Robert Charles Robinson

The driving principle of the laboratory is that shape defines function. This laboratory uses structural biology to “see” the protein components of biological machines. Through understanding how the parts fit together, and how the components move relative to each other, we being to understand what these biological machines do, and how and why they work. Specifically, the “designs” of protein machines have been perfected (selected for) over several billion years of evolution. Through comparing the genomes from organisms that have diverged at different time points in evolution, we chart the paths of how protein machines have become more sophisticated in carrying out their functions.