Research
My research interests revolve around:
1. the expression of recombinant enzymes in Escherichia coli and their biochemical and structural characterisation
2. proteome analysis of bacteria
3. the analysis of recombinant protein heterogeneity
Specifically I am interested in polysaccharide lyases, such as hyaluronate
lyases and pectate lyases; glycoside hydrolases; glycosyl transferases;
nitrile hydratases, nitrilases and amidases; ribulose monophosphate pathway
enzymes and cytochrome P450s. Proteomic analysis is focussed mainly on the
human and horse pathogens Streptococcus pyogenes and
Bacteroides fragilis, and Streptococcus equi,
respectively. I am also interested in understanding the heterogeneity of
recombinant proteins expressed in E. coli.
My research group currently is composed of one Postdoctoral Associate and seven PhD students:
- Dr Meng Zhang (Research Associate)
- Mr Andrew Porter (Project: Reproducibility of label-free quantitative proteomic analyses of complex mixtures)
- Miss Maria Bawn (Project: Development of sequence/function divergent ranges of biomass converting enzymes)
- Mrs Felicia Ikolo (Project: Characterisation of the PrtM maturase of Streptococcus equi)
- Miss Claire Jennings (Project: Recombinant protein glycation in Escherichia coli)
- Miss Alexis Lindner (Project: Selective oxygenation to produce chiral synthons using self-sufficient cytochrome P450s)
- Miss Vatsala Malik (Project: Glycosyltransferases for the synthesis of sterol glycosides)
-
Mr Bill Sheldon (Project: The molecular and structural analysis of a
N-acetyl-beta-D-glucosaminidase from Streptococcus
pyogenes)
These projects are funded by a variety of sources including EPSRC, KTP, Centre of Excellence for Life Sciences, NPIL Pharmaceuticals, Onyx Scientific, Prozomix, Nonlinear Dynamics and Northumbria University.
Successfully supervised PhD students:
- Lakshmy Manickan (2010)
- Stephen Reed (2010)
- Mandy Lyall (2008)
- Anna Lindsay (2007)
- Meng Zhang (2007)
- Zainab Elmabrouk (2006)
- Nicola Smith (2004)
- Kirsti Morris (2004)
- Ian Brown (2002)
- Edward Taylor (2001)
-
Mathew Casimiro (1998)
External Funding
| Year | Title | Awarding Body | Additional Information |
| 2010 | 'Understanding the biocatalytic processing of geographically diverse lignocellulosic materials’ | EPSRC and Prozomix | £89,117 |
| 2010 | ‘Biotransformation of amino acids to alcohols’ | KTP and Hycagen Ltd. | £28,680 |
| 2009 | ‘Reproducibility of label-free quantitative proteomic analyses of complex mixtures’ | EPSRC and Nonlinear Dynamics Ltd. | £87,059 |
| 2008 |
‘Development of sequence/function divergent ranges of biomass
converting enzymes’ |
EPSRC and Prozomix | £85,052 |
| 2008 | ‘Biocatalysis Starter Packs’ | Bioscience for Business | £12,000 |
| 2007 |
‘Selective oxygenation to produce chiral synthons using
self-sufficient cytochrome P450s’ |
EPSRC and NPIL Pharmaceuticals | £83,298 |
| 2007 |
‘Glycosyltransferases for the synthesis of sterol
glycosides’ |
Onyx Scientific | £24,000 |
| 2006 |
'The analysis of post-translationally modified recombinant
biopharmaceuticals using mass spectrometry’ |
Centre of Excellence for Life Sciences | £24,000 |
| 2005 | ‘Biotransformation of nitriles' | NStar Proof of Concept Fund | £86,350 |
| 2005 | 'Mass spectrometry ion spectra’ | Biosystems Informatics Institute | £30,000 |
| 2003 |
‘Investigating trans beta-eliminative cleavage of the
glycosidic bond’ |
The Leverhulme Trust | £55,139 |
| 2002 | ‘Structural and biochemical investigation of polysaccharide degrading enzymes from clinically relevant pathogenic bacteria’ | Universities UK | £14,040 |
| 2001 |
‘Characterisation of the catalytic mechanism of a pectate lyase
for the development of mechanism-based inhibitors to control
soft rot disease’ |
Yorkshire Agricultural Society | £5,000 |
| 2000 |
'Molecular and phenotypic differentiation, and antibiotic
synergy testing, of the genomovars of Burkholderia
cepacia' |
Freeman Hospital | £15,000 |
| 2000 |
'Biochemical and structural analysis of carbohydrate-binding
modules (CBMs) and glycoside hydrolases (GHs) and lyases
(GLs)' |
Newcastle & York Universities | £11,070 |
| 1999 |
'Microbial remediation for treatment of organic and metal
cyanides' |
Northumbrian Water Environmental Trust Fund | £150,000 |
| 1998 | 'The optimisation of microbial enzymes for biotransformations' | British Council/Spanish Ministry of Education and Culture Collaborative Research Project | £4,000 |
Collaborations
I have developed internal collaborations with Dr Justin Perry and Prof. Iain Sutcliffe and Dr Lynn Dover and several external collaborations including Dr Edward Taylor of the University of York; Dr Andrew Waller of the Animal Health Trust, Newmarket; Dr Tony Flinn of Onyx Scientific Sunderland; Dr Chris Reeve of NPIL Pharmaceuticals, Billingham; Dr Simon Charnock of Prozomix, Haltwhistle; Paddy Lavery of Nonlinear Dynamics, Newcastle; Dr Ken Cook of Dionex; Dr Achim Treumann of NEPAF, Newcastle and Dr Steve Taylor of Hycagen Ltd, Cambridge.
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