Increasing our understanding of biomolecular interactions through high resolution Atomic Force Microscopy
My research interests lie in understanding how variations in DNA structure can affect fundamental biological processes such as replication and transcription. To that end I am motivated by determining biomolecular mechanisms of action, with a long-term view to improved development of therapeutics. My scientific achievements include the first observation of single-molecule variations in the Watson-Crick double-helix structure. I have been awarded both MRC and EPSRC fellowships to investigate the effect of DNA structure and topology on DNA-protein binding interactions. This work aims to improve our understanding of anti-cancer and antibacterial therapeutics and their targets towards an improved drug discovery pipeline.
Novel antimicrobials
De-novo designed antimicrobial peptides attack an E. coli bacterium, removing the outer membrane leading to rapid cell death.
DNA minicircles
DNA minicircles, a new model system to study quadruplex formation and stabilisation under the constraints akin to that of cellular DNA.
