Lidster JA, Chamberlain LH, Collins MO & Peden AA (2018) . Journal of Cell Science, 131(20).
Raouf R, Lolignier S, Sexton JE, Millet Q, Santana-Varela S, Biller A, Fuller AM, Pereira V, Choudhary JS, Collins MO , Moss SE et al (2018) . Science Signaling, 11(535).
Chandran JS, Sharp PS, Karyka E, Aves-Cruzeiro JMDC, Coldicott I, Castelli L, Hautbergue G, Collins MO & Azzouz M (2017) . Scientific Reports, 7(1).
Fernández E, Collins MO, Frank RAW, Zhu F, Kopanitsa MV, Nithianantharajah J, Lemprière SA, Fricker D, Elsegood KA, McLaughlin CL , Croning MDR et al (2017) . Cell Reports, 21(3), 679-691.
Collins MO, Woodley KT & Choudhary JS (2017) . Scientific Reports, 7(1).
Bayés À, Collins MO, Reig-Viader R, Gou G, Goulding D, Izquierdo A, Choudhary JS, Emes RD & Grant SG (2017) . Nature Communications, 8.
Oakes JA, Davies MC & Collins MO (2017) . Mol Brain, 10(1), 5-5.
Bayés À, Collins MO, Galtrey CM, Simonnet C, Roy M, Croning MDR, Gou G, van de Lagemaat LN, Milward D, Whittle IR , Smith C et al (2014) . Molecular Brain, 7.
Collins MO (2014) . Neuron, 84(1), 1-3.
Collins MO, Wright JC, Jones M, Rayner JC & Choudhary JS (2014) . Journal of Proteomics, 103, 1-14.
Brochet M, Collins MO, Smith TK, Thompson E, Sebastian S, Volkmann K, Schwach F, Chappell L, Gomes AR, Berriman M , Rayner JC et al (2014) . PLoS Biology, 12(3), ---.
Purcell SM, Moran JL, Fromer M, Ruderfer D, Solovieff N, Roussos P, O'Dushlaine C, Chambert K, Bergen SE, Kähler A , Duncan L et al (2014) . Nature, 506(7487), 185-190.
Jones ML, Collins MO, Goulding D, Choudhary JS & Rayner JC (2012) . Cell Host Microbe, 12(2), 246-258.
Wright JC, Collins MO, Yu L, Käll L, Brosch M & Choudhary JS (2012) . Mol Cell Proteomics, 11(8), 478-491.
Sebastian S, Brochet M, Collins MO, Schwach F, Jones ML, Goulding D, Rayner JC, Choudhary JS & Billker O (2012) . Cell Host Microbe, 12(1), 9-19.
Kirov G, Pocklington AJ, Holmans P, Ivanov D, Ikeda M, Ruderfer D, Moran J, Chambert K, Toncheva D, Georgieva L , Grozeva D et al (2012) . Mol Psychiatry, 17(2), 142-153.
McMahon AC, Barnett MW, O'Leary TS, Stoney PN, Collins MO, Papadia S, Choudhary JS, Komiyama NH, Grant SGN, Hardingham GE , Wyllie DJA et al (2012) . Nat Commun, 3, 900.
Bayés A, Collins MO, Croning MDR, van de Lagemaat LN, Choudhary JS & Grant SGN (2012) . PLoS One, 7(10), e46683.
Pagliuca FW, Collins MO & Choudhary JS (2011) . Cell Cycle, 10(24), 4195-4196.
Pagliuca FW, Collins MO, Lichawska A, Zegerman P, Choudhary JS & Pines J (2011) . Mol Cell, 43(3), 406-417.
Brosch M, Saunders GI, Frankish A, Collins MO, Yu L, Wright J, Verstraten R, Adams DJ, Harrow J, Choudhary JS & Hubbard T (2011) . Genome Res, 21(5), 756-767.
Bayés A, van de Lagemaat LN, Collins MO, Croning MDR, Whittle IR, Choudhary JS & Grant SGN (2011) . Nat Neurosci, 14(1), 19-21.
Jones ML, Collins MO, Choudhary JS & Rayner JC (2010) . Malaria Journal, 9(S2).
Jones ML, Collins MO, Choudhary J & Rayner JC (2010) . Malaria Journal, 9(S2).
Collins MO (2009) . Science, 325(5948), 1635-1636.
Fernández E, Collins MO, Uren RT, Kopanitsa MV, Komiyama NH, Croning MDR, Zografos L, Armstrong JD, Choudhary JS & Grant SGN (2009) . Mol Syst Biol, 5, 269.
Coba MP, Pocklington AJ, Collins MO, Kopanitsa MV, Uren RT, Swamy S, Croning MDR, Choudhary JS & Grant SGN (2009) . Sci Signal, 2(68), ra19.
Collins MO & Choudhary JS (2008) . Curr Opin Biotechnol, 19(4), 324-330.
Emes RD, Pocklington AJ, Anderson CNG, Bayes A, Collins MO, Vickers CA, Croning MDR, Malik BR, Choudhary JS, Armstrong JD & Grant SGN (2008) . Nat Neurosci, 11(7), 799-806.
Collins MO, Yu L, Campuzano I, Grant SGN & Choudhary JS (2008) . Mol Cell Proteomics, 7(7), 1331-1348.
Collins MO, Yu L & Choudhary JS (2007) . Proteomics, 7(16), 2751-2768.
Collins MO & Grant SGN (2007) . Subcell Biochem, 43, 185-207.
Collins MO, Husi H, Yu L, Brandon JM, Anderson CNG, Blackstock WP, Choudhary JS & Grant SGN (2006) . J Neurochem, 97 Suppl 1, 16-23.
Collins MO, Yu L, Husi H, Blackstock WP, Choudhary JS & Grant SGN (2005) . Sci STKE, 2005(298), pl6.
Collins MO, Yu L, Coba MP, Husi H, Campuzano I, Blackstock WP, Choudhary JS & Grant SGN (2005) . Journal of Biological Chemistry, 280(7), 5972-5982.
Barrett S, Collins M, Kenny C, Ryan E, Keane CO & Crowe J (2003) . J Med Virol, 71(2), 212-218.
Kaizuka T, Hirouchi T, Saneyoshi T, Shirafuji T, Collins MO, Grant SGN, Hayashi Y & Takumi T () . PLOS Biology, 22(3), e3002006-e3002006.
Mansfeld J, Collin P, Collins MO, Choudhary JS & Pines J () . Nat Cell Biol, 13(10), 1234-1243.
Collins MO, Yu L & Choudhary JS () . Protocol Exchange.
Sanders B, D’Andrea D, Collins MO, Rees E, Steward TGJ, Zhu Y, Chapman G, Legge SE, Pardiñas AF, Harwood AJ , Gray WP et al () .

