Staff profile

Research Interests

My research centres on the biomolecular design approach to synthetic biology. Current directions include:

• The design of a novel protein based motor that walks along DNA.
• The design of sequences that adopt multiple native states.
• Peptide based methods for coupling changes in chemical potential to mechanical outputs.
• Understanding the energy landscape of coiled-coil oligomerization. 
• The design of self-assembling fibre systems.

 For further information please see here.

Journal Article

• Beck, I. N., Arrowsmith, T. J., Grobbelaar, M. J., Bromley, E. C., Marles-Wright, J., & Blower, T. R. (2023). Toxin release by conditional remodelling of ParDE1 from Mycobacterium tuberculosis leads to gyrase inhibition. Nucleic Acids Research, https://doi.org/10.1093/nar/gkad1220
• Barton, S. B., Armstrong, P. V., Robinson, L. J., & Bromley, E. H. (2023). CBT for difficult-to-treat depression: self-regulation model. Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy, 1-16. https://doi.org/10.1017/s1352465822000273
• Guillen-Garcia, A., Gibson, S., Jordan, C., Ramaswamy, V., Linthwaite, V., Bromley, E., …Cann, M. (2022). Allophycocyanin A is a carbon dioxide receptor in the cyanobacterial phycobilisome. Nature Communications, 13, Article 5289. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-32925-6
• Cincotti, A., Maucher, F., Evans, D., Chapin, B. M., Horner, K., Bromley, E., …Sutcliffe, P. (2019). Threaded Rings that Swim in Excitable Media. Physical Review Letters, 123(25), Article 258102. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.123.258102
• Small, L., Zuckermann, M., Sessions, R., Curmi, P., Linke, H., Forde, N., & Bromley, E. (2019). The Bar-Hinge Motor: A synthetic protein design exploiting conformational switching to achieve directional motility. New Journal of Physics, 21, Article 013002. https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/aaf3ca
• Gimenez, D., Aguilar, J., Bromley, E., & Cobb, S. (2018). Stabilising Peptoid Helices Using Non‐Chiral Fluoroalkyl Monomers. Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 57(33), 10549-10553. https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.201804488
• Sturala, J., Etherington, M. K., Bismillah, A. N., Higginbotham, H. F., Trewby, W. J., Aguilar, J. A., …McGonigal, P. R. (2017). Excited-State Aromatic Interactions in the Aggregation-Induced Emission of Molecular Rotors. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 139(49), 17882-17889. https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.7b08570
• Small, L. S., Bruning, M., Thomson, A. R., Boyle, A. L., Davies, R. B., Curmi, P. M., …Bromley, E. H. (2017). Construction of a chassis for a tripartite protein-based molecular motor. ACS Synthetic Biology, 6(6), 1096-1102. https://doi.org/10.1021/acssynbio.7b00037
• Bolt, H., Williams, C., Brooks, R., Zuckermann, R., Cobb, S., & Bromley, E. (2017). Log D versus HPLC derived hydrophobicity: The development of predictive tools to aid in the rational design of bioactive peptoids. Biopolymers, 108(4), Article e23014. https://doi.org/10.1002/bip.23014
• Phang, J., Harrop, S., Duff, A., Sokolova, A., Crossett, B., Walsh, J., …Curmi, P. (2016). Structural characterization suggests models for monomeric and dimeric forms of full-length ezrin. Biochemical Journal, 473(18), 2763-2782. https://doi.org/10.1042/bcj20160541
• Zuckermann, M., Angstmann, C., Schmitt, R., Blab, G., Bromley, E., Forde, N., …Curmi, P. (2015). Motor properties from persistence: a linear molecular walker lacking spatial and temporal asymmetry. New Journal of Physics, 17(5), Article 055017. https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/17/5/055017
• Kovacic, S., Samii, L., Lamour, G., Li, H., Linke, H., Bromley, E., …Forde, N. (2014). Construction and Characterization of Kilobasepair Densely Labeled Peptide-DNA. Biomacromolecules, 15(11), https://doi.org/10.1021/bm501109p
• Boyle, A., Bromley, E., Bartlett, G., Sessions, R., Sharp, T., Williams, C., …Woolfson, D. (2012). Squaring the Circle in Peptide Assembly: From Fibers to Discrete Nanostructures by de Novo Design. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 134(37), https://doi.org/10.1021/ja3053943
• Fletcher, J., Boyle, A., Bruning, M., Bartlett, G., Vincent, T., Zaccai, N., …Woolfson, D. (2012). A Basis Set of de Novo Coiled-Coil Peptide Oligomers for Rational Protein Design and Synthetic Biology. ACS Synthetic Biology, 1(6), 240-250. https://doi.org/10.1021/sb300028q
• Kuwada, N., Zuckermann, M., Bromley, E., Sessions, R., Curmi, P., Forde, N., …Linke, H. (2011). Tuning the performance of an artificial protein motor. Physical review E: Statistical, nonlinear, and soft matter physics, 84(3), Article 031922. https://doi.org/10.1103/physreve.84.031922
