Role
Andy is responsible for providing strategic and operational leadership to support the development, implementation and monitoring of the research and innovation strategy of the School of Animal, Rural and Environmental Sciences. One of his key aims is to enhance the quality of the school’s research environment, income, outputs and impact.
Andy works with the Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Research and Innovation, the Director of the Research Office and the other Associate Deans for Research across NTU to ensure that the ambitions associated with the University’s Strategic Plan are fully realised and that excellent research is being carried out to address the Strategic Research Themes.
Andy will lead the Animal, Rural and Environmental Sciences Research Centre, driving excellence in research, encouraging cross disciplinary studies and ensuring our work achieves real world impact.
Along with carrying out a diverse range of research spanning biochemistry, animal and horticultural science, building on my background that spans a variety of scientific disciplines.
Career overview
Andy graduated from the University of Warwick with a degree in chemistry with medicinal chemistry and subsequently undertook a PhD, also at University of Warwick, in bio-molecular mass spectrometry. The bulk of his PhD involved the use of mass spectrometry to analyse the way proteins fold and he became, at the time, one of the first in the world to demonstrate ion mobility in a commercial instrument.
His initial post doctoral studies were undertaken at the Institute for Animal Health, Compton, and involved studies of prion protein structure and function, specifically relating to the key role played this protein during transmissible spongiform encephalopathies, such as BSE and vCJD. These are devastating diseases that are similar in aetiology to Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and motor neuron disease in that they involve accumulation of misfolded protein leading to neurodegeneration. Andy spent 10 years at IAH Compton, before moving to the Roslin Institute, University of Edinburgh, to continue his research on protein misfolding for a further 10 years.
During his time at both IAH and Roslin, Andy used his significant background in biochemical analysis and mass spectrometry to develop and lead facilities involving proteomic and metabolomic methodologies. This led to his involvement in a range of cross-disciplinary studies of host pathogen interactions in animals, including studies of viruses, bacteria, parasites and the involvement of the underlying immune system. Whilst at Roslin, Andy also led one of the BBSRC-funded strategic programme grants in Livestock Neurobiology, which enjoyed 5 year support of ~£6.5M.
In 2017, he took up a commercially-focussed role at the University of Lincoln delivering research solutions to the local (and national) business community and based largely around the significant infrastructure of chemical and biological analytical instrumentation. The project portfolio was as disparate as testing efficacy of water descaling devices to developing methods for in-ovo sexing of chicken embryos, to analysing canine pheromones.
In 2022, Andy joined a Lincoln-based, innovative agritech company, B-hive Innovations, which focussed primarily on potato research. In a little under 2 years they won ~£2.5M of Innovate UK grants spread across a range of different projects, including measuring turgor pressure in potatoes using biophysical techniques, investigating methods to early detect fusarium infection in onions, creating new potato varieties by gene editing approaches, and using AI to optimise strawberry yields.
Andy joined the School of Animal, Rural and Environmental Sciences at NTU in July 2024 as Associate Dean for Research where his aim to bring his disparate research experience to continue the school’s tradition of carrying out cross-disciplinary, excellent and impactful research.
Research areas
Given Andy's multi-disciplinary and diverse background of research, he has diverse interests that centre around:
- (bio)-Molecular analysis of complex systems, such as host-pathogen interactions and neurodegeneration
- The development, uptake and use of technology in agricultural environments
- Optimisation of yields in vegetable farming
- Circular economies and valorisation of agricultural waste
- The composition of soil during (regenerative) agricultural practices
- Use of sophisticated analytical instrumentation and measurement, including muti-omics techniques to understand the challenges outlined above.
Andy is happy to hear from prospective PhD students or research fellows in any of the areas above, or indeed any areas that relate to the wider research in the school, including conservation and ecology, geography, sustainable approaches to agriculture and animal/equine science.
External activity
- Member of the Associate Peer Review college for EPSRC; regular reviewer of grant applications for BBSRC.
