Dr Daniel Luque
Dr Daniel Luque is associate director of the Electron Microscopy Unit and senior lecturer at the School of Biomedical Sciences at UNSW. He holds a Ph.D. degree in Molecular Biology from the Autonoma University of Madrid, Spain. During his career, he has been devoted to the structural characterisation of macromolecular complexes using cryogenic electron microscopy techniques. He has over 20 years of experience in the structural analysis of biological samples through a broad methodology of microscopy techniques and has been directly involved in the implementation of different three-dimensional electron microscopy methodological developments. He has made significant contributions to the structural characterisation of complexes derived from a number of viral systems including ssRNA, dsRNA, ssDNA and dsDNA viruses. He has undertaken the structural characterisation of a wide range of macromolecular assemblies derived from these systems including the solution of >100 three-dimensional structures by electron microscopy.
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Dr. Luque research is focused on the structural characterisation of viral macromolecular complexes by three-dimensional electron microscopy techniques, specifically cryoEM and image processing. He have made significant contributions to the structural characterisation of a number of viral systems including i) dsRNA viruses such as Rotavirus, Birnavirus and several fungal viruses; ii) ssRNA viruses such as rabbit haemorrhagic disease virus, human rhinovirus, respiratory syncytial virus, human metapneumovirus, and cowpea chlorotic mottle virus; iii) ssDNA viruses such as beak and feather disease virus and bat circovirus and iv) dsDNA bacteriophages such as T5, T7 and P22.
The most recent focus of his research is investigating how different viruses interact with the complex membranous system that surround and reside within the cell. In collaboration with other groups he is studding this phenomenon in three main research lines: i) development of nanotransporters/nanocages based on viral capsids, ii) membrane fusion proteins from different viruses including human respiratory syncytial virus (hRSV), human metapneumovirus (hMPV) and coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2 & MERS) and iii) rotavirus entry and tropism.