MOAC (Molecular Organisation
and Assembly in Cells)
Doctoral Training Centre
www.warwick.ac.uk/go/moac/
PROFILE
RESEARCH DEGREES
PhD
TAUGHT COURSES
MSc in Mathematical Biology and Biophysical Chemistry
MSc in Chemistry with Scientific Writing (CSW)
MSc in Communicating Multidisciplinary Science (CMS)
DIRECTOR
Professor Alison Rodger, BSc, PhD, DSc Sydney, MA Oxf, FRSC, FRACI
NUMBER OF POSTGRADUATE STUDENTS
44
NUMBER OF OVERSEAS STUDENTS
10
NUMBER OF STUDENTSHIPS AND AWARD HOLDERS
38 Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council
1 University of Warwick Postgraduate Research Fellowship
5 Other
FURTHER INFORMATION
More information is available on the web site or from the administrator (Dr Dorothea
Mangels or the Director).
MOAC’s Administrator
Dr Dorothea Mangels
MOAC DTC
Coventry House
The University of Warwick
Coventry CV4 7AL
Tel: +44 (0)24 7657 4695
Fax: +44 (0)24 7657 5795
E-mail: MOAC@warwick.ac.uk
THE CENTRE
The Molecular Organisation and Assembly in Cells (MOAC) Doctoral Training Centre is
situated at the heart of Warwick's main campus in Coventry House, next door to
Warwick Arts Centre.
Students thriving at MOAC typically have a passion for multidisciplinary ideas, have
an ability to assimilate knowledge quickly, and to transfer ideas from related
disciplines.
Molecular Organisation and Assembly in Cells (MOAC) is a four year degree programme
(MSc + PhD) at the interface between Mathematics, Chemistry, Biology, Physics and
Computing. Our aim is to provide our students with an insight into the problems and
challenges in each of those fields, thereby gaining the communication skills to
bridge the gap that exists between the individual disciplines.
Research in the Life Sciences has changed radically within the last decade following
the sequencing of the human and other important genomes. The availability of such
abundant genomic data, together with the emerging microarray and proteomic data that
stem from these resources, provides new and exciting opportunities to unravel
complex biological phenomena in many different systems.
The MOAC Doctoral Training Centre PhD students are trained to be intimately familiar
with advanced mathematical and computational techniques and their use in data
analysis, molecular modelling and experimental design. The graduates will also have
a feel for the instrumentation technologies used for data collection and will be
able to design and implement new instrumentation, new methodologies and new
experiments.
EXTERNAL LINKS
The Centre forms part of a local, national and international network which connects
with researchers many parts of the world. There are strong links with other EPSRC
doctoral training centres and related research centres in Europe and elsewhere.
RESEARCH INTERESTS
www.warwick.ac.uk/go/moac/people
MOAC conducts research in the following areas:
Molecular Cell Biology
Professor Colin Robinson (MOAC co-director): Research includes Protein transport
across biological membranes; Composition and natures of Tat complexes in E.coli.
Microbiology
Dr David Whitworth: Molecular microbiology; signalling pathways of M.xanthus
particularly two-component systems and the sophisticated behavioural responses they
regulate.
Structural Biology
Professor Vilmos Fülöp: Structure and function of mammalian and bacterial enzymes
using X-ray crystallography.
Dr Corinne Smith: Cryo-electron microscopy and single particle analysis to
investigate structure and mechanisms involved in clathrin-mediated endocytosis,
fundamental to the health and development of the cell.
Warwick HRI
Dr Andrew Mead (leader of Warwick HRI Biometrics Training Programme, providing
statistical and mathematical training for PhD students within HRI and MOAC):
Analysis and modelling of the weed seed bank and herbicide resistance (with Andrea
Grundy); developing sampling and decision-making protcols for supervised control of
foliar pests of field crops, modelling the variability of the mushroom cropping
process, modelling seed viability during storage and the analysis of phylogenetic
variation in traits associated with mineral uptake.
