Our research is focussed upon fundamental cellular processes that underpin normal cellular homeostasis and are perturbed in specific diseases. Our research questions aim to understand the biophysics of cells during development, the role of nutrition and epigenetics in developmental plasticity and determine the mechanisms by which chromosomes are segregated during cell division.
We also exploit the DNA repair capacity of parasites to aid their eradication and determine the fundamental basis of cellular aging and memory. We have expertise using a wide range of model systems including human cells, drosophila, bees, trypanosomes and yeast and interact with a number of industrial partners including Exscientia™, Carl Zeiss™, MSD™, Sosei Heptares™, Abcam™, Imsol™, SunRegen™ and Singer Instruments™.
Our research focuses on the chloroplasts of plants, algae and diatoms, their free-living relatives the cyanobacteria, and other prokaryotes. We explore the regulation of photosynthetic light-harvesting and electron transport, light perception and responses and prokaryotic cell biology and physiology. We aim to understand the dynamic processes occurring in bacteria and in eukaryotic organelles using approaches ranging from molecular dynamics simulations to imaging by fluorescence microscopy and electron microscopy, combined with spectroscopy, biochemistry and molecular genetics. We have links with industrial concerns including Opti-Sciences Inc and Heinz Walz GmbH.
Movement of cells of the cyanobacterium Synechocystis 6803 in response to light.
Research Interests
Bioinformatics, Proteomics, Metabolomics, Software development, Data integration
Video Microscopy, Cell division, Cancer Biology, Aneuploidy, Human cell biology
Lecturer in Cell Biology
Subramanian, Dr Lakxmi
Centromeres, Chromatin, Chromosome segregation, Kinetochores, Yeast genetics
Thorpe, Dr Peter
Yeast genetics, Genomics, Chromosome segregation, Kinetochores
Our research receives financial support from:
N. Ojkic, D. Serbanescu, S. Banerjee: “Antibiotic resistance via bacterial cell shape-shifting”, mBio, 13 (3), e00659-22 (2022)
G. Benn, I. Mikheyeva, P. Inns, J. Forster, N Ojkic, C. Bortolini, M. Ryadnov, C. Kleanthous, T. Silhavy, B. Hoogenboom, “Phase separation in the outer membrane of Escherichia coli”, PNAS, 118, 44 (2021)
S. Banerjee, K. Lo, N. Ojkic, R. Stephens, N. F. Scherer, A. R. Dinner, “Mechanical feedback promotes bacterial adaptation to antibiotics”, Nature Phys, 17, 403-409 (2021)
Schorsch M, Kramer K, Goss T, Eisenhut M, Robinson N, Osman D, Wilde A, Sadaf S, Brückler H, Walder L, Scheibe R, Hase T, Hanke G (2018) A unique ferredoxin acts as a novel player in the low iron response of photosynthetic organisms. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA.
Francis D, Chanana B, Fernandez B, Gordon B, Mak T, Palacios IM (2018). YAP/Yorkie in the germline modulates the age-related decline of germline stem cells and niche cells. PLoS One
Wojciechowski M, Lowe R, Maleszka J, Conn D, Maleszka R, Hurd J (2018). Phenotypically distinct female castes in honey bees are defined by alternative chromatin states during larval development. Genome Research
Balevičius V, Fox K, Bricker W, Jurinovich S, Prandi I, Mennucci B, Duffy C (2017). Fine control of chlorophyll-carotenoid interactions defines the functionality of light-harvesting proteins in plants. Scientific Reports
Sacharz J, Giovagnetti V, Ungerer P, Mastrioanni G, Ruban A (2017). The xanthophyll cycle affects reversible PsbS-LHCII interactions to control non-photochemical quenching. Nature Plants
Schlissel G, Krzyzanowski M, Caudron F, Barral Y, Rine J (2017). Aggregation of the Whi3 protein, not loss of heterochromatin, causes sterility in old yeast cells. Science
Drechsler M, Giavazzi F, Cerbino R, Palacios I (2017). Active diffusion and advection in Drosophila oocytes result from the interplay of actin and microtubules. Nature Communications
Shrestha R, Conti D, Tamura N, Braun D, Ramalingam R, Cieslinski K, Ries J, Draviam V (2017). Aurora-B kinase pathway controls the lateral to end-on conversion of kinetochore-microtubule attachments in human cells. Nature Communications
Engl C, Schaefer J, Kotta-Loizou I, Buck M (2016). Cellular and molecular phenotypes depending upon the RNA repair system RtcAB in Escherichia coli. Nucleic Acids Research
Schuergers N, Lenn T, Kampmann R, Meissner M, Esteves T, Temerinac-Ott M, Korvink J, Lowe A, Mullineaux C, Wilde A (2016). Cyanobacteria use micro-optics to sense light direction. eLife
Chmeliov J, Gelzinis A, Songaila E, Augulis R, Duffy C, Ruban A, Valkunas L (2016). The nature of self-regulation in photosynthetic light-harvesting antenna. Nature Plants
Berry L, Ólafsson G, Ledesma-Fernández E, Thorpe P (2016). Synthetic protein interactions reveal a functional map of the cell. eLife
Subramanian L, Medina-Pritchard B, Barton R, Spiller F, Kulasegaran‐Shylini R, Radaviciute G, Allshire R, Jeyaprakash A (2016). Centromere localization and function of Mis18 requires Yippee‐like domain‐mediated oligomerization. EMBO Reports
Aksentijević D, McAndrew D, Karlstädt A, Zervou S, Sebag-Montefiore L, Cross R, Douglas G, Regitz-Zagrosek V, Lopaschuk G, Neubauer S, Lygatea C (2014). Cardiac dysfunction and peri-weaning mortality in malonyl-coenzyme A decarboxylase (MCD) knockout mice as a consequence of restricting substrate plasticity. Journal of Molecular and Cellular Cardiology