Molecular Enzymology Group

Molecular Enzymology is a major research activity within the Departments of Biochemistry and Chemistry located primarily on the 2nd floor of the West wing of the Henry Wellcome Building. MEG is a leading centre for the study of enzyme reaction and other forms of protein dynamics in the UK. Research groups working in the area of Structural and Chemical Biology also support components of research activity in the area of enzymology.Molecular Enzymology is a major research activity within the Departments of Biochemistry and Chemistry, located primarily on the 2nd floor of the West wing of the Henry Wellcome Building. Research groups working in the area of Structural and Chemical Biology also support components of research activity in the area of enzymology.

The Department has excellent facilities for transient kinetic studies, having several stopped-flow rapid-mixing instruments with dual wavelength fluorescence (intensity and anisotropy), absorbance and photodiode array detection. Temperature jump and rapid quench instruments are also available. Kinetic studies on the nanosecond timescale are also possible using a laser flash photolysis instrument. This instrument is used in studies using caged substrates and photophysics of green fluorescent protein variants. Top-of-the-range absorption and fluorescence spectrophotometers have recently been acquired. Equilibrium binding reactions are investigated using isothermal calorimetry, surface plasmon resonance, circular dichroism and fluorescence anisotropy. A custom-built total internal reflection fluorescence microscope, with 4 laser sources and various detection systems (dual ICCD cameras, electron multipier CCD and avalanche photodiodes), is used for single molecule kinetic investigations. A second TIRF instrument is under development.

Spectroscopy equipment

Rapid Reaction Equipment

Single Molecule Fluorescence Microscopy

 The background to The Molecular Enzymology Group