Keith Shearwin

Research Interests

Biochemistry & Molecular Biology Biomolecular Modelling and Design Characterisation of Biological Macromolecules Microbial Genetics Synthetic Biology

APrf Keith Shearwin

Associate Professor

School of Biological Sciences

College of Science

Eligible to supervise Masters and PhD - email supervisor to discuss availability.

Overview

Our research integrates biochemistry, genetics and mathematical modelling to characterise fundamental mechanisms of gene control and to understand how these elements are combined to create gene regulatory circuits with complex functions. Having a detailed understanding of the properties of natural regulatory circuits makes it possible to rearrange these components to build our own circuits with new and interesting behaviours. In this way, we have developed a number of useful tools for Synthetic Biology.  

Our primary experimental systems are two E. coli bacteriophages, lambda and 186. These temperate phages can replicate their genomes using alternative developmental pathways, lysis and lysogeny, and are some of the simplest organisms to make developmental decisions. Despite their relative simplicity, the phage systems combine a wide range of gene control mechanisms in complex ways and have many lessons to teach us. Bacteriophage lambda continues to be a key model system for many molecular biological processes; phage 186 provides a powerful comparison with lambda, as it achieves similar outcomes using different regulatory circuits. The fundamental biochemistry shared by all living things means that the study of any organism, from phages to humans, continues to illuminate universal principles that apply to all organisms.

We also have a strong interest in isolating, characterising and engineering new phage for phage therapy  - phage are natural killers of bacteria and there is renewed interest in their use as anti-bacterial agents.

Projects available
  • Phage hunting – discovering new phage against medically important bacteria
  • Protein engineering of phage-derived endolysins for enhanced bacterial killing
  • Precision engineering of bacteriophage genomes to generate synthetic phage with improved properties for phage therapy
  • Directed evolution of new protein activities
  • Generating fluorescent phage for following phage fate by microscopy

 

Date Position Institution name
2017 - ongoing Associate Professor University of Adelaide
2010 - 2016 Senior Lecturer University of Adelaide
2005 - 2009 Lecturer B University of Adelaide
2001 - 2005 Research Fellow University of Adelaide
1995 - 2000 ARC Australian Research Fellow University of Adelaide

Date Institution name Country Title
1987 - 1990 University of Queensland Australia PhD
1986 - 1986 Griffith University Australia BSc (Hons)
1983 - 1985 Griffith University Australia BSc

Date Title Institution Country
1993 - 1995 Post-doctoral research University of Adelaide Australia
1990 - 1993 Post-doctoral research Brandeis University United States

