As befits a department named 'Cell and Molecular Biology', we are a wide range of experts. Below are brief descriptions of the activities of our research programmes. The respective home pages offer detailed stories. We are interested in how the structure of large biological molecules is related to their function. To study this relationship, we use mostly X-ray crystallography, an area where we are also involved in developing new methods.
Protein synthesis is an extremely complex process, which lies at at the core of all living cells.
The last two items on our list lead directly on to the development of new antibiotics. Integrins are cell receptors important during muscle formation. We are working with one class of receptors, a7b1 integrin . Using molecular methods we study the expression and regulation of this receptor in the cell during the early stages of muscle formation. We have also established that the laminin a5 chain is up-regulated in human muscular dysostrophy.