Staff profile

I am a PhD student funded by the BBSRC Newcastle-Liverpool-Durham Doctoral Training Partnership. I graduated from Durham University in 2021 with an MBiol in Bioscience, then worked for a year as an intermediate technician developing spider venom toxin-based biopesticides. Working in collaboration with New England Biolabs, my current project with Prof. Tim Blower aims to characterise the highly promiscuous type IV restriction enzyme involved in bacterial phage defence, BrxU. I will explore the biotechnological potential of BrxU, with a focus on mapping epigenetic modifications during disease development. 

Journal Article

• Miranda, M. P., Fitches, E. C., Sukiran, N. A., Eduardo, W. I., Garcia, R. B., Jaciani, F. J., Readshaw, J. J., Bell, J., & Peña, L. (2024). Spider venom neurotoxin based bioinsecticides: A novel bioactive for the control of the Asian citrus psyllid Diaphorina citri (Hemiptera). Toxicon: An Interdisciplinary Journal on the Toxins Derived from Animals, Plants and Microorganisms, 239, Article 107616. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.toxicon.2024.107616
• Sukiran, N. A., Pyati, P., Willis, C. E., Brown, A. P., Readshaw, J. J., & Fitches, E. C. (2023). Enhancing the oral and topical insecticidal efficacy of a commercialized spider venom peptide biopesticide via fusion to the carrier snowdrop lectin (Galanthus nivalis agglutinin). Pest Management Science, 79(1), 284-294. https://doi.org/10.1002/ps.7198
• De-Thier, J. S., Pyati, P., Bell, J., Readshaw, J. J., Brown, A. P., & Fitches, E. C. (2023). Heterologous production of the insecticidal pea seed albumin PA1 protein by Pichia pastoris and protein engineering to potentiate aphicidal activity via fusion to snowdrop lectin Galanthus nivalis agglutinin; GNA). Microbial Cell Factories, 22(1), Article 157. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12934-023-02176-1