Protein Structure & Regulation  

Our research aim is to answer fundamental questions related to the structure and function of proteins involved in important biochemical processes.

Staff

Publications

Postgraduate research students

Our research aim is to answer fundamental questions related to the structure and function of proteins involved in important biochemical processes. Major topics on this theme include:

  • how membrane proteins form structure during biogenesis
  • how proteins are trafficked to and from the cell membrane in response to insulin stimulation
  • how protein folding is influenced by redox phenomena
  • how protein homeostasis is regulated by ubiquitin

There is a strong emphasis on the determination of protein structures using X-ray crystallography, NMR and cryo-EM. Targets of these studies include photosynthetic light harvesting complexes, plant photoreceptors and large multimeric complexes involved in RNA and DNA metabolism. These structural studies are complemented by function studies aimed at elucidating molecular mechanisms of action. Our work is supported by expertise from the Structural Biology and Biophysical Characterisation Facility and the Scottish Centre for Macromolecular Imaging. Multi-omic systems approaches, including next-generation sequencing are provided through Glasgow Polyomics.

Examples of some of the structures that we have determined are illustrated below: