Dr Andrzej Harris

After completing his PhD in Biological Science at Corpus Christi, Dr Harris joined the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology at the University of Cambridge as a Postdoctoral Fellow, specialising in cryo-EM reconstruction of bacterial protein filaments involved in cell division and plasmid DNA segregation.

Afterwards, he moved to the University's Department of Biochemistry, where he was applying his cryo-EM expertise to the reconstruction and computational modelling of antibiotic transport by bacterial tripartite efflux pumps and related membrane proteins.

In 2023 he joined the Department of Pharmacology, focusing on lecturing and organising teaching on the three undergraduate courses ran by the Department: Mechanisms of Drug Action for IB Medical and Veterinary Sciences Tripos, as well as Part IB and Part II Pharmacology for Natural Sciences Tripos.

Alhumaidi M., Nentwig L-M., Rahman H., Schmitt L., Rudrow A., Harris A., Dillon C., Restrepo L., Lamping E., Arya N., Ambudkar S.V., Choy J.S., Golin J. Residues forming the gating regions of asymmetric multidrug transporter Pdr5 also play roles in conformational switching and protein folding. Journal of Biological Chemistry (2022), 298(12), 102689.

Wagner M., Blum D., Raschka S.L., Nentwig, L.-M., Gertzen C.G.W., Chen M., Gatsogiannis C., Harris A., Smits S.H.J., Wagner R., Schmitt L. A new twist in ABC transporter mediated multidrug resistance—Pdr5 is a drug/proton co-transporter. Journal of Molecular Biology (2022), 434(14), 167669.

Webber A., Ratnaweera M., Harris A., Luisi B.F., Ntsogo Enguéné V.F. A model for allosteric communication in drug transport by the AcrAB-TolC tripartite efflux pump. Antibiotics (2022), 11(1), 52. 

Harris A., Wagner M., Du D., Raschka S., Nentwig L.-M., Gohlke H., Smits H.J.S., Luisi B.F., Schmitt L. Structure and efflux mechanism of the yeast pleiotropic drug resistance transporter Pdr5. Nature Communications (2021), 12(1), 5254. Preprint: bioRxiv; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.02.09.430491

Du D., Neuberger A., Orr M.W., Newman C.E., Hsu P.-C., Samsudin F.F., Szewczak-Harris A., Ramos L.M., Debela M., Khalid S., Storz G., Luisi B.F. Interactions of a bacterial RND transporter with a transmembrane small protein in a lipid environment. Structure (2020), 28(6), 625–634. Preprint: bioRxiv; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/813394

Szewczak-Harris A., Wagstaff J., Löwe, J. Cryo‐EM structure of the MinCD copolymeric filament from Pseudomonas aeruginosa at 3.1 Å resolution. FEBS Letters (2019), 593(15), 1915–1926. Preprint: bioRxiv 638619; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/638619

Szewczak-Harris A., Löwe, J. Cryo-EM reconstruction of AlfA from Bacillus subtilis reveals the structure of a simplified actin-like filament at 3.4-Å resolution. PNAS (2018), 115(13), 3458-3463. Preprint: bioRxiv 190744; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/190744

Fink G., Szewczak-Harris A., Löwe, J. The Bacterial Cytoskeleton—filament systems in archaea and bacteria. Cell (2016), 166(1), 552.