Research
Living systems rely on proteins to sense their environment, process energy, and make decisions that sustain life. The Leney Lab studies how proteins are regulated and interact at the molecular level, using advanced mass spectrometry to uncover principles that impact biology, health, and sustainable technologies.
Nature's Light-Harvesting Machines: Blue-green algae
Blue‑green algae, also known as cyanobacteria, live deep in oceans and lakes where light is limited. To survive, they have evolved highly efficient light‑harvesting structures called phycobilisomes. These large protein assemblies act like biological solar panels, capturing and transferring light energy with remarkable efficiency. The Leney Lab studies how phycobilisomes are structured and how they function so effectively under low‑light conditions. By understanding how nature solves the problem of energy capture, we aim to inspire the design of synthetic light‑harvesting systems, with potential applications in renewable energy and sustainable technologies.
Protein Switches: How Chemical Modifications Control Cells
Proteins are not always active. Instead, they are constantly switched on and off in response to the cell’s needs. These switches are controlled by post‑translational modifications (PTMs) — small chemical tags added to proteins after they are made.
There are hundreds of different PTMs, each capable of changing how a protein behaves, where it is located, or which partners it interacts with. With over 10,000 proteins in human cells, understanding how these modifications work together is one of the major challenges in modern biology. Moreover, when this regulation fails, the consequences can be serious. Errors in protein modification are linked to diseases such as cancer, neurological disorders, and diabetes.
A major focus of our research is PTM crosstalk — the process by which adding one modification to a protein influences whether another modification can occur elsewhere on the same protein.
Using mass spectrometry, we can detect tiny changes in protein mass and precisely identify which modifications are present. By uncovering when certain modifications are compatible — or mutually exclusive — we aim to understand the complex rules that govern protein behaviour inside cells.
Molecular Glues: Technologies for Discovery and Mechanistic Insight
Many disease‑relevant proteins are difficult to target using conventional drug‑discovery approaches. Molecular glues offer a new strategy by inducing or stabilising protein–protein interactions, but discovering and characterising these compounds requires sophisticated analytical technologies capable of capturing transient and complex assemblies.
Research in the Leney Lab, focuses on developing and applying advanced mass spectrometry‑based technologies to enable molecular glue discovery. This work leverages the ability of mass spectrometry to directly detect glue‑induced protein complexes. By advancing analytical tools that reveal when, where, and how molecular glues remodel protein interaction networks, this research supports the development of next‑generation drug discovery platforms aimed at targeting previously inaccessible disease biology.