Dr Simon Moore

The Moore Lab - Synthetic Biology for Natural Products For full details of the group, please visit the official website or follow on twitter. www.simonmoorelab.com https://twitter.com/sjmoore505
 
Simon re-joined the School in September 2018 as a Lecturer in Molecular Biology. He  previously studied for a PhD in Biochemistry at the University of Kent with Professor Martin Warren.  A Postdoctoral position followed, with Professor Paul Freemont and Dr Karen Polizzi at Imperial College, London.
ORCID ID: 0000-0002-1968-206X

Synthetic Biology for Natural Products
Natural products from soil bacteria Synthetic Biology
Cell-free protein synthesis 

Undergraduate

• BI628 Microbial Physiology and Genetics II (Module convenor)

MSc-R projects available for 2020/21

The following project is available for MSc Microbiology by Research starting in September 2020. Please contact s.j.r.moore@kent.ac.uk for specific enquiries. 

Towards quinine analogs for novel Covid-19 (SARS-CoV-2) therapeutics ( joint supervision with Dr Gary Robinson) 
The antimalarial quinine is a natural product from Cinchona bark that has been used as a medicine since the 1700s by indigenous South American tribes. Chloroquine and derivatives are synthetic quinine analogs that have been implicated as potential therapeutic treatments for Covid-19, although further research is required to extend the synthetic toolbox. This project will use a synthetic biology approach to discover routes to natural quinine analogs to develop drug candidates for SARS-CoV-2 therapeutic research. This will involve isolating novel genes, protein purification, enzyme characterisation and the design of synthetic biochemical pathways 

Additional Research costs: £1500

Synthetic biology refactoring of an anti-tumour drug from a deep-sea marine bacteria This project will use a synthetic biology perspective to look at unlocking a potential anti-tumour antibiotic from a Norcardia seriolae, a widespread fish pathogen. We will investigate a hybrid indolocarbazole-non-ribosomal synthetase gene cluster that we believe encodes a novel anti-viral or anti-tumour drug.
Additional Research costs: £1500   

Cell-free biosynthesis of xenobiotics Cell-free systems are a rapidly developing area within synthetic biology. Here we will use a cell-free protein synthesis platform for prototyping cell-free biosynthesis of non-natural antibiotics.
Additional Research costs: £1500 

PhD student and Research Master applications from UK, EU, & Overseas are always considered. Various funding sources and scholarships can be explored for PhD studentship applications. Please send your CV and summary of your research interests to: s.j.r.moore@kent.ac.uk