Year Citation
2025 Harlington, A. C., Das, T., Shearwin, K. E., Bell, S. G., & Whelan, F. (2025). Structural insights into S-lignin O-demethylation via a rare class of heme peroxygenase enzymes. Nature Communications, 16(1), 1815-1-1815-12.
DOI Scopus7 WoS7 Europe PMC4
2025 Hao, N., Vreugde, S., Fitridge, R., & Shearwin, K. E. (2025). Complete genome sequence of Anaerococcus sp. strain AH8042_DFU013_CI05 isolated from a diabetes-related foot ulcer.. Microbiology Resource Announcements, 14(4), e0132624-1-e0132624-4.
DOI
2025 Shearwin-Whyatt, L., Fenelon, J., Yu, H., Major, A., Qu, Z., Zhou, Y., . . . Grützner, F. (2025). AMHY and sex determination in egg-laying mammals. Genome Biology, 26(1), 144-1-144-21.
DOI Europe PMC2
2025 Nepal, R., Houtak, G., Bouras, G., Feizi, S., Shaghayegh, G., Shearwin, K., . . . Vreugde, S. (2025). A φSa3int (NM3) Prophage Domestication in Staphylococcus aureus Leads to Increased Virulence Through Human Immune Evasion.. MedComm, 6(8), e70313.
DOI Scopus1 WoS1 Europe PMC1
2023 Nepal, R., Houtak, G., Bouras, G., Ramezanpour, M., Feizi, S., Shaghayegh, G., . . . Vreugde, S. (2023). Prophage acquisition by<i>Staphylococcus aureus</i>contributes to the expansion of Staphylococcal immune evasion.
DOI
2023 Hao, N., Donnelly, A. J., Dodd, I. B., & Shearwin, K. E. (2023). When push comes to shove - RNA polymerase and DNA-bound protein roadblocks. Biophysical Reviews, 15(3), 355-366.
DOI Scopus2 WoS2 Europe PMC4
2022 Shearwin, K., Nakamura, H., Berliner, L., & Hall, D. (2022). Editors’ Roundup: April 2022. Biophysical Reviews, 14(2), 423-425.
DOI Scopus10 WoS10 Europe PMC8
2022 Liu, S., Hon, K., Bouras, G. S., Psaltis, A. J., Shearwin, K., Wormald, P. -J., & Vreugde, S. (2022). APTC-C-SA01: A Novel Bacteriophage Cocktail Targeting Staphylococcus aureus and MRSA Biofilms. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 23(11), 6116-1-6116-18.
DOI Scopus23 WoS22 Europe PMC16
2022 Lu, Y., Voros, Z., Borjas, G., Hendrickson, C., Shearwin, K., Dunlap, D., & Finzi, L. (2022). RNA polymerase efficiently transcribes DNA-scaffolded, cooperative bacteriophage repressor complexes. FEBS Lett, 596(16), 1994-2006.
DOI Scopus2 WoS2 Europe PMC2
2022 Harlington, A. C., Shearwin, K. E., Bell, S. G., & Whelan, F. (2022). Efficient O-demethylation of lignin monoaromatics using the peroxygenase activity of cytochrome P450 enzymes. Chemical Communications, 58(96), 13321-13324.
DOI Scopus31 WoS31 Europe PMC14
2022 dos Remedios, C., Cranfield, C., Whelan, D., Cox, C., Shearwin, K., Ho, J., . . . Li, A. (2022). A special issue of the Australian society for Biophysics. Biophysical Reviews, 14(1), 1-2.
DOI Scopus7 WoS6 Europe PMC7
2021 Hao, N., Sullivan, A. E., Shearwin, K. E., & Dodd, I. B. (2021). The loopometer: a quantitative in vivo assay for DNA-looping proteins. Nucleic Acids Research, 49(7), 1-16.
DOI Scopus6 WoS5 Europe PMC5
2021 Truong, J. Q., Nguyen, S., Bruning, J. B., & Shearwin, K. E. (2021). Derivatization of protein crystals with I3C using random microseed matrix screening. Journal of Visualized Experiments, 2021(167), 1-19.
DOI WoS1 Europe PMC1
2021 Truong, J. Q., Nguyen, S., Bruning, J. B., & Shearwin, K. E. (2021). Simplified heavy-atom derivatization of protein structures via co-crystallization with the MAD tetragon tetrabromoterephthalic acid. Acta Crystallographica Section F Structural Biology Communications, 77(5), 156-162.
DOI Scopus2 WoS2 Europe PMC2
2021 Liu, S., Zhao, Y., Hayes, A., Hon, K., Zhang, G., Bennett, C., . . . Vreugde, S. (2021). Overcoming bacteriophage insensitivity in Staphylococcus aureus using clindamycin and azithromycinat sub-inhibitory concentrations. Allergy, 76(11), 3446-3458.
DOI Scopus18 WoS15 Europe PMC14
2021 Cranfield, C., Whelan, D., Cox, C., Shearwin, K., Ho, J., Allen, T., . . . Li, A. (2021). Announcing the call for the Special Issue on "The Australian Society for Biophysics (ASB) - 2021 Meeting".. Biophysical reviews, 13(4), 1-2.
DOI Scopus3 WoS3 Europe PMC3
2021 Hao, N., Chen, Q., Dodd, I. B., & Shearwin, K. E. (2021). The pIT5 Plasmid Series, an Improved Toolkit for Repeated Genome Integration in E. coli. ACS Synthetic Biology, 10(7), 1633-1639.
