Beis Group

Our group is interested in the structural and functional characterisation of membrane proteins that are involved in bacterial multidrug resistance and human diseases. We use protein X-ray crystallography for their structure determination. We are also involved in developing methods for membrane protein crystal data collection including phasing.

These are some of our research areas.

Multidrug resistance
The group’s primary interest is to understand how bacteria use ABC transporters and multidrug efflux pumps to export structurally unrelated antibiotics out of the cell, thus conferring them with resistance. From their crystal structures, we want to identify novel molecules that can inhibit their function.

Antibacterial peptides
We are interested in exploiting novel antibacterial peptides that bacteria produce under nutrient starvation for survival that could potentially be used as treatments for multidrug resistance. To date, we have determined the structure and function of such peptides in complex with outer membrane receptors.

Human disease
Human receptors and transporters are involved in several processes and mutations can lead to serious diseases. Transporters are also involved in the export of anticancer drugs during chemotherapy. We are investigating their structure and function to understand their role in human disease.