Dr Weston Struwe

I am a UKRI Future Leaders Fellow based in the Department of Chemistry and Kavli Institute for NanoScience Discovery. Prior to taking up my fellowship, I was Chief Scientific Officer of Refeyn, a University of Oxford spin-out based on mass photometry – a single molecule mass imaging technique I helped establish. I have been in Oxford since 2012, in both the Chemistry and Biochemistry Departments as a Post-Doctoral Researcher and Senior Research Associate where I studied the molecular mechanisms by which viruses glycosylate their surface proteins and developed new ways to understand how oligosaccharides interact with host receptors, innate immune lectin receptors and anti-viral lectins. Prior to moving to Oxford, I worked at the newly formed National Institute for Research and Training (NIBRT), a non-profit institute established to support research and education in biopharma globally. At NIBRT, I had the opportunity to work closely with a number of biotherapeutic companies to address various challenges in the analysis and process development of protein-based drugs. I obtained my BS from the University of Wisconsin, Madison and PhD from the University of New Hampshire.

Research in the Struwe Group centres on untangling the diverse and complex structure-function relationships of protein-linked oligosaccharides through the development of techniques that span protein engineering, chemical biology and mass spectrometry. Oligosaccharides, or glycans, are not only structurally diverse and contribute to remarkable protein heterogeneity but can be viewed as chemical elements that fine-tune protein biophysical properties and biomolecular interactions to various degrees.

The work we do focuses on host-pathogens interactions, principally among enveloped viruses, and our goal is to pin-point individual glycan structures, present among hundreds if not thousands of forms, responsible for discrete biological disease processes via the multivalent interactions they facilitate, including in receptor binding, immune recruitment and inflammation. A chemical understanding of such interactions is vital for designing next-generation therapeutics. Our approach is interdisciplinary but largely based on advanced methods in mass spectrometry and glycoprotein engineering strategies that enable us to study glycoprotein dynamics and transient, yet specific, glycan-dependent interactions.

Struwe Lab website