KFG research groups
KFG research groups
Prof. Mick Tuite
Dr. Campbell Gourlay
Dr.Tobias von der Haar
Dr. Alessia Buscaino
Dr. Wei-Feng Xue
Dr. Jennifer Tullet
Dr. Dan Mulvihill
Lab members
I joined the school of Biosciences in 2005. My lab studies the mechanism of mRNA translation, and how this is used as a control point for regulating gene expression. One of our main aims is to go away from the classical depiction of translation as a process that happens when one ribosome meets an mRNA, and instead to study it as a process resulting from 200,000 ribosomes acting on 15,000 mRNAs, as is the case in a typical baker’s yeast cell. We use wet lab experiments, data mining and computer models to study how the complex decoding system squares the opposing demands of efficiency and accuracy.
Research Career
2012-present Senior Lecturer in Systems Biology, University of Kent
2009-2012 Lecturer in Systems Biology, University of Kent
2005-2009 Wellcome Trust RCD Fellow, University of Kent
2004-2005 Postdoctoral worker, University of Kent
1998-2004 Postdoctoral Worker, UMIST, Manchester
Contact: T.von-der-Haar@kent.ac.uk
Visit Tobias' lab pages
Eleanna Kazana - Post Doc
Education and Employment
2014 - present, University of Kent, Postdoctoral Research Associate
Research Project
Tarun Singh - PhD student
Education
2008 - 2011, Jaipur National University, BSc in Microbial Technology
2011 - 2012, University of Kent, MSc in Microbiology
2012 - present, University of Kent, PhD student
Research Project
The relationship between codon usage, protein expression levels, and selective pressure.The foundation of our study is the ability to qualitatively measure changes in selective pressure resulting from different codon usage. It has been predicted by Dr. Tobias von der Haar that negative selective pressure generated by optimal codons can be overcome if high expression of the encoded protein itself is under positive selective pressure. In order to test this idea directly we will generate variants for the yeast HIS3 gene. It will be explored how different combinations of positively and negatively selective elements effect net selective pressure.
Ronan Egan - PhD student
Education
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2012-2015: The University of Northampton, BSc. (Hons) in Biochemistry
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2015-2019: The University of Kent, PhD. Synthetic Biology
Research Project
Developing oxygen-sensitive protein expression systems based on adaptive tools of anaerobic protozoa.
Iron-sulfur (FeS) clusters are essential co-factors for roughly 250 eukaryotic proteins. Despite this Fe-S centres are notoriously sensitive to oxidants (including molecular oxygen) severely limiting both their study and use in biotechnological applications. However, anaerobic protozoa have evolved tools to overcome these barriers. Together with the Tsaousis Laboratory of Molecular Parasitology, the Centre for Molecular Processing and the School of Chemistry at UEA. I am currently utilising these adaptations in order to develop strategies to heterologously express FeS proteins in the model eukaryote Saccharomyces cerevisiae.
Chloe Pain - MSc-R student