Summary
Sahir is a post-doctoral member of the crystallisation group in CSM.
Research Interests
1. The crystallisation of proteins and other biological molecules that are targets for structure based drug design (with a particular focus on cancer and cardiac illness).
2. The development of new and improved methodology for the production of high quality crystals. Themes central to the research include;
* Design and fabrication of porous nucleating agents.
* Cross-discipline research into 'nano' and 'smart' materials.
* Systematic characterisation of the microgravity environment.
* Optimisation of the initial screening process.
* Targetting the crucial nucleation step (including its induction, minimisation and circumvention).
* Subsequent automation and adaptation to high throughput (for the afore-mentioned methodology to be of benefit to the wider crystallisation community).
3. Structural Biology, Structural Genomics and Proteomics.
4. The various roles crystals play in everyday life.

A MIF crystal grown using a Molecularly Imprinted Polymer Nucleating Agent
Academic Qualifications
PhD. Imperial College London
‘The Development of New and Improved Methodology to Tackle the Crystallisation Bottleneck in the Post Genomic Era’.
MSc. Virology: London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
BSc. Hons. Microbiology: Imperial College London.
Recent Highlights
* Saridakis E; Khurshid S; Govada L; Phan Q; Hawkins D; Crichlow GV; Lolis E; Reddy SM; et al. (5 Jul 2011). Protein crystallization facilitated by molecularly imprinted polymers. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 108:11081-11086. Author weblink DOI.
* Kertis F; Khurshid S; Okman O; Kysar JW; Govada L; Chayen N; Erlebacher J. (7 Nov 2012). Heterogeneous nucleation of protein crystals using nanoporous gold nucleants. JOURNAL OF MATERIALS CHEMISTRY. 22:21928-21934. Author weblink DOI.
* images displayed at the 'Crystal World' exhibition at the Royal Society. link
* participating in various Outreach events, including the MRC Centenary celebrations at the Science Museum.
Publications
Journals
Khurshid S, Saridakis E, Govada L, et al. , 2014, Porous nucleating agents for protein crystallization, Nature Protocols, Vol:9, ISSN:1750-2799, Pages:1621-1633
Kertis F, Khurshid S, Okman O, et al. , 2012, Heterogeneous nucleation of protein crystals using nanoporous gold nucleants, Journal of Materials Chemistry, Vol:22, ISSN:0959-9428, Pages:21928-21934
Saridakis E, Khurshid S, Govada L, et al. , 2011, Protein crystallization facilitated by molecularly imprinted polymers, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, Vol:108, ISSN:0027-8424, Pages:11081-11086
Garcia-Caballero A, Gavira JA, Pineda-Molina E, et al. , 2011, Optimization of Protein Crystallization: The OptiCryst Project, Crystal Growth & Design, Vol:11, ISSN:1528-7483, Pages:2112-2121
Khurshid S, Haire LF, Chayen NE, 2010, Automated seeding for the optimization of crystal quality, Journal of Applied Crystallography, Vol:43, ISSN:0021-8898, Pages:752-756