Skip to main content

New study into cell replication

Dr Carolyn Moores receives research grant worth £350,000

Diagram: Kinesin-5 is an essential component of the cell’s replication machinery. We have visualised human (beige) and fruit fly (Drosophila; cyan) kinesin-5 (K5) using cryo-electron microscopy. Differences in loop5 (L5, pink) can explain the different su

Dr Carolyn Moores, Reader in Structural Biology, has received a Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) grant worth over £350,000 over three years for investigations into how cell replication is controlled and how it might be blocked.

Her research group will study cell replication in fungi, both because they are excellent and well-established model organisms for studying replication, and because fungal diseases are medically, environmentally and economically important. In particular, they will investigate the cell replication machinery in a fungus that infects corn and causes the disease corn smut. This crop disease poses a major threat to global food security, particularly because of the emergence of resistance to currently available fungicides. By understanding how the corn smut fungus replicates, they hope to provide general insight into the mechanisms of cell replication. In addition, they hope to uncover unique features of fungus-specific cell replication since this knowledge promises to help with the development of novel fungicides.

The BBSRC funding will enable Dr Moores and her research group to build on their previous investigations into human replication mechanisms.

More news about: