Engineering Biology: Molecules to Organisms

This project seeks to engineer ubiquitin ligases, such that they recognise proteins from pathogenic fungi as their substrates. By ubiquitinylating the fungal proteins, we will target them for degradation, and thus protect the plant from infection. We will pursue different strategies to achieve this goal. The student will become expert in protein structure analysis and engineering, along with in vitro biochemical assays as they test their designs. The student will also develop quantitative models to enable them to specify the requirements for their designs to function, as desired, in planta. This project represents an ideal opportunity for a student with a background in biochemistry or biophysics to apply those skills to an exciting challenge, which has the potential to be applied in a real-world situation.

By developing proteins that mediate the destruction of plant pathogens, we have the potential to use gene editing to create pathogen-resistant strains. This represents a more sustainable strategy for fungal pathogen control than reliance on petrochemically derived fungicides.

https://regan.bio.ed.ac.uk/

https://www.ed.ac.uk/profile/beatrizorosa

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