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A structural bioinformatics group has also been established, with research interests in the analysis and prediction of protein/protein and protein/nucleic acid interactions; prediction of structural features that correlate with protein instability; analysis of small-molecule/macro-molecule interactions and their specificity.
The group is equipped for all aspects of protein structure determination with three X-ray crystallography data collection systems and facilities for robotic crystallization and in situ X-ray analysis of crystals; NMR spectroscopy (700, 500 and 400 MHz, including solid-state analysis); analytical ultracentrifugation; isothermal titration calorimetry; CD and fluorescence spectroscopy with stopped-flow facilities; dynamic light scattering; surface plasmon resonance (Biacore) analysis.
Structural Biology
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DESCRIPTION
The work of the Structural Biology Group centres on the determination of protein structures by X-ray crystallography and NMR, supported by other biophysical techniques and computer-aided molecular modelling. Current research interests include studies of the antibodies and their receptor interactions that mediate allergy and asthma and the self-reactive auto-antibodies produced in rheumatoid arthritis; enzymes responsible for bacterial resistance to antibiotics; protein/RNA complexes involved in RNA metabolism and initiation of translation; transcription factors that bind to DNA and regulate gene expression; enzyme complexes that recognise and repair damaged DNA; proteins involved in the polyglutamine expansion diseases and other neurodegenerative disorders; structure-function studies of oxygenases and the neuronal calcium sensor DREAM; structural studies of protein:protein interactions in muscle biophysics relevant to cardiovascular disease.A structural bioinformatics group has also been established, with research interests in the analysis and prediction of protein/protein and protein/nucleic acid interactions; prediction of structural features that correlate with protein instability; analysis of small-molecule/macro-molecule interactions and their specificity.
The group is equipped for all aspects of protein structure determination with three X-ray crystallography data collection systems and facilities for robotic crystallization and in situ X-ray analysis of crystals; NMR spectroscopy (700, 500 and 400 MHz, including solid-state analysis); analytical ultracentrifugation; isothermal titration calorimetry; CD and fluorescence spectroscopy with stopped-flow facilities; dynamic light scattering; surface plasmon resonance (Biacore) analysis.
Associated research programmes
Associated staff research interests
Interests:
Biophysics; Allergy; Asthma; IgE structure and function; Fluorescent Biosensors.
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Interests:
Research interests: Structure of IgE and its receptors; molecular mechanisms of allergy; inhibitor design; antibody structure in allergy and auto-immune disease; antibiotic resistance enzymes; enzyme mechanism and protein engineering. Research techniques: X-ray crystallography, NMR and other biophysical techniques. Member of the MRC & Asthma UK Centre in Allergic Mechanisms of Asthma; leader of Centre Programme in IgE Structure, Function and Regulation. Head of Structural Biology, Randall Division of Cell and Molecular Biophysics.
Tel:
020 7848 6423
Fax:
020 7848 6410
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Our goal is to understand the molecular basis of key biological processes in medicine.
A molecular level understanding requires structural knowledge, in the first place. However, knowledge of structure is not sufficient either. Structures provide a static description, while biomolecular systems are not static. Protein interactions are often transient and they occur on a dynamic scale: proteins and nucleic acids constantly move, adapt themselves to different conditions, and assume different forms depending on their partners. The observed static structures simply represent one, most probable, conformation observed at the particular experimental conditions, among many, otherwise accessible.
We use computational biology to analyse and to simulate biomolecules in conditions often not accessible to experiments. We work in strict contact to experimentalists to verify their results and to challenge new experiments.
Tel:
020 7848 6843
Fax:
020 7848 6435
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Tel:
020 7848 6442
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Tel:
020 7848 6970
Fax:
020 7848 6435
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Tel:
020 7848 6434
Fax:
020 7848 6435
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Interests:
Investigation into the structure and function of DNA-binding proteins using X-ray crystallography and High field NMR; My research group is also involved in structural studies of viral proteins and their complex with anti-viral proteins. We solved the structure of the key protein involved in Herpes treatment namely the thymidine kinase and have studied the complexes of this target with all the clinically administered anti-herpetic drugs. Recently we have solved the structuresof complexes of quinolones with the target protein-DNA complex, namely S. pneumoniae topisomerase IV with a DNA covalently linked complex.
Tel:
020 7848 6403
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Interests:
Structure-function studies of oxygenases and the neuronal calcium sensor DREAM.
Tel:
020 7848 8216
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Interests:
Structural Biology; Biomolecular NMR spectroscopy; protein-RNA interactions; RNA biology; protein-protein interactions; cell signalling
Tel:
020 7848 6194
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My interest is in a family of inherited neurodegenerative diseases relating to polyglutamine (polyQ) expansion. The main objectives of my research programme are to obtain structural knowledge of these disease proteins, as well as understanding the cytotoxicity of polyQ expansion and how it can be counteracted. The study of inhibition of aggregation holds big promises in discovering treatments for this disease family as well as for other neurodegenerative disorders involving protein misfolding. A diverse range of complementary structural techniques are used to tackle this problem: e.g. X-ray crystallography, biophysical methods and computational molecular modeling and simulation.
Tel:
020 7848 8206
Fax:
020 7848 6435
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CONTACTS FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
Professor Brian Sutton, Dr Baljinder Mankoo
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