Research Interests

Our research is focused on the development of integrative structural methods, combining experimental data with bioinformatics and modelling techniques, to characterise macromolecular machines. Structural models are further analysed to understand their function and design new experiments. The group is particularly interested in using data from cryoEM, cryoET, and Mass Spectrometry. In collaboration with experimentalists, specific systems we currently study include HSV-1 and HCMV sub-complexes, ligand-gated ion channels, and microtubule complexes. 



Selected recent publications

  1. Vollmer B, et al. The pre-fusion structure of Herpes simplex virus glycoprotein B. Science Advances (in press).

  2. Sinnott M et al. Combining Information from Crosslinks and Monolinks in the Modelling of Protein Structures. Structure 28:1-10, 2020.

  3. Hernández Durán A, et al. Protein interactions and consensus clustering analysis uncover insights into herpesvirus virion structure and function relationships. PLoS Biol, 17(6):e3000316, 2019.

  4. Bullock JMA, Schwab J, et al. “The importance of non-accessible crosslinks and solvent accessible surface distance in modelling proteins with restraints from crosslinking mass spectrometry.” Mol Cell Proteomics, 2016, 15:10.1074.

  5. Joseph AP, Malhotra S, et al. “Refinement of atomic models in high resolution EM reconstructions using Flex-EM and local assessment.” Methods 100:42, 2016.

 

Topf Lab

Contact

Institute of Structural and Molecular Biology @ Birkbeck / UCL 

Crystallography/Biological Sciences, Birkbeck

University of London

Malet Street

London WC1E 7HX

UK

Phone:  +44 (0)20 7079 0886