Professor Claudia Blindauer

Supervisor Details

Contact Details

Department of Chemistry, University of Warwick

Scientific Background

Research Interests

We are interested in metal ion metabolism, in particular zinc homeostasis, and how it relates to diseases such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes. We use a variety of approaches based in Bio-Analytical Chemistry (Chromatography, Mass Spectrometry, NMR spectroscopy amongst others), mammalian cell culture, and recombinant protein expression. Our recent work has revealed how non-esterified fatty acids alter blood plasma zinc speciation, and we are currently studying the downstream implications of this discovery.

Research Groups

Blindauer Group

Chemical Biology Research Facility (CBRF)

School of Medicine, University of St Andrews

Supervision Style

In three words or phrases: Supportive, student-centred, collaborative.

Provision of Training

Training needs are discussed at the start and periodically reviewed and updated as required.

Progression Monitoring and Management

I like to be on top of things as much as possible, so regular meetings to discuss and review progress are desired. I don't like to chase people, so prefer it when students drive the meeting schedule.

Communication

I am happy to receive and respond to emails within normal working hours, and will endeavour to respect other people's work-life balance, too. Meetings can be arranged on an ad-hoc basis, but ideally with some time to prepare.

Meetings

PhD Students can expect scheduled meetings with me at least once per week. These meetings will be face-to-face. I am contactable by appointment.

Work Patterns

The timing of work in my lab is completely flexible, and (other than attending pre-arranged meetings) I expect students to manage their own time.

Notice Period for Feedback

I need at least 2 weeks' notice to provide feedback on written work of up to 5,000 words.

MIBTP Project Details

Primary supervisor for:

How do metals cross the bacterial outer membrane of cyanobacteria?

See the PhD Opportunities section to see if this project is currently open for applications via MIBTP.

Please Note: The main page lists projects via BBSRC Research Theme(s) quoted and then relevant Topic(s).

How do metals cross the bacterial outer membrane of cyanobacteria?

Secondary Supervisor(s): Dr Richard Puxty

University of Registration: University of Warwick

BBSRC Research Themes:

Understanding the Rules of Life (Microbiology, Structural Biology)

Project Outline

Cyanobacteria are promising alternatives within sustainable biotechnology, as they can be used to produce high-value chemicals, pharmaceuticals and feedstocks just using sunlight and CO2 through the power of photosynthesis. However, this form of metabolism has a high demand for micronutrients such as iron, zinc, copper, cobalt, and manganese, that are found in minute quantities in their environment. Marine cyanobacteria have the ability to bio-concentrate extremely scarce essential metal ions by several orders of magnitude. Despite major advances in understanding bacterial metal homeostasis, our understanding of how marine cyanobacteria achieve this remarkable bio-concentration is far from complete: in contrast to other bacteria that possess systems to energise active metal transport through the outer membrane, marine cyanobacterial genomes are devoid of genes for such systems.

Our previous work (see Mikhaylina et al., Nat. Chem. Biol. 2022) has revealed several possible pathways for zinc uptake; these include porins (e.g.synw2224), uncharacterised outer membrane proteins (synw0972 and synw0973) that are regulated by zinc and its sensor protein Zur, and the discovery that the bacterial metallothionein (synw0360) from several marine cyanobacteria are found in the extracellular space, leading to the hypothesis that they may be secreted to promote zinc uptake.

The proposed project will focus on the model cyanobacterium Synechococcus sp. to meet the following objectives:

generate several mutant Synechococcus strains where genes of interest are disrupted, to establish their function in vivo, by studying metal quotas
clone and express these genes to enable their biophysical characterisation, including:
- the determination of their structure (by X-Ray crystallography or cryo-EM)
- studying their metal-binding properties in vitro (by fluorescence spectroscopy)
- studying the mechanism of zinc transport using model membrane systems and stable isotopes