Part of Alex-James’s PhD work was on developing and applying an automated mass spectrometry means for monitoring quaternary protein dynamics. In collaboration with Advion BioSciences, Alex-James adapted a nanoelectrospray robot to sample the subunit exchange reaction between two plant small heat shock proteins. This allowed him to simultaneously obtain information as to the dynamics and architecture of these proteins. Alex-James also obtained our first results on the binding of client proteins to the small heat shock proteins, revealing the remarkable dispersity of the resultant complexes. Alex now works in television.
(Oct 2004 - Mar 2008)