Chapters

Woodley KT & Collins MO (2019) In Evans C, Wright P & Noirel J (Ed.), Mass Spectrometry of Proteins (pp. 71-82). New York: Humana Press.
Collins MO & Grant SG (2009) Neuroproteomics., Encyclopedia of Neuroscience (pp. 971-981). Oxford: Academic Press
Collins MO (2007) Supramolecular signalling complexes in the nervous system, Subcellular Proteomics
Collins MO, Husi H & Grant SG (2004) Proteomics in the Neurosciences, Proteomics: Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Applications Kluwer Academic Press

Conference proceedings papers

Chandran J, Sharp P, Collins M & Azzouz M (2016) Site specific labelling of adeno-associated virus identifies targets for enhancing viral transduction efficiency. HUMAN GENE THERAPY, Vol. 27(7) (pp A14-A14)
(2016) . Human Gene Therapy, Vol. 27(7) (pp A1-A20)
Collins M & Choudhary J (2014) Resolving Sites of Protein Palmitoylation Using Quantitative Proteomics. MOLECULAR & CELLULAR PROTEOMICS, Vol. 13(8) (pp S41-S41)
Mansfeld J, Collin P, Collins MO, Choudhary JS & Pines J (2012) APC15 drives the turnover of MCC-Cdc20 to make the spindle assembly checkpoint responsive to kinetochore attachment. FEBS JOURNAL, Vol. 279 (pp 556-556)

