Jane Thomas-Oates, University of York

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Abstract

The Analyst profiles Jane Thomas-Oates, RSC/EPSRC Chair of Analytical Science at the University of York, UK.

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Biography

Jane Thomas-Oates was born on 16th May 1960. She received a BSc in Biochemistry (1981) from Imperial College, London and went on to complete a PhD at the same institution supervised by Professor Anne Dell (1984). Her thesis was entitled “Fast atom bombardment mass spectrometry of oligosaccharides and glycopeptides”. Two years in the USA followed, initially as a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Department of Chemistry, University of Colorado, Boulder and then as a Senior Research Associate at the Complex Carbohydrate Research Center, University of Colorado and University of Georgia, Athens.

Jane Thomas-Oates returned to the Department of Biochemistry at Imperial College, London in 1986 and took up the position of Beit Memorial Research Fellow at the University of Dundee in 1989. In 1991 she was appointed Lecturer in the Department of Mass Spectrometry at Utrecht University. After seven years in the Netherlands, Jane joined the Departments of Chemistry and Biomolecular Science, UMIST, as a Senior Lecturer, before taking up her current position of RSC/EPSRC Chair of Analytical Science at the University of York in 2002.

What first sparked your interest in science?

My father was an industrial physical chemist and later a science teacher, and my mother was also a school teacher and enthusiastic botanist. Although both my brother and I became scientists, neither of us was steered in that direction by our parents. As a child I constantly wanted to know ‘why?’, and can’t remember ever not being interested in science. I can, however, remember very clearly first learning about mass spectrometry in school chemistry lessons. My notebook was almost full, and it was normal practice to raise your hand to ask the teacher for a new book when the old one was full. However, I was so absorbed in the description of the instrumentation and the technique, that rather than stop the lesson to request a new book, I just continued to write over the back and then front covers of my notebook. I guess that should have told me I was destined to be what I freely admit to having become, a “mass spec geek”.

What role can analytical scientists play in solving biological questions?

In my experience, the role of analytical scientists in addressing biological problems is crucial. Developing analytical technology so that it is user-friendly, appropriate and can be exploited directly by those posing the biological questions is one major role of the analytical scientist. However, without a continuing role of the analytical scientist in the application of the technique, it is often not possible to get the most out of it. In the Department of Chemistry at York, my group and I enjoy close and very productive two-way collaborations with colleagues in the Department of Biology. We are able to learn from our colleagues’ expertise with particular biological systems. In return, we are able to become involved in developing and applying our analytical techniques in some very challenging and interesting areas that we would not otherwise have become involved in. There is excellent synergy between developing techniques and approaches for particular applications, that then enable more ambitious biological questions to be broached, which in their turn then drive further developments.

Where do you see the area of biological mass spectrometry progressing in the UK over the next 10 years?

One of the most positive developments in the past ten years has been that mass spectrometry has moved away from being a specialist technique that only experts could make effective use of, to being a technique that is user-friendly enough to be put directly into the hands of the scientists with the applications. This is currently particularly true in the field of biology, where it is being put to excellent use in the booming area of post-genomic research. With the very strong dual UK traditions of biological mass spectrometry and instrumental development and production, the future looks very bright. Instrumental advances enable more and more ambitious applications, while those applications in turn drive further instrumental development. With these two traditions continuing to progress in parallel, UK mass spectrometry will remain healthy and flourishing.

Which of your previous research are you most proud of?

The two years I spent in Dundee at the start of my independent research career were incredibly productive, extremely stimulating and enormous fun. This was due to wonderful collaborations with Mike Ferguson, Steve Homans, Wayne Masterson and Malcolm McConville and their new groups. We were studying the structures of GPI anchors, and since the mass spectrometric instrumentation of the day was certainly not as user-friendly as it is now, every spectrum was an achievement. More recently, with PhD student Geert Jan Rademaker while in Utrecht, we introduced the first mass spectrometric methods for determining the site of O-linked glycan attachment to glycoproteins. Our approach was based on the established base-catalysed beta-elimination methods that had been used to release O-linked glycans. We demonstrated that it was possible to carry out beta-elimination of O-glycans without degrading the peptide backbone, and developed two methods that label the amino acid to which the glycan had been attached, thereby enabling its identification with mass spectrometry. Pleasingly, this chemistry has not only been adopted by many groups for the determination of glycosylation sites in O-glycopeptides, but has also been adapted for defining the sites of phosphorylation.

Tell us about your current research and why you chose to research these areas.

My group’s research is focussed on developing and applying mass spectrometric approaches primarily in studies of host–microbe interactions. The challenges of studying the mechanisms of interactions between organisms, whether those interactions are pathogenic or symbiotic, requires not only studies of both partner organisms separately but also that we understand the chemistry underpinning how the organisms communicate with each other and function together. We have been involved in collaborative studies for almost fifteen years of the well-known nitrogen fixing symbiosis between rhizobial bacteria and leguminous plants, which have proven to be hugely productive and enjoyable, and very challenging. However, we are also studying less well-known partnerships, such as those between plants and their associated bacteria that have bioremediation activity, as well as pathogenic interactions. Such systems offer the joint attractions of their intriguing biology as well as being analytically very challenging—samples are available in minute amounts, in complex matrices, sometimes involve unexpected and bizarre molecules, and have obvious practical applications. This sort of study is particularly attractive to me as it combines my love of the instrumentation and fascination with the fundamentals of how it works, with intriguing biological questions that demand the best of the instrumentation, and the development of new approaches that enable us to study these systems in molecular detail.

Fig. 1 Jane Thomas-Oates and her research group, October 2005, L to R: Kenny Cheung, Emma Edwards, Simon Cubbon, Sally Robinson, JTO, Dr Sarah Robinson, Dr Barbara Pioselli, Carla Antonio, James Ault, João Rodrigues, David Sumpton (Dr Ed Bergström is missing).

As a potential role model to young female scientists aspiring for a career in analytical chemistry, what advice can you give on the secrets of a successful research career?

Although I don’t think I am qualified to offer advice about succeeding in a research career, I guess I can comment on the things that I believe have helped me to survive in research so far. To begin with, I was extremely fortunate in my PhD; I was accepted by Anne Dell as her first PhD student and began my research at Imperial College in the autumn of 1981, just as one of the very first Fast Atom Bombardment (FAB) sources was being installed on the mass spectrometer there. At that point, most researchers who were beginning to explore the potential of this technique were focussing on peptides, so that Anne’s brave decision to work on glycopeptides and other glycoconjugates meant that we were in a position to make very rapid progress and to be among the pioneers in broadening the areas of application of biological mass spectrometry. Later, I was awarded a Beit Memorial Research Fellowship which enabled me to start an independent research career in the excellent Biochemistry Department at Dundee University at a time when academic positions in the UK were very thin on the ground. A group of fantastic long-term collaborators, the great good fortune to have consistently worked with excellent research students and post-docs, a good deal of quiet determination, and a passion for my subject, have been very important in enabling me to survive thus far in research.

What are your ultimate goals in research?

If I am lucky enough to be able to continue research in the area that I love and enjoy it, and can continue to be involved in training young scientists, I will consider myself very fortunate.

What would you like to be most remembered for?

Having no immediate plans for needing an epitaph, this is not something I have given any thought to. However, I suppose the thing I enjoy most (and believe to be hugely important) is seeing the next generation of young scientists developing into accomplished researchers. Therefore I think the best way to be remembered would be as a supportive and encouraging supervisor who maintained high standards of academic and scientific practice, and passed on some of her enthusiasm for mass spectrometry and its capabilities.

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