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Helen Walden

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Helen Walden
Colour photograph of Helen Walden
Helen Walden
NationalityEnglish
Known forStudy of Ubiquitination
AwardsColworth Medal (2015) EMBO Member (2022)
Scientific career
FieldsStructural biology

Helen Walden FRSE is an English structural biologist who received the Colworth medal from the Biochemical Society in 2015.[1][2] She was awarded European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) membership in 2022. She is a Professor of Structural Biology at the University of Glasgow and has made significant contributions to the Ubiquitination field.[3]

Education and academic career

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Helen Walden studied for a BSc in Biochemistry at the University of Bath. She moved to the University of St Andrews and was awarded a PhD for investigating the structural basis of protein hyperthermostability. After a postdoctoral fellowship at St Jude's Children's Research Hospital, Walden moved to London to set up a lab at the Cancer Research UK London Research Institute (and now part of the Francis Crick Institute). After tenure, Walden moved to the MRC-Phosphorylation and Ubiquitylation Unit at the University of Dundee where in 2016 she was promoted to professor.[4] In 2017, Walden relocated her lab to the University of Glasgow as Professor of Structural Biology.[3]

Research interests

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At St Jude's Children's Research Hospital, Helen Walden developed her interest in the mechanisms of ubiquitination, solving the structure of the E1 for Nedd8.[5][6] In London, Walden studied the specificity and regulation of E3 ubiquitin ligases.[7][8] In recent years Walden has studied the mechanism and disease association of E2-conjugating enzymes.[9] Walden has investigated the role of Parkin in Parkinson's disease.[10][11] Her study of the Fanconi Anemia pathway has allowed Walden to begin developing small molecules to target the pathway.[12]

Professional associations and awards

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References

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  1. ^ a b "The Colworth Medal | Biochemical Society". www.biochemistry.org. Archived from the original on 6 October 2016. Retrieved 19 December 2018.
  2. ^ a b SHussain (17 March 2014). "Dr Helen Walden awarded prestigious Colworth Medal". School of Life Sciences. Retrieved 19 December 2018.
  3. ^ a b "University of Glasgow - Research Institutes - Institute of Molecular, Cell and Systems Biology - All staff - Dr Helen Walden". www.gla.ac.uk. Retrieved 19 December 2018.
  4. ^ "Helen Walden Promoted To Professor | MRC PPU". MRC Protein Phosphorylation and Ubiquitylation Unit. Retrieved 19 December 2018.
  5. ^ "Cell Press: Cell Press". www.cell.com. Retrieved 19 December 2018.
  6. ^ Schulman, Brenda A.; Podgorski, Michael S.; Walden, Helen (March 2003). "Insights into the ubiquitin transfer cascade from the structure of the activating enzyme for NEDD8". Nature. 422 (6929): 330–334. Bibcode:2003Natur.422..330W. doi:10.1038/nature01456. ISSN 1476-4687. PMID 12646924. S2CID 4370095.
  7. ^ Walden, Helen; Lewis, Laurence P. C.; Cole, Ambrose R. (March 2010). "The structure of the catalytic subunit FANCL of the Fanconi anemia core complex". Nature Structural & Molecular Biology. 17 (3): 294–298. doi:10.1038/nsmb.1759. ISSN 1545-9985. PMC 2929457. PMID 20154706.
  8. ^ Walden, Helen; Shaw, Gary S.; Leslie, Simon J.; Sidhu, Ateesh; Barber, Kathryn R.; Burchell, Lynn; Chaugule, Viduth K. (20 July 2011). "Autoregulation of Parkin activity through its ubiquitin‐like domain". The EMBO Journal. 30 (14): 2853–2867. doi:10.1038/emboj.2011.204. ISSN 1460-2075. PMC 3160258. PMID 21694720.
  9. ^ Walden, Helen; Chaugule, Viduth; Alpi, Arno F. (15 October 2016). "Mechanism and disease association of E2-conjugating enzymes: lessons from UBE2T and UBE2L3". Biochemical Journal. 473 (20): 3401–3419. doi:10.1042/BCJ20160028. ISSN 1470-8728. PMC 5095918. PMID 27729585.
  10. ^ Walden, Helen; Arkinson, Connor (20 April 2018). "Parkin function in Parkinson's disease" (PDF). Science. 360 (6386): 267–268. Bibcode:2018Sci...360..267A. doi:10.1126/science.aar6606. ISSN 1095-9203. PMID 29674580. S2CID 5016723.
  11. ^ Walden, H.; Shaw, G. S.; Knebel, A.; Sundaramoorthy, R.; Toth, R.; Johnson, C.; Barber, K. R.; Condos, T. E. C.; Chaugule, V. K. (May 2017). "Parkin-phosphoubiquitin complex reveals cryptic ubiquitin-binding site required for RBR ligase activity". Nature Structural & Molecular Biology. 24 (5): 475–483. doi:10.1038/nsmb.3400. ISSN 1545-9993. PMC 5420311. PMID 28414322.
  12. ^ Morreale, Francesca E.; Bortoluzzi, Alessio; Chaugule, Viduth K.; Arkinson, Connor; Walden, Helen; Ciulli, Alessio (11 May 2017). "Allosteric Targeting of the Fanconi Anemia Ubiquitin-Conjugating Enzyme Ube2T by Fragment Screening". Journal of Medicinal Chemistry. 60 (9): 4093–4098. doi:10.1021/acs.jmedchem.7b00147. ISSN 0022-2623. PMC 5441753. PMID 28437106.
  13. ^ "22 young researchers join the EMBO 2011 Young Investigator Programme". EMBO. Retrieved 19 December 2018.
  14. ^ SHussain (4 February 2016). "Helen Walden awarded €2 million to investigate DNA damage and repair". School of Life Sciences. Retrieved 19 December 2018.
  15. ^ "Academic and artistic minds honoured as RSE Fellows". Royal Society of Edinburgh. 22 March 2022. Retrieved 3 April 2022.
  16. ^ "Academic and artistic minds honoured as RSE Fellows". www.gla.ac.uk. Retrieved 3 April 2022.
  17. ^ "EMBO elects 67 new members and associate members – Press releases – EMBO". 6 July 2022. Retrieved 12 January 2023.
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