- Editorial Board member for J. Gen Virol, 2012-2014
- Academic Editor for PLoS One 2013-2022
- Academic Editor for Scientific Reports, 2016-2022
- Editorial Board Member for Animals, 2019 -
- Associate Review Editor for Frontiers in Molecular Bioscience 2014-
- Ad hoc member of Alberta Prion Research Institute grant review panel (2015-2017)
- Organising committee member, invited speaker and session chair, Prion 2017 Conference
- Organiser and host of East Midlands Proteomics Workshop 2018
- Director of CUPGRA
Publications
Trischel, K., Gill, A.C., Jones, A.W., Youngs, M., Pennington, K. 2021, Increased psychological and attenuated cortisol response to acute and chronic stress in high schizotypy., Psychoneuroendocrinology 131, 105529
Cruzeiro, L., Gill, A.C. & Eilbeck, C. J., 2021, Structural evidence for a generic folding pathway in vivo, Biomolecules 11 (3), 357
Wolfson E.B., Elvidge J., Tahoun A., Gillespie T., Mantell J., , McAteer S. P., Rossez Y., Paxton E., Lane F.M., Shaw D. J., Gill A. C., Stevens J., Verkade P., Blocker A., Mahajan A. & Gally D. L., 2020, The interaction of Escherichia coli O157:H7 and Salmonella Typhimurium flagella with host cell membranes and cytoskeletal components, Microbiology mic000959
Goncheva M., Tuffs S., Conceicao C., Quigg-Nicol M., Bennet I., Hussain S., Gill A.C., Dutia B., Digard P. & Fitzgerald R.. 2020, Staphylococcus aureus lipase 1 enhances influenza A virus replication, MBio 11 (4)
De Koning D.J., Dominguez-Gasca N., Fleming R., Gill A.C.,Kurian D., Law A., McCormack H., Morrice D., Rodriguez-Navarro A., Preisinger R., Schmutz M., Turner F., Villmova V., Wilson P., Zhou R., Dunn I.C., 2020, Variation in the cystathionine beta synthase gene linked to susceptibility for osteoporosis in laying hens, Genetics Selection Evolution, 52, 13 https://doi.org/10.1186/s12711-020-00532-y
Zhou, P., McEvoy, T.G., Gill, A.C., Lambe, N.R., Morgan-Davies, C.R., Hurst, E., Sargison, N. D., Mellanby, R.J.. Investigation of relationship between vitamin D status and reproductive fitness in Scottish hill sheep. 2019 Scientific reports, 9, 1162
Herron LR, Pridans C, Turnbull ML, Smith N, Lillico S, Sherman A, Gilhooley, H.J, Wear, M., Kurian, D., Papadakos, G., Digard, P., Hume, D.A.*, Gill, A.C.*, Sang, H.M.*, A chicken bioreactor for efficient production of functional cytokines. 2018, BMC Biotechnology, 18:82 * joint senior authors.
This paper was covered by a wide range of online and print media outlets.
Gill, A.C., Castle, A.R.. The cellular and pathologic prion protein. Handbook of Clinical Neurology. 2018; 153: 21-44.
Pereira, C.F., Wise, H.M., Kurian, D., Pinto, R.M., Amorim, M.J., Gill, A.C., Digard, P.. Effects of mutations in the effector domain of influenza A virus NS1 protein. BMC Res Notes. 2018;11(1):673.
Sze, Y., Gill, A.C., Brunton, P.J.. Sex-dependent changes in neuroactive steroid concentrations in the rat brain following acute swim stress. J Neuroendocrinol. 2018:e12644.
Regan, T., Gill, A.C., Clohisey, S.M., Barnett, M.W., Pariante, C.M., Harrison, N.A., Hume, D. A., Bullmore, E. T., Freeman, T. C.. Effects of anti-inflammatory drugs on the expression of tryptophan-metabolism genes by human macrophages. J Leukocyte Biol. 2018;103(4):681-92.
Roguski, A., Gill, A.C. The Role of the Mammalian Prion Protein in the Control of Sleep. Pathogens. 2017;6(4).
Kontaxi, C., Piccardo, P., Gill, A.C.. Lysine-Directed Post-translational Modifications of Tau Protein in Alzheimer's Disease and Related Tauopathies. Front Mol Biosci. 2017;4:56.
Rainger, J., Williamson, K.A., Soares, D.C., Truch, J., Kurian, D., Gillessen-Kaesbach, G., Seawright, A., Prendergast, J., Halachev, M., Wheeler, A., McTeir, L., Gill, A. C., van Heyningen, V., Davey, M. G., FitzPatrick, D. R.. A recurrent de novo mutation in ACTG1 causes isolated ocular coloboma. Human Mutation. 2017;38(8):942-6.
Castle, A. & Gill, A. C. (2017). Physiological Functions of the Prion Protein. Frontiers in Molecular Biosciences, https://doi.org/10.3389/fmolb.2017.00019.
