Dr Renos Savva
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Overview
Overview
Biography
Profile:
- Molecular biologist with a background in biochemistry.
- Expertise in advanced DNA manipulation.
- Expertise in recombinant protein optimisation in bacterial hosts.
- Expertise in advanced protein handling and optimisation.
- Expertise in protein sequence and biophysics/structure methods.
- Translational mindset with a focus on life science industry collaborations.
Area of active research:
- Structural biology and protein engineering.
Research interests:
- Virus-host macromolecular interactions.
- Sequence- and structure-led synthetic and library approaches to protein classification and engineering.
- Development of enhanced DNA library capabilities.
Research motivations:
- Value-add to fundamental insights at the molecular level.
- Improved laboratory workflows.
- Development and optimisation of advanced DNA methods.
Administrative responsibilities
- Programme director / admissions tutor for MSc Bio-business
- Sub-board chair (undergraduate programmess) Biological Sciences
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Research
Research
Research interests
- Molecular Biology
- Recombinant proteins
- Viruses / bacteriophages
- Protein engineering
- Structural biology
- Bioinformatics
- Synthetic biology
Research overview
Viruses and bacteriophages that gain access to the cellular environment encounter innate immune defences as a general and sometimes specific barrier. The macromolecular interactions provide extreme selective pressure for advantageous biological adaptations at the molecular level.
Cellular defences can include specialised programs involving proteins that are known to perform other roles in non-invaded cells.
The combination of these virus protein adaptations and cellular protein co-options is my specilaist area of research interest. Our research involves probing the effect of synthetic protein engineering to emulate accelerated adaptation in recombinant libraries in order to help us trace evolutionary relationships in silico. Our studies are primarily via structural molecular biology.
A primary area of interest is the specialised uracil-DNA glycosylases of human herpesviruses and the convergent evolution of several classes of viral proteins that inhibit cellular uracil-DNA glycosylases (co-opted as innate immunity factors against viral ingress) during both human and bacterial virus infections.
Sidelines developed through this interest include synthetic processes such as my invention of the Combinatorial Domain Hunting approach, used in industry since the early 2000s; also engineering novel systems for DNA manipulation, highly efficient recombinant DNA dispersion in target microbes and synthetic DNA delivery vehicle research.
Research Centres and Institutes
- faculty member, Institute of Structural Molecular Biology (ISMB)
- associate member, Birkbeck Centre for Innovation Management Research
Lab information
Rosalind Franklin Laboratory, Department of Biological Sciences
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Supervision and teaching
Supervision and teaching
Supervision
Students applying to local PhD programmes at the ISMB are welcome to discuss research opportunities.
Research experience via projects of various duration are open for discussion for students at undergraduate and masters level, regardless of previous laboratory experience. Please inquire.
Current doctoral researchers
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PEJVAK MOGHIMI
Doctoral alumni since 2013-14
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SOPHIE KNOTT
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WAEL MUSELMANI
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HUGO VILLANUEVA
Teaching
As programme director for the MSc Bio-business, I designed a course, running since 2015, that offers a window into the translational life sciences ecosystem, its impacts and trends and that explores experiential aspects of the life sciences industry at the entrepreneurial/ startup scale. In its part-time mode, many students have benefitted from securing internships and a few have directly translated into more permanent roles.
I have also taught on subject-specific courses prior to that at UCL from 2001-2016 (level 6 undergraduate modules in crystallography, DNA repair, protein domains, and recombinant and synthetic biology.
At Birkbeck, prior to Bio-business, I had originated and taught on level 5 and level 6 course modules in molecular biology (2010-2016), prior to that I taught on protein-DNA interactions for the masters students (2001-2016) and also specialist techniques in recombinant cloning and protein expression for the masters and new PhD students (2001-2016).
Teaching modules
- The Bio Industry (SCBS031H7)
- Future Health Technologies (SCBS032H7)
- Specialist Laboratory Research Project (SCBS036D6)
- The Entrepreneurship Process (SCBS049H7)
- Advanced Topics in Human Disease (SCBS081H6)
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Publications
Publications
Article
- Javed, Abid and Villanueva, Hugo and Shataer, S. and Vasciaveo, S. and Savva, Renos and Orlova, Elena (2021) Cryo-EM structures of two Bacteriophage portal proteins provide insights for antimicrobial phage engineering. Viruses 13 (12), ISSN 1999-4915.
- Savva, Renos (2020) The essential co-option of Uracil-DNA Glycosylases by Herpesviruses invites novel antiviral design. Microorganisms 8 (3), pp. 461. ISSN 2076-2607.
