Our aim is to advance our understanding of life on the molecular level by biophysical tool development. In particular we focus on furthering our understanding of metalloproteins and/or membrane proteins and the development on novel biosensing.

In many biochemical assays (e.g., ELISAs), the interaction between solid surfaces and biomacromolecules is of utmost importance. Part of our research focuses on the chemical modification of surfaces to control the interaction between lipid membranes, membrane proteins and the surface. We call these modifications ”membrane-modified surfaces’. Our surfaces are characterised with a broad spectrum of tools, including Quartz-Crystal Microballance with Dissipation (QCM-D) and Atomic Force Spectroscopy (AFM). We are extending our research into controlling the interaction between solid surfaces (including nanoparticles) and whole bacteria, which has important applications in microbial electrosynthesis.

Due to the interdisciplinary nature of our research, we are a connected to a number of school and centres in Leeds

• School of Biomedical Sciences (SBMS) of the Faculty of Biological Sciences
• Molecular and Nanoscale Physics (MNP) group within the School of Physics & Astronomy
• Astbury Centre for Structural Molecular Biology
• Bragg Centre for Materials Research