Geoffrey Woollard
M.Sc. Program
Previous Degree: B.Sc. Biophyiscs
2011 Cohort
My current work interfaces computational protein design and single molecule assay development. Our hope is to invent a new method of high-throughput protein sequencing. What made DNA sequencing, PCR, and cloning possible? Molecular biology relies on molecules like DNA polymerase (DNA to DNA), RNA polymerase (DNA to RNA), reverse transcriptase (RNA to DNA), and the ribosome (RNA to protein). But could anything use protein as a template? We are designing proteins to act as affinity reagents that recognize amino acid “codons” and provide an optical readout. We are collaborating with the Foster Lab to express protein candidates and assay specificity.
Supervisor: Jörg Gsponer