While talent is universal, opportunity is not
Lucy Bye-Fellow, Dr Gracelin Baskaran, shares her inspirational career journey and offers some great advice.
Dr Bridget Bannerman and collaborators publish their research on integrated metabolic models, human cell and SARS-CoV-2
Bioinformatician and Drug discovery expert, Dr Bridget Bannerman is Lucy's Bye-Fellow and Director of Studies in Natural Sciences (Biological Part II Chemistry).
Within the past few months she has authored and co-authored 6 publications, including 3 research articles on evaluating novel treatment strategies against SARS-CoV-2 and other coronaviruses; one book chapter on the mathematical modelling of metabolic networks; and 2 articles on the pathogenic evolution of bacteria and parasites including M. abscessus and Trypanosoma brucei.
The most recent paper is titled ‘Integrated human/SARS-CoV-2 metabolic models present novel treatment strategies against COVID-19’ and was published on 5th August 2021 in the Life Science Alliance journal, a global, open-access, editorially independent, and peer-reviewed journal founded by an alliance of EMBO Press, Rockefeller University Press, and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press.
In this research paper, Bannerman and collaborators create, compare and analyse different mathematical models of various human cells and SARS-CoV-2, showing the biochemical reactions required for the growth and general maintenance of the human cell, first, in its healthy state. The researchers demonstrate how the entry of SARS-CoV-2 into the human cell causes biochemical and structural changes, leading to a change of cell functions or cell death. A new computational method that predicts 20 unique reactions as drug targets from our models and provides a platform for future studies on viral entry inhibition, immune regulation, and drug optimisation strategies.
The model is available in BioModels and the software tool, findCPcli, that implements the computational method is available here.
You can read the full paper here.
About Dr Bannerman
She specialises in translational science, cheminformatics as well as in evolution and theoretical systems biology. She has successfully developed predictive models to support drug discovery initiatives towards infections caused by various protists and mycobacteria and, most recently, SARS-CoV-2 virus. Other projects she has been involved in include clinical trials at the Cambridge University Hospitals and the UK Medical Research Council in The Gambia to heading capacity building and gender streaming initiatives at the Science Resources Africa programme. She has widespread collaborations at leading institutions in the USA, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Sweden, France and Brazil and partners with international organisations including UNESCO, WHO and Schlumberger.
Details of all her recent publications can be found here.
