My research is focused in the elucidation of the 3D dimensional structures of membrane proteins using X-ray crystallography. My group is based at the state-of-the-art Membrane Protein Lab at Diamond Light Source. This facility allows us for the overexpression and rapid screening of targets suitable for crystallisation using a GFP-based system. The synchrotron itself provides an ideal location of screening and collecting X-ray data.

The proteins that I am interested in are from pathogenic bacteria that can confer resistance to current antibiotics. We believe that understanding the structure and mode of mechanish, will allow us to develop new treatments.

We have recently obtained the X-ray structure of a multi-drug resistant protein AcrB in collaboration with Diamond. This is a well studied protein resposnsible for a broad range of antibiotic resistant, detergents, dyes and small molecules. We have obtained the crystal structure with a novel substrate at 3.8A