Award details

Structural studies of enzymes important in Biocatalysis and drug design

Reference	BB/C511499/1
Principal Investigator / Supervisor	Professor Jennifer Littlechild
Co-Investigators / Co-Supervisors
Institution	University of Exeter
Department	Biosciences
Funding type	Research
Value (£)	58,766
Status	Completed
Type	Research Grant
Start date	01/12/2004
End date	30/11/2005
Duration	12 months

Abstract

The proposed research will be in the area of enzyme structure and mechanism and its application to the synthesis and development of new drug molecules. In this context it is improving the quality of life and the competitiveness of UK industries in agreement with Foresight. The work associated with this proposal will be carried out within the Exeter Biocatalysis Centre which is a recently built facility to accommodate the structural biology group with the aim to further research in the area of biocatalysis. The concept of this Centre is to build a multidisciplinary environment to bring together scientists from the Schools of Biological Chemical Sciences, Physics, Computing and Engineering and the newly established Peninsula Medical School. The University has contributed in excess of 650K pounds to the building of the Centre and is continuing to pump prime research projects and support key research personnel. This proposal is for equipment to improve the research effectiveness and output for in house X-ray data collection and protein crystallisation. The X-ray and data collection facilities available to the group previously funded by the BBSRC have been relocated into the new purpose built facilities. The projects underway include structure determination of an extensive collection of novel enzymes most of which have industrial application. This work has resulted in several cases of the first reported 3D structure for a particular class of enzyme and has helped to understand the enzymatic mechanisms and the evolutionary relationship between protein families. Many of the enzymes are from novel thermophilic organisms and as such are robust and highly stable for biotechnological applications. Another research programme is underway to study several human enzymes associated with oxidative stress and human disease. There are a collection of new projects developing together with other BBSRC funded research personnel in the department of Biological Sciences at Exeter. These are concerned with the structural determination of enzymes in a novel plant pathway involved in Vitamin C synthesis and enzymes involved in plant fungal infection. Other projects are being undertaken from Nottingham Medical School (Lysostaphin) and Universities in the region including Aberystwyth (parasitic glutathione transferases) and Plymouth (Na+-pumping NADH:Q oxidoreductases). The Exeter group is part of the CCP4 supported South West Structural Biology consortium established in 2002 with its first meeting in Exeter.

Summary

unavailable

Committee	Closed Committee - Biomolecular Sciences (BMS)
Research Topics	X – not assigned to a current Research Topic
Research Priority	X – Research Priority information not available
Research Initiative	Research Equipment Initiative 2004 (RE4) [2004]
Funding Scheme	X – not Funded via a specific Funding Scheme

I accept the terms and conditions of use (opens in new window)

export PDF file

back to list new search