Principal Lecturer in Biological Science

My research centres around the use of biochemical and biophysical techniques to characterise the functioning of proteins and protein complexes.

As such I apply a range of techniques from molecular biology (gene cloning, mutagenesis), through protein expression and purification, to characterisation using enzyme assays, and biophysical techniques such as fluorescence.

Recent project have made use of liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LCMS) for the characterisation of both proteins and small molecules.

I have some interest with the overlap to cell biology, to investigate functioning in vivo and well as biochemistry and biophysically based in vitro studies.

As such I also have experience in cell biology techniques such as cell staining for visualisation of the cytoskeleton, and in situ hybridisation to look at the localization of mRNA expression in zebrafish.

Current research

My current research covers the areas of :

• Thin filament regulation of muscle contraction and the effects of mutations causing genetically inherited heart disease (Familial Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathies).
• Actin cytoskeleton regulation using S. cerevisiae to investigate the roles of tropomyosin function and protein N-terminal acetylation in regulating and supporting the functioning of the cytoskeleton.
• The role of tropomyosin in development and adult function using zebrafish as a model organism (linked to cytoskeletal regulation, above).
• Functioning of key enzymes in the central metabolism of protist parasites such as Blastocystis and the evolution of nucleotide binding-site specificity.
• Analysis of mycosporine-like amino acids present in marine organisms derived from the shikimate pathway. These are thought to be natural sunscreen compounds, protecting marine organisms from UV light.