Meet the Hine Lab
Anna Hine
Group leader
Anupama Chembath
Senior Researcher
Mohammad Ashraf
Senior Technician
Bitasadat Hosseini
Researcher
Aston University
Group leader
Senior Researcher
Senior Technician
Researcher
The Hine lab’s principal expertise is in high-throughput gene/protein library generation.
We have invented both ‘MAX’ and ‘ProxiMAX’ and randomization technologies. Each is a defined
saturation mutagenesis platform that delivers precision control of both identity and
relative
ratio of amino acids at specified locations within a protein library. Each process is
non-degenerate,
meaning that encoding DNA libraries are as small as is physically possible. ‘MAX’
randomization targets
codons at separated locations within a gene and is particularly applicable to α-helical
proteins, whilst
‘ProxiMAX’ is designed to saturate multiple contiguous codons as required in antibody
engineering and is
the technology that lies behind Isogenica’s Colibra™ offering.
Since no constraints are
imposed by the
genetic code, both technologies can eliminate unwanted amino acids such as cysteine and
methionine from
libraries or encode desired subsets of amino acids with ease. We also have expertise in
analyzing protein-ligand
interactions and particularly relevant to the PRe-ART project, in collaborating with
physical scientists, including
chemists, chemical engineers, materials scientists, physicists and mathematicians. Such
collaborative projects include
development of photonic biosensors, delivery of active proteins to the cytoplasm of cells,
protein-based purification of
plasmid DNA and mathematical prediction of protein-DNA interactions.
Chembath A., Wagstaffe B. P. G., Ashraf M., Amaral M. M. F., Frigotto L. & Hine A. V. (2022) Nondegenerate Saturation Mutagenesis: Library Construction and Analysis via MAX and ProxiMAX Randomization. Directed Evolution: Methods in Molecular Biology. Currin, A. & Swainston, N. (eds.). Springer, Vol. 2461. p. 19-41 23 p. (Methods in Molecular Biology; vol. 2461).
Ferreira-Amaral, M.M., Frigotto, L. and Hine, A.V. (2017) Beyond the natural proteome: nondegenerate saturation mutagenesis – methodologies and advantages. Meth. Enyzmol. 585, 111-133. Link to article.
Frigotto L., Smith, M.E., Brankin, C., Sedani, A., Cooper, S.E., Kanwar, N., Evans, D., Svobodova, S., Baar, C., Glanville, J, Ullman, C.G. and Hine, A.V. (2015) Codon-precise, synthetic, antibody fragment libraries built using automated hexamer codon additions and validated through Next Generation Sequencing. Antibodies 4, 88-102. Link to article.
Ashraf, M., Frigotto, L., Smith, M.E., Patel, S., Hughes, M.D., Poole, A.J., Hebaishi, H.R.M., Ullman, C.G. and Hine, A.V. (2013) ProxiMAX randomisation: a new technology for non-degenerate saturation mutagenesis of contiguous codons. Biochem. Soc. Trans. 41, 1189-1194. Link to article.