SIF 3rd Cohort Fellows - Charles Burridge, The University of Gothenburg
Curriculum Vitae
- Education
2022: PhD in Structural Biology, UCL (United Kingdom)
2016: MSci in Biochemistry, UCL (United Kingdom)
- Experience
January 2022- September 2023: Postdoc at Gothenburg University, Department of Chemistry and Molecular Biology, (Sweden) - Structure and dynamics of transcription macromolecular machinery by NMR.
September-December 2021: Research scientist UCL, Institute of Ophthalmology (UK) - Structural investigation of the human vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF).
September 2016-September 2021: Doctoral student UCL, Department of Structural and Molecular Biology (UK) - The Dynamics of Folded Nascent Chains Studied with NMR Spectroscopy.
- Social media presence/Research achievements
Research Project
Structure, dynamics, and interactions of human mitochondrial RNA polymerase
Almost all the energy our cells need to survive is produced by mitochondria, the cell’s powerhouses. Mitochondria have a separate genome (mtDNA) encoding vital proteins required for producing energy through mitochondrial respiration. To synthesise these proteins, this mitochondrial genome must first be encoded as mRNA in the process of transcription. To meet the metabolic requirements of the cell, this process must be tightly regulated, and dysregulation is present in several human diseases.
In humans, mitochondrial transcription is carried out by a large molecular machine, the mitochondrial RNA polymerase (mtRNAP). Recent studies have provided rich structural details of the mechanism of transcription, but there are major outstanding questions on how transcription is regulated.
This project will initiate NMR spectroscopy studies on mtRNAP to provide an atomic level understanding its structure and dynamics. These measurements will be complemented with the integration of other techniques to help to address key questions on the regulation of mtDNA expression in human mitochondria.
The primary host of this project is Gothenburg University. This research will be supported through collaboration with Pompeu Fabra University (UPF) as the co-host.