DOI Scopus4 WoS4 Europe PMC4
2021 Aune, K., Lee, J., Prakash, V., Bhat, R., Andreu, J., Monasterio, O., . . . Charles, M. T. (2021). A tribute to Dr. Serge N. Timasheff, our mentor. Biophysical Reviews, 13(4), 459-484.
DOI Scopus1 WoS1 Europe PMC1
2021 Hao, N., Agnew, D., Krishna, S., Dodd, I. B., & Shearwin, K. E. (2021). Analysis of infection time courses shows CII levels determine the frequency of lysogeny in phage 186. Pharmaceuticals, 14(10), 998-1-998-14.
DOI Scopus2 WoS3 Europe PMC2
2021 Nepal, R., Houtak, G., Shaghayegh, G., Bouras, G., Shearwin, K., Psaltis, A. J., . . . Vreugde, S. (2021). Prophages encoding human immune evasion cluster genes are enriched in Staphylococcus aureus isolated from chronic rhinosinusitis patients with nasal polyps. Microbial Genomics, 7(12), 000726-1-000726-19.
DOI Scopus26 WoS23 Europe PMC18
2020 Hayes, A. J., Satiaputra, J., Sternicki, L. M., Paparella, A. S., Feng, Z., Lee, K. J., . . . Polyak, S. W. (2020). Advanced resistance studies identify two discrete mechanisms in staphylococcus aureus to overcome antibacterial compounds that target biotin protein ligase. Antibiotics, 9(4), 1-20.
DOI Scopus6 WoS6 Europe PMC4
2020 Cutts, E. E., Egan, J., Dodd, I. B., & Shearwin, K. E. (2020). A quantitative binding model for the Apl protein, the dual purpose recombination-directionality factor and lysis-lysogeny regulator of bacteriophage 186. Nucleic Acids Research, 48(16), 8914-8926.
DOI Scopus5 WoS5 Europe PMC5
2020 Murchland, I. M., Ahlgren-Berg, N., Pietsch, J. M. J., Isabel, A., Dodd, I. B., & Shearwin, K. E. (2020). Instability of CII is needed for efficient switching between lytic and lysogenic development in bacteriophage 186. Nucleic acids research, 48(21), 1-12.
DOI Scopus5 WoS5 Europe PMC4
2019 Hoffmann, S. A., Hao, N., Shearwin, K. E., & Arndt, K. M. (2019). Characterizing transcriptional interference between converging genes in bacteria. ACS Synthetic Biology, 8(3), 466-473.
DOI Scopus11 WoS10 Europe PMC10
2019 Hao, N., Shearwin, K. E., & Dodd, I. B. (2019). Positive and negative control of enhancer-promoter interactions by other DNA loops generates specificity and tunability. Cell Reports, 26(9), 2419-2433.e1–e3.
DOI Scopus22 WoS22 Europe PMC21
2019 Satiaputra, J., Sternicki, L. M., Hayes, A. J., Pukala, T. L., Booker, G. W., Shearwin, K. E., & Polyak, S. W. (2019). Native mass spectrometry identifies an alternative DNA-binding pathway for BirA from Staphylococcus aureus. Scientific Reports, 9(1), 2767-1-2767-13.
DOI Scopus6 WoS5 Europe PMC5
2019 Hao, N., Crooks, M. T., Palmer, A. C., Dodd, I. B., & Shearwin, K. E. (2019). RNA polymerase pausing at a protein roadblock can enhance transcriptional interference by promoter occlusion. FEBS Letters, 593(9), 903-917.
DOI Scopus7 WoS7 Europe PMC6
2019 Truong, J. Q., Panjikar, S., Shearwin-Whyatt, L., Bruning, J. B., & Shearwin, K. E. (2019). Combining random microseed matrix screening and the magic triangle for the efficient structure solution of a potential lysin from bacteriophage P68. Acta crystallographica Section D. Structural biology, 75(7), 670-681.
DOI Scopus3 WoS3 Europe PMC3
2018 Hao, N., Shearwin, K. E., & Dodd, I. (2018). Control of Enhancer-Promoter Contact by Alternative DNA Loops.
2018 Satiaputra, J., Eijkelkamp, B., McDevitt, C., Shearwin, K., Booker, G., & Polyak, S. (2018). Biotin-mediated growth and gene expression in Staphylococcus aureus is highly responsive to environmental biotin. Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology, 102(8), 3793-3803.
DOI Scopus14 WoS14 Europe PMC9
2017 Hao, N., Palmer, A. C., Dodd, I. B., & Shearwin, K. E. (2017). Directing traffic on DNA - How transcription factors relieve or induce transcriptional interference. Transcription, 8(2), 120-125.
DOI Scopus19 WoS19 Europe PMC17
2017 Hao, N., Sneppen, K., Shearwin, K., & Dodd, I. (2017). Efficient chromosomal-scale DNA looping in Escherichia coli using multiple DNA-looping elements. Nucleic Acids Research, 45(9), 5074-5085.
DOI Scopus7 WoS7 Europe PMC5
2017 Hao, N., & Shearwin, K. E. (2017). Hidden secrets of sigma54 promoters revealed. Trends in Biochemical Sciences, 42(12), 931-932.
