Publications

Here is a list of the group's current publications. It's inevitably out-of-date, but we try our best...

Highlighted Publications

2021 | ACTA CRYSTALLOGRAPHICA SECTION D: STRUCTURAL BIOLOGY

Improving sampling of crystallographic disorder in ensemble refinement

Ploscariu, Nicoleta; Burnley, Tom; Gros, Piet; Pearce, Nicholas M;


2021 | NATURE COMMUNICATIONS

A method for intuitively extracting macromolecular dynamics from structural disorder

Pearce, Nicholas M; Gros, Piet;


As molecules move in the crystal, this causes a blurring of their electron density, which is captured by B-factors in the atomic model. This disorder therefore captures the macromolecular dynamics happening in the crystal.

We developed the ECHT (Extensible-Component Hierarchical TLS) model, a multi-layered disorder model with components for different scales of motion. By optimising this model with an elastic net approach, we find the parsimonious model for disorder, and thereby reveal likely macromolecular motions and flexbility within the crystal.

2017 | NATURE COMMUNICATIONS

A multi-crystal method for extracting obscured crystallographic states from conventionally uninterpretable electron density

Pearce, Nicholas M; Krojer, Tobias; Bradley, Anthony R; Collins, Patrick; Nowak, Radosław P; Talon, Romain; Marsden, Brian D; Kelm, Sebastian; Shi, Jiye; Deane, Charlotte M;


The PanDDA (Pan-Dataset Density Analysis) method identifies partial-occupancy features in crystallographic data, such as weakly-binding ligands. These appear at sub-unitary occupancy in the crystal and are thus hard to detect and model.

We developed an approach where we build a statistical model of a set of crystallographic datasets and finds binding ligands by finding electron density outliers from the population. We then apply a background correction to account for the partial occupancy of the ligand and present density for the ligand so that it can be modelled.

Textbooks

2022 | NAN

Crystallography Made Crystal Clear: A Guide for Users of Macromolecular Models

Pearson, Arwen R; Pearce, Nicholas; Wierman, Jennifer;


Reviews

Commentary / Opinion

2022 | FRONTIERS IN MOLECULAR BIOSCIENCES

Experiences from developing software for large X-ray crystallography-driven protein-ligand studies

Krojer, Tobias; Pearce, Nicholas Mark; Skyner, Rachael;


All publications

Date Journal Title Authors
2022 Chemical science

Mechanistic insights into the C 55-P targeting lipopeptide antibiotics revealed by structure–activity studies and high-resolution crystal structures

Wood, Thomas M; Zeronian, Matthieu R; Buijs, Ned; Bertheussen, Kristine; Abedian, Hanieh K; Johnson, Aidan V; Pearce, Nicholas M; Lutz, Martin; Kemmink, Johan; Seirsma, Tjalling;

2022 nan

Crystallography Made Crystal Clear: A Guide for Users of Macromolecular Models

Pearson, Arwen R; Pearce, Nicholas; Wierman, Jennifer;

2022 Frontiers in Molecular Biosciences

Experiences from developing software for large X-ray crystallography-driven protein-ligand studies

Krojer, Tobias; Pearce, Nicholas Mark; Skyner, Rachael;

2021 Angewandte Chemie

Bicyclic β‐Sheet Mimetics that Target the Transcriptional Coactivator β‐Catenin and Inhibit Wnt Signaling

Wendt, Mathias; Bellavita, Rosa; Gerber, Alan; Efrém, Nina‐Louisa; van Ramshorst, Thirza; Pearce, Nicholas M; Davey, Paul RJ; Everard, Isabel; Vazquez‐Chantada, Mercedes; Chiarparin, Elisabetta;

2021 Acta Crystallographica Section D: Structural Biology

Improving sampling of crystallographic disorder in ensemble refinement

Ploscariu, Nicoleta; Burnley, Tom; Gros, Piet; Pearce, Nicholas M;

2021 Nature communications

A method for intuitively extracting macromolecular dynamics from structural disorder