Glendinning, L., Wright, S., Tennant, P., Gill, A., Collie, D. & McLachlan, G. (2017). Microbiota in Exhaled Breath Condensate and the Lung. Applied and Environmentla Microbiology, in press doi: 10.1128/AEM.00515-17
Connelley, T. K., Li, X., MacHugh, N., Colau, D., Graham, S. P., van der Bruggen, P., Taracha, E. L., Gill, A. & Morrison, W. I. (2016). CD8 T-cell responses against the immunodominant Theileria parva peptide Tp249-59 are composed of two distinct populations specific for overlapping 11-mer and 10-mer epitopes. Immunology 149, 172-185
Meek, S., Thomson, A. J., Sutherland, L., Sharp, M. G. F., Bishop, V., Meddle, S. L., Gluagen, Y., Weidt, S., Singh-Dolt, K., Buehr, M., Brown, H. K., Gill, A. C.* & Burdon, T.* (2016). Evidence of altered metabolism and reduced levels of dopamine in brains of HPRT knock-out rats: a new rodent model of Lesch-Nyhan Disease. Scientific Reports 6, 25592. *: joint corresponding authors
Barron, R.M., King, D., Jeffrey, M., McGovern, G., Agarwal, S., Gill, A.C., Piccardo, P. (2016) PrP aggregation can be seeded by pre-formed recombinant PrP amyloid fibrils without the replication of infectious prions, Acta Neuropathologica, 132 (4) 611-624
Agarwal, S., Doring, K., Gierusz, L., Krishnaswamy, P., Graham, J. F., Goldmann, W., Pinheiro, T. J. T. & Gill, A. C. (2015). Complex folding and misfolding effects of elk-specific amino acid substitutions in the β2-α2 loop region of murine prion protein. Scientific Reports 5, 15528
Gill, A. C. (2014). β-hairpin-mediated formation of structurally distinct multimers of neurotoxic prion peptides. Plos One 9, e87354
McCutcheon, S., Langeveld, J. P., Tan, B. C., Gill, A. C., Wolf, C. d., Martin, S., Gonzalez, L., Alihabi, J., Blanco, A. R. A., Campbell, L., Hunter, N. & Houston, E. F. (2014). Prion antibodies that detect multiple TSE agents with high sensitivity and specificity. Plos One 9, e91143
Campbell, L., Gill, A. C., McGovern, G., Jalland, C. M., Hopkins, J., Tranulis, M. A., Hunter, N. & Goldmann, W. (2013). The PrPC C1 fragment derived from the ovine A136R154R171 PRNP allele is highly abundant in sheep brain and inhibits fibrillisation of full-length PrPC protein in vitro. BBA - Molecular Basis of Disease 1832, 826-836.
Ritchie, M. A., Hunt, L. G. & Gill, A. C. (2013). Lysine hydroxylation and O-glycosylation in the globular, C-terminal region of mammalian-expressed, recombinant PrP. International Journal of Mass Spectrometry 345-347, 132-141.
Lane, F. M., Alibhai, J., Manson, J. C. & Gill, A. C. (2012). Mechanisms of cell death in the transmissible spongiform encephalopathies. In Miscellanea on Encephalopathies. Edited by Tanasescu
Tan, B. C., Blanco, A. R. A., Houston, E. F., Stewart, P., Goldmann, W., Gill, A. C., de Wolf, C., Manson, J. C. & McCutcheon, S. (2012). Significant differences in incubation times in sheep infected with bovine spongiform encephalopathy result from variation at codon 141 in the PRNP gene. Journal of General Virology 93, 2749-2756.
Gill, A. C., Lane, F. M., Alibhai, J., Manson, J. C. & McCutcheon, S. (2011). The mechanisms of Prion disease. CAB reviews 6, No. 55.
Graham, J. F., Kurian, D., Agarwal, S., Toovey, L., Hunt, L., Kirby, L., Pinheiro, T., J. T., Banner, S. J. & Gill, A. C. (2011). Na+/K+-ATPase is present in scrapie-associated fibrils, modulates PrP misfolding in vitro and links PrP function and dysfunction. PLOS One 6, e26813.
Sanghera, N., Correia, B. E. F. S., Correia, J. R. S., Ludwig, C., Agarwal, S., Nakamura, H. K., Kuwata, K., Samain, E., Gill, A. C. & Pinheiro, T. J. T. (2011). Deciphering the molecular details for the binding of the prion protein to the main ganglioside GM1 of neuronal membranes. Chemistry and biology 18, 1422-1431.
