Katherine Robins obtained a BSc. with a double major in in Cell and Molecular Biosciences and Mathematics from Victoria University of Wellington (New Zealand). Katherine went on to complete her PhD in Biotechnology at the same university, in the lab of Professor David Ackerley. Her PhD research involved the discovery, characterisation, and engineering of natural product biosynthetic enzymes. She then spent a further 2.5 years in the group as postdoctoral researcher, working on two different enzyme engineering projects. In 2019 Katherine moved to the UK for a postdoctoral position at the University of Oxford, working in the lab of Professor Chris O’Callaghan, studying site-specific DNA methyltransferase enzymes. Katherine joined the Micklefield group in 2020 where she is working on engineering NRPS/PKS enzymes to deliver new antibiotics.
Selected publications:
Gene editing enables rapid engineering of complex antibiotic assembly lines. W. L. Thong, Y. Zhang, Y. Zhuo, K. J. Robins, J. K. Fyans, A. J. Herbert, B. J. C. Law & J. Micklefield Nature Commun 2021, 12, 6872. (DOI:10.1038/s41467-021-27139-1)
Intracellular complexities of acquiring a new enzymatic function revealed by mass-randomisation of active site residues. K. R. Hall, K. J. Robins, E. M. Williams, M. H. Rich, M. J. Calcott, J. N. Copp, R. F. Little, R. Schwörer, G. B. Evans, W. M. Patrick, D. F. Ackerley elife 2020, 9:e59081 (DOI:10.7554/eLife.59081)
Methods for Competitive Enrichment and Evaluation of Superior DNA Ligases. Sharma, J.K., Stevenson, L.J., Robins, K.J., Williamson, A.K., Patrick, W.M., Ackerley, D.F. Methods in Enzymology 2020, 644:209-225 (DOI:10.1016/bs.mie.2020.04.061).
A sensitive single-enzyme assay system using the non-ribosomal peptide synthetase BpsA for measurement of L-glutamine in biological samples. A. S. Brown, K.J Robins, D.F. Ackerley Scientific Reports 2017, 7, 41745. (DOI:10.1038/srep41745 (2017))
Generating Functional Recombinant NRPS Enzymes in the Laboratory Setting via Peptidyl Carrier Protein Engineering. J. G. Owen, M. J. Calcott, K. J. Robins, D. F. Ackerley Cell Chemical Biology 2016 23(11): 1395-1406. (DOI:10.1016/j.chembiol.2016.09.014)
Escherichia coli NemA Is an Efficient Chromate Reductase That Can Be Biologically Immobilized to Provide a Cell Free System for Remediation of Hexavalent Chromium. K. J. Robins, D. O. Hooks, B. H. A. Rehm, D. F. Ackerley PLoS ONE 2013 8(3): e59200. (https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0059200)
A functional screen for recovery of 4′-phosphopantetheinyl transferase and associated natural product biosynthesis genes from metagenome libraries. J. G. Owen*, K. J. Robins*, N. S. Parachin, D. F. Ackerley Environmental Microbiology, 2012 14: 1198–1209. (DOI:10.1111/j.1462-2920.2012.02699.x)* Joint First Authors