Metabolic Engineering

We study carbohydrate and protein functions using organic synthesis and protein engineering. We aim to design and modify therapeutic and biotechnological systems, uncover biological mechanisms, and develop new tools for synthetic and chemical biology.

We use ecology and evolution to understand and engineer microbial communities, including the human microbiome.

We study biomolecular systems, focusing on antibacterial resistance and oxygenase regulation. We specialize in iron and zinc-dependent metallo-enzymes, contributing to antibiotic research and gene regulation.

We investigate protein-linked oligosaccharides through the development of techniques that span protein engineering, chemical biology and mass spectrometry. Our goal is to pin-point glycan structures responsible for discrete biological disease processes..

We investigate the behaviour of the metabolic systems of plants in order to devise metabolic engineering strategies that will improve the productivity and quality of crop plants. We use both computational and experimental approaches to achieve this.

We investigate the signalling mechanisms that link oxygen availability to plant growth and development, to understand adaptations to oxygen fluctuations throughout evolution and to design novel biotechnological strategies.