Fiona Whelan

Dr Fiona Whelan is a Grant-Funded Researcher (B) at the University of Adelaide, Division of Research and Innovation. Her research focuses on structural biology of viral and bacterial proteins, including Staphylococcal adhesins and two-component sensors. She employs techniques like X-ray crystallography, cryo-electron microscopy, and synthetic biology to study protein structure-function relationships and engineer novel small molecule binding proteins. Her work is supported by the Ramsay Fellowship and an ARC Discovery Project.

Research Interests: Fiona's work spans structural biology, protein engineering, and synthetic biology. She investigates bacterial surface proteins (e.g., Periscope proteins) and enzymatic systems like CYP450 monooxygenases. Her synthetic biology projects aim to develop protein libraries for diagnostics and bioremediation through directed evolution of bacterial sensor systems.

Awards: Recipient of the Ramsay Fellowship in Applied Science and lead investigator on an ARC Discovery Project (2023). Recent contributions include structural studies on SyoA O-demethylase (2025) and CYP116B46 enzyme characterization (2025).

Supervision: Advises PhD candidate Alix Harlington, whose work explores SyoA's catalytic potential. Collaborates on projects integrating bioinformatics, protein expression, and structural analysis.

Labs/Teams: Leads research using cryo-EM and synthetic biology platforms to advance protein engineering applications in diverse industries.