Research Exploring the ‘Hidden World’ of Proteins Awarded Major BBSRC Frontier Research Grant
Research Exploring the ‘Hidden World’ of Proteins Awarded Major BBSRC Frontier Research Grant
A Kavli scientist will lead a project to harness three ground-breaking technologies developed by Oxford researchers – to analyse individual proteins and decipher the complexity of bacterial communication.
The project, which has just been awarded £5.5m by the BBSRC, is due to begin this year and continue for five years. Involving a multidisciplinary team, it will be led by Professor Justin Benesch, who is based in Oxford University’s Kavli Institute for Nanoscience Discovery and Department of Chemistry. He will work with Kavli colleague Philipp Kukura and others from Oxford’s Department of Chemistry (Dirk Aarts,Hagan Bayley,Madhavi Krishnan, and Yujia Qing), Computer Science (Yarin Gal) and Zoology (Kevin Foster). They will collaborate with researchers at the University of Liverpool’s Centre for Proteome Research (Claire Eyers) and the Wellcome Sanger Institute (Sarah Teichmann).
The team aims to develop and apply a novel approach for identifying proteins and their common modifications. Seemingly subtle protein modifications, such as phosphorylation, can drastically alter a protein’s function. However, these modifications are difficult to detect with existing technology – meaning they remain largely hidden. The new approach will help scientists understand how proteins function in health and disease.
The team’s approach leverages three technologies developed by members of the team: nanopore, electrometry and mass photometry. These technologies are already used individually to extract different types of valuable information about biomolecules, including their mass and electric charge.
The team will apply their approach to study the role of phosphorylation in individual bacteria – where the most common forms of phosphorylation tend to be more unstable and difficult to detect with existing methods. This work will enable improved understanding of microbial life, helping better combat infection and antimicrobial resistance.
The project was awarded a Strategic Longer and Larger (sLoLa) grant by the BBSRC. The sLoLa programme is designed to support frontier research that will address significant fundamental bioscience questions and improve our understanding of the fundamental ‘rules of life’. This project was one of just fourchosen for funding.
Since April 2021, Oxford University's KAVLI Institute for Nanoscience Discovery is proudly serving as a hub for research groups from seven different departments spanning both the medical and physical sciences, including Professor Justin Benesch's Group from the Department of Chemistry.
