Daresbury Laboratory
Keckwick Lane, Daresbury
Warrington, Cheshire
WA4 4AD (UK)  
j.m.nicholson@dl.ac.uk
(44) 1925 603905
(44) 1925 603124

My Research Projects:

- IR Microspectoscopy in disease diagnosis, environmental and materials science

- Structure-function studies of the histone core octamer and other chromatin-associated proteins incorporating PX, CD and SAXS techniques.

- Time-resolved studies of conformation changes in the insulin hexamer by freeze-trapping and high pressure crystallography.

Collaborations:

- Lancaster University, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool University, Manchester University, Sheffield University, Galderma (France)

Facility Development Projects:

- Development of SR and offline infrared spectroscopy and imaging facilities.

- Improvement and automation of MAD facilities on the SRS PX stations.

- Facilities for phasing from very low resolution data and xenon derivatives.

Operational Responsibilities:

- Station Scientist IR 11.1

- PX Operations Manager

- Deputy Port 11 Coordinator

- Deputy Port 14 Coordinator

- Scientific Secretary to the Biology & Medicine Facility Access Panel (FAP).

- BioMed & PX web editor

- SR Facility Operations Committee member

- SRD Annual Report Committee member

Recent Publications

FTIR micro-spectroscopy identifies symmetric PO2- modifications as a marker of the putative stem cell region of human intestinal crypts.
M.J. Walsh, T.G. Fellous, A. Hammiche, N.J. Fullwood, O. Grude, F. Bahrami, J.M. Nicholson, H.M. Pollock, M. Brittan, P.L. Martin-Hirsch, M.R. Alison and F.L. Martin.
Stem Cells, (2008) 26 (1), 108-118.

Early stages of protein crystallization as revealed by emerging optical waveguide technology.
Attia Boudjemline, David T. Clarke, Neville J. Freeman, James M. Nicholson and Gareth R. Jones.
Journal of Applied Crystallography, (2008) 41 (3), 523-530.

Chromatin: The Biophysical Approach to Elucidating Structure and Function.
James Nicholson, Colin Reynolds, Mark Dickman, Christopher Wood and John Baldwin.
Cell Cycle Control: New Research, (2008), in press.

Impact of phosphorus quota and growth phase on carbon allocation in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii: an FTIR microspectroscopy study.
A.P. Dean, J.M. Nicholson and D.C. Sigee.
European Journal of Phycology, (2008), in press.

Molecular response of Anabaena flos-aquae to differing concentrations of phosphorus: A combined FTIR and X-ray microanalytical study.
David Charles Sigee, Beatriz Estrada, James Martin Nicholson and Andrew Peter Dean.
Phycological Research, (2008), in press.

Chromatin: cracking the chemical code.
Colin Reynolds, James Nicholson and John Baldwin.
European Pharmaceutical Review, (2008), Issue 4, 75-81.

Optical artefacts in transflection mode FTIR microspectroscopic images of single cells on a biological support: the effect of back scattering into collection optics.
J. Lee, E. Gazi, J. Dwyer, M.D. Brown, N.W. Clarke, J.M. Nicholson and P. Gardner.
Analyst, (2007) 132 (8), 750-755.

High pressure applications in structural molecular biology.
J.M. Nicholson and F.C. Körber.
Recent Research Developments in Molecular Biology 3, (2006), 33-47. ISBN: 81-308-0072-1.

Chromatin - The Matter of Life and Death.
J.M. Nicholson and C.D. Reynolds.
Biologist 53 (5), (2006), 242-246.

Chromatin Structure and Function.
J.M. Nicholson and C.M. Wood (Editors).
ISBN: 81-7895-234-3. (2006). Transworld Research Network.

Introduction to Chromatin Structure & Function.
C. M. Wood, J. M. Nicholson, C. D. Reynolds and J. P. Baldwin.
In Chromatin Structure and Function, (2006), 1-19. ISBN: 81-7895-234-3. Transworld Research Network.

Inter-Histone Interactions within the Nucleosome: Implications for Octamer Dissociation and Histone-Fold Pairing.
J. M. Nicholson, C. M. Wood, C. D. Reynolds, S.J. Lambert and J. P. Baldwin.
In Chromatin Structure and Function, (2006), 57-73. ISBN: 81-7895-234-3. Transworld Research Network.

Future Opportunities for Chromatin Structure-Function Research on the Proposed UK Fourth Generation Light Source (4GLS).
J. M. Nicholson, M.L. Martin-Fernandez, C. D. Reynolds, C. M. Wood and J. P. Baldwin.
In Chromatin Structure and Function, (2006), 141-152. ISBN: 81-7895-234-3. Transworld Research Network.

The Oxidised Histone Octamer Does Not Form a H3 Disulphide Bond.
C. M. Wood, S. Sodngam, J. M. Nicholson, S. J. Lambert, C. D. Reynolds and J. P. Baldwin.
Biochimica et Biophysica Acta - Proteins and Proteomics 1764 (8), (2006), 1356-1362.

The high-resolution structure of hexameric T6 cobalt insulin: A possible pathway for the T to R transition.
J.M. Nicholson, L.C. Perkins and F.C. Körber.
Recent Research Developments in Molecular Biology, 3, (2006), 1-17. ISBN: 81-308-0072-1.

High-resolution structure of the native histone octamer.
C. M. Wood, J. M. Nicholson, S. J. Lambert, L. Chantalat, C. D. Reynolds and J. P. Baldwin.
Acta Crystallographica, F61, (2005), 541-545.

Celebrating 25 Years of the SRS: Users Meeting and Workshops.
P.J. Rizkallah, J.M. Nicholson, M.R. Siggel-King, A. Bennett and P. Raithby.
Synchrotron Radiation News 18 (6), (2005), 2-12.

Histone Structures: Targets for Modifications by Molecular Assemblies.
Nicholson, J.M., Wood, C.M., Reynolds, C.D., Brown, A., Lambert, S.J., Chantalat, L. and Baldwin, J.P.
Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 1030 (2004), 642-653.

Structural molecular biology of the histone octamer.
J.M. Nicholson, C.M. Wood, C.D. Reynolds, S.J. Lambert, L. Chantalat and J.P. Baldwin.
Recent Research Developments in Molecular Biology 1 (2003), 165-187. ISBN 81-271-0032-3.

Structure of the histone-core octamer in KCl/phosphate crystals at 2.15 Å resolution.
L. Chantalat, J. M. Nicholson, S. J. Lambert, A. J. Reid, M. J. Donovan, C. D. Reynolds, C. M. Wood and J. P. Baldwin.
Acta Crystallographica D59 (2003), 1395-1407.

Modelling Heating Effects in Cryocooled Protein Crystals.
James Nicholson, Colin Nave, Khalid Fayz, Barry Fell & Elspeth Garman.
Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research A 467-468 (2001), 1380-1383.

PDB Entries

2ARO, 1TZY, 1M5A, 1HQ3