Heddle Lab News Archive

A place to find out the latest developments from the generator of the white heat of scientific research that is the Heddle Lab

16 Apr/2022

New paper on mathematics of protein assembly

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...
10 Mar/2022

New work uses artificial protein cage to arrange gold nanoparticles in 3D pattern

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...
2 Mar/2022

Work on programmable phage capsids makes a featured image

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...
16 Feb/2022

DNA Topogami work makes the journal cover

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...
11 Feb/2022

New paper published: controlling the size of a virus-like particle

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...
13 Jan/2022

Our Protein Cage features on pdb calendar

TRAP-cage is featured for December in the 2022 calendar from pdb . To see the original paper go here.
6 Jan/2022

New Paper Published: A Programmable, artificial protein cage carrying functional cargo

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...
14 Nov/2021

Heddle lab demonstrates DNA Topogami, a new kind of DNA origami

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....
15 Sep/2021

Artificial protein nanocages deliver into cells in latest Biomacromolecules publication

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...
1 Sep/2021

Latest article on the cover of Science Advances!

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....
6 Jan/2021

NAR paper on gyrase published!

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...
24 Sep/2020

BioRrxiv preprint published on pentapeptide protein mechanism of action on gyrase!

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...
1 Sep/2020

PhD position available!

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...
1 Sep/2020

Postdoctoral Researcher positions available!

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...
1 Aug/2020

Specialist Technical Position Available!

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...
1 Aug/2020

Postdoctoral Researcher positions available!

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...
1 Jun/2020

PhD and Master’s positions available!

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"...
15 May/2020

Masters student position available

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...
2 May/2020

Protein cages for encapsulating enzymes review published!

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...
1 May/2020

Connecting artificial protein cages

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...
11 Apr/2020

A bacteriophage mimic of the bacterial nucleoid-associated protein Fis just published

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...
16 Mar/2020

Origin of Life Opinion Published!

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...
6 Feb/2020

New job opportunities in protein engineering!

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...
15 Jul/2019

New protein cage job opportunities!

Congrats to Yusuke Azuma who got Sonata research funding. He now has a postdoctoral researcher position available!
13 May/2019

New protein cage work in Nano Letters!

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...
2 May/2019

Heddle Lab publishes in Nature!

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...
15 Nov/2018

New DNA origami review

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
15 Oct/2018

Heddle Lab takes part in Science Night 2018

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...
10 Sep/2018

Heddle Lab sucessfully hosts Bionano 2018

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...