Wellcome Discovery Award for computational microbiology research
The £1 million+ grant will support a project over 5 years to investigate how molecules move within the protective envelopes surrounding bacterial cells
Professor Syma Khalid has received a prestigious Wellcome Discovery Award to support her research on the delivery mechanism of molecules within the protective envelopes that surround bacterial cells.
Syma Khalid is Professor of Computational Microbiology at Oxford’s Department of Biochemistry and also chairs the HECBioSim consortium, which provides a gateway to state-of-the-art HPC (High Performance Computing) platforms for UK researchers and their collaborators conducting biomolecular simulations.
The £1 million+ grant will support a project over 5 years to investigate how molecules move within the protective envelopes surrounding bacterial cells, helping scientists better understand the sophisticated defence mechanisms that make disease-causing bacteria so difficult to combat.
Bacterial pathogens are responsible for a wide range of diseases affecting humans, animals and plants. Their complex protective structures present a significant challenge to the development of effective treatments.
At the heart of Professor Khalid’s research is a fundamental question: is the movement and delivery of molecules within bacterial envelopes a carefully choreographed process, or does it occur through random molecular collisions?
To investigate this, Professor Khalid and her team will use advanced computer modelling and molecular simulations to predict how molecules are transported within bacterial cells. The project will build on the pioneering Computational Microbiology approach developed by her research group, which enables scientists to simulate sections of bacteria in remarkable molecular detail.
By revealing the mechanisms that govern molecular movement within bacterial envelopes, the research could provide important new insights into bacterial defence systems and help identify innovative strategies for the design of future antibiotics.
A still from a molecular simulation of a portion the E.coli cell envelope
The Wellcome Trust Discovery Award represents a significant investment in Professor Khalid’s research and its potential to contribute to addressing the growing challenge of bacterial infections.
Professor Khalid says: "It's a truly exciting time to be doing simulations of bacterial cell envelopes. This grant will enable my team to harness cutting-edge simulation methods, High-Performance Computing resources and Machine Learning to work out some of the ways bacteria move molecules around within their cells.”
