New Ramsay Fellow in Applied Science

New Ramsay Fellow Dr Fiona Whelan will use her expertise in protein engineering to apply a synthetic biology approach to the evolution of bespoke ligand binding protein modules.

Dr Whelan has been appointed as the newest Ramsay Fellow in Applied Science.

Dr Whelan will commence the four-year fellowship next month in the Synthetic Biology group of Associate Professor Keith Shearwin, part of the Department of Molecular and Biomedical Science in the School of Biological Sciences.

Utilising her expertise in protein engineering, Dr Whelan's project aims to harness the natural sensing ability of bacteria with the potential for application as biosensors in diverse industries such as medical diagnostics, food security, biomonitoring and bioremediation.

A University of Adelaide graduate, Dr Whelan returned to Australia in 2018 from a Postdoctoral Research Associate position at the University of York where her work focused on the structural biology of viral and bacterial nucleic acid binding proteins, staphylococcal cell surface adhesins and two-component sensors. She brings this experience to the department, along with a number of valuable and complementary skills in protein chemistry and biophysics.

Dr Whelan will introduce her fellowship project in more detail at the annual Ramsay Fellowship Seminars on December 4. See link below for more information.

Ramsay Fellowship event details

The Ramsay Fellowship was established in 2008 with a significant bequest from the Ramsay family to support outstanding young Australian scientists and enhance their potential as future scientific leaders. The four-year fellowships encourage Australian scientists working overseas to return home.