- Savva, Renos (2019) Targeting uracil-DNA glycosylases for therapeutic outcomes using insights from virus evolution. Future Medicinal Chemistry 11 (11), ISSN 1756-8919.
- Earl, Chris and Bagneris, Claire and Zeman, K. and Cole, Ambrose and Barrett, Tracey and Savva, Renos (2018) A structurally conserved motif in γ-herpesvirus uracil-DNA glycosylases elicits duplex nucleotide-flipping. Nucleic Acids Research 46 (8), pp. 4286-4300. ISSN 0305-1048.
- Cole, Ambrose R. and Ofer, Sapir and Ryzhenkova, Ksenia and Baltulionis, Gediminas and Hornyak, Peter and Savva, Renos (2013) Architecturally diverse proteins converge on an analogous mechanism to inactivate Uracil-DNA glycosylase. Nucleic Acids Research 41 (18), pp. 8760-8775. ISSN 0305-1048.
- Fogl, C. and Puckey, Loretto and Hinssen, U. and Zaleska, M. and el-Mezgueldi, M. and Croasdale, R. and Bowman, A. and Matsukawa, A. and Samani, N.J. and Savva, Renos and Pfuhl, M. (2012) A structural and functional dissection of the cardiac stress response factor MS1. Proteins: Structure, Function, and Bioinformatics 80 (2), pp. 398-409. ISSN 0887-3585.
- Meier, C. and Brookings, D.C. and Ceska, T.A. and Doyle, C. and Gong, H. and McMillan, D. and Saville, G.P. and Mushtaq, A. and Knight, D. and Reich, S. and Pearl, L.H. and Powell, K.A. and Savva, Renos and Allen, R.A. (2012) Engineering human MEK-1 for structural studies: a case study of combinatorial domain hunting. Journal of Structural Biology 177 (2), pp. 329-334. ISSN 1047-8477.
- Bagneris, Claire and Briggs, Louise C. and Savva, Renos and Ebrahimi, B. and Barrett, Tracey E. (2011) Crystal structure of a KSHV-SOX-DNA complex: insights into the molecular mechanisms underlying DNase activity and host shutoff. Nucleic Acids Research 39 (13), pp. 5744-5756. ISSN 0305-1048.
- Maclagan, K. and Tommasi, R. and Laurine, E. and Prodromou, C. and Driscoll, P.C. and Pearl, L.H. and Reich, S. and Savva, Renos (2011) A combinatorial method to enable detailed investigation of protein-protein interactions. Future Medicinal Chemistry 3 (3), pp. 271-282. ISSN 1756-8919.
- Prodromou, C. and Savva, Renos and Driscoll, P.C. (2007) DNA fragmentation-based combinatorial approaches to soluble protein expression: part I: generating DNA fragment libraries. Drug Discovery Today 12 (21-22), pp. 931-938. ISSN 1359-6446.
- Savva, Renos and Prodromou, C. and Driscoll, P.C. (2007) DNA fragmentation based combinatorial approaches to soluble protein expression: part II: library expression, screening and scale-up. Drug Discovery Today 12 (21-22), pp. 939-947. ISSN 1359-6446.
- Reich, S. and Puckey, L.H. and Cheetham, C.L. and Harris, R. and Ali, A.A. and Bhattacharyya, U. and Maclagan, K. and Powell, K.A. and Prodromou, C. and Pearl, L.H. and Driscoll, P.C. and Savva, Renos (2006) Combinatorial domain hunting: an effective approach for the identification of soluble protein domains adaptable to high-throughput applications. Protein Science 15 (10), pp. 2356-2365. ISSN 0961-8368.
- dos Reis, M. and Savva, Renos and Wernisch, Lorenz (2004) Solving the riddle of codon usage preferences: a test for translational selection. Nucleic Acids Research 32 (17), pp. 5036-5044. ISSN 0305-1048.
- dos Reis, M. and Wernisch, Lorenz and Savva, Renos (2003) Unexpected correlations between gene expression and codon usage bias from microarray data for the whole Escherichia coli K-12 genome. Nucleic Acids Research 31 (23), pp. 6976-6985. ISSN 0305-1048.
- Bunting KA, None and Roe SM, None and Headley A, None and Brown T, None and Savva, Renos and Pearl LH, None (2003) Crystal structure of the escherichia coli dcm very-short-patch DNA repair endonuclease bound to its reaction product-site in a DNA superhelix. Nucleic Acids Research 31 (6), pp. 1633-1639. ISSN 0305-1048.