Dr James Lynn: Working with molecular biologists and geneticists, QTL analysis.
Chemistry
Dr Claudia Blindauer: Solution properties of metal-binding proteins such as
metallothioneins and zinc fingers, particularly their structure, dynamics of metal
uptake and release, and in their biomolecular interactions.
Dr Ann Dixon: Membrane proteins associated with virally-induced cancers, which have
demonstrated membrane protein-mediated mechanisms of cellular transformation.
Dr Julie MacPherson: Application of Electrochemistry to the understanding of
fundamental and practically important interfacial chemical processes at the micro to
nanoscale.
Professor Alison Rodger (MOAC Centre Director): Bioanalytical and biophysical
chemistry, particularly ultraviolet spectroscopy and also control of DNA structure
by synthetic metallobiomolecules, prokaryotic cell division proteins, membrane and
fibrous proteins and carbon nanotubes.
Professor Mark Rodger: Classical modelling with project areas ranging from
asphaltenes, wax and corrosion to hydrates, bio-molecules through to materials.
Research uses a range computational methods to study thermodynamic and structural
properties as well as intense studies of growth mechanism.
Professor Patrick Unwin: Development and application of new techniques to provide
greater understanding of interfacial processes, spanning chemistry to its borders
with biology, medicine and materials science.
Dr Anna Whitworth: Use of Scanning Probe Microscopy and other physical chemistry
techniques to probe processes occurring at biological surfaces and interfaces.
Mathematics
Dr Markus Kirkirlionis: Researches with Computational Biology group, devoted to
research in Applied Mathematics, using mathematical network theory and scientific
computing in the area of computational biology.
Professor David Rand (co-director of MOAC): Mathematical modelling in the context of
systems biology. Current research interests include: circadian clocks, statistical
estimation of parameters and structure of regulatory networks, spatio-temporal
patterning of flowers and timing of flowering, T cell activation and hyperbolic
systems on surfaces.
Dr Luca Sbano: Mathematical modelling in biological sciences. One current on-going
research project open to PhD students looks at the disassembly of clathrin cages by
Hsc70.
Dr Hugo van den Berg: Elucidating relationships between immune response efficacy and
the statistical distributions of T cell specificities among the naive repertoire and
among T cell populations which repsond to given antigenic challenges. Also,
endocrine control of macrochemical dynamics.
Physics
Dr Steven Brown: Solid-state NMR and structural and dynamic investigations, in
particular hydrogen bonding and supramolecular systems.
Dr Matthew Turner: Biological physics of membranes, molecular motors, DNA and sickle
haemoglobin fibres, circadian rhythms and other genetic network and the broader area
of neurophysics.
See the MOAC website for full diversity of research interests.
RESEARCH DEGREES
Molecular Organisation and Assembly in Cells (MOAC) is a four year degree (MSc +
PhD) at the interface between Mathematics, Chemistry, Biology, Physics and
Computing. Our aim is to provide our students with an insight into the problems and
challenges in each of those fields, thereby gaining the communication skills to
bridge the gap that exists between the individual disciplines.
TAUGHT COURSES
MSc in Communicating Multidisciplinary Science
Director: Professor Alison Rodger
Full-time: 1 year
Part-time: variable
OBJECTIVES
The aims of the course are:
to give you an excellent learning environment in which to advance personal
scholarship through the study of a diverse range of scientific disciplines with
particular emphasis on scientific writing for different target audiences;
to provide you with advanced knowledge in areas of science together with the ability
to write coherently about these areas;
to allow you to develop a broad range of key skills, transferable to a wide range of
career destinations;
to provide an excellent learning environment in which you can prepare for a career
in research or scientific writing or education or science communication with
particular emphasis on preparation for careers relating to science;
to allow you to develop and demonstrate your capacity to communicate science
concepts, results etc. and to interpret these;
to give you the opportunity to contribute to emerging areas in cutting-edge
scientific research with an emphasis on writing effectively about this.
ENTRY SPECIFICATION
You are usually expected to have at least an upper second class honours degree in a
science subject.
Overseas candidates will need to provide a certificate of English Language
attainment (TOEFL or IELTS) where English is not their first language, plus degree
transcripts.
COURSE OUTLINE
The course consists of:
Three core modules (see below) on writing scientific articles and reports and
effectively communicating these to different audiences.
A research project, based in a university department from the Faculty of Science. A
key part of the project will be training in how to report your results.
A choice of five optional modules from more than 40 modules on offer from the
Faculty of Science.
Core modules
Students not fluent in the use of scientific English will take CSW1, CSW2 and CSW3
as core modules. Students fluent in the use of scientific English will take CSW2,
CSW3 and CSW4.
Scientific English language skills (CSW1)
Writing focused scientific articles and reports (CSW2)
Writing extended scientific articles and reports (CSW3)
Communicating science to different audiences (CSW4)
Research project (CSW5)
Optional modules
You will complement your writing modules with a choice of 5 modules from Chemistry
and Chemistry-related Master’s level courses. The choice will be tailored to your
own career goals and will be agreed with your course leader.
Introduction to cellular systems and biomolecules
Data acquisition I: biophysical techniques and instrumentation design
Data acquisition II: bioimaging
Modelling and simulation: connecting data to molecular information
Data handling bioinformatics and statistics
Computation I: numerical methods
Computation II: molecular modelling
Electroanalytical analytical chemistry
Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy
Elemental and thermal analysis
Chromatography
Mass spectroscopy
Contemporary synthesis
Process and development
A fine chemical product cradle to grave (Octel)
Synthetic I (organic)
Synthetic II (metallo-organic)
Synthetic III (supra/macromolecular)
Application of physical principle in medicine
Brownian Motion
Dynamical systems
Hyperbolic geometry
Mathematical recipes
Representation theory
Stochastic analysis
Advanced PDE’s
Foundations of scientific computing
High performance scientific computing
Computation PDE’s (numerics)
Computer mathematics for engineers
Signal processing
Optical engineering and image processing
Ultrasonic and biomedical instrumentation
Micromechanics, precision design and analysis
Computational fluid dynamics
Turbulent flow
Rotating flow
Synthetic intelligence and intelligent software design
Microsensors and Microsystems technology
Optical communications systems
Internet-enabled engineering instrumentation and measurement
Remote sensing and data processing
Systems and modelling
Physiological and compartmental modelling
Wireless communication
Biomedical materials
Biomedical signal analysis
Population dynamics of infectious diseases
Plant Genetics, Genomics and Bioinformatics
BioScience, Politics and Social Acceptability
Biometry: The Application of Statistics and Mathematics
ASSESSMENT
Modules are assessed both by formal examination and by assessment of practical work,
essays, written work and problem solving. The project is assessed by a dissertation,
and oral examination and an oral presentation.
MSc in Chemistry with Scientific Writing
Director: Professor Alison Rodger
Full-time: One year
Part-time: variable
OBJECTIVES
The course aims:
to give you an excellent learning environment in which to advance personal
scholarship through the study of chemistry with particular emphasis on scientific
writing for different target audiences;
to provide you with advanced knowledge in some areas of chemistry together with the
ability to write coherently about these areas;
to allow you to develop a broad range of key skills, transferable to a wide range of
career destinations;
to provide an excellent learning environment in which you can prepare for a career
in research or scientific writing or education or science communication with
particular emphasis on preparation for careers relating to chemistry;
to allow you to develop and demonstrate your capacity to communicate science
concepts, results etc. and to interpret these;
to give you the opportunity to contribute to emerging areas in cutting-edge chemical
research with an emphasis on writing effectively about this.
ENTRY SPECIFICATION
You are usually expected to have at least an upper second class honours degree in
Chemistry.
Overseas candidates will need to provide a certificate of English Language
attainment (TOEFL or IELTS) where English is not their first language, plus degree
transcripts.
