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. 

 
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Paper published: creating new antibiotics from our own immune system
Paper published: creating new antibiotics from our own immune system

New antibiotics are desperately needed: without them antimicrobial resistance is predicted to kill more people than cancer. An international collaboration between scientists at the London Centre for Nanotechnology (LCN), University of Oxford, IBM, STFC Daresbury Laboratory and the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) has shown that our own bodies may provide an answer.

Kavit Main has joined the group to carry out his MSc research project
Kavit Main has joined the group to carry out his MSc research project

Kavit Main has joined the group to carry out a research project for his MSc in Cancer at the UCL Cancer Institute. His project aims to use Atomic Force Microscopy to gain single-molecule insights into supercoiled DNA-topoisomerase interactions.

Aside from academia, Kavit practises Nasta’liq and Devanagari calligraphy, Mughal miniature painting and enjoys Urdu poetry and hiking. 

Mimicking viruses from inside out using DNA origami
Mimicking viruses from inside out using DNA origami

The cover of the current issue of ACS Synthetic Biology highlights the our collaborative research project with UCL Chemistry and the National Physical Laboratory to engineer a programmable inside-out “virus”. This everted “virus” is designed to deliver functional proteins into live cells.

Novel antimicrobials

De-novo designed antimicrobial peptides attack an E. coli bacterium, removing the outer membrane leading to rapid cell death. 

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DNA minicircles  

DNA minicircles, a new model system to study quadruplex formation and stabilisation under the constraints akin to that of cellular DNA.

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