Bond Bai

PhD Candidate

Project title

How Banf1 functions to inhibit the activity of PARP1

Supervisory Team

Principal Supervisor: Professor Derek Richard
Associate Supervisors: Dr Emma Bolderson, Dr Neha Gandhi, Dr Jamie Riches

Project description

Bond’s current project is aimed at investigating the protein structures of Banf1 and how it functions to form complex with and inhibit the protein PARP1 using Cryo-Electron microscopy and other biomedical techniques. PARP1 is a promising therapeutic target for the treatment of ageing related diseases such as cancer. Studying the relationship and structure of the proteins PARP1 and its binding partner Banf1 will contribute to the improvement of therapeutic outcomes of patients suffering from ageing related diseases.

Short Biography

While in primary school, Bond moved from China to Brisbane Australia, and went on to study science at QUT in 2015. In 2019, Bond joined Professor Nikolas Haass’ lab for his honours degree at UQ Diamantina institute where he undertook a project titled “Melanoma Brain Metastases and the Tumour Mechanical Microenvironment” with his principal supervisor Dr. Samantha Stehbens. Since early 2020, Bond has been a PhD student at the Cancer and Ageing Research Program with Professor Derek Richard as his principal supervisor.

Education

2019    Bachelor of Science (Honours) from the University of Queensland

2018    Bachelor of Biomedical Science from the Queensland University of Technology