Tracy Palmer is a

Professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professors ...

of Microbiology in the Biosciences Institute at Newcastle University in Tyne & Wear, England. She is known for her work on the twin-arginine translocation (Tat) pathway.

Early life and education

Palmer was born in

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire a ...

on 8 May 1967, the only child of Enid (née Wilson) and Roy Palmer (a steelworker). Palmer was brought up in the steel town of Stocksbridge in South Yorkshire where she attended Stocksbridge High School. Palmer attended the

University of Birmingham The University of Birmingham (informally Birmingham University) is a Public university, public research university located in Edgbaston, Birmingham, United Kingdom. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Queen's College, Birmingha ...

where she was awarded a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University o ...

degree in

biochemistry Biochemistry or biological chemistry is the study of chemical processes within and relating to living organisms. A sub-discipline of both chemistry and biology, biochemistry may be divided into three fields: structural biology, enzymology and ...

in 1988 followed by a PhD in 1992 for research investigating the

enzyme kinetics Enzyme kinetics is the study of the rates of enzyme-catalysed chemical reactions. In enzyme kinetics, the reaction rate is measured and the effects of varying the conditions of the reaction are investigated. Studying an enzyme's kinetics in thi ...

of the

proton pump A proton pump is an integral membrane protein pump that builds up a proton gradient across a biological membrane A biological membrane, biomembrane or cell membrane is a selectively permeable membrane that separates the interior of a cell f ...

ing transhydrogenase from photosynthetic bacteria. She was inspired by the work of Peter D. Mitchell and his work on

chemiosmosis Chemiosmosis is the movement of ions across a semipermeable membrane bound structure, down their electrochemical gradient. An important example is the formation of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) by the movement of hydrogen ions (H+) across a memb ...

during her PhD.

Career and research

Palmer's main research interest is in the processes by which bacteria

secrete 440px Secretion is the movement of material from one point to another, such as a secreted chemical substance from a cell or gland. In contrast, excretion is the removal of certain substances or waste products from a cell or organism. The classical ...

proteins into their environment. She was one of the co-discoverers of the bacterial Tat protein secretion system. The Tat system is highly unusual because it transports folded proteins of variable sizes across biological membranes while at the same time maintaining the impermeability of the membrane to

ion An ion () is an atom or molecule with a net electrical charge. The charge of an electron is considered to be negative by convention and this charge is equal and opposite to the charge of a proton, which is considered to be positive by conve ...

s. Palmer has initiated work on a second type of protein transporter– the Type VII secretion system (T7SS) in the human pathogen '' Staphylococcus aureus''. Her group have demonstrated for the first time that the T7SS is involved in interbacterial competition by showing that the ''S. aureus'' T7SS secretes a large nuclease toxin, which inhibits the growth of closely related ''S. aureus'' strains. Palmer's early career included a post doctoral research position at the

University of Dundee , mottoeng = "My soul doth magnify the Lord" , established = 1967 – gained independent university status by Royal Charter1897 – Constituent college of the University of St Andrews1881 – University College , ...

(1992-1993) where she was a member of Professor David H. Boxer's group in the Department of Biochemistry. At that time Palmer was studying 'Protein FA' - the factor d'association needed for the final step in molybdopterin guanine dinucleotide biosynthesis. Palmer purified the protein and identified it as the product of the ''mobA'' gene. From 1993 to 1996 Palmer was an independent University Research Fellow at the

leading a study in to the anaerobic metabolism of ''Rhodobacter sphaeroides''. Indeed, the behaviour of the periplasmic DMSO reductase of ''Rh. sphaeroides'' and its ''E. coli'' homologue TMAO reductase laid the foundations for Palmer's future research on the Tat pathway. In 1996 Palmer was awarded a Royal Society University Research Fellowship (URF), which was administered by the

University of East Anglia The University of East Anglia (UEA) is a public research university in Norwich, England. Established in 1963 on a campus west of the city centre, the university has four faculties and 26 schools of study. The annual income of the institution f ...

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the See of Norwich, with ...

while Palmer's new research group was based in the Department of Molecular Microbiology at the

John Innes Centre The John Innes Centre (JIC), located in Norwich, Norfolk, England, is an independent centre for research and training in plant and microbial science founded in 1910. It is a registered charity (No 223852) grant-aided by the Biotechnology and ...

. In 2004 Palmer was awarded an MRC Senior Non-Clinical Research Fellowship and was promoted to a Personal Chair in Molecular Microbiology by the

. While in

Palmer began a long collaboration with Professor Ben C. Berks FRS (now of the Department of Biochemistry at the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

). Together they were awarded the 2002

Microbiology Society The Microbiology Society (previously the Society for General Microbiology) is a learned society based in the United Kingdom with a worldwide membership based in universities, industry, hospitals, research institutes and schools. It is the large ...

Fleming Prize Lecture The Fleming Prize Lecture was started by the Microbiology Society in 1976 and named after Alexander Fleming, one of the founders of the society. It is for early career researchers, generally within 12 of being awarded their PhD, who have an outs ...

for characterisation of the bacterial twin-arginine protein targeting (Tat) system. In 2007 Palmer was recruited back to the

to take up a new position in the College of Life Sciences. Palmer was Head of the Division of Molecular Microbiology at Dundee from 2009 to 2017 before leaving to join Newcastle University in 2018. She is now Head of the research theme Microbes in Health & Disease, which is part of the Newcastle Biosciences Institute (NUBI) within the Faculty of Medical Sciences (FMS). In 2021, Palmer was appointed as Deputy Editor in Chief of ''Microbiology'', to help develop the journal towards its 75th Anniversary in 2022, after serving for many years as an Editor of ''Molecular Microbiology''.

Awards and honours

Palmer was elected a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural knowledge, including mathemat ...

(FRS) in 2018 for “substantial contributions to the improvement of natural knowledge”. She was elected a

Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". This socie ...

(FRSE) in 2009, is a

Fellow A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...

of the

American Academy of Microbiology The American Society for Microbiology (ASM), originally the Society of American Bacteriologists, is a professional organization for scientists who study viruses, bacteria, fungi, algae, and protozoa as well as other aspects of microbiology. It wa ...

and a member of the

European Molecular Biology Organization The European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) is a professional, non-profit organization of more than 1,800 life scientists. Its goal is to promote research in life science and enable international exchange between scientists. It co-funds cour ...

(EMBO). She was awarded a

Royal Society University Research Fellowship __NOTOC__ The Royal Society University Research Fellowship (URF) is a research fellowship awarded to outstanding early career scientists in the United Kingdom who are judged by the Royal Society to have the potential to become leaders in their fi ...

(URF) in 1996. In 2021, Palmer was elected as a Fellow of the

Academy of Medical Sciences The Academy of Medical Sciences is an organisation established in the UK in 1998. It is one of the four UK National Academies, the others being the British Academy, the Royal Academy of Engineering and the Royal Society. Its mission is to adv ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Palmer, Tracey Living people Alumni of the University of Birmingham Academics of the University of East Anglia Academics of the University of Dundee Members of the European Molecular Biology Organization Fellows of the Royal Society Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1967 births Female Fellows of the Royal Society Women molecular biologists British microbiologists