User:TimVickers

Hi, I'm Tim Vickers, glad to be here.

I am a biochemist with interests in microbiology, tropical diseases and enzymology. I did my PhD in biochemistry on trypanothione metabolism, at Dundee University in Scotland under the supervision of Professor Alan Fairlamb. I am now working on Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli, in America. If anybody has any questions about enzymology, parasitology etc I would be delighted to try to help. I am usually glad to answer questions and research stuff for articles, after all, favours owed are valuable things.

At the moment I'm the director of Molecular and Cellular Biology wikiproject and working on bringing as many basic molecular biology, biochemistry and infectious disease articles up to featured article level as I can. Even with the help of all the expert editors in the project, this is going to be a very long process, but generations of students will bless our efforts as they plagiarise our text!

The MCB project is a group of editors interested in improving the quality of Wikipedia articles on molecular life sciences. Since these pages are usually the top Google hit on any biochemical subject you care to mention, this is more important from an academic viewpoint than you might think. Anybody interested in helping out can sign up on the project page (link). You will be most welcome.

Please note that I am not an employee of the Wikimedia foundation and my views are my own.

Sub-pages

 * Symatlas and Wikipedia, an essay by Tim Vickers.
 * My sandbox
 * Administrative statistics
 * My Wikidashboard

Links to papers
[http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19923217?itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum&ordinalpos=1 Eudes A, Kunji ER, Noiriel A, Klaus SM, Vickers TJ, Beverley SM, Gregory JF, Hanson AD. "Identification of transport-critical residues in a folate transporter from the folate-biopterin transporter (FBT) family." J Biol Chem. (2009)]

[http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19390105?ordinalpos=2&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_DefaultReportPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum Laurent MR, Vickers TJ. "Seeking health information online: does Wikipedia matter?" J. Am. Med. Inform. Assoc. (2009)]

[http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19396443?ordinalpos=1&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_DefaultReportPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum Nare B, Garraway LA, Vickers TJ, Beverley SM. "PTR1-dependent synthesis of tetrahydrobiopterin contributes to oxidant susceptibility in Leishmania major." Current genetics (2009)]

[http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.molbiopara.2009.03.009 Vickers TJ, Murta SM, Mandell MM, Beverley SM. "The enzymes of the 10-formyl-tetrahydrofolate synthetic pathway are found exclusively in the cytosol of the trypanosomatid parasite Leishmania major." Mol. Biochem. Parasitol. (2009)]

[http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?db=pubmed&cmd=DetailsSearch&term=19183277 Murta SM, Vickers TJ, Scott DA, Beverley SM. "Methylene tetrahydrofolate dehydrogenase/cyclohydrolase and the synthesis of 10-CHO-THF are essential in Leishmania major." Mol Microbiol. 2009 Mar 71(6):1386-401]

[http://biology.plosjournals.org/perlserv/?request=get-document&doi=10.1371/journal.pbio.0060175 Huss JW, Orozco C, Goodale J, Wu C, Batalov S, Vickers TJ, Valafar F, Su AI. A Gene Wiki for Community Annotation of Gene Function PLoS Biol. 2008 Jul 8;6(7):e175.]

[http://aac.asm.org/cgi/reprint/AAC.01563-07v1?view=long&pmid=18250189 Wyllie S, Vickers TJ, Fairlamb AH. Roles of trypanothione S-transferase and tryparedoxin peroxidase in resistance to antimonials Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2008 Apr;52(4):1359-65]

[http://www.jbc.org/cgi/content/full/283/1/155 Scott DA, Hickerson SM, Vickers TJ, Beverley SM. The role of the mitochondrial glycine cleavage complex in the metabolism and virulence of the protozoan parasite Leishmania major. J Biol Chem. 2008 Jan 4;283(1):155-65.]

[http://www.jbc.org/cgi/content/full/281/50/38150 Vickers TJ, Orsomando G, de la Garza RD, Scott DA, Kang SO, Hanson AD, Beverley SM. Biochemical and genetic analysis of methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase in leishmania metabolism and virulence. J Biol Chem. 2006 Dec 15;281(50):38150-8.]

[http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed&cmd=Retrieve&dopt=AbstractPlus&list_uids=16958620&query_hl=4&itool=pubmed_DocSum Greig N, Wyllie S, Vickers TJ, Fairlamb AH. Trypanothione-dependent glyoxalase I in Trypanosoma cruzi. Biochem J. 2006 Dec 1;400(2):217-23.]

[http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1365-2958.2006.05022.x Ariza A, Vickers TJ, Greig N, Armour KA, Dixon MJ, Eggleston IM, Fairlamb AH, Bond CS. Specificity of the trypanothione-dependent Leishmania major glyoxalase I: structure and biochemical comparison with the human enzyme. Mol Microbiol. 2006 Feb;59(4):1239-48.]

[http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/full/101/36/13186 Vickers TJ, Greig N, Fairlamb AH. A trypanothione-dependent glyoxalase I with a prokaryotic ancestry in Leishmania major. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2004 Sep 7;101(36):13186-91.]

[http://www.jbc.org/cgi/content/full/279/47/49003 Vickers TJ, Wyllie S, Fairlamb AH. Leishmania major elongation factor 1B complex has trypanothione S-transferase and peroxidase activity. J Biol Chem. 2004 Nov 19;279(47):49003-9.]

[http://www.jbc.org/cgi/content/full/279/28/29493 Saravanamuthu A, Vickers TJ, Bond CS, Peterson MR, Hunter WN, Fairlamb AH. Two interacting binding sites for quinacrine derivatives in the active site of trypanothione reductase: a template for drug design. J Biol Chem. 2004 Jul 9;279(28):29493-500.]

[http://www.jbc.org/cgi/content/full/279/26/27246 Vickers TJ, Fairlamb AH. Trypanothione S-transferase activity in a trypanosomatid ribosomal elongation factor 1B. J Biol Chem. 2004 Jun 25;279(26):27246-56.]

Links to news articles and talks

 * William J. Furney Accuracy of Wikipedia Questioned Again as Anti-Aging Body Files Lawsuits Bali Times, 2009


 * Tim Vickers Wikipedia as a source of scientific information 2009 NIH talk


 * Rachel Metz Study Suggests Doctors Should Add To Wikipedia Associated Press, 2009


 * Aimee deCathelineau A crash course in Wikipedia for cell biologists Biowrites, 2009


 * Molecular and cellular biology goes interactive EMBO encounters, 2007