Applying next generation structural biology methods to bacterial vaccine production (Ref: 3974)

这个项目将提供一个令人兴奋的机会来学习即将到来的结构生物学方法，并将这些方法应用到禽类疫苗项目中。该项目的主要方法学重点将是微电子衍射(Micro-ED)，这是一种确定蛋白质结构的方法，将在未来五年成为主流方法。来自该博士的培训将使学生在项目结束时对工业和学术职位具有很强的竞争力。该项目将允许学生学习准备样本、收集数据并利用这些数据确定蛋白质结构的方法，以及理解实验数据的补充实验和计算方法。该项目将确定伯氏柯克斯体的蛋白质结构，这是一种人类病原体，也会在世界范围内造成牛的经济损失。Harmer小组是一个财团的一部分，该财团旨在开发一种基于多糖基的疫苗来对抗伯氏梭菌。我们正在确定重要的多糖生物合成蛋白的结构，以帮助生产重组疫苗。该项目将对这一方案作出贡献，并提供与财团其他成员合作的机会。还将使用建模技术来询问结构，以确定是否有任何蛋白质可能作为药物靶标。

This project will offer an exciting opportunity to learn upcoming structural biology methods, and to apply these to avaccinology project. The key methodological focus of the project will be micro electron diffraction (micro-ED), amethod of determining protein structures that will become a mainstream method over the next five years. The trainingfrom this PhD will make the student very competitive for industry and academic positions at the end of the project.The project will allow the student to learn methods for preparing samples, collecting data, and using this data todetermine protein structures, as well as complementary experimental and computational methods for understandingthe experimental data.The project will determine the structure of proteins from Coxiella burnetii, a human pathogen that also causeseconomic losses in cattle worldwide. The Harmer group are part of a consortium aiming to develop a polysaccharidebased vaccine against C. burnetii. We are determining the structures of important polysaccharide biosynthesis proteinsto aid the production of a recombinant vaccine. This project will contribute to this programme and offer opportunitiesto work with others in the consortium. Structures will also be interrogated using modelling techniques to determinewhether any proteins might act as drug targets.