Dr Briony Yorke

Biography

My research focuses on developing new methods to investigate the molecular dynamics essential to biological processes. This involves determining the relationship between molecular structure, dynamics and function. I am currently developing a novel method for time-resolved crystallography (HATRX, Hadamard Time-Resolved crystallography) to investigate the mechanism of UV damage in γD-crystallin, a process that eventually leads to the formation of cataracts. I am interested in investigating biological molecules with resistance to ionizing radiation using a combination of time-resolved crystallography and various spectroscopies such as  Raman, Fluorescence and UV/Vis absorption. My research involves the use of national synchrotron facilities in the UK, Germany and France and is highly interdisciplinary involving collaborations between researchers specialising in Biology, Chemistry and Physics.