Dr Alessandro Pandini from the Department of Computer Science has received an award from the Leverhulme Trust for his project entitled 'An integrated computational-experimental method to redesign protein dynamics'.
Dr Pandini is the Principal Investigator on the project will run until September 2020, and also involves Dr James Garnett from Queen Mary University of London. The project aims to develop and apply a novel approach to design protein dynamics based on cycles of computer predictions and experiments in the lab. The outcome of this project will be the first-ever strategy to make targeted changes to a protein function by redesigning how it moves and changes shape. Using a unique combination of computational and experimental techniques, it will be possible to redesign the function of a protein in a few months. This will for example provide fine-tuned control of enzymatic catalysis.
More information about the project and Dr Pandini's research more generally can be found at: http://pandinilab.org/