Jagroop Pandhal

I have primarily worked with environmentally sourced samples from a microbiological and molecular biology perspective. During my doctoral studies I worked at the interface of life sciences and engineering developing quantitative proteomics tools to complement environment-focused projects with functional characterisation. I became interested in proteomics as proteins are the functional entities in cells, driving biological processes. Therefore the proteome provides a window into environmental adaptation mechanisms. The discovery of a potentially novel bacterial clade with a unique combination of tolerance strategies led to the work being featured in an editorial special of Proteomics journal with a podcast interview and I received the Thring Prize for best thesis 2008.

As a Post Doctoral Research Associate, the BBSRC Bioprocess Research Industry Club funded me where I used proteomics as a tool in conjunction with inverse and traditional metabolic engineering techniques, to produce human therapeutic proteins. More specifically this involved characterisation and quantitation of protein post-translational modifications in bacterial cells. Although the aim of this research is bioprocessing, the key element is the development of -omics technologies, building on previous expertise with added complexity of glycosylating components. During this time I lectured in biotechnology, bioprocessing and bioengineering.

New research perspectives are in the field of metaproteomics, the study of proteins in complex environmental samples. Natural biological systems comprise complex combinations of organisms. It is commonly predicted that far less than 1% of microorganisms have been cultured in the laboratory, leaving a wealth of biological knowledge and biotechnological potential untouched and potential distortion of our understanding of microbial functions and adaptations.

Moreover, microorganisms commonly function in communities where they interact with each other through exchange of metabolites, genes and cell-cell interactions. Therefore metaproteomics can provide a signature of ecosystem function. This information can be combined with traditional ecology data (theory and experiments), which is the aim of my present research as a NERC fellow.