Dr Ann Dixon

Reader of Chemistry

Ann.Dixon@warwick.ac.uk
+44 (0)2476 1 50037
Dixon GroupLink opens in a new window

About Me

I am currently a Reader in the Department of Chemistry at Warwick where I lead a Membrane Protein Biophysics and Structural Biology group. We use a multidisciplinary approach to study structures, folding and interactions of integral and peripheral membrane proteins, antimicrobial peptides and antibody fragments. One method we champion in our work is solution-state nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR). I am originally from the USA, and moved over to the UK in 2005 - but I haven't lost my accent yet!

Groups at Warwick

Dixon Group

Affiliations

Senior Tutor, Department of Chemistry
Athena Swan Chair, Department of Chemistry
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Lead, MRC DTP, Warwick Medical School
Treasurer, British Biophysical Society
Executive Committee Member, British Biophysical Society

Biography

2005-present Assistant Prof. / Associate Prof. / Reader, Department of Chemistry, University of Warwick, UK
2004-2005 Cancer Research UK Postdoctoral Fellow, Institute of Cancer Studies, University of Birmingham, UK
2002-2004 American Cancer Society Fellow, Department of Biophysics and Biochemistry, Yale University, USA
1999-2002 ORISE Postdoctoral Fellow, Institute of Biophysics, CBER-FDA, National Institutes of Health, USA
1995-1999 PhD in Chemistry, Department of Chemistry, University of Kansas, USA

Research interests

I am currently interested in developing methods for describing the assembly, interactions and three-dimensional structures of membrane proteins -particularly membrane proteins associated with immune receptors such as the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) and the B-cell receptor (BCR). I am also interested in understanding and exploring the wide functionality of membrane-active helical peptides such as membrane curvature sensors and membrane-lytic antimicrobial peptides.

Publications

2022

Lockey, C., Young, H., Brown, J., Dixon, A.M. Characterization of interactions within the Igα/Igβ transmembrane domains of the human B-cell receptor provides insights into receptor assembly. J Biol Chem. 2022, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbc.2022.101843
Miles, C.M., Hsu, P-C. Dixon, A.M., Khalid, S., Sosso, G.C. Lipid bilayers as potential ice nucleating agents, Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2022

2021

Jayawant, E.S., Hutchinson, J., Gasparikova, D., Lockey, C., Prunonosa Lara, L., Guy, C., Brooks, R.L. and Dixon, A.M. Molecular basis of selectivity and activity for the antimicrobial peptide Lynronne-1 informs rational design of peptide with improved activity. ChemBioChem, 2021, https://doi.org/10.1002/cbic.202100151.
Brooks, R.L., Mistry, C.S. and Dixon, A.M., Curvature sensing amphipathic helix in the C-terminus of RTNLB13 is conserved in all endoplasmic reticulum shaping reticulons in Arabidopsis thaliana, Sci. Rep., 2021, 11, 6326. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-85866-3.

2020

Jayawant, E.S., Beadle, J.D., Wilkening, I., Raubo, P., Shipman, M., Notman, R. and Dixon, A.M., Impact of Oxetane Incorporation on the Structure and Stability of Alpha-Helical Peptides, Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2020, 22, 25075-25083. https://doi.org/10.1039/D0CP03818K.
Lockey, C., Edwards, R.J., Roper, D.I. and Dixon, A.M., The Extracellular Domain of Two-component System Sensor Kinase VanS from Streptomyces coelicolor Binds Vancomycin at a Newly Identified Binding Site, Sci. Rep., 2020, 10, 5727. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-62557-z.
Brooks, R.L. and Dixon, A.M., Revealing the Mechanism of Protein-Lipid Interactions for a Putative Membrane Curvature Sensor in Plant Endoplasmic Reticulum, Biochim. Biophys. Acta. Biomem., 2020, 1862, 183160. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbamem.2019.183160Link opens in a new windowLink opens in a new window.

2019

Hasan, M., Patel, D., Ellis, N., Brown, S.P., Lewandowski, J.R., and Dixon, A.M., Modulation of Transmembrane Domain Interactions in Neu Receptor Tyrosine Kinase by Membrane Fluidity and Cholesterol, J. Membrane Biol., 2019, 252, 357-369 (Invited Submission to Special Issue).
Roesner, S., Saunders, G.J., Wilkening, I., Jayawant, E., Geden, J.V., Kerby, P., Dixon, A.M., Notman, R., and Shipman, M., Macrocyclization of Small Peptides Enabled by Oxetane Incorporation, Chemical Science, 2019, 10, 2465-2472, DOI: 10.1039/C8SC05474F.
Dixon, A.M. and Roy, S., Role of Membrane Environment and Membrane-Spanning Protein Regions in Assembly and Function of the Class II Major Histocompatibility Complex, Human Immunology, 2019, 80, 5-14 (Invited Submission to Special Issue).

