I am interested in the relationship between biomolecular structure and dynamics and how these modulate function. I develop time-resolved methods for X-ray crystallography and spectroscopy that can give us insight into the intricacies of biomolecular mechanisms and how these respond to changes in their local environment, especially in regard to photobiological processes. Utilising this knowledge…
I am studying bio-mineralisation processes in renal and cardio-vascular systems: common mechanisms, promotors and inhibitors, role of proteins in bio-mineral deposition on vessel walls, crystallisation in biological fluids. A research topic of special interest to me is the mechanism of kidney stone formation. Everyone forms crystals in the urinary system, but they get discharged. The…
I work on engineering biomembranes, such as self-assembled lipid membranes. I have an interest in fluorescence proteins – my relevance to biomedical is experience studying FRET, using fluorescence spectroscopy and fluorescence lifetime imaging (FLIM), AFM. Could be useful to study medically-important proteins that cluster together as part of their function. Interest in lipopolysaccharide, pore formation…
My group works on food structure and biofunction, and the underlying biological mechanism, with a particular focus on the bioactive nano-assemblies derived from food and their regulatory capacities in cell redox, taste sensing, absorption, and immune-responses. Examples of potential projects: Functionalise the ECM scaffold surface for optimal tissue culture performance, Glycopeptide production by yeast fermentation,…
We develop chemical tools that introduce targeted unnatural post-translational modifications into proteins. These modifications can engineer protein function, for example in a cellular context. We apply high-throughput approaches to enable the discovery of targeted chemical tools, and collaborate widely to apply them.
Development of single molecule tools for introducing or extracting precise amounts of biological material into or from living cells. Development of functional DNA origami nanostructures for the characterizaiton of protein-protein interactions and single molecule biosensing
I use single-molecule imaging to map out protein distributions in 3D in fixed cells or cell-cell contacts to establish how separation between and clustering of proteins influence signalling processes. I also use single-molecule tracking to study how molecules bind to receptors. I have developed single-molecule flow cytometry for charactersing expression of low abundance protein targets…
My work focuses on label-free methodologies to tackle biomedical problems at the single-cell level. Specifically, Raman spectroscopy, both spontaneous Raman as well as SRS and CARS imaging, and microfluidics. I am the co-chair of the HYBIFA facility, able to do multiphoton imaging characterisation of biomedical samples using label-free vibrational imaging (SRS and CARS), second harmonic…
Understanding physico-chemical processes and spatial and temporal structural changes occurring during biomineralisation, and biomimetic engineering biology approaches to repair and replace lost hard tissues. Specifically, my expertise lies in a multimodal approach to drive forward our understanding of hard tissue structures at multiple length-scales and interactions at protein-mineral interfaces to enable translation of oral and…
My group has worked on a range of different systems and technologies from developing new small molecules, membrane protein scaffolds, biosensors and time-resolved approaches. We have an interest in engineering membrane proteins and lipid scaffolds and also cell free expression systems