Pearce, Nicholas M; Gros, Piet;

2021 Biochemical Journal

Crystallographic approach to fragment-based hit discovery against Schistosoma mansoni purine nucleoside phosphorylase

Faheem, Muhammad; Fonseca Valadares, Napoleão; Brandão-Neto, José; Bellini, Dom; Collins, Patrick; Pearce, Nicholas M; Bird, Louise; Roberta Torini, Juliana; Owens, Raymond; DMuniz Pereira, Humberto;

2021 JoVE (Journal of Visualized Experiments)

Achieving efficient fragment screening at XChem facility at diamond light source

Douangamath, Alice; Powell, Ailsa; Fearon, Daren; Collins, Patrick M; Talon, Romain; Krojer, Tobias; Skyner, Rachael; Brandao-Neto, Jose; Dunnett, Louise; Dias, Alexandre;

2020 Life science alliance

Implications for tetraspanin-enriched microdomain assembly based on structures of CD9 with EWI-F

Oosterheert, Wout; Xenaki, Katerina T; Neviani, Viviana; Pos, Wouter; Doulkeridou, Sofia; Manshande, Jip; Pearce, Nicholas M; Kroon-Batenburg, Loes MJ; Lutz, Martin; en Henegouwen, Paul MP van Bergen;

2019 Frontiers in Immunology

Insights into enhanced complement activation by structures of properdin and its complex with the C-terminal domain of C3b

Van den Bos, Ramon M; Pearce, Nicholas M; Granneman, Joke; Brondijk, T Harma C; Gros, Piet;

2018 Elife

An expanded allosteric network in PTP1B by multitemperature crystallography, fragment screening, and covalent tethering

Keedy, Daniel A; Hill, Zachary B; Biel, Justin T; Kang, Emily; Rettenmaier, T Justin; Brandao-Neto, Jose; Pearce, Nicholas M; von Delft, Frank; Wells, James A; Fraser, James S;

2017 Structural Dynamics

Partial-occupancy binders identified by the Pan-Dataset Density Analysis method offer new chemical opportunities and reveal cryptic binding sites

Pearce, Nicholas M; Bradley, Anthony R; Krojer, Tobias; Marsden, Brian D; Deane, Charlotte M; Von Delft, Frank;

2017 Acta Crystallographica Section D: Structural Biology

Proper modelling of ligand binding requires an ensemble of bound and unbound states

Pearce, Nicholas M; Krojer, Tobias; Von Delft, Frank;

2017 Nature communications

A multi-crystal method for extracting obscured crystallographic states from conventionally uninterpretable electron density

Pearce, Nicholas M; Krojer, Tobias; Bradley, Anthony R; Collins, Patrick; Nowak, Radosław P; Talon, Romain; Marsden, Brian D; Kelm, Sebastian; Shi, Jiye; Deane, Charlotte M;

2017 Acta Crystallographica Section D: Structural Biology

The XChemExplorer graphical workflow tool for routine or large-scale protein–ligand structure determination

Krojer, Tobias; Talon, Romain; Pearce, Nicholas; Collins, Patrick; Douangamath, Alice; Brandao-Neto, Jose; Dias, Alexandre; Marsden, Brian; Von Delft, Frank;

2017 PLOS Computational Biology

Ten simple rules for surviving an interdisciplinary PhD

Demharter, Samuel; Pearce, Nicholas; Beattie, Kylie; Frost, Isabel; Leem, Jinwoo; Martin, Alistair; Oppenheimer, Robert; Regep, Cristian; Rukat, Tammo; Skates, Alexander;

2017 Acta Crystallographica Section D: Structural Biology

Gentle, fast and effective crystal soaking by acoustic dispensing

Collins, Patrick M; Ng, Jia Tsing; Talon, Romain; Nekrosiute, Karolina; Krojer, Tobias; Douangamath, Alice; Brandao-Neto, Jose; Wright, Nathan; Pearce, Nicholas M; Von Delft, Frank;