We are happy to share our new paper on the mathematics of the how not-quite-regular artificial protein cages can form. Thanks to a great collaboration with Bernard Piette at University...
In our new work we showed that in certain conditions, mixing modified TRAP ring-shaped protein with small (1-3 nm) gold nanoparticles resulted in an unusual protein cage made from twelve...
Happy that our work showing that we can control the size of a bacteriophage protein "nanocontainer" is the featured image at Nature's Communications Materials. Thanks to artist Elfy Chiang for...
On the cover of ACS Nanoscience Au! Illustrating the concept of our DNA Topogami paper. Congrats to the whole team especially Gerrit Wilkens who was not only the first author...
In our recent paper in Communications Materials we showed that we could control the diameter of bacteriophage MS2 VLP by adding amino acids to an external loop sequence. We used...
In our new paper published in Science Advances, we showed that an artificial protein cage can carry a functional protein cargo and can be designed to disassemble "on command", freeing...
In new paper just published online we showed that by topologically linking together two DNA single-stranded scaffolds we could subsequently assemble two DNA origami shapes that were topologically linked together....
In a breakthrough piece of research, we have developed a tiny, hollow protein sphere, termed a “nanocage”, placed another protein inside it, and delivered both to cells. This uses our...
Bacterial species are under continuous warfare with each other for access to nutrients. To gain an advantage in this struggle, they produce antibacterial compounds that target and kill their competitors....
Our paper showing how DNA-mimcking proteins are able to interact with gyrase to give protection against anntibacterial drugs was just publisehd in NAR. Congratulations to Łukasz Mazurek, Dmitryh Ghilarov and...
We just deposited a nice paper on pentapeptide repeat proteins. The paper shows how these DNA-mimcking proteins are able to interact with gyrase to give protection against anntibacterial drugs. To...
The Heddle lab is excited to announce a new PhD position due to start from October 2020 or later. This is part of a new NCN "Maestro" grant to design...
The Heddle lab is pleased to announcea prestigous postdoctoral researcher position due to start after October 2020. This is part of an exciting new mulitdisciplinary project to make hybrid biological...
The Heddle lab is pleased to announce a new Specialist Technical positions due to start in October 2020 or alter. This is part of a new NCN "Maestro" grant to...
The Heddle lab is pleased to announce two new postdoctoral researcher positions due to start in October 2020. This is part of a new NCN "Maestro" grant to design and...
The Heddle lab is excited to announce two new PhD positions and one new Master's position due to start in October 2020. This is part of a new NCN "Maestro"...
Now recruiting a Master’s student for a fully funded position lasting for up to 2 years, working with Yusuke Azuma on his exciting project. The successful candidate will be involved...
Here in the Heddle lab we love protein cages. One of their great potential uses is the delivery of active enzymes which could be useful in industry and therapeutically. We've...
Artificial protein cages are exciting structures because they can be designed to carry cargoes such as therapeutics to treat disease. The outside of cages can also be modified so that...
There is still a lot we don't know about viruses, even well-characterised ones. We just published a paper identifying and characterising a new bacteriophage protein called Fis. Fis binds DNA...
All life on earth can trace its origins back to an ancestral cell population. But our lineage does not stop there. Even the very earliest cells were too complex to...
We currently have two openings to work with Yusuke Azuma on exciting protein engineering projects: One position is for an administrator/lab manager, a second is for a laboratory technician Download the...
Congratulations to the members of the lab (some shown above) who just had a nice new protein cage work accepted in Nano Letters "Three-Dimensional Protein Cage Array Capable of Active Enzyme...
It took a lot of work and a long time but our work on building an artificial protein cage using gold was finally published in Nature. The work shows that...
DNA aptamers are antibody-like sequences that are potentially very useful for modifying DNA origami nanomachines. Find out more in the Heddle lab's latest review
As part of The Malopolska region of Poland's Science night, the Heddle Lab enthusiastically took part and welcomed members of the public young and old to see what we are...
We recently organised and hosted an international Bionanoscience workshop with presenters coming from across Europe and Japan. The presentations were excellent and everyone came away fully inspired! See more details inluding...
April 2018 New paper published: “An aptamer-enabled DNA nanobox for protein sensing”. Workinng with the lab of Julian Tanner, we produced a hollow DNA box that could open and close in response to a molecule that is diagnostic for malaria. Thanks to the Tanner group who did most of the hard work! You can download the paper here
April 2018 We have a position available for an assistant professor! The successful candidate will join a large multidisciplinary team investigating both wet-lab and in-silico based synthetic structural biology (i.e. protein and DNA-based nanomachines) as well as biochemical and structural studies of DNA gyrase. The candidate will be given significant freedom in their research project. You can download application details here
March 2018 As part of our FNP-TEAM grant awarded to carry out ground-breaking research to design and build DNA origami – protein hybrid machines for use in constructing artificial cells we are recruiting a postdoctoral research scientist with experience in some or all of the following: Structural biology; protein biochemistry, liposomes/lipid biology, microfluidics. The position will start in June 2018 or as soon as possible thereafter and includes the chance to work with collaborators at the Max Planck insitute for Medical Research in Heidelberg. You can download application details here or via Euraxess.
March 2018 As part of our FNP-TEAM grant awarded to carry out ground-breaking research to design and build DNA origami – protein hybrid machines for use in constructing artificial cells we are recruiting a Technician Scientist. The position will start in June 2018 or as soon as possible thereafter and includes the chance to work with a variety of collaborators ain multidisciplinary topics. You can download application details here
January 2018 As part of our FNP-TEAM grant awarded to carry out ground-breaking research to design and build DNA origami – protein hybrid machines for use in constructing artificial cells we are recruiting a postdoctoral research scientist with experience in microfluidics. The position will start in April 2018 or as soon as possible thereafter and includes the chance to work with collaborators at the Max Planck insitute for Medical Research in Heidelberg.
