Biography:Tanmay A. M. Bharat

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Short description: Structural biologist

Tanmay A. M. Bharat is a programme leader in the Structural Studies Division of the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology.[1] He and his group use electron tomography, together with several structural and cell biology methods to study the cell surfaces of bacteria and archaea. His work has increased the understanding of how surface molecules help in the formation of multicellular communities of prokaryotes, examples of which include biofilms and microbiomes.[2] He has been awarded several prizes and fellowships for his work.[3][4]

Education

Bharat graduated with a BA in Biological Sciences from the University of Oxford, UK. His studies were supported by a Rhodes Scholarship. He then undertook research at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Heidelberg, Germany for his PhD working with John A. G. Briggs.[5] He studied the structure and assembly of pathogenic viruses using cryogenic electron microscopy and tomography. His work on several viral capsid proteins improved understanding of how viruses are assembled within infected cells.[6][7][8][9]

Research

He subsequently joined the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB) in Cambridge to pursue post-doctoral research with Jan Löwe using cryo-EM to study proteins within bacterial cells.[5][10][11][12] After his post-doctoral appointment concluded, he was recruited to the Sir William Dunn School of Pathology, University of Oxford as a Wellcome Trust and Royal Society Sir Henry Dale Fellow.[13] After obtaining tenure at Oxford, he moved back to the LMB as a programme leader in 2022.[14] His research investigates how bacteria and archaea use their surface molecules to form multicellular communities. For instance, during human infections bacteria form biofilms that help them evade antibiotics. The group also use electron tomography.[6]

Scientific publications

Bharat is the author or co-author of over 46 scientific publications. These include:

Awards

Bharat has been awarded many prizes and fellowships.[5] These include a 2018 Vallee Research Scholarship,[5] the 2019 EMBL John Kendrew Award[15] the 2020 Philip Leverhulme Prize for Biological Sciences,[16] the 2021 Eppendorf Award for Young European Investigators,[17] and the 2021 Lister Prize,[18] the 2022 Colworth Medal from the Biochemical Society[6] and the 2023 Fleming Prize from the Microbiology Society.[4]

References

  1. Biology, ©2023 MRC Laboratory of Molecular; Avenue, Francis Crick; Campus, Cambridge Biomedical; CB2 0QH, Cambridge; Uk. 01223 267000. "Tanmay Bharat" (in en-GB). https://www2.mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk/group-leaders/a-to-g/tanmay-bharat/. 
  2. "Tanmay Bharat, PhD | The Vallee Foundation". https://thevalleefoundation.org/programs/yia/tanmay-bharat-phd. 
  3. "Tanmay Bharat Prokaryotic cell surfaces". UKRI. https://www2.mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk/group-leaders/a-to-g/tanmay-bharat/. 
  4. 4.0 4.1 "FLEMING PRIZE WINNERS". https://microbiologysociety.org/grants-prizes/all-prizes-and-competitions-/prize-lectures/fleming-prize-lecture/fleming-prize-winners.html. Retrieved 28 April 2020. 
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 "Vallee Scholar Awards: Tanmay Bharat, PhD". https://thevalleefoundation.org/programs/yia/tanmay-bharat-phd. 
  6. 6.0 6.1 6.2 "The Colworth Medal". https://www.biochemistry.org/grants-and-awards/awards/awards-listing/the-colworth-medal/. 
  7. Bharat, Tanmay A. M.; Riches, James D.; Kolesnikova, Larissa; Welsch, Sonja; Krähling, Verena; Davey, Norman; Parsy, Marie-Laure; Becker, Stephan et al. (2011-11-15). "Cryo-electron tomography of Marburg virus particles and their morphogenesis within infected cells". PLOS Biology 9 (11): e1001196. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.1001196. ISSN 1545-7885. PMID 22110401. 
  8. Bharat, Tanmay A. M.; Noda, Takeshi; Riches, James D.; Kraehling, Verena; Kolesnikova, Larissa; Becker, Stephan; Kawaoka, Yoshihiro; Briggs, John A. G. (2012-03-13). "Structural dissection of Ebola virus and its assembly determinants using cryo-electron tomography". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 109 (11): 4275–4280. doi:10.1073/pnas.1120453109. ISSN 1091-6490. PMID 22371572. Bibcode2012PNAS..109.4275B. 
  9. Bharat, Tanmay A. M.; Davey, Norman E.; Ulbrich, Pavel; Riches, James D.; de Marco, Alex; Rumlova, Michaela; Sachse, Carsten; Ruml, Tomas et al. (2012-07-19). "Structure of the immature retroviral capsid at 8 Å resolution by cryo-electron microscopy". Nature 487 (7407): 385–389. doi:10.1038/nature11169. ISSN 1476-4687. PMID 22722831. Bibcode2012Natur.487..385B. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22722831/. 
  10. Kostic, Milka. "MasterClass—Optimizing RELION for cryo-ET by Tanmay Bharat and Sjors Scheres" (in en-us). https://crosstalk.cell.com/blog/masterclass-optimizing-relion-for-cryo-et. 
  11. Bharat, Tanmay A. M.; Murshudov, Garib N.; Sachse, Carsten; Löwe, Jan (2015-07-02). "Structures of actin-like ParM filaments show architecture of plasmid-segregating spindles". Nature 523 (7558): 106–110. doi:10.1038/nature14356. ISSN 1476-4687. PMID 25915019. Bibcode2015Natur.523..106B. 
  12. van den Ent, Fusinita; Izoré, Thierry; Bharat, Tanmay Am; Johnson, Christopher M.; Löwe, Jan (2014-05-02). "Bacterial actin MreB forms antiparallel double filaments". eLife 3: e02634. doi:10.7554/eLife.02634. ISSN 2050-084X. PMID 24843005. 
  13. "Structural cell biology of bacterial biofilm formation" (in en). https://wellcome.org/grant-funding/people-and-projects/grants-awarded/structural-cell-biology-bacterial-biofilm-formation. 
  14. "Tanmay Bharat CV". https://www2.mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk/groups/bharat/tanmay-bharat-cv/. 
  15. "The John Kendrew Award – Alumni relations" (in en-GB). https://www.embl.org/about/info/alumni/community/recognitions/the-john-kendrew-award/. 
  16. "Philip Leverhulme Prizes 2020 | The Leverhulme Trust". https://www.leverhulme.ac.uk/philip-leverhulme-prizes-2020. 
  17. "2021 Award Winner - Eppendorf Corporate" (in en-EN). https://corporate.eppendorf.com/en/company/scientific-awards/european-award/past-award-winners/2021-award-winner/. 
  18. "Tanmay Bharat Awarded Lister Institute Research Prize". https://www.path.ox.ac.uk/news-article/tanmay-bharat-awarded-lister-institute-research-prize/.