Dr Kamel El Omari
Kamel is a Senior Beamline Scientist with Wagner Group and joined Diamond Light Source and Research Complex in 2016 from the Structural Biology division of the University of Oxford where he obtained his PhD and post-doctoral training. Kamel is also a stipendiary lecturer in Biochemistry at Somerville College, Oxford.
Research Interests
The aim of Kamel's project is to shed light on proteins interactions occurring between viruses and their host cells. Viruses use host cell resources to carry through their life cycle, but infection triggers host cell antiviral defense mechanisms that in turn drive viral adaptation. Thus, it is crucial to understand not only the biology of the virus but also the biology of the host and the different cell pathways hijacked by the virus. The project focuses on unravelling the mechanism of viral membrane fusion in pestiviruses.
Research Complex is essential to this work, as it provides all the necessary equipment an expertise to take a project from cloning to structural and functional studies.