DOI
2017 Hao, N., Shearwin, K., & Dodd, I. (2017). Programmable DNA looping using engineered bivalent dCas9 complexes. Nature Communications, 8(1), 1-12.
DOI Scopus65 WoS61 Europe PMC58
2016 Satiaputra, J., Shearwin, K., Booker, G., & Polyak, S. (2016). Mechanisms of biotin-regulated gene expression in microbes. Synthetic and Systems Biotechnology, 1(1), 17-24.
DOI Scopus49 WoS45 Europe PMC35
2016 Hao, N., Palmer, A., Ahlgren-Berg, A., Shearwin, K., & Dodd, I. (2016). The role of repressor kinetics in relief of transcriptional interference between convergent promoters. Nucleic Acids Research, 44(14), 6625-6638.
DOI Scopus24 WoS20 Europe PMC18
2016 Munro, P., Ackers, G., & Shearwin, K. (2016). Aspects of protein-DNA interactions: a review of quantitative thermodynamic theory for modelling synthetic circuits utilising LacI and CI repressors, IPTG and the reporter gene lacZ. Biophysical Reviews, 8(4), 331-345.
DOI Scopus7 Europe PMC6
2014 Murchland, I., Ahlgren-Berg, A., Priest, D., Dodd, I., & Shearwin, K. (2014). Promoter activation by CII, a potent transcriptional activator from bacteriophage 186. Journal of Biological Chemistry, 289(46), 32094-32108.
DOI Scopus5 WoS5 Europe PMC6
2014 Priest, D. G., Kumar, S., Yan, Y., Dunlap, D. D., Dodd, I. B., & Shearwin, K. E. (2014). Quantitation of interactions between two DNA loops demonstrates loop domain insulation in E. coli cells. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of USA, 111(42), E4449-E4457.
DOI Scopus21 WoS21 Europe PMC20
2014 Hao, N., Krishna, S., Ahlgren-Berg, A., Cutts, E., Shearwin, K., & Dodd, I. (2014). Road rules for traffic on DNA - systematic analysis of transcriptional roadblocking in vivo. Nucleic Acids Research, 42(14), 8861-8872.
DOI Scopus37 WoS34 Europe PMC25
2014 Priest, D. G., Cui, L., Kumar, S., Dunlap, D. D., Dodd, I. B., & Shearwin, K. E. (2014). Quantitation of the DNA tethering effect in long-range DNA looping in vivo and in vitro using the Lac and λ repressors. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, 111(1), 349-354.
DOI Scopus41 WoS39 Europe PMC38
2013 Cui, L., St-Pierre, F., & Shearwin, K. (2013). Repurposing site-specific recombinases for synthetic biology. Future Microbiology, 8(11), 1361-1364.
DOI Scopus1 WoS1 Europe PMC1
2013 St-Pierre, F., Cui, L., Priest, D., Endy, D., Dodd, I., & Shearwin, K. (2013). One-step cloning and chromosomal integration of DNA. ACS Synthetic Biology, 2(9), 537-541.
DOI Scopus161 WoS164 Europe PMC167
2013 Cui, L., Murchland, I., Dodd, I., & Shearwin, K. (2013). Bacteriophage lambda repressor mediates the formation of a complex enhancer-like structure. Transcription (Austin), 4(5), 1-5.
DOI Scopus3 WoS3 Europe PMC3
2013 Gao, N., Shearwin, K., Mack, J., Finzi, L., & Dunlap, D. (2013). Purification of bacteriophage lambda repressor. Protein Expression and Purification, 91(1), 30-36.
DOI Scopus10 WoS10 Europe PMC9
2013 Wang, H., Dodd, I., Dunlap, D., Shearwin, K., & Finzi, L. (2013). Single molecule analysis of DNA wrapping and looping by a circular 14mer wheel of the bacteriophage 186 CI repressor. Nucleic Acids Research, 41(11), 5746-5756.
DOI Scopus21 WoS20 Europe PMC19
2013 Cui, L., Murchland, I., Shearwin, K., & Dodd, I. (2013). Enhancer-like long-range transcriptional activation by λ CI-mediated DNA looping. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of USA, 110(8), 2922-2927.
DOI Scopus31 WoS30 Europe PMC30
2011 Palmer, A., Egan, J., & Shearwin, K. (2011). Transcriptional interference by RNA polymerase pausing and dislodgement of transcription factors. Transcription (Austin), 2(1), 9-14.
DOI Scopus79 WoS77 Europe PMC74
2011 Hao, N., Whitelaw, M. L., Shearwin, K. E., Dodd, I. B., & Chapman-Smith, A. (2011). Identification of residues in the N-terminal PAS domains important for dimerization of Arnt and AhR. Nucleic Acids Research, 39(9), 3695-3709.
DOI Scopus36 WoS32 Europe PMC33
2009 Shearwin, K. (2009). Slow growth leads to a switch. Nature Chemical Biology, 5(11), 784-785.
DOI Scopus3 WoS3 Europe PMC2