Gill, A. C., Agarwal, S., Pinheiro, T. J. T. & Graham, J. F. (2010). Structural requirements for efficient prion protein conversion: cofactors may promote a conversion-competent structure for PrPC. Prion 4, 235-242.
Graham, J., Agarwal, S., Kurian, D., Kirby, L., Pinheiro, T. J. T. & Gill, A. C. (2010). Low density subcellular fractions enhance disease-specific prion protein misfolding. Journal of Biological Chemistry 285, 9868-9880.
Kirby, L., Agarwal, S., Graham, J., Goldmann, W. & Gill, A. C. (2010). Inverse correlation of thermal lability and conversion efficiency for five prion protein polymorphic variants. Biochemistry 49, 1448-1459
Gielbert, A., Davis, L. A., Sayers, A. R., Hope, J., Gill, A. C. & Sauer, M. (2009). High resolution differentiation of transmissible spongiform encephalopathy strains by quantitative N-terminal amino acid profiling (N-TAAP) of PK digested abnormal prion protein. Journal of Mass Spectrometry 44, 384-396
Young, D. S., Meersman, F., Oxley, D., Webster, J., Gill, A. C., Bronstein, I., Lowe, C. R. & Dear, D. V. (2009). Effect of enzymatic deimination on the conformation of recombinant prion protein. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta - Proteins and Proteomics 1794, 1123-1133
Bibby, D. F., Gill, A. C., Kirby, L., Farquhar, C. F., Bruce, M. E. & Garson, J. A. (2008). Application of a novel in vitro selection technique to isolate and characterise high affinity DNA aptamers binding mammalian prion proteins. Journal of Virological Methods 151, 107-155
Dear, D. V., Young, D. S., Kazlauskaite, J., Meersman, F., Oxley, D., Webster, J., Pinheiro, T. J. T., Gill, A. C., Bronstein, I. & Lowe, C. R. (2007). Effects of post-translational modifications on prion protein aggregation and the propagation of scrapie-like characteristics in vitro. BBA Prot & Proteom 1774, 792-802
Periz, J., Gill, A. C., Hunt, L., Brown, P. & Tomley, F. (2007). The microneme proteins EtMIC4 and EtMIC5 of Eimeria tenella form a novel, ultra-high molecular mass protein complex that binds target host cells. Journal of Biological Chemistry 282, 16891-16898.
Hicks, M. R., Gill, A. C., Bath, I. K., Rullay, A. K., Sylvester, I. D., Crout, D. H. & Pinheiro, T. J. T. (2006). Synthesis and structural characterization of a mimetic membrane-anchored prion protein. FEBS Journal 273, 1285-1299.
Kirby, L., Goldmann, W., Houston, E. F., Gill, A. C. & Manson, J. (2006). A novel resistance-linked ovine PrP variant and its equivalent mouse variant modulate the in vitro cell-free conversion of rPrP to PrPres. Journal of General Virology 87, 3747-3751.
Baskakov, I., Disterer, P., Gill, A. C., Shaw, M., James, W. & Tahiri-Alaoui, A. (2005). The presence of valine at residue 129 of human prion protein accelerates amyloid formation. FEBS Letters 579, 2589-2596
Bocharova, O. V., Parfenov, A., Breydo, L., Salnikov, V. V., Gill, A. C. & Baskakov, I. V. (2005). Synthetic prions generated in vitro are similar to a newly identified subpopulation of PrPSc from sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease. Protein Science 14, 1222-1232.
Chen, H. Y., Gill, A. C., Dove, B. K., R., E. S., Kemp, C. F., Ritchie, M. A., Dee, M. & Hiscox, J. A. (2005). Mass spectroscopic characterisation of the coronavirus infectious bronchitis virus nucleocapsid protein and elucidation of the role of phosphorylation in RNA binding using surface plasmon resonance. Journal of Virology 79, 1164-1179.
Periz, J., Gill, A. C., Knott, V., Handford, P. & Tomley, F. (2005). Calcium binding activity of epidermal growth factor-like domains of the apicomplexan microneme protein, EtMIC4. Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology 143, 192-199
Tregaskes, C. A., Glansbeek, H. C., Gill, A. C., Hunt, L. G., Burnside, J. & Young, J. R. (2005). Conservation of biological properties of CD40L in a non-mammalian vertebrate. Developmental and Comparative Immunology 29, 361-374.
