Project title: Structural elucidation of a novel OlsB protein
Position: PhD Candidate
I am a proud alumnus of the North-West University where I completed my undergraduate, Honours and Master’s degrees. My undergraduate training was in Chemistry and Biochemistry and I fell in love with Biochemistry and its applications. I continued in this field with an Honours and Master’s degree under the supervision of Dr. Rencia van der Sluis in the area of biotransformation and detoxification. I gained experience in protein production, purification and assays and this flowed naturally into my current studies of characterizing a novel ornithine acyl-ACP N-acyltransferase (OlsB). This project is a collaboration between the University of Cape Town Structural Biology Unit (where the project is formally registered) and the University of the Western Cape IMBM (where the research originated) under the supervision of Prof. Trevor Sewell and Prof. Marla Trindade. The study, though being fundamental science, has exciting application in biotechnology as the OlsB enzyme produces a biosurfactant. In this project I will use protein X-ray crystallography to elucidate the structure of OlsB and enzymatically characterize the protein through the development of an enzyme assay. I will also research the possibilities of manipulating this protein for commercial application. I am a part time research assistant at the Structural Biology Unit where I assist other researchers with their experiments, coordinate with the Synchrotron (Diamond Light Source) that we use for X-ray diffraction and help maintain our laboratory. In my free time I enjoy spending time with my wife, singing in the Cape Town Chamber Choir, knitting and playing squash.