2018

Chow, M., Sklepari, M., Frigerio, L. and Dixon, A.M., Bacterial expression, purification and biophysical characterization of the smallest plant reticulon isoform, RTNLB13, Prot. Expr. Purif., 2018, 152, 31-39.
Jeyaharan, D., Brackstone, C., Schouten, J., Davis, P., and Dixon, A.M., Characterisation of the Carboxypeptidase G2 Catalytic Site and Design of New Inhibitors for Cancer Therapy, ChemBioChem, 2018, 19, 1959-1968.

2016

Jeyaharan, D., Aston, P., Garcia-Perez, A., Schouten, J., Davis, P., and Dixon, A.M., Soluble expression, purification and functional characterisation of carboxypeptidase G2 and its individual domains, Prot. Expr. Purif., 2016, 127, 44–52.
Breeze, E., Dzimitrowicz, N., Kriechbaumer, V., Brooks, R., Botchway, S.W., Brady, J.P., Hawes, C., Dixon, A.M., Schnell, J.R., Fricker, M.D., Frigerio, L., A C-terminal amphipathic helix is necessary for the in vivo tubule-shaping function of a plant reticulon, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., 2016, 113, 10902-10907.

2015

Nash, A., Notman, R., and Dixon, A.M., De novo Design of Transmembrane Helix-Helix Interactions and Measurement of Stability in a Biological Membrane. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta – Biomembranes, 2015, 1848, 1248-1257.
David Barneda, Joan Planas-Iglesias, Maria L Gaspar, Dariush Mohammadyani, Sunil Prasannan, Dirk Dormann, Gil-Soo Han, Stephen A Jesch, George M Carman, Valerian Kagan, Malcolm G Parker, Nicholas T Ktistakis, Judith Klein-Seetharaman, Ann M Dixon, Susan Henry, Mark Christian, The brown adipocyte protein CIDEA promotes lipid droplet fusion via a phosphatidic acid-binding, eLife 2015;10.7554/eLife.07485.

2014

Dixon, A.M., Drake, L., Hughes, K.T., Sargent, E., Hunt, D., Harton, J.A., Drake, J.R. Differential Transmembrane Domain GxxxG Motif Pairing Impacts MHC Class II Structure, J. Biol. Chem., 2014, 289, p. 11695-703
Probert, F., Mitchell, D.A., Dixon, A.M., NMR evidence for oligosaccharide release from the DC-SIGNR (CLEC4M) carbohydrate recognition domain at low pH, FEBS J., 2014, 281, p. 3739-3750
Lock, A., Forfar, R., Weston, C., Bowsher, L., Upton, G.J.G., Reynolds, C.A., Ladds, G., Dixon, A.M., One Motif to Bind Them: A Small-XXX-Small Motif Affects Transmembrane Domain 1 Oligomerization, Function, Localization, and Cross-talk Between Two Yeast GPCRs, Biochimica et Biophysica Acta – Biomembranes, 2014, 1838, p. 3036-3051.

2013

Probert, F., Whittaker, S.B.M., Crispin, M., Mitchell, D.A., Dixon, A.M. Solution NMR Analyses of the C-type Carbohydrate Recognition Domain of DC-SIGNR Protein Reveal Different Binding Modes for HIV-derived Oligosaccharides and Smaller Glycan Fragments, J. Biol. Chem., 2013, 288, p. 22745-22757.

2012

Beevers, A.J., Nash, A., Salazar-Cancino, M., Scott, D.J., Notman, R., and Dixon, A.M., Effects of the Oncogenic V664E Mutation on Membrane Insertion, Structure, and Sequence-dependent Interactions of the Neu Transmembrane Domain in Micelles and Model Memebranes: An Integrated Biophysical and Simulation Study, Biochemistry, 2012, 51, p. 2558-2568.

2011

Jenei, Z.A., Warren, G.Z.L., Hasan, M., Zammit, V.A. and Dixon, A.M. Packing of Transmembrane Domain 2 of Carnitine Palmitoyltransferase-1A affects Oligomerization and Malonyl-CoA Sensitivity of the Mitochondrial Outer Membrane Protein, FASEB J, 2011, 25, p. 4522-4530.
King, G., Oates, J., Patel, D., van den Berg, H., and Dixon, A.M., Towards a Structural Understanding of the Smallest Known Oncoprotein: Investigation of the Bovine Papillomavirus E5 Protein using Solution-state NMR, BBA - Biomembranes, 2011, 1808, p. 1493-1501.

2010

King, G. and Dixon, A.M. Evidence for Role of Transmembrane Helix-Helix Interactions in the Assembly of the Class II Major Histocompatibility Complex, Molecular BioSystems, 2010, 6, p. 1650-1661
Oates, J., King. G., and Dixon, A.M. Strong oligomerization behavior of PDGFβ receptor transmembrane domain and its regulation by the juxtamembrane regions, Biochim Biophys Acta, 2010, 1798(3), p. 605-615
Beevers, A.J. and Dixon, A.M., Helical Membrane Peptides to Modulate Cell Function, Chemical Society Reviews, 2010, 39, p. 2146-2157
Beevers, A.J., Damianoglou, A., Oates, J., Rodger, A., Dixon, A.M., Sequence Dependent Oligomerization of the Neu Transmembrane Domain Suggests Inhibition of 'Conformational Switching' by Oncogenic Mutant, Biochemistry, 2010, 49, p. 2811-2820.