Blanch, E. W., Gill, A. C., Rhie, A. G., Hope, J., Hecht, L., Nielsen, K. & Barron, L. D. (2004). Raman optical activity demonstrates poly(L-proline) II helix in the N-terminal region of the ovine prion protein: implications for function and misfunction. J Mol Biol 343, 467-76
Haire, L. F., Whyte, S. M., Vasisht, N., Gill, A. C., Verma, C., Dodson, E. J., Dodson, G. G. & Bayley, P. M. (2004). The crystal structure of the globular domain of sheep prion protein. Journal of Molecular Biology 336, 1175-1183.
Tahiri-Alaoui, A., Gill, A. C., Disterer, P. & James, W. (2004). Methionine 129 variant of human prion protein oligomerizes more rapidly than the valine 129 variant: Implications for disease susceptibility to CJD. Journal of Biological Chemistry 279, 31390-31397
Upadhyay, A., Williams, C., Gill, A. C., Philippe, D. L., Davis, K., Taylor, L. A., Stevens, M. P., Galyov, E. E. & Bagby, S. (2004). Biophysical characterization of the catalytic domain of guanine nucleotide exchange factor BopE from Burkholderia pseudomallei. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta 1698, 111-119
Wood, M. M., Williams, C., Upadhyay, A., Gill, A. C., Philippe, D. L., Galyov, E. E., van den Elsen, J. M. H. & Bagby, S. (2004). Structural analysis of Salmonella enterica effector protein SopD. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta - Proteins and Proteomics 1698, 209-216
McColl, I. H., Blanch, E. W., Gill, A. C., Rhie, A. G. O., Ritchie, M. A., Hecht, L., Nielsen, K. & Barron, L. D. (2003). A new perspective on beta-sheet structures using vibrational Raman optical activity: from poly(L-lysine) to the prion protein. Journal of the American Chemical Society 125, 10019-10026.
Rhie, A., Kirby, L., Sayer, N., Wellesley, R., Disterer, P., Sylvester, I., Gill, A. C., Hope, J., James, W. & Tahiri-Alaoui, A. (2003). Characterization of 2 '-fluoro-RNA aptamers that bind preferentially to disease-associated conformations of prion protein and inhibit conversion. Journal of Biological Chemistry 278, 39697-39705.
Whyte, S. M., Sylvester, I. D., Martin, S. R., Gill, A. C., Wopfner, F., Schatzl, H. M., Dodson, G. G. & Bayley, P. M. (2003). Stability and conformational properties of doppel, a prion-like protein, and its single-disulphide mutant. Biochemical Journal 373, 485-494.
Ritchie, M. A., Deery, M. J., Lilley, K. & Gill, A. C. (2002). Precursor ion scanning for detection and structural characterization of heterogeneous glycopeptide mixtures. Journal of the American Society for Mass Spectrometry 13, 1065-1077.
Brown, P. J., Gill, A. C., Nugent, P. G., McVey, J. H. & Tomley, F. M. (2001). Domains of invasion organelle proteins from apicomplexan parasites are homologous with the Apple domains of blood coagulation factor XI and plasma pre-kallikrein and are members of the PAN module superfamily. FEBS Letters 497, 31-38.
Gill, A. C., Jennings, K. R., Wyttenbach, T. & Bowers, M. T. (2000). Conformations of biopolymers in the gas phase: a new mass spectrometric method. International Journal of Mass Spectrometry 196, 685-697.
Gill, A. C., Ritchie, M. A., Hunt, L. G., Steane, S. E., Davies, K. G., Bocking, S. P., Rhie, A. G. O., Bennett, A. D. & Hope, J. (2000). Post-translational hydroxylation at the N-terminus of the prion protein reveals presence of PPII structure in vivo. EMBO Journal 19, 5324-5331.
Brimacombe, D. B., Bennett, A. D., Wusteman, F. S., Gill, A. C., Dann, J. C. & Bostock, C. J. (1999). Characterization and polyanion-binding properties of purified recombinant prion protein. Biochemical Journal 342, 605-613.
Fernandez, M. T., Silva, M. M., Mira, L., Florencio, M. H., Gill, A. & Jennings, K. R. (1998). Iron and copper complexation by angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors. A study by ultraviolet spectroscopy and electrospray mass spectrometry. Journal of Inorganic Biochemistry 71, 93-98