Natalie Bamford
Natalie Bamford, a former University of Toronto Biochemistry Specialist and current PhD student in the Howell lab, was recently awarded a prestigious Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) to continue her studies. Natalie’s research focuses on understanding the biosynthesis of the fungal biofilm exopolysaccharide galactosaminogalactan.
“This is a new exciting project as little is known of fungal exopolysaccharide biosynthesis. I have been able to explore proteins within the Aspergillus fumigatus system using X-ray crystallography and in vitro experiments in combination with the in vivo experiments conducted by the Sheppard lab at McGill University” says Bamford. She was lead author on a paper, published in the November 13th issue of Journal of Biological Chemistry, entitled “Sph3 Is a Glycoside Hydrolase Required for the Biosynthesis of Galactosaminogalactan in Aspergillus fumigatus”. The paper was featured on the front cover and named as “Paper of the Week”. This work identified a novel glycoside hydrolase essential for galactosaminogalactan production.
