Share this page:
Default head and shoulder profile picture

Dr Kristofer Leslie

and

I primarily teach classes in 1st year biosciences and 3rd year bioinformatics and biochemistry which relates to our programmes in Biomolecular Science and Chemistry for Drug Discovery. My research interests include the structural biology of microtubules and their binding partners, lectin interactions and glycobiology, molecular mechanisms of targeted drug therapy and theoretical protein modelling/simulation. The research group also has expertise in computational quantum chemistry where we study the properties of molecules and their interactions at the resolution of electrons.

I utilise computational methods to study the structure and interaction of biomolecules. An example of this is molecular dynamics where the structural changes in a protein may be followed over time in response to ligand binding. This methodology allows one to analyse both femto-second and nano-second time scales where changes in bond to domain structure can be studied. Potential applications of this include drug design, structure to function analysis and mutational analysis of proteins.

Research Projects

  • "Conformational Dynamics of the HIV-1 Protease and Gag-Pol Polyprotein structures in silico". Researcher(s): Mr Daniel Carey. Supervisor(s): Dr Lee Byrne, Dr Kristofer Leslie, Dr Marieke Bloemink. [Postgraduate Research Project]
  • Determining proteins that interact with NIa-Pro from nerine yellow stripe virus, the method behind this interaction and whether this determines the host range. Researcher(s): Mr Adam Scanlon. Supervisor(s): Dr Alec Forsyth, Dr Kristofer Leslie, Professor Simon Harvey. [Postgraduate Research Project]
  • Doctoral Research Project. Researcher(s): Mr Tyrone Bruun. Supervisor(s): Dr Kristofer Leslie, Professor Simon Harvey, Dr Dan Donoghue. [Postgraduate Research Project (past)]
  • Doctoral Research Project. Researcher(s): Mr Callum Parker. Supervisor(s): Dr Athina Mylona, Dr Cornelia Wilson, Dr Kristofer Leslie. [Postgraduate Research Project (past)]
  • Exploring and discovering novel antibody drug conjugates (ADC) for the treatment of chronic pain using both in vitro and in silico methods.. Researcher(s): Mr Alex Eyes. Supervisor(s): Dr Kristofer Leslie, Professor Simon Harvey. [Postgraduate Research Project (past)]
  • Molecular dynamics of plus end tracking protein EB1 and its interactions with the microtubule.. Researcher(s): Ms Caroline Chapman. Supervisor(s): Dr Kristofer Leslie, Professor Simon Harvey. [Postgraduate Research Project]
  • Structural investigation of HIV-1 GP160 and gag-pol polyprotein recognition site with HIV-1 protease.. Researcher(s): Mr Sean Sollis. Supervisor(s): Dr Kristofer Leslie, Dr Lee Byrne. [Postgraduate Research Project]