2009 Palmer, A., Ahlgren-Berg, A., Egan, J., Dodd, I., & Shearwin, K. (2009). Potent transcriptional interference by pausing of RNA polymerases over a downstream promoter. Molecular Cell, 34(5), 545-555.
DOI Scopus74 WoS71 Europe PMC74
2008 Cao, X. R., Lill, N. L., Boase, N., Shi, P. P., Croucher, D., Shan, H., . . . Foot, N. (2008). Regulation of receptors, transporters and ion channels by the Nedd4 family of ubiquitin ligases. Proceedings of the Australian Physiological Society, 39, 11P.
2007 Schubert, R., Dodd, I., Egan, J., & Shearwin, K. (2007). Cro’s role in the CI–Cro bistable switch is critical for λ’s transition from lysogeny to lytic development. Genes & Development, 21(19), 2461-2472.
DOI Scopus72 WoS70 Europe PMC76
2007 Dodd, I., Shearwin, K., & Sneppen, K. (2007). Modelling transcriptional interference and DNA looping in gene regulation. Journal of Molecular Biology, 369(5), 1200-1213.
DOI Scopus18 WoS18 Europe PMC15
2006 Schubert, R., & Shearwin, K. (2006). How bacterial genes get turned on. Microbiology Australia, 27(3), 109-111.
2006 Pinkett, H., Shearwin, K., Stayrook, S., Dodd, I., Burr, T., Hochschild, A., . . . Lewis, M. (2006). The structural basis of cooperative regulation at an alternate genetic switch. Molecular Cell, 21(5), 605-615.
DOI Scopus25 WoS27 Europe PMC27
2005 Trusina, A., Sneppen, K., Dodd, I., Shearwin, K., & Egan, J. (2005). Functional alignment of regulatory networks: a study of temperate phages. PLoS Computational Biology, 1(7), 599-633.
DOI Scopus5 WoS18 Europe PMC21
2005 Shearwin, K., Callen, B., & Egan, J. (2005). Transcriptional interference - a crash course. Trends in Genetics, 21(6), 339-345.
DOI Scopus458 WoS441 Europe PMC438
2005 Dodd, I. B., Shearwin, K. E., & Egan, J. B. (2005). Revisited gene regulation in bacteriophage λ. Current Opinion in Genetics & Development, 15(2), 145-152.
DOI Scopus106 WoS99 Europe PMC92
2005 Sneppen, K., Dodd, I. B., Shearwin, K. E., Palmer, A. C., Schubert, R. A., Callen, B. P., & Egan, J. B. (2005). A mathematical model for transcriptional interference by RNA polymerase traffic in Escherichia coli. Journal of Molecular Biology, 346(2), 399-409.
DOI Scopus91 WoS83 Europe PMC74
2005 Trusina, A., Sneppen, K., Dodd, I. B., Shearwin, K. E., & Egan, J. B. (2005). Functional alignment of regulatory networks: a study of temperate phages.. Plos Computational Biology, 1(7).
DOI Scopus17
2004 Callen, B., Shearwin, K., & Egan, J. (2004). Transcriptional interference between convergent promoters caused by elongation over the promoter. Molecular Cell, 14(5), 647-656.
DOI Scopus146 WoS136 Europe PMC139
2004 Dodd, I. B., Shearwin, K. E., Perkins, A. J., Burr, T., Hochschild, A., & Egan, J. B. (2004). Cooperativity in long-range gene regulation by the λ CI repressor. Genes & Development, 18(3), 344-354.
DOI Scopus153 WoS148 Europe PMC145
2002 Fotia, A., Dinudom, A., Shearwin, K., Koch, J. P., Korbmacher, C., Cook, D., & Kumar, S. (2002). The role of individual Nedd4-2 (KIAA0439) WW domains in binding and regulating epithelial sodium channels. FASEB Journal, 16(13), 70-91.
DOI Scopus92 WoS86 Europe PMC79
2002 Shearwin, K. E., Dodd, I. B., & Egan, J. B. (2002). The helix-turn-helix motif of the coliphage 186 immunity repressor binds to two distinct recognition sequences. Journal of Biological Chemistry, 277(5), 3186-3194.
DOI Scopus19 WoS20 Europe PMC19
2001 Neufing, P., Shearwin, K., & Egan, J. (2001). Establishing lysogenic transcription in the temperate coliphage 186. Journal of Bacteriology, 183(7), 2376-2379.
DOI Scopus14 WoS13 Europe PMC12
2000 Shearwin, K., & Egan, J. (2000). Establishment of lysogeny in bacteriophage 186. Journal of Biological Chemistry, 275(37), 29113-29122.
2000 Shearwin, K. E., & Egan, J. B. (2000). Establishment of lysogeny in bacteriophage 186. DNA binding and transcriptional activation by the CII protein. Journal of Biological Chemistry, 275(37), 29113-29122.
DOI Scopus13 WoS13 Europe PMC14
1998 Shearwin, K., Brumby, A., & Egan, J. (1998). The Tum Protein of Coliphage 186 Is an Antirepressor. Journal of Biological Chemistry, 273(10), 5708-5715.
DOI Scopus67 WoS69 Europe PMC69
1997 Reed, M., Shearwin, K., Pell, L., & Egan, J. (1997). The dual role of Apl in prophage induction of coliphage 186. Molecular Microbiology, 23, 669-681.
