Moontaha Mahbub

Moontaha Mahbub is a Postdoctoral Researcher Assistant at the School of Biological and Behavioural Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, working in the Conrad Mullineaux Group. Her research focuses on protein targeting mechanisms in cyanobacteria, which are photosynthetic prokaryotes with internal thylakoid membrane systems. She employs confocal microscopy, including fixed and live-cell imaging, along with molecular and biochemical techniques to trace protein synthesis and localisation.

Her educational background includes a PhD from Queen Mary University of London and an MRes in Molecular Plant and Microbial Sciences from Imperial College London, building a strong foundation in microbial cell biology.

Dr. Mahbub's research interests span Microbiology, Molecular Biology, and Cell Biology, with a focus on Cyanobacteria, Protein Targeting, and Membrane Biology. Using Fluorescence in situ Hybridisation and confocal microscopy on both fixed and live cells, she tracks the cellular locations of mRNA and proteins to map the sites of transcription, translation, and membrane insertion. Unlike most bacteria, cyanobacteria need to distribute proteins between distinct membrane systems, yet the underlying sorting mechanisms remain poorly understood.

She is based in Room 4.28, G.E. Fogg Building, and her work aims to uncover these processes to enable the precision engineering of cyanobacterial cells for applications in synthetic biology and sustainable technologies.