Preprints

Pham TK, Verber N, Turner MR, Malaspina A, Collins MO, Mead RJ & Shaw PJ (2024) , Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.
English DM, Lee SN, Sabat KA, Baker IM, Pham TK, Collins MO & Cowley SM (2024) , Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.
Tseng P-L, Sun W, Salem A, Macfarlane S, Gad AKB, Collins MO & Erdmann KS (2024) , Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.
Abrar F, Davies MC, Kumar A, Dang A, Nguyen YTN, Collins J, Caron NS, Choudhary JS, Sanders SS, Collins MO , Hayden MR et al (2023) , Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.
ElGhazaly M, Collins MO, Ibler AEM & Humphreys D (2022) , Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.
Lucas RM, Bauer CS, Chinnaiya K, Schwartzentruber A, MacDonald R, Collins MO, Aasly JO, Brønstad G, Ferraiuolo L, Mortiboys H & De Vos KJ (2019) , bioRxiv.
Zhu F, Collins MO, Harmse J, Choudhary JS, Grant SGN & Komiyama NH (2018) , bioRxiv.
Raouf R, Lolignier S, Sexton JE, Millet Q, Santana-Varela S, Biller A, Fuller AM, Pereira V, Choudhary J, Collins M , Moss SE et al (2017) , bioRxiv.
Wang S, Fairall L, Pham K, Ragan TJ, Vashi D, Collins MO, Dominguez C & Schwabe JWR () , Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.
Herman KD, Wright CG, Marriott HM, McCaughran SC, Collins MO, Renshaw SA & Prince LR () , Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.
Patel AV, Turner RD, Rifflet A, Acosta-Martin AE, Nichols A, Awad MM, Lyras D, Gomperts-Boneca I, Bern M, Collins MO & Mesnage S () .
Woodley KT & Collins MO () .
Bonaud A, Gargowitsch L, Gilbert SM, Rajan E, Herrerias PC, Stockholm D, Rahman NF, Collins MO, Hill DL, Alloatti A , Alouche N et al () , Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.
Moll T, Odon V, Harvey C, Collins MO, Peden A, Franklin J, Graves E, Marshall JNG, Santos Souza CD, Zhang S , Azzouz M et al () , Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.

Research group

PhD students

Hatoon Alamri
Weronika Buczek
Ella Hudson*
Sam Lewin*
Ola Shehata*
Salma Srour*

Ashley Griffin*
Ankur Patel*
Nick Verber*
Jorge Miguel Ferreira*

*Co-supervisor

Grants

BBSRC
MRC
Weston Park Hospital Cancer Charity
Royal Society

Teaching activities

Undergraduate and postgraduate taught modules

Undergraduate:

BMS109 Cell & Molecular
Level 3 Practical and Dissertation Modules

Doctoral Development Programme

BMS6007: Mass Spectrometry-based Proteomics and Metabolomics Course (Director)

Professional activities and memberships

Guest Editor at Frontiers in Molecular Neuroscience
Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (2016)
Peer reviewer for scientific journals and grant-awarding bodies

Opportunities

I welcome applications from international students who are self-funded or have (or are applying for) a government scholarship.

We advertise PhD opportunities (Funded or Self-Funded) on FindAPhD.com

For further information and details of other projects on offer, please see the department PhD Opportunities page.

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School of Biosciences

School of Biosciences

Dr Mark Collins

Research themes

Neuroproteomics

Regulation of membrane protein function by S-acylation (Palmitoylation)

Perturbed signalling pathways in neurodegenerative diseases

Mass spectrometry-based proteomics

Featured publications

Journal articles

All publications

Journal articles

Chapters

Conference proceedings papers

Preprints

PhD students

Undergraduate and postgraduate taught modules

��«Ӱҵ

School of Biosciences

School of Biosciences

Dr Mark Collins

Research themes

Neuroproteomics

Regulation of membrane protein function by S-acylation (Palmitoylation)

Perturbed signalling pathways in neurodegenerative diseases

Mass spectrometry-based proteomics

Featured publications

Journal articles

All publications

Journal articles

Chapters

Conference proceedings papers

Preprints

PhD students

Undergraduate and postgraduate taught modules

Links