COURSE OUTLINE
The course consists of:
Three modules (see below) on writing scientific articles and reports and effectively
communicating these to different audiences.
A research project, based in Chemistry, on a wide variety of research topics covered
by the Department of Chemistry. A key part of the project will be training in
reporting your results.
A choice of five modules from the 16 modules on offer from the Department of
Chemistry to suit your interests.
Core modules
Students not fluent in the use of scientific English will take CSW1, CSW2 and CSW3
as core modules. Students fluent in the use of scientific English will take CSW 2,
CSW 3 and CSW 4.
Scientific English language skills (CSW1)
Writing focused scientific articles and reports (CSW2)
Writing extended scientific articles and reports (CSW3)
Communicating science to different audiences (CSW4)
Research project (CSW5)
Optional modules
Students will complement their writing modules with a choice of 5 modules from
chemistry and chemistry-related Master’s level courses. The choice will be tailored
to your own career goals and will be agreed with the course leader before the
programme commences.
Mass spectrometry
Chromatography
Electroanalytical chemistry
Elemental analysis
Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy
Introduction to cellular systems
Data Acquisition I: biophysical techniques and instrumental design
Data Acquisition II: bioimaging and array technology
Modelling and simulation: connecting data to molecular information
Computation II: molecular modelling
Contemporary synthesis
Process and development (AZ)
A fine chemical product cradle to grave (Octel)
Synthetic I (organic)
Synthetic II (metallo-organic)
Synthetic III (supra/macromolecular)
Introduction to chemical aspects of biological systems
ASSESSMENT
Modules are assessed both by formal examination and by assessment of practical work,
essays, written work and problem solving. The project is assessed by a dissertation,
and oral examination and an oral presentation.
MSc in Mathematical Biology and Biophysical
Chemistry
(usually followed by a 3 year PhD research degree)
Director: Professor Alison Rodger.
Stipend: Eligible students may apply for full funding (fees and stipend) from the
EPSRC via the university post graduate admissions process.
Full-time: One year
Part-time: variable
OBJECTIVES
Funded by the EPSRC, the MOAC (Molecular Organisation and Assembly) Docotoral
training centre provides training for those aiming towards a career in cutting edge
multi-disciplinary research, and offers PhD research projects that aim to bridge the
gap between the life sciences, the physical sciences and mathematics. The MSc in
Mathematical Biology and Biophysical Chemistry may be taken as a stand-alone degree
to prepare students to work at the interface between disciplines.
ENTRY SPECIFICATION
Students with a first or upper second class degree in mathematics or physical
sciences or biological sciences are invited to apply. A level or equivalent in
mathematics and at least one of biology, chemistry, computing or physics and the
motivation to develop research programmes across the scientific disciplines are
essentia. Progression to the PhD programme requires an average of 60% to be achieved
on both the taught modules and also the research projects.
Overseas candidates will need to provide a certificate of English Language
attainment (TOEFL or IELTS) where English is not their first language, plus degree
transcripts.
COURSE OUTLINE
The course consists of:
3 research projects, based in experimental biology, experimental physical sciences
and mathematics/computing.
8 modules from the 10 modules listed overleaf.
Options:
Subcellular structures: biomolecules and molecular biology
Introduction to chemical aspects of biological systems
Data acquisition I: Biophysical techniques and instrumentation design
Data acquisition II: Biophysical techniques and instrumentation design
Modelling and simulation: Connecting Data to Molecular Information
Introductory bioinformatics
Computation I: Numerical methods
Computation II: Molecular modelling
Networks and pathways in cells
Advanced bioinformatics
Mini projects
Mini projects in: experimental biological sciences, experimental biophysical
chemistry and mathematics or computing.
ASSESSMENT
Modules are assessed both by formal examination (usually oral) and by assessment of
practical work, essays, written work and problem solving. The projects are assessed
by a combination of dissertation, oral examination, oral presentations, poster.