Role at ANSTO
Dr Alan Riboldi-Tunnicliffe is jointly responsible (along with Dr Rachel M. Williamson) for the two single-crystal diffraction beamlines at the ANSTO Australian Synchrotron. Alongside the managerial tasks and roles associated with the role of Principal Scientist, a large part of his scientific role involves assisting the scientists from the crystallography user community through all aspects of their experiments; including formal and informal collaborations. He works within the MX team in commissioning new capabilities and equipment for both MX1 and MX2 and is co-responsible for improving and expanding the capabilities of the instrument.
His expertise is in the study of proteins involved with bacterial pathogenicity as well as developing techniques to assist in faster structure solution. Much of this work is motivated by the wish to understand the many and varied modes bacteria utilise to hijack cells and evade the immune system. Several of the projects he has worked on both during his PhD and Postdoctoral career have required method developments to allow more challenging crystal systems to be characterised, (developing novel flash cooling and phasing methods).
Prior to working at the ANSTO Australian Synchrotron, Alan was based at Glasgow University where he developed a program of research focusing on Streptococcus pneumoniae and human disease.
Expertise
- Molecular Biology, Protein Expression, Protein Characterisation and Crystallisation,
- Protein Crystallography, Novel Crystal Mounting/Cooling/Collection and Phasing Methods, Crystal Structure Solution.
Qualifications & Achievements
- Post-Doctoral positions held at Glasgow University Scotland (2000 - 2009).
- Fonda-Fasella Award – Elettra Sincrotrone Trieste (2000)
- Thuringian Research Prize Basic Research – (2000)
- Post-Doctoral position held at Institut für Molekulare Biotechnologie Jena (1999 - 2000).
- PhD in Protein Crystallography from University of Jena, Germany (Awarded 2000)
- M.Sci. in Cell & Enzyme Technology University of Central Lancashire (1995)