Current research

Ph.D. Project

Characterising and predicting SUMO interacting motif sequences in a genome wide context.

Small ubiquitin-like modifier is a critical protein whose primary role is to regulate the formation of protein complexes. The action of SUMO is required for many important cellular functions, from development to the repair of DNA strand breaks. SUMO is covalently attached to a target protein in response to some stimulus, the attached SUMO group then forms non-covalent interactions with SUMO binding proteins, via a small SUMO interacting motif (SIM), leading to the assembly of a complex of multiple proteins.

My work uses large-scale peptide library screening to identify the amino acid sequences of SIMs from both Arabidopsis (plant) and humans. The results from this research will be used to develop software tools to predict SIM containing proteins from primary sequence data. Predicting SIM containing proteins will allow research into SUMO signalling cascades to be more focussed, saving both time and money.

Supervisors

Biological: Dr. A. Sadanandom (Durham University)

Theoretical: Dr. J. Moore (Warwick University)

Education

Ph.D. Systems Biology, 2011 - [2014].

M.Sc. Systems Biology (Distinction). University of Warwick, 2010 - 2011.

Theoretical project: Identification of putative SUMOylation enzymes in Arabidopsis thaliana using an integrative approach incorporating protein interactome data and predicted sequence function data.

Experimental Project: SUMOylation of the DELLA proteins REPRESSOR OF ga1-3 and GA-INSENSITIVE in Arabidopsis thaliana offers a new perspective on gibberellin mediated regulation of growth in plants.

B.Sc. Applied Biology (First class honours). Northumbria University, 2006 - 2010.

Dissertation title: The use of competitive reverse-transcripatase PCR to determine the expression of the root growth related genes XET, SeWap41 and Exg1 in salt stressed Zea mays.

Publications

Conti, L.* Nelis, S.* Zhang, C. Woodcock, A. Swarup, R. Galbiati, M. Tonelli, C. Napier, R. Hedden, P. Bennett, M & Sadanandom, A. (2014) Small ubiquitin-like modifier protein SUMO enables plants to control growth independently of the phytohormone gibberellin. Developmental Cell, 28(1): 102-10.

Sadanandom, A. Bailey, M. Ewan, R. Lee, J. & Nelis, S. (2012) The ubiquitin-proteasome system: central modifier of plant signalling. The New Phytologist, 196(1): 13–28.

(* Indicates first author)

Conferences and Workshops

ZOMES VII - Ubiquitin-like proteins and their cognate PCI complexes. Munich, Germany. 18 - 21 September 2012.

Graduate Systems Biology Conference. Oxford University. 26 - 27 June 2012.

MATLAB and Simulink fundamentals. Imperial College, London. April 2011.

Addresses

Laboratory (Use for correspondence)

Warwick

Contact

Email

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