Leila Tamara Alexander
I started my DPhil in 2009 at the Doctoral Training Centre, University of Oxford.
In my projects I attempt to identify structural mechanisms that modulate conformational changes in protein kinases using:
- Bioinformatics (sequence and structure analysis),
- Site-directed mutagenesis (cloning, expression, purification),
- Biochemical and biophysical assays (DSF, Caliper, SPR, ITC)
- X-Ray crystallography (crystallisation, structure solution and refinements).
I work mainly at the Structural Genomics Consortium , but I am also a member of the Oxford Protein Informatics Group and make regular visits to the Novartis site in Basel.
Conferences and meetings attended:
Pseudokinases as modulators of signal transduction in normal and cancer cells
Symposium on Epigenetic Mechanisms in Health and Disease
GPCR & Kinase Targets: Advances in drug development from molecular to clinical
3Dsig Structural Bioinformatics & Computational Biophysics (ISMB), poster presented, Wolfson College conference grant awarded.
Dynamics within and between proteins, poster presented, Biochemical Society student bursary awarded.
CCP4 Study Weekend - Data Collection and Processing, student bursary awarded.
Advanced Methods in Macromolecular Crystallization, FEBS Youth Travel Fund grant awarded.
Oxford Symposium on Rare Diseases 2013: 'Protein misfolding and aggregation, organiser.
Publications:
Lori C, Lantella A, Pasquo A, Alexander LT, Knapp S, Chiaraluce R, & Consalvi V (2013) Effect of single amino acid substitution observed in cancer on Pim-1 kinase thermodynamic stability and structure. PLOS ONE (in press).
Supervisors:
Dr Henrik Moebitz, Novartis
Dr Sandra Jacob, Novartis
Contact: leila.alexander@sgc.ox.ac.uk