Research Interests

Research areas in which we have recently published work include: (1) simulation of diffusion and association of proteins in highly concentrated solutions (such as those that are found inside living cells), (2) simulation of amino acid associations at the very high temperatures encountered by hyperthermophilic organisms, (3) computational prediction of drug-receptor interactions, with a view to identifying all cellular targets of current anti-cancer drugs, and (4) computational prediction of functionally important residues in proteins given only the protein?s structure. Other research areas that we have recently developed interests in include: (1) computational identification of cryptic binding sites in proteins that might be used to develop novel inhibitors, (2) molecular simulations of protein folding in physiological conditions (including the effects of chaperonins), (3) modeling the role of conformational flexibility in protein-protein association events, and (4) experimentally measuring the affinities of drug-receptor interactions to provide reliable data for testing our computational methods.

Students in my laboratory come from a wide range of backgrounds, and do not have to be experts in the use of computers: most of our work involves developing ideas in our heads, and computer simulations are typically only used to test these ideas. To complement our simulation work, we will in the near future also be increasingly conducting our own experiments: students joining my laboratory will therefore have the opportunity to undertake combined theoretical & experimental research projects.