- Rösler A, None and Panayotou G, None and Hornby DP, None and Barlow T, None and Brown T, None and Pearl LH, None and Savva, Renos and Blackburn GM, None (2000) The mechanism of DNA repair by uracil-DNA glycosylase: studies using nucleotide analogues. Nucleosides, Nucleotides and Nucleic Acids 19 (10-12), pp. 1505-1516. ISSN 1525-7770.
- Barrett, T.E. and Schärer, O.D. and Savva, Renos and Brown, T. and Jiricny, J. and Verdine, G.L. and Pearl, L.H. (1999) Crystal structure of a thwarted mismatch glycosylase DNA repair complex. Embo Journal 18 (23), pp. 6599-6609. ISSN 0261-4189.
- Barrett, T.E. and Savva, Renos and Barlow, T. and Brown, T. and Jiricny, J. and Pearl, L.H. (1998) Structure of a DNA base-excision product resembling a cisplatin inter-strand adduct. Nature Structural Biology 5 (8), pp. 697-701. ISSN 1072-8368.
- Barrett, T.E. and Savva, Renos and Panayotou, G. and Barlow, T. and Brown, T. and Jiricny, J. and Pearl, L.H. (1998) Crystal structure of a G:T/U mismatch-specific DNA glycosylase: mismatch recognition by complementary-strand interactions. Cell 92 (1), pp. 117-129. ISSN 0092-8674.
- Panayotou, G. and Brown, T. and Barlow, T. and Pearl, L.H. and Savva, Renos (1998) Direct measurement of the substrate preference of uracil-DNA glycosylase. Journal of Biological Chemistry 273 (1), pp. 45-50. ISSN 0021-9258.
- Koulis, A. and Cowan, D.A. and Pearl, L.H. and Savva, Renos (1996) Uracil-DNA glycosylase activities in hyperthermophilic micro-organisms. FEMS Microbiology Letters 143 (2-3), pp. 267-271. ISSN 0378-1097.
- Pearl, L.H. and Savva, Renos (1996) The problem with Pyrimidines. Nature Structural Biology 3 (6), pp. 485-487. ISSN 1072-8368.
- Pearl, L.H. and Savva, Renos (1995) DNA repair in three dimensions. Trends in Biochemical Sciences 20 (10), pp. 421-426. ISSN 0968-0004.
- Savva, Renos and McAuley-Hecht, K. and Brown, T. and Pearl, L. (1995) The structural basis of specific base-excision repair by uracil-DNA glycosylase. Nature 373 (6514), pp. 487-493. ISSN 0028-0836.
- Savva, Renos and Pearl, L.H. (1995) Cloning and expression of the uracil-DNA glycosylase inhibitor (UGI) from bacteriophage PBS-1 and crystallization of a uracil-DNA glycosylase-UGI complex. Proteins: Structure, Function, and Bioinformatics 22 (3), pp. 287-289. ISSN 0887-3585.
- Savva, Renos and Pearl, L.H. (1995) Nucleotide mimicry in the crystal structure of the uracil-DNA glycosylase-uracil glycosylase inhibitor protein complex. Nature Structural Biology 2 (9), pp. 752-757. ISSN 1072-8368.
- Savva, Renos and Pearl, L.H. (1993) Crystallization and preliminary X-ray analysis of the uracil-DNA glycosylase DNA repair enzyme from herpes simplex virus type 1. Journal of Molecular Biology 234 (3), pp. 910-912. ISSN 0022-2836.
External Repositories
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Business and community
Business and community
I have media training.
Media
I am happy to receive enquiries from the media on the following topics:
- Molecular virology
- Synthetic Biology
Services
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Spin outs, start ups and social enterprises
Inventor of the Combinatorial Domain Hunting method (1999, subsequently patented), Co-founder of Domainex Ltd. (incorporated November 2002), Research Director to the board from 2001-2007, head of research team 2002-2007 and collaborating researcher until the end of 2009. Research consultant until 2011.
Awarded London Biotech Network's London First Young Biotech Entrepreneur of the Year in 2005.
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Patents and licences
WO 03/040391 Method for producing and identifying soluble protein domains. Driscoll P, Savva R, McAlister M, Pearl L, Prodromou C. Filed 8 November 2002; granted in Australia (2002341204), the EU (02 774 994.4), Canada (2465377), Japan (2003-542637), and in the USA (8852866).
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Consultancies and expert advice
Industrial CASE studentship partnership through the BBSRC LIDo PhD programme, with Touchlight Genetics, Ltd.
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Other
Collaborative research with Peptone.io