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