Scopus26 WoS24 Europe PMC25
1996 Neufing, P., Shearwin, K., Camerotto, J., & Egan, J. (1996). The CII protein of bacteriophage 186 establishes lysogeny by activating a promoter upstream of the lysogenic promoter. Molecular Biology, 21(4), 751-761.
DOI Scopus18 WoS18 Europe PMC16
1996 Shearwin, K., & Egan, J. (1996). Purification and self-association equilbria of the lysis-lysogeny switch proteins of coliphage 186. Journal of Biological Chemistry, 271(19), 11525-11531.
DOI Scopus15 WoS14 Europe PMC11
1994 Shearwin, K. E., & Timasheff, S. N. (1994). Effect of Colchicine Analogues on the Dissociation of αβ Tubulin into Subunits: The Locus of Colchicine Binding. Biochemistry, 33(4), 894-901.
DOI Scopus45 WoS42 Europe PMC26
1994 Shearwin, K. E., Perez-Ramirez, B., & Timashef, S. N. (1994). Linkages between the Dissociation of αβ Tubulin into Subunits and Ligand Binding: The Ground State of Tubulin Is the GDP Conformation. Biochemistry, 33(4), 885-893.
DOI Scopus24 WoS23 Europe PMC16
1994 Perez-Ramirez, B., Shearwin, K. E., & Timasheff, S. N. (1994). The Colchicine-Induced GTPase Activity of Tubulin: State of the Product. Activation by Microtubule-Promoting Cosolvents. Biochemistry, 33(20), 6253-6261.
DOI Scopus19 WoS17 Europe PMC7
1992 Shearwin, K. E., & Timasheff, S. N. (1992). Linkage between Ligand Binding and Control of Tubulin Conformation. Biochemistry, 31(34), 8080-8089.
DOI Scopus32 WoS36 Europe PMC13
1990 Shearwin, K., & Mazsters, C. (1990). The binding of glycolytic enzymes to the cytoskeleton - influence of pH. Biochemistry International, 22(4), 735-740.
Scopus14 WoS14 Europe PMC9
1990 Shearwin, K. E., & Winzor, D. J. (1990). Thermodynamic nonideality as a probe of reversible protein unfolding effected by variations in pH and temperature: Studies of ribonuclease. Archives of Biochemistry and Biophysics, 282(2), 297-301.
DOI Scopus27 WoS25 Europe PMC18
1990 Shearwin, K. E., & Winzor, D. J. (1990). Allowance for thermodynamic nonideality and Donnan effects in binding studies. Activity coefficients of charged ligands in the presence of albumin. Biophysical Chemistry, 36(3), 235-243.
DOI Scopus5 WoS3 Europe PMC2
1990 SHEARWIN, K. E., & WINZOR, D. J. (1990). Thermodynamic nonideality in macromolecular solutions: Evaluation of parameters for the prediction of covolume effects. European Journal of Biochemistry, 190(3), 523-529.
DOI Scopus39 WoS33 Europe PMC28
1990 Shearwin, K., Nanhua, C., & Masters, C. (1990). Interactions between glycolytic enzymes and cytoskeletal structure - The influence of ionic strength and molecular crowding. Biochemistry International, 21(1), 53-60.
Scopus30 WoS28 Europe PMC21
1990 Shearwin, K. E., & Winzor, D. J. (1990). Effect of calcium ion on the dimerization of α-chymotrypsin. Biochimica Et Biophysica Acta Bba Protein Structure and Molecular, 1038(1), 136-138.
DOI Scopus6 WoS5 Europe PMC3
1990 SHEARWIN, K. E., & WINZOR, D. J. (1990). Thermodynamic nonideality in macromolecular solutions. European Journal of Biochemistry, 190, 523-529.
1989 Shearwin, K., Nanhua, C., & Masters, C. (1989). The influence of molecular crowding on the binding of glycolytic enzymes to cytoskeletal structure. Biochemistry International, 19(4), 723-729.
Scopus9 WoS13 Europe PMC8
1989 Bergman, D. A., Shearwin, K. E., & Winzor, D. J. (1989). Effects of thermodynamic nonideality on the kinetics of ester hydrolysis by α-chymotrypsin: A model system with preexistence of the isomerization equilibrium. Archives of Biochemistry and Biophysics, 274(1), 55-63.
DOI Scopus16 WoS13 Europe PMC9
1988 Shearwin, K. E., & Winzor, D. J. (1988). Substrate as a source of thermodynamic nonideality in enzyme kinetic studies: invertase-catalyzed hydrolysis of sucrose. Archives of Biochemistry and Biophysics, 260(2), 532-539.
DOI Scopus21 WoS20 Europe PMC12
1988 Sherwin, K. E., & Winzor, D. J. (1988). Effect of sucrose on the dimerization of α-chymotrypsin allowance for thermodynamic nonideality arising from the presence of a small inert solute. Biophysical Chemistry, 31(3), 287-294.
DOI Scopus51 WoS46 Europe PMC29