• Xiong, X., Bromley, E., Oelschlaeger, P., Woolfson, D., & Spencer, J. (2011). Structural insights into quinolone antibiotic resistance mediated by pentapeptide repeat proteins: conserved surface loops direct the activity of a Qnr protein from a Gram-negative bacterium. Nucleic Acids Research, 39(9), 3917-3927. https://doi.org/10.1093/nar/gkq1296
• Samii, L., Blab, G., Bromley, E., Linke, H., Curmi, P., Zuckermann, M., & Forde, N. (2011). Time-dependent motor properties of multipedal molecular spiders. Physical review E: Statistical, nonlinear, and soft matter physics, 84(3), Article 031111. https://doi.org/10.1103/physreve.84.031111
• Fonseca, F., Arthur, C., Bromley, E., Samyn, B., Moerman, P., Saavedra, M., …Spencer, J. (2011). Biochemical Characterization of Sfh-I, a Subclass B2 Metallo-beta-Lactamase from Serratia fonticola UTAD54. Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, 55(11), 5392-5395. https://doi.org/10.1128/aac.00429-11
• Fonseca, F., Bromley, E., Saavedra, M., Correia, A., & Spencer, J. (2011). Crystal Structure of Serratia fonticola Sfh-I: Activation of the Nucleophile in Mono-Zinc Metallo-beta-Lactamases. Journal of Molecular Biology, 411(5), 951-959. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmb.2011.06.043
• Bromley, E., Channon, K., King, P., Mahmoud, Z., Banwell, E., Butler, M., …Woolfson, D. (2010). Assembly Pathway of a Designed α-Helical Protein Fiber. Biophysical Journal, 98(8), 1668-1676. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bpj.2009.12.4309
• Bromley, E., Kuwada, N., Zuckermann, M., Donadini, R., Samii, L., Blab, G., …Linke, H. (2009). The Tumbleweed: towards a synthetic protein motor. HFSP journal, 3(3), 204-212
• Bulheller, B., Rodger, A., Hicks, M., Dafforn, T., Serpell, L., Marshall, K., …Hirst, J. (2009). Flow Linear Dichroism of Some Prototypical Proteins. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 131(37), 13305-13314
• Armstrong, C., Boyle, A., Bromley, E., Mahmoud, Z., Smith, L., Thomson, A., & Woolfson, D. (2009). Rational design of peptide-based building blocks for nanoscience and synthetic biology. Faraday Discussions, 143, 305-317
• Bromley, E., Sessions, R., Thomson, A., & Woolfson, D. (2009). Designed alpha-Helical Tectons for Constructing Multicomponent Synthetic Biological Systems. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 131(3), 928-930. https://doi.org/10.1021/ja804231a
• Channon, K., Bromley, E., & Woolfson, D. (2008). Synthetic biology through biomolecular design and engineering. Current Opinion in Structural Biology, 18(4), 491-498
• Gribbon, C., Channon, K., Zhang, W., Banwell, E., Bromley, E., Chaudhuri, J., …Woolfson, D. (2008). MagicWand: A single, designed peptide that assembles to stable, ordered alpha-helical fibers. Biochemistry, 47(39), 10365-10371
• Bromley, E., Channon, K., Moutevelis, E., & Woolfson, D. (2008). Peptide and protein building blocks for synthetic biology: From programming biomolecules to self-organized biomolecular systems. ACS Chemical Biology, 3(1), 38-50. https://doi.org/10.1021/cb700249v
• Papapostolou, D., Bromley, E., Bano, C., & Woolfson, D. (2008). Electrostatic control of thickness and stiffness in a designed protein fiber. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 130(15), 5124-5130. https://doi.org/10.1021/ja0778444
• Rogers, S., Krebs, M., Bromley, E., van der Linden, E., & Donald, A. (2006). Optical microscopy of growing insulin amyloid spherulites on surfaces in vitro. Biophysical Journal, 90(3), 1043-1054
• Bromley, E., Krebs, M., & Donald, A. (2006). Mechanisms of structure formation in particulate gels of beta-lactoglobulin formed near the isoelectric point. The European Physical Journal E, 21(2), 145-152
• Keetch, C., Bromley, E., McCammon, M., Wang, N., Christodoulou, J., & Robinson, C. (2005). L55P transthyretin accelerates subunit exchange and leads to rapid formation of hybrid tetramers. Journal of Biological Chemistry, 280(50), 41667-41674
• Krebs, M., Bromley, E., Rogers, S., & Donald, A. (2005). The mechanism of amyloid spherulite formation by bovine insulin. Biophysical Journal, 88(3), 2013-2021
• Krebs, M., Bromley, E., & Donald, A. (2005). The binding of thioflavin-T to amyloid fibrils: localisation and implications. Journal of Structural Biology, 149(1), 30-37. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsb.2004.08.002
• Bromley, E., Krebs, M., & Donald, A. (2005). Aggregation across the length-scales in beta-lactoglobulin. Faraday Discussions, 128, 13-27
• Bromley, E., & Hopkinson, I. (2002). Confocal microscopy of a dense particle system. Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, 245(1), 75-80