November 2017 We have made an interesting contribution to the on-going research into how life go started. In our paper just published in Molecular Biology And Evolution we looked at the current systems of replication in existing cells and noted that they require both nucleic acids and proteins. We extrapolated back in time and asked it was possible that the initial self-replicator, ancestral to all life could also have been nucleic acid and protein (peptides). Given the right starting conditions and the right building blocks present it seems as if the answer is yes, it is possible though peering so far back in time inevitably raises more questions than answers. The work was done in close collaboration with our colleagues Bernard Piette and Ann Taormina at Durham University, UK and we hope it will be an interesting contribution to the continuing debate regarding the origins of life.
October 2017 We are happy to announce that we have published a book chapter entitled “TRAPped Structures: Making Artificial Cages with a Ring Protein”. Published in “Advances in Bioinspired and Biomedical Materials Volume 1” an ACS publication.
July 2017 As part of our FNP-TEAM grant awarded to carry out ground-breaking research to design and build DNA origami – protein hybrid machines for use in constructing artificial cells, we will be recruiting one masters student to start in September 2017. The research will be carried out in collaboration with the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research, Heidelberg, Germany. the student will receive a generous stipend. You can download application details for Masters student position. or via Euraxess. Closing dates has been extended to October 13th.!
August 2017 Soumya has been awarded a presitgious Homing Fellowship from FNP to carry out a new and exciting bionanoscience project entitled “A Programmable Modular, Molecular “Ball-and-Glove” with Potential for Drug Delivery”. As part of the project he will be funding a PhD to join the lab to work on the project You can download application details for the PhD position here Closing date is September 5th 2017. Congratulations Soumya!
July 2017 As part of our FNP-TEAM grant awarded to carry out ground-breaking research to design and build DNA origami – protein hybrid machines for use in constructing artificial cells, we will be recruiting one masters student to start in September 2017. The research will be carried out in collaboration with the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research, Heidelberg, Germany. the student will receive a generous stipend. You can download application details for Masters student position. or via Euraxess. Closing dates has been extended to October 13th.!
July 2017 As part of our FNP-TEAM grant awarded to carry out ground-breaking research to design and build DNA origami – protein hybrid machines for use in constructing artificial cells, we will be recruiting three postdoctoral scientists, two of which will begin in October 2017. The research will be carried out in collaboration with the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research, Heidelberg, Germany. All positions are fully (and generously) funded. You can download application details for the first Postdoctoral Fellow positon, and the second Postdoctoral Fellow positon, Closing date is September 1st 2017.
July 2017 As part of our FNP-TEAM grant awarded to carry out ground-breaking research to design and build DNA origami – protein hybrid machines for use in constructing artificial cells, we will be recruiting three postdoctoral scientists, two PhD students and one masters student. All to start in September 2017. The research will be carried out in collaboration with the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research, Heidelberg, Germany. All positions are fully (and generously) funded. You can download application details for Masters student position, the First PhD student position (DNA nanoscience), and the Second PhD student position (protein nanoscience). Closing dates are August 10th.
July 2017 One technician (part time) to research unusual gyrases funded by OPUS, is now available. The work is relevant to diseases such as malaria and toxoplasmosis and, it is hoped, will contribute to development of new treatments. This is a great opportunity to become part of an international group of researchers. Deadline: August 7th 2017
June 2017 We are pleased to announce that we have been awarded a prestigious FNP TEAM grant for a new DNA-origami based project where we hope to design and build DNA nanobots for novel uses including helping to build artificial cells. The research, carried out in collaboration with the group of Ilia Platzman at the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research aims to design and build functional systems built from DNA, which it is hoped, may have eventual applications in medicine and biotechnology. Thanks FNP!
June 2017 We have recently published a paper reviewing this topic in the Computational and Structural Biotechnology Journal. Playfully entitled “Resurrecting the Dead (Molecules)” the work explains how ancient molecules preserved in the environment can be recovered and analysed and how computational techniques can now be used to predict the identity of ancient molecules which can then be produced and tested. Read the paper here.
May 2017 More new positions! This time for making DNA nanorobots. More details can be found here
May 2017 We are now seeking postgraduate students and technical staff to join our expanding team working on biochemistry/structural biology projects related to our OPUS-funded DNA gyrase project. More details, icluding application documents, can be found here for the PhD studentship, here for the Masters studentship, and here for the technical position, Contact the Heddle lab for more information
May 2017 Yusuke Sakai has succeeded in being awarded a prestigious Polonez fellowship to design and build novel DNA robots with potnetiual therepeutic use. Congratulations Yusuke!
May 2017 We are now seeking a postdcotoral researcher in biochemistry/structural biology to work on our OPUS-funded DNA gyrase project. More details, icluding application documents, can be found here Contact the Heddle lab for more information
April 2017 Protein cages are cool, cryo-EM is cool. Now find out how cool they are together in a new review paper published by members of the Heddle lab in partnership with our collaborator Kenji Iwasaki (Osaka University). The work was published in Current Opinion in Structural Biology.
November 2016: We are proud to announce that the Heddle lab has been awarded OPUS funding from NCN to investigate our favourite naturally ocurring nanomachine – DNA gyrase, this time the unusual forms found in the apicoplast
August 2016: We did it! The Heddle Lab was awarded one of the largest and most prestigious grants in Poland to carry out research into engineering proteins with unusual structural features.
July 2016: Dmitry Ghilarov has joined the lab after winning a prestigious Polonez grant to carry out research on DNA gyrase and their interaction with pentapeptide repeat proteins. You can access Dmitry`s POLONEZ pages here
