News

Karrera delivered the first keynote at the London Infection Postdoc Network symposium. Thank you to the organising committee for the invitation!

Congratulations to our MSci (Chemistry-Biology) student, Beth Kinniment-Williams, for successfully completing her research project this year! Beth studied the interactions between salivary histatin peptides and copper. Here she is, pictured with her poster on her final day of term. Beth has recently accepted a Biochemistry PhD position in The University of York. We will all miss her very much but we wish her all the best in her future endeavours.

Congratulations to Sam (now de facto Dr Firth!) for passing her viva voce PhD examination! We are immensely grateful to A/Prof Gary Sharples (pictured below) and Dr Marianne Ilbert for acting as examiners. Sam will stay in the lab for another month before moving on to a postdoctoral position with Prof. Jonathan Heddle at Durham Biosciences.

UPDATE: We have now filled this position. Thank you for your interest.

We are still looking for one PhD candidate to work on salivary histatins and their role in shaping the oral microbiome.

The ideal candidate would have a strong background in either microbiology, biochemistry, or chemistry, and understand the very basics of protein and enzyme structure and function. The ideal candidate does not need to already possess working knowledge or experience related to metals in biology or bioinorganic chemistry, but must be willing to learn. 🙂

If this sounds like you, then please get in touch with Karrera (karrera.djoko@durham.ac.uk) with your CV and a cover letter explaining why you are interested in applying.

Funding is available for 4 years, along with bench fees. Unfortunately, funding is restricted to UK applicants only.

Atreyee’s paper is now published in Organic and Biomolecular Chemistry. Congratulations to Atreyee!

Louisa’s and Jin’s paper is now published on ACS Infectious Diseases, almost exactly a year since the we preprinted the work! It’s definitely time for a celebration.

Our new review, led by the Angeles-Boza’s group at The University of Connecticut, USA, is now out! Congratulations to all authors!

The group (+Amy Wiseman from the Chivers group) went to Thai River for an early Christmas lunch. We are excited for more science in 2023!

We are looking to recruit up to three (yes, three!) PhD students in 2023. Funding is available for UK candidates, EU candidates, and international candidates. Please see the PDF below for details.

We are delighted that Beth Kinninment-Williams has joined us as a Level 4 MSci (Chemistry-Biology) research student in our lab. Beth is co-supervised by Prof. Steven Cobb at the Department of Chemistry. Beth will be examining the antibacterial activity of Cu-binding peptides from human saliva. Welcome!