Tomas Adomavicius PhD

Senior Protein Scientist and Mass Spectrometry Specialist

Tomas has expertise in molecular biology, construct design, protein purification and analysis gained from his time working in the biotechnology sector.

Tomas Adomavicius PhD 1

More about Tomas

Tomas is originally from Lithuania where he obtained a degree in Biochemistry from Vilnius University. Wanting to see and do more science, Tomas came to the University of Manchester to complete an MSc, followed by a PhD. After finishing his PhD project, which involved chimeric protein design, production, and analysis in search for a malaria vaccine, Tomas continued his academic career in the University as a post-doc, focusing on cryo-EM analysis of translation initiation factors.

Wanting a more dynamic environment and the possibility of a longer term career in lab, Tomas decided to move to industry and joined the Protein Science team in AstraZeneca, where he designed constructs and produced proteins to support various early drug discovery projects.

Due to his love of hills in the North and the dread of moving with three little daughters, Tomas wanted to stay in Manchester after AZ’s move to Cambridge, and so joined Peak Proteins. In the little spare time he has, Tomas enjoys hiking, rock climbing, cycling, beer and basketball. Not all at the same time though!

The structural basis of translational control by eIF2 phosphorylation.
Nature Communications 2019 10: 2136
Adomavicius T, Guaita M, Zhou Y, Jennings MD,Latif Z, Roseman AM & Pavitt GD

Fail-safe control of translation initiation by dissociation of eIF2α phosphorylated ternary complexes.
eLife 2017 6: e24542
Jennings MD, Kershaw CJ, Adomavicius T & Pavitt GD.

Structure and Assembly of a Trans-Periplasmic Channel for Type IV Pili in Neisseria meningitidis.
Plos Pathog 2012 8: e1002923
Berry J-L, Phelan MM, Collins RF, Adomavicius T, Tønjum T, Frye SA, Bird L, Owens R, Ford RC, Lian L-Y & Derrick JP

Employee Spotlight

Purifying proteins. And all the things associated with that.

I was a postdoc at the University of Manchester working on structural studies of translation initiation proteins, followed by a year of making proteins in AstraZeneca.

Chemistry

Maybe not a hero as such, but definitely an interesting personality – Kary Mullis. He was awarded a Nobel Prize for the invention of PCR, work he has done in a company.

After spending a fair bit of time in big organisations I was fascinated to work in a smaller company, where you get involved in multiple different things. Also, it is easier to make and see the impact of your work on the business, where you are not just a small cog in a big machine.

Freezing purified protein in liquid nitrogen – a sweet “hissss” of success!

Outdoorsy stuff – walking, running, cycling. Computer games when it’s cold, dark, and wet.

Dog poo.

Lots of it. I guess a good burger is hard to beat.

That is a hard one. Would not know where to start to be honest.

Beer.

I listen to a lot of music. So many good songs it is impossible to choose just one. In the recent years, maybe it would be something by a Finnish metal band Insomnium.
Film is easy – Fight Club.

Nothing really.

Protein Science Team