Prof Steve Oliver (Director)
Steve Oliver
Professor of Systems Biology
Director CSBC
Current Projects
Identification and analysis of high-flux control (HFC) genes in yeast.
Analysis of the transition to stationary phase in nutrient-starved yeast cells (with Nianshu Zhang).
Bioinformatic analysis of the impact of the whole-genome duplication in the evolutionary history of Saccharomyces yeasts on their regulatory circuitry and the chromosomal distribution of HFC genes.
Development and exploitation of logical and stoichiometric models of yeast metabolism.
Regulatory circuitry and the control of flux in yeast.
Development of statistical techniques for the analysis of high-throughput metabolomic data (with Wolfgang Huber).
Systems analysis of the barriers to the efficient secretion of heterologous proteins by the yeast, Pichia pastoris.
Humanisation of yeast for use as a living test-bed for drug discovery and design using the Robot Scientist.
Development of yeast as a test-bed for the study of the metabolism of parasitic protozoa.
Background
I started to work on yeast as a graduate student and have studied it ever since, with occasional excursions into the filamentous fungi and even Streptomyces bacteria. The yeast genome-sequencing project was initiated in my lab in the mid-1980’s when we started to sequence chromosome III. This turned into a major European Project, which eventually led to the sequencing of the entire yeast genome. I then took up the challenge presented by all the genes of unknown function revealed by the genome sequence, leading the EUROFAN Consortium that pioneered many of the ‘omic and other high-throughput technologies in current use.
My lab is dedicated to dedicated to unravelling the workings of the yeast cell, using both top-down and bottom-up systems biology strategies. We are alos concerned with developing yeasts as systems to both understand and combat human diseases, including through the use of automated (‘Robot Scientist’ methods in collaboration with Ross King’s group in Aberystwyth).
Finally, we take an interest, at both the bioinformatic and experimental levels, in the evolution of genomes and networks, and are starting to apply this to mammalian systems
Current Funding
BBSRC
A Systems Biology strategy for understanding the genome-wide control of growth rate and metabolic flux in yeast: BBSRC Research Grant.
A robot scientist for yeast systems biology: BBSRC Research Grant. (With Ross King, Aberystwyth; Douglas Kell, Manchester; Stephen Muggleton, Imperial College.)
Identifying and overcoming protein secretion bottlenecks in yeast and filamentous fungal cell factories: BBSRC BRIC Award.
A Robot Scientist for drug design and chemical genomics: BBSRC Research Grant. (With Ross King, Jem Rowland, and Mike Young, Aberystwyth).
European Commission
Yeast Systems Biology Network (YSBN)
Eukaryotic unicellular organism biology - systems biology of cell growth and proliferation (UNICELLSYS)
Selected Research Publications
- King RD, Rowland J, Oliver SG, Young M, Aubrey W, Byrne E, Liakata M, Markham M, Pir P, Soldatova LN, Sparkes A, Whelan KE, Clare A (2009) The automation of science. Science 324(5923):85-9.
- Delneri D, Hoyle DC, Gkargkas K, Cross EJM, Rash B, Zeef L, Leong H-S, Davey HM, Hayes A, Kell DB, Griffith GW, Oliver SG (2008) Identification and characterisation of high flux control (HFC) genes of Saccharomyces cerevisiae through competition analyses in continuous cultures. Nature Genetics 40, 113-117.
- Cornell, MJ, Alam, I, Soanes, DM, Wong, HM, Hedeler C, Paton, NW, Rattray M, Hubbard SJ, Talbot NJ, Oliver SG (2007) Comparative genome analysis across a kingdom of eukaryotic organisms: Specialization and diversification in the Fungi. Genome Res. 11, 1809-1822.
- Castrillo JI, Zeef LA, Hoyle DC, Zhang N, Hayes A, Gardner DCJ, Cornell MJ, Petty J, Hakes L, Wardleworth L, Rash B, Brown M, Dunn WB, Broadhurst D, Hart SR, Jackson CS, O'Donoghue K, Hester S, Dunkley T, Swainston N. Li P, Gaskell SJ, Paton NW, Lilley KS, Kell DB, Oliver SG (2007) Growth control of the eukaryote cell: A systems biology study in yeast. J. Biol. 6: 4 (25 pages)
- Harrison R, Papp B, Pál C, Oliver SG, Delneri D (2007) Plasticity of genetic interactions in metabolic networks of yeast. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 104, 2307-2312.
- Pál C, Papp B, Lercher MJ, Csermely P, Oliver SG, Hurst LD (2006) Chance and necessity in the evolution of minimal metabolic networks. Nature 440, 667-670.
Collaborators
Dave Archer (Nottingham), Monique Bolotin (Orsay, France), Kevin Brindle, Pınar Çalık (Ankara, Turkey), Jules Griffin, Wolfgang Huber (EBI/EMBL), Ross King (Aberystwyth), Betul Kirdar (Istanbul, Turkey), Kathryn Lilley (CSBC), Balàzs Papp (CSBC and Szeged, Hungary), Alan Tunnacliffe, Toni Vidal-Puig, Nianshu Zhang (CSBC) plus former colleagues in Manchester.
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