Simon Andrews did his first degree in Microbiology at the University of Warwick. After a brief period working for Sandoz pharmaceuticals he went on to do a PhD in protein engineering a the University of Newcastle with Harry Gilbert. During his PhD his interests moved from bench work toward the emerging field of bioinformatics, and he decided to follow this direction in his future career.
After completing his PhD Simon worked with the BBSRC IT Services where he developed and then presented a series of bioinformatics training courses in protein structure analysis to the BBSRC institutes. At one of these courses at Babraham he met John Coadwell who establised the Babraham Bioinformatics group and was then employed as the second member of the bioinformatics team. Since joining Babraham Simon has seen the group grow from two people to nine as the field has become far more prominent in the biological research community. He took over the running of the group in 2010. Simon won a Papin Prize in 2025 for contributions to research (news article link).
Plant-derived additives in animal nutrition are frequently studied for their potential to enhance growth performance and meat quality. Their effects on gut microbiota composition are also evaluated in view of its fundamental role in overall animal health and metabolic homeostasis. Therefore, we investigated the effect of adding Peruvian maca (Lepidium meyenii) to the pig diet on pH, ammonia, and short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) in the digesta and growth parameters, carcass characteristics, and gut microbiota in growing pigs using next-generation sequencing. The experiment included two dietary treatments: the control (Con group), a diet without maca additive, and a Maca (Maca group) diet supplemented with 1% of dried powdered roots of Peruvian maca. A total of forty gilts with an average BW of 29 kg were equally divided into two groups and fed the experimental diets for 108 days, a period that was divided into two phases (Period 1 and Period 2). Maca supplementation did not affect growth performance during Period 1. In contrast, during Period 2, pigs receiving the maca-supplemented diet exhibited a higher average daily weight gain compared to the Con group. Descriptive evaluation of pen-based production data indicated a trend towards improved feed conversion ratio, while daily feed intake remained comparable between the dietary treatments. Across the whole fattening period, maca-fed pigs maintained better growth efficiency and a lower liver-to-BW ratio. Carcass traits were generally unaffected, with the exception of a reduced liver-to-carcass ratio in the Maca group. Meat quality parameters were largely unchanged; only pH measured 24 h postmortem was significantly lower, while proximate composition and technological traits (e.g., drip loss, tenderness, water-holding capacity) remained unaffected. Statistical analysis demonstrated a significantly lower ileal pH in the Maca group, suggesting a more acidic intestinal environment, whereas ammonia concentration and SCFA profiles showed no differences. Blood biochemistry indicated higher serum glucose levels in pigs fed maca. Maca supplementation affected gut pH and microbiota, suggesting potential benefits for intestinal health by increasing Lactobacillus abundance and decreasing abundance of Campylobacter, thus supporting animal welfare and sustainable production. Bioactive plant compounds appear promising as supplements, but more research is needed on their dosage and long-term effects.
The pace of embryonic development differs between mammalian species, yet the molecular basis for this remains unknown. By comparing protein dynamics in mouse and human neural progenitors (NPs), we show that protein turnover is faster in mouse NPs, driven by higher rates of protein synthesis and degradation. Human NPs exhibit longer protein half-lives, reduced proteasomal activity, and lower proteasome abundance. These differences persist in post-mitotic neurons and are also observed in the embryonic spinal cord in vivo. Pharmacological inhibition of proteasomal activity slows differentiation in mouse NPs. Conversely, enhancing proteasomal activity accelerates neuronal output in human NPs. Moreover, accelerating the degradation of the key transcriptional repressor IRX3 in mouse NPs speeds the activation of its target gene. Together, these results provide evidence that species-specific regulation of proteasome-mediated proteolysis influences the timing of neural development and suggest that evolutionary tuning of proteasomal activity contributes to differences in embryonic developmental pace.
Poised enhancers (PEs), co-marked by H3K4me1 and Polycomb-associated H3K27me3, are common in primed human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) resembling post-implantation epiblast but scarce in naive hPSCs modeling pre-implantation epiblast. PEs form abundant chromosomal contacts with developmental genes, but the timing of their emergence, their relationship to enhancer poising, and their functional significance remain unclear. We devised high-resolution, PE-targeted Capture Hi-C to map PE contacts during the transition from naive to primed pluripotency. We find that enhancer poising emerges early in the transition, while the contacts show diverse dynamics. PROTAC-induced degradation of Polycomb repressive complex 2 early in the transition, but not inhibition of its H3K27 methyltransferase activity, weakens PE connectivity. Finally, PE contacts persist after developmental activation or ectopic CRISPRa targeting and can mediate long-range gene induction. Together, these findings reveal the temporal and mechanistic principles of PE connectivity and highlight a potential role of PE contacts in establishing developmental gene expression patterns.