Dr Martin Taylor Bsc PhD

Lecturer in Molecular Biology

• Affiliation
• Teaching
• Research
• Publications

• Room 326/348
• LSHTM
• Keppel Street
• London
• WC1E 7HT
• T: 02079272615

Martin did his PhD in the laboratory of Prof.Michael Miles at the LSHTM on the trypanothione reductase of Leishmania donovani. He then spent three years as a post-doc in Prof. Piet Borst's lab at the Netherlands Cancer Institute where he worked on antigenic variation and technology development in African trypanosomes. He returned to the School in 1995 to join Dr John Kelly's group working on the American trypanosome, Trypanosoma cruzi.

Affiliation

• Department of Pathogen Molecular Biology

Teaching

Martin is a member of the course committee and exam committee for the MSc. in Molecular Biology of Infectious Diseases. Martin is the  co-organiser for Module 3131 Molecular Biology and Recombinant DNA Techniques

Martin lectures on general control of gene expression, RNA interference (biology and technology), Cell biology of invasion and immune evasion by T. cruzi and Leishmania, Trypanosomatid molecular biology and the Immunology of African and American Trypanosomiases.

Research

Martin has recently developed a tetracycline based inducible expression system for T. cruzi. His main interest is in the interaction of this parasite with the mammalian host cell in particular the acquisition of micronutrients such as vitamins and minerals by the intracellular form. He is currently examining the role of ascorbate (Vitamin C) in the parasite especially the function of the ascorbate linked peroxidase TcAPX. He is also investigating the role of other ascorbate dependent proteins in the parasite's life cycle including Cytochrome B₅₆₁ and Prolyl-4-hydroxylase. In addition he has started to work on iron transport and metabolism in T. cruzi and T. brucei, and the interaction between ascorbate and iron in these parasites, in particular the roles of CytB₅₆₁, MLP1, and Fre1. He is also examining the function of vitamin salvage enzymes in trypanosomes using T. brucei as a model system.

He is also involved in the creation of models for drug development in African trypanosomiasis and Chagas disease.

• Selected publications

• Iron metabolism in trypanosomatids, and its crucial role in infection.

  Taylor, M.C.; Kelly, J.M.;

  Parasitology, 2010; :1-19

• Validation of spermidine synthase as a drug target in African trypanosomes.

  Taylor, M.C.; Kaur, H.; Blessington, B.; Kelly, J.M.; Wilkinson, S.R.;

  Biochem J, 2008; 409(2):563-9

• A mechanism for cross-resistance to nifurtimox and benznidazole in trypanosomes.

  Wilkinson, S.R.; Taylor, M.C.; Horn, D.; Kelly, J.M.; Cheeseman, I.;

  Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, 2008; 105(13):5022-7

• The terminal step in vitamin C biosynthesis in Trypanosoma cruzi is mediated by a FMN-dependent galactonolactone oxidase.

  Logan, F.J.; Taylor, M.C.; Wilkinson, S.R.; Kaur, H.; Kelly, J.M.;

  Biochem J, 2007; 407(3):419-26

• Functional characterisation of the iron superoxide dismutase gene repertoire in Trypanosoma brucei.

  Wilkinson, S.R.; Prathalingam, S.R.; Taylor, M.C.; Ahmed, A.; Horn, D.; Kelly, J.M.;

  Free Radic Biol Med, 2006; 40(2):198-209

• pTcINDEX: a stable tetracycline-regulated expression vector for Trypanosoma cruzi.

  Taylor, M.C.; Kelly, J.M.;

  BMC Biotechnol, 2006; 6:32

• Functional mapping of a trypanosome centromere by chromosome fragmentation identifies a 16-kb GC-rich transcriptional "strand-switch" domain as a major feature.

  Obado, S.O.; Taylor, M.C.; Wilkinson, S.R.; Bromley, E.V.; Kelly, J.M.;

  Genome Res, 2005; 15(1):36-43

• Vitamin C biosynthesis in trypanosomes: A role for the glycosome.

  Wilkinson, S.R.; Prathalingam, S.R.; Taylor, M.C.; Horn, D.; Kelly, J.M.;

  Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, 2005; 102 :11645-11650

• → View all Dr Martin Taylor's publications

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