Dr. Jane R. Allison (Post-doc)

Dr. Jane R. Allison
HCI G243, Tel. +41 44 633 4519

Education
PhD, Department of Chemistry, Cambridge University, Cambridge, UK (2007)
Thesis: Computational methods for characterising disordered states of proteins
Supervisor: Prof. Chris Dobson

B.Sc.Hons. (1st class) Biochemistry, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand (2003)

Current research
The majority of my work involves exploring the conformational dynamics of proteins, particularly with respect to the implications for experimental data and its relationship to simulations. Projects in which I am specifically involved include:

• a theoretical investigation of the information content of NMR ³J-couplings
• using the local elevation method to restrain ³J-couplings in protein simulations
• implementing the back-calculation of NMR residual dipolar couplings (RDCs) in the GROMOS++ suite of analysis programs
• investigating the sensitivity of RDCs to internuclear vector orientation
• testing a novel method for the restraining of RDCs in the GROMOS biomolecular simulation program
• development of a solvent accessible surface area-based implicit solvent method that employs a volume term to account for the contribution of buried residues
• a computational study of disulfide bond shuffling in lipid transfer proteins
• characterising the ligand-binding modes of lipid transfer proteins using molecular dynamics simulations
• examining the stability and ligand-binding affinity of simplified chorismate mutases generated by combinatorial engineering and in vitro evolution
• comparing the determinants of helix stability of α- and β-peptides