Profile
Nationality : Pakistani
Keywords : DNA Aptamer, VHH Antibody, Artificial Protein-DNA interaction, SPR, CRISPER-Cas-9, Evolutionary Molecular Engineering
Research advisor : Prof. Dr. Naoto Nemoto
Why I entered GSC program
I have a deep interest in the synthesis of novel functional biomolecules and seeing the miracle of them related to therapeutics in detecting and treating diseases. As well as belonging to a developing country we are facing various health issues, rate of mortality is more due to the lack of appropriate facilities to detect and control the disease due to using old and inappropriate methods to deal with the infirmity. To overcome these issues and enhance my research interests, I was searching for a platform that provides me the opportunity to do something extraordinary in the biomedical sciences, equipped with the latest instrumentation, novel strategies, and ideas under the supervision of skilled advisors. So, I found the GSC program offered by Saitama University which can build my abilities and field of interest in a more effective way by offering me an ideal destination to pursue my academic career as a researcher.
Research title
A study on protein-DNA interaction by evolutionary molecular engineering
Research abstract
DNA-protein interaction is the most basic phenomenon in molecular biology. The interaction between protein and DNA is associated with fundamental processes such as translation, transport, transcription, and repair in the cells. In nature, there are many kinds of DNA-binding proteins such as restriction enzymes is a well-known example of DNA-binding proteins. However, there are few examples of artificial DNA-protein interactions. The artificial DNA-protein interactions are involved in interactions between artificial DNA aptamer and natural protein in addition to natural DNA and artificial protein. In our study, we focus on a novel interaction between artificial DNA (aptamer) and artificial protein (VHH antibody). The analytical or preparative experimental approaches, such as CRISPER-Cas-9 and Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) will be developed to isolate and identify DNA binding proteins by manipulating the advantage of the affinity shown by the proteins towards a specific oligonucleotide sequence based on evolutionary molecular engineering manner.
Graphical abstract