2009

Tablert-Slagle, K., Marlatt, S., Barrera, F.N., Khurana, E., Oates, J., Gerstein, M., Engelman, D.M., Dixon, A.M., DiMaio, D., Artificial transmembrane oncoproteins smaller than the bovine papillomavirus E5 protein redefine sequence requirements for activation of the platelet-derived growth factor beta receptor, Journal of Virology, 2009, 83, p. 9773-9785.
Jenei, Z.A., Borthwick, K., Zammit, V.A. and Dixon, A.M., Self-association of Transmembrane Domain 2, but not TM1, in Carnitine Palmitoyltransferase 1A: Role of GxxxG(A) Motifs, Journal of Biological Chemistry, 2009, 284, p. 6988-6997.
Warren, G., Oates, J., Robinson, C., and Dixon, A.M., Contributions of the Transmembrane Domain, Amphipathic Helix and a Key Acidic Motif to Assembly and Function of the TatA Complex, Journal of Molecular Biology, 2009, 388, p. 122-132.

2008

King, G. and Dixon, A. M., "Techniques to study membrane protein structure", Wiley Encyclopedia of Chemical Biology, WileyBlackwell Publishing, 2008.
Oates, J., Hicks, M., Dafforn, T., DiMaio, D., Dixon, A.M., In Vitro Dimerization of the Bovine Papillomavirus E5 Protein, Biochemistry, 2008, 47, p. 8985-8992.

2006

Dixon, A. M., Stanley B.J., Matthews, E.E., Dawson, J.P., Engelman, D.M., Invariant chain transmembrane domain trimerization: A step in MHC class II assembly, Biochemistry, 2006, 45, p. 5228-5234.

2005

Freeman-Cook LL, Edwards AP, Dixon AM, Yates KE, Ely L, Engelman DM, Dimaio D. Specific locations of hydrophilic amino acids in constructed transmembrane ligands of the platelet-derived growth factor beta receptor, Journal of Molecular Biology, 2005, 345, p.907-921.

2004

Freeman-Cook, L.L., Dixon, A.M., Frank, J.B., Xia, Y., Ely, L., Gerstein, M., Engelman, D.M., DiMaio, D., Selection and Characterization of Small Random Transmembrane Proteins that Bind and Activate the Platelet-derived Growth Factor Beta Receptor. Journal of Molecular Biology, 2004, 338, p.907-920.

2003

Engelman, D.M., Chen, Y., Chin, C-N., Curran, A.R., Dixon, A.M., Dupuy, A., Lee, A., Lehnert, U., Matthews, E.E., Reshetnyak, Senes, A., Popot, J-L., Membrane Protein Folding: Beyond the Two Stage Model, FEBS Letters, 2003, 555, p. 122-125.
Dixon, A.M., Venable, R.M., Widmalm, G., Bull, T.E. and Pastor, R.W. Application of NMR, Molecular Simulation, and Hydrodynamics to Conformational Analysis of Trisaccharides, Biopolymers, 2003, 69, p. 448-460.

2002

Dixon, A.M., Venable, R.M., Pastor, R.W., and Bull, T.E. Micelle-Bound Conformation of a Hairpin-Forming Peptide: Combined NMR and Molecular Dynamics Study, Biopolymers, 2002, 65(4), p. 284-298.
Wilk, A., Grajkowski, A., Bull, T.E., Dixon, A.M., Freedberg, D. and Beaucage, S.L. Direct Assignment of the Absolute Configuration of a Distinct Class of Deoxyribonucleoside Cyclic N-Acylphosphoramidites at Phosphorus by M-GOESY Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy, Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2002, 124, p. 1180-1181.

2000

Dixon, A.M., Widmalm, G., and Bull, T.E. Modified GOESY in the Analysis of Disaccharide Conformation, Journal of Magnetic Resonance, 2000, 147, p. 266-272.

Teaching and supervision

Ann teaches:

Year 1 Spectroscopy (CH155)

Year 2 Spectroscopy (CH222)

Year 3 Bio-organic Chemistry (CH3F5)

Year 3 Analytical Chemistry Group Project and NMR (CH3F2)

Year 4 Biophysical Chemistry (CH412)

I am supervising the following PhD students:

Miss Lucia Gaetani, MRC-DTP CASE studentship with Global Access Diagnostics
Miss Lea Denker, MIBTP PhD studentship (jointly supervised with Dr. Darius Koester)
Mr Ciaran Guy, Warwick Synthetic Biology DTP PhD studentship
Miss Bethany Carter, Masters Research Student

I am recruiting at the moment, and welcome any expressions of interest. For projects available in my team see: