Dr Roman Tuma
- Position: Visiting Research Fellow
- Areas of expertise: biophysics; single molecule fluorescence; virus assembly; self-assembly
- Email: R.Tuma@leeds.ac.uk
- Phone: +44(0)113 343 3080
- Website: makrokomplex @ University of South Bohemia, Ceske Budejovice | ORCID
Research interests
1. Virus assembly - dsRNA viruses/Avian reovirus, viral factories/viroplasms
2. Mechano-chemical coupling in molecular motors that translocate along nucleic acids and polypeptides e.g. viral ATPases and SecYEG/SecA
3. Assembly of bacteriochlorophylls and structure of light harvesting antennae - chlorosomes
4. Single miolecule fluorescence and other optical spectroscopy
We apply combination of advanced biophysical and structural techniques to study self-assembly and function of large macromolecular complexes such as viruses, Sec translocon, helicases and light harvesting complexes. Key biological processes that are studied in our group: RNA packaging and segment assortment in dsRNA viruses of the Reoviridae family; mechanism and dynamics of hexameric helicases and SecA driven polypeptide translocation across membranes. We also use self-assembly of bacterial photosynthetic pigments to create hybrid quantum dot nanostructures for applications in synthetic biology and nanophotonics.
<h4>Research projects</h4> <p>Some research projects I'm currently working on, or have worked on, will be listed below. Our list of all <a href="https://biologicalsciences.leeds.ac.uk/dir/research-projects">research projects</a> allows you to view and search the full list of projects in the faculty.</p>Qualifications
- Ph.D. 1996
- M.Sc. 1990
Professional memberships
- Microbiology Society
- British Biophysical Society
- Biochemical Society
- RNA Society
Student education