Andre Geim
University of Manchester
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Primary Section: 33, Applied Physical Sciences Secondary Section: 13, Physics Membership Type:
International Member
(elected 2012)
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Research Interests
The central theme of my current research is the enzymology of gene regulation, specifically of transcriptional regulation. The focus is on fundamental mechanisms, approached from a biochemical and molecular genetic perspective. It is now widely approached from a biochemical and molecular genetic perspective. It is now widely appreciated that the transcriptional apparatus of all cells -- archeal, bacterial, and eukaryotic -- has common evolutionary roots. It follows that transcription-regulatory mechanisms should also share broadly similar mechanistic features. In that spirit, current work deals in parallel with bacteria and their viruses and with eukaryotes. Specific areas of recent and current research include: the constitution and internal structure of transcription initiation complexes (transcriptional initiation is an important, although not the exclusive, control point of gene regulation); what happens when the transcriptional traffic on DNA encounters obstacles: collisions of replication and transcription and collisions of transcription with physically bound proteins; transcriptional activation by topologically (as opposed to physically) bound proteins; coupling DNA replication to regulated gene expression; DNA-tracking proteins; and DNA flexure and binding site selection by DNA-bending proteins.
