Faculty Member Profile

PhD Research (2017-2020):
My PhD research project is aimed at fundamental studies of polyketide biosynthesis that underpins the development of clinically viable ‘new-to-nature’ antibiotic agents. Polyketides are natural products, produced as secondary metabolites by bacteria, fungi and some plants which display a wide range of use in medical treatment as antibiotics, antifungal, anticancer agents. So, this project is focusing onto the enzymatic functions in Mupirocin and Thiomarinol biosynthesis pathways, the natural antibiotics produced by Pseudomonas fluorescens and Pseudoalteromonas. The key aspects are structural and mechanistic studies of the complex, multi component mega-enzymes responsible for the biosynthesis of the antibiotic’s mupirocin and thiomarinol. The over-arching aim is to answer a number of fundamental questions regarding the processes involved in the assembly of these complex small molecules and use this information to direct develop ways to reengineer these and other mega-enzymes, en-route to the production of novel antibiotics.

Master's Research (2012-2013):
My Master's research project was on comparative investigation of bio-adsorbents (tannin gel and amine modified tannin gel) on organic dye removal from synthetic waste-water. These bio-adsorbents were previously reported relatively effective towards heavy metal removal from industrial effluents, where we are the first investigate their potential to adsorb organic dye and the result turned up impressive. I had published an article on this work.

Publications:

(1) A Priming Cassette Generates Hydroxylated Acyl Starter Units in Mupirocin and Thiomarinol Biosynthesis Paul D Walker, Matthew T Rowe, Ashley J Winter, Angus NM Weir, Nahida Akter, Luoyi Wang, Paul R Race, Christopher Williams, Zhongshu Song, Thomas J Simpson, Christine L Willis, Matthew P Crump, ACS Chemical Biology, 2020, 15 (2), 494-503

(2) Structural and Mechanistic Studies of Mupirocin and Thiomarinol Biosynthetic Pathway Enzymes: The Putative Reverse Esterase MupB and TmlB, Nahida Akter, Ash Winter, Christopher William, Matthew Rowe, Matthew P Crump, Conference report: XVI International Symposium on Marine Natural Products|XI European Conference on Marine Natural Products, marine drugs, 2020, 18, 40 (134 of 176)

(3) Understanding the Biosynthesis of the Fatty Acid Region of Mupirocin and Thiomarinol Matthew Rowe, Ashley Winter, Nahida Akter and Matthew Crump, Conference report: XVI International Symposium on Marine Natural Products|XI European Conference on Marine Natural Products, marine drugs, 2020, 18, 40 (131 of 176)

(4) Amine modified tannin gel for adsorptive removal of Brilliant Green dye Nahida Akter, Md Asjad Hossain, M Jobaer Hassan, MK Amin, M Elias, Mohammed M Rahman, Abdullah M Asiri, Iqbal A Siddiquey, Mohammad A Hasnat, Journal of environmental chemical engineering, 2016, 4 (1), 1231-1241

(5) Optimization, kinetic and thermodynamic studies for removal of Brilliant Red (X-3B) using Tannin gel M Maria Rahman, Nahida Akter, Mohammad Razaul Karim, Naushad Ahmad, Mohammed M Rahman, Iqbal A Siddiquey, Newaz Mohammad Bahadur, Mohammad A Hasnat, Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering, 2014, 2 (1), 76-83

Awards:
1) Commonwealth Scholarship (PhD Category) in UK-2017
Commonwealth Scholarship Commission (London) in United Kingdom
Award tenure: 2017-09 to 2020-09
(2) University Merit Scholarship (Masters) in 2014
Shahjalal University of Science & Technology, Sylhet, Bangladesh
Award tenure: Contemporary
(3) Scholarship based on H.S.C result (2006)
Ministry of Education, Bangladesh
(4) Scholarship based on S.S.C result (2004)
Ministry of Education, Bangladesh
(5) Junior Scholarship (2001)
Ministry of Education, Bangladesh