Sarah Anne Harris is a British physicist who is an Associate Professor of Biological Physics at the
University of Leeds.
Her research investigates biomolecular simulations and the topology of DNA. In particular, she makes use of
molecular dynamics to explore how DNA responds to stress. She serves as chair of the
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council
The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) is a British Research Council that provides government funding for grants to undertake research and postgraduate degrees in engineering and the physical sciences, mainly to universi ...
(EPSRC) computational collaborative project in Biomolecular simulation.
Early life and education
Harris was an undergraduate student in physics at the
University of Oxford.
She was a graduate student at the
University of Nottingham where she studied the structure and dynamics of
DNA.
Research and career
Harris joined
University College London where she worked on
condensed matter physics
Condensed matter physics is the field of physics that deals with the macroscopic and microscopic physical properties of matter, especially the solid and liquid phases which arise from electromagnetic forces between atoms. More generally, the sub ...
. She joined the faculty at the
University of Leeds in 2004, where she holds a joint position at the Astbury Centre for Structural and Molecular Biology.
Her research considers the development of theoretical and computational biophysical tools to address open questions in molecular biophysics.
Circular DNA sequences are present in bacterial, mitochondrial and cancer genomes, and offer promise for the design of gene vectors.
These circular sequences can withstand superhelical stresses, resulting in the formation of
DNA supercoils. Whilst such supercoils are frequently observed ''
in vivo'', their closed topology renders them more challenging to study experimentally than their linear counterparts.
To this end, minicircles of DNA (closed double-stranded DNA sequences) have been proposed as model systems. Harris developed the mathematical models and atomistic molecular dynamics simulations that can accurately describe these DNA supercoils. Harris was involved with the development of
Fluctuating Finite Element Analysis, a mesoscale modelling tool that makes use of continuum mechanics used to predict bimolecular dynamics in globular macromolecules and proteins. FFEA makes use of 3D volumetric information, such as
Cryo Electron Tomography
Electron cryotomography (CryoET) is an imaging technique used to produce high-resolution (~1–4 nm) three-dimensional views of samples, often (but not limited to) biological macromolecules and cells. CryoET is a specialized application of tra ...
maps.
In 2020, Harris was appointed chair of the
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council
The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) is a British Research Council that provides government funding for grants to undertake research and postgraduate degrees in engineering and the physical sciences, mainly to universi ...
(EPSRC) computational collaborative project in Biomolecular simulation.
The project unites biochemists, biophysicists and computer scientists in an effort to better understand biomolecular processes.
These include simulations that can describe the role of enzymes in biological reactions, the configuration of proteins in cell membranes and the design of effective pharmaceutical.
She serves on the management committee of High-End Computing Resources by the Biomolecular Simulation Community (HECBioSim), which provides access to
High performance computing capabilities to scientists working on biomedical challenges.
Alongside the scientific insights that can be gained from biophysical simulations, Harris is interested in the artistic outputs of theoretical biology. She published a collection of images that were generated during theoretical biology.
Selected publications
Her publications
[ include:
* ''Parmbsc1: a refined force field for DNA simulations''
* ''Cooperativity in drug-DNA recognition: a molecular dynamics study''
* ''Structural diversity of supercoiled DNA''
]
Awards and honours
She won the Suffrage Science award in 2019.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Harris, Sarah Anne
British women physicists
Academics of the University of Leeds
Alumni of the University of Nottingham
Alumni of the University of Oxford
Living people
21st-century British physicists
Year of birth missing (living people)
21st-century women physicists