Prof. Luisi has a long-term experience in both cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) and X-ray crystallography, and his research topics of macromolecules has included studies of heme-containing proteins. Prof. Luisi and his group at the University of Cambridge (https://www.bioc.cam.ac.uk/research/luisi ) are using Cryo-EM to study the structure of macromolecular complexes in isolation and also in situ using tomography. Cryo-EM is rapidly supplanting the conventional techniques of structural biology due to its ability to provide information on proteins and complexes, even of large dimensions, with a resolution now comparable with crystallography. The Luisi group has access to a facility with crystallization robots and automated scanning and image recording of the crystallization plates. The group also has frequent time allocation at Diamond light source for high resolution X-ray diffraction data collection. Within the ERASE project, we plan to solve the structure of Hb/hemophores complexes at different stages of heme extraction and transfer, elucidating the mechanistic details of the process (https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2116708119).
Scopus: https://www.scopus.com/autid/detail.uri?authorId=7004221679
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1144-9877
Email: bfl20@cam.ac.uk