Dr Gerald Prescott
Head of School
Senior Lecturer
Research areas
I am an education-focussed academic whose scholarship and research interests focus on how societal change influences educational policy and practice in HE. I address questions in this area by integrating current pedagogies with institutional research approaches to design, recommend and implement local, national and international education enhancement activities. I am also interested in considering how the curriculum developments driven by societal change can be implemented in a way that promotes good wellbeing in staff and students.
I have a track record as an educator and strategic leader in teaching and learning change and enhancement, having served as Director of Teaching within the School of Biology and as Associate Dean for Education for the Faculty of Science. I am current the Head of School for Biology.
I have served on several senior university committees, including Learning and Teaching Committee, Strategic Curriculum Approval Group, Academic Monitoring Group and Information Compliance Group. I have led institutional workstreams on Assessment, Generative AI and Reasonable Adjustments for Assessment.
I aim to develop impact from my activities by engaging in national and international committees, working groups and research activities. I curently lead a national working group developing a Scottish HE framework for Generative AI in the curricum and assessment on behalf of Universities Scotland Learning and Teaching Committee. Working with the European University Association (EUA) I led a thematic Group that exploring the factors that influence wellbeing in staff and students that resulted in a report making a series of recommendations, supported by good practice case studies, that was circulated to over 800 European Univertsities. I represent Universities Scotland on the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) Strategic Steering Group and am a member of the SQA's Learners with Additional Needs working group. I am also a steering group member for the Higher Education Institutional Research (HEIR) network and the Scottish Teaching Biology in HE network and a member of the SULSA Skills Committee. I have served as a External Examiner and institutional reviews at several Russell Group and other leading universities.
Prior to becoming an education-focussed academic, my research interests lay in the areas of membrane trafficking and regulated exocytosis. My research focussed on the role of protein isoforms in regulated exocytosis and the role that post-translational modifications (phosphorylation and palmitoylation) play in this process.
Selected publications
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Open access
Phosphorylation of Cysteine string protein triggers a major conformational switch
Patel, P., Prescott, G. R., Burgoyne, R. D., Lian, L.-Y. & Morgan, A., 2 Aug 2016, In: Structure. 24, 8, p. 1380-1386 7 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Endoplasmic Reticulum Localization of DHHC Palmitoyltransferases Mediated by Lysine-based Sorting Signals
Gorleku, O. A., Barns, A.-M., Prescott, G. R., Greaves, J. & Chamberlain, L. H., 11 Nov 2011, In: Journal of Biological Chemistry. 286, 45, p. 39573-39584 12 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Open access
Regional and developmental brain expression patterns of SNAP25 splice variants
Prescott, G. R. & Chamberlain, L. H., 28 Apr 2011, In: BioMed Central Neuroscience. 12, 9 p., 35.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Open access
Structure-function study of mammalian Munc18-1 and C. elegans UNC-18 implicates domain 3b in the regulation of exocytosis
Graham, M. E., Prescott, G. R., Johnson, J. R., Jones, M., Walmesley, A., Haynes, L. P., Morgan, A., Burgoyne, R. D. & Barclay, J. W., 21 Mar 2011, In: PLoS One. 6, 3, 12 p., e17999.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Regulation of SNAP-25 trafficking and function by palmitoylation
Greaves, J., Prescott, G. R., Gorleku, O. A. & Chamberlain, L. H., Feb 2010, In: Biochemical Society Transactions. 38, p. 163-166 4 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Palmitoylation of the synaptic vesicle fusion machinery
Prescott, G. R., Gorleku, O. A., Greaves, J. & Chamberlain, L. H., Aug 2009, In: Journal of Neurochemistry. 110, 4, p. 1135-1149 15 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Review article › peer-review
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The Hydrophobic Cysteine-rich Domain of SNAP25 Couples with Downstream Residues to Mediate Membrane Interactions and Recognition by DHHC Palmitoyl Transferases
Greaves, J., Prescott, G. R., Fukata, Y., Fukata, M., Salaun, C. & Chamberlain, L. H., 15 Mar 2009, In: Molecular Biology of the Cell. 20, 6, p. 1845-1854 10 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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The fat controller: roles of palmitoylation in intracellular protein trafficking and targeting to membrane microdomains (Review)
Greaves, J., Prescott, G. R., Gorleku, O. A. & Chamberlain, L. H., 2009, In: Molecular Membrane Biology. 26, 1-2, p. 67-79 13 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Review article › peer-review
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Phosphorylation of cysteine string protein on Serine 10 triggers 14-3-3 protein binding
Prescott, G. R., Jenkins, R. E., Walsh, C. M. & Morgan, A., 19 Dec 2008, In: Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications. 377, 3, p. 809-814 6 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Protein kinase B/Akt is a novel cysteine string protein kinase that regulates exocytosis release kinetics and quantal size
Evans, G. J. O., Barclay, J. W., Prescott, G. R., Jo, S. R., Burgoyne, R. D., Birnbaum, M. J. & Morgan, A., 20 Jan 2006, In: Journal of Biological Chemistry. 281, 3, p. 1564-1572 9 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review