Our lab studies time-resolved protein dynamics, using different X-ray scattering and
diffraction techniques. We apply new methodologies to produce protein molecular movies that allow us to watch them undergo function. This gives us key insights into protein dynamics and provides insights into the complex biochemistry of highly relevant processes such as photosynthesis and enzyme catalysis. This research has a wide range of applications in medicine, catalysis, and de-novo protein design.
Time-resolved X-ray solution scattering (TR-XSS) is a sub-field of structural biology which aims to observe secondary structural changes in proteins as they evolve along their functional pathways. Whereas the number of distinct conformational states and their time scales are easily extracted from TR-XSS data recorded from light-sensitive systems, structural modeling is more challenging. This step builds from complementary structural information such as candidate secondary structural changes extracted from crystallographic studies or molecular dynamics simulations.
In order to perform structural modeling from experimental scattering data, we perform experimentally X-ray-guided molecular dynamics simulations together with theoretical scattering prediction from atomic coordinates to model movements of transient intermediates in the experimental data.
These datasets typically require extensive analysis, to enable correct biological
interpretation and publishable results. This will significantly increase the amount and accuracy of the analysis possible for us, using SNIC high-performance computing resources. Furthermore, we would argue that this work would contribute to the scientific portfolio of SNIC, with our work being regularly published in several high-impact journals such as Nature, Science, CELL, and PNAS.