Year Citation
2020 Shearwin, K. E., & Truong, J. Q. (2020). Lysogeny. In B. W. J. Mahy, & M. H. V. van Regenmortel (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Virology: Volume 1-5, Fourth Edition (Vol. 1-5, pp. 77-87). Elsevier.
DOI Scopus3
2017 Cui, L., & Shearwin, K. (2017). Clonetegration using OSIP plasmids: One-step DNA assembly and site-specific genomic integration in bacteria. In R. Hughes (Ed.), Methods in Molecular Biology (Vol. 1472, pp. 139-155). New York: Humana Press.
DOI Scopus5 Europe PMC3
2009 Palmer, A., & Shearwin, K. (2009). Guidance for data collection and computational modelling of regulatory networks.. In J. McDermott, R. Samudrala, R. Bumgarner, K. Montgomery, & R. Ireton (Eds.), Computational Systems Biology (Vol. 541, pp. 337-354). United States: Humana Press.
DOI Scopus2 Europe PMC1

Year Citation
2022 Lu, Y., Borjas, G., Voros, Z., Dodd, I., Shearwin, K., Dunlap, D., & Finzi, L. (2022). Proteins mediating different DNA topologies block RNAP elongation with different efficiency. In BIOPHYSICAL JOURNAL Vol. 121 (pp. 34). CA, San Francisco: CELL PRESS.
2011 Wang, H., Dodd, I., Shearwin, K., Dunlap, D., & Finzi, L. (2011). The 186 Bacteriophage Repressor as a Model System to Study Nucleosome Repositioning by Single Molecule Microscopy. In BIOPHYSICAL JOURNAL Vol. 100 (pp. 230). Baltimore, MD: CELL PRESS.

Year Citation
2019 Hao, N., Shearwin, K. E., & Dodd, I. B. (2019). Programmable DNA looping using engineered bivalent dCas9 complexes. Poster session presented at the meeting of Abstracts of the 27th FAOBMB & 44th MSBMB Conference. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: Malaysian Society for Biochemistry & Molecular Biology (MSBMB).
2017 Hao, N., Shearwin, K., & Dodd, I. (2017). Understanding and Manipulating Chromosomal-Scale DNA Looping in Escherichia coli. Poster session presented at the meeting of 2017 Synthetic Biology: Engineering, Evolution & Design (SEED) : Proceedings. Vancouver, Canada.
2017 Hao, N., Priest, D., Dodd, I., & Shearwin, K. (2017). Programmable DNA looping in vivo. Poster session presented at the meeting of Australia-China Symposium on Synthetic Biology. Brisbane.
2016 Hao, N., Shearwin, K., & Dodd, I. (2016). Road Rules for Traffic on DNA: Gene Regulation by Encounters between Transcribing RNA Polymerases and DNA-bound Proteins. Poster session presented at the meeting of Synthetic Biology: Engineering, Evolution & Design (SEED). Chicago, USA.
2016 Hao, N., Shearwin, K., & Dodd, I. (2016). Understand DNA looping in vivo - a synthetic biology approach. Poster session presented at the meeting of OCE Cutting Edge Conference in Synthetic Biology. Canberra.
2015 Hao, N., Krishna, S., Shearwin, K., & Dodd, I. (2015). Road Rules for Traffic on DNA: Gene Regulation by Encounters between Transcribing RNA Polymerases and DNA-bound Proteins. Poster session presented at the meeting of 2nd International Synthetic & Systems Biology Summer School. Taormina - Sicily, Italy.
2015 Kumar, S., Priest, D. G., Yan, Y., Dodd, I. B., Shearwin, K. E., & Dunlap, D. D. (2015). Estimation of DNA Loop Interactions Supports the Loop Domain Model of Insulator Action. Poster session presented at the meeting of BIOPHYSICAL JOURNAL. CELL PRESS.
DOI
2014 Shearwin, K., Cui, L., Murchland, I., & Dodd, I. B. (2014). Long-range DNA looping in the lambda genetic switch. Poster session presented at the meeting of Abstracts of the 58th Annual Meeting of the Biophysical Society, as published in Biophysical Journal. San Francisco, CA: Cell Press.
DOI
2013 Kumar, S., Priest, D., Biton, Y., Swigon, D., Shearwin, K., Dodd, I., & Dunlap, D. (2013). In Silico, In Vitro, and In Vivo Estimation of J-Factors for LAC Repressor-Mediated DNA Loop Formation. Poster session presented at the meeting of BIOPHYSICAL JOURNAL. PA, Philadelphia: CELL PRESS.
DOI
2012 Hao, N., Shearwin, K., Dodd, I., Whitelaw, M., & Chapman-Smith, A. (2012). Reverse Bacterial Two Hybrid: A New Tool for Studying Dimeric Protein Interactions. Poster session presented at the meeting of ASBMB ComBio conference. Adelaide.
2010 Wang, H., Dodd, I. B., Shearwin, K., Dunlap, D., & Finzi, L. (2010). Coliphage 186 genetic switch: a single molecule study. Poster session presented at the meeting of Meeting Abstracts. Biophysical Journal. San Francisco: Cell Press.
DOI
2009 Hao, N., Shearwin., Dodd, I., Whitelaw, M., & Chapman-Smith, A. (2009). Reverse Bacterial two Hybrid (RevB2H) method for studying protein-protein interactions. Poster session presented at the meeting of Network in Genes and Environment in Development (NGED) Forum. Palm Cove, Queensland.
2009 Hao, N., Shearwin, K., Dodd, I., Whitelaw, M., & Chapman-smith, A. (2009). A novel Reverse Bacterial two Hybrid (RevB2H) method for studying protein-protein interactions and screening for potential therapeutics. Poster session presented at the meeting of Australian Society for Medical Research (ASMR) SA Scientific Meeting. Adelaide.

Year Citation
1990 Shearwin, K. E. (1990). Effects of thermodynamic non-ideality of protein interactions. (PhD Thesis).
1986 Shearwin, K. (1986). Interaction Between Glycolytic Enzymes and Contractile Proteins. (Undergraduate Dissertation).

Year Citation
- Shearwin, K., Cutts, E. E., & Dodd, I. (n.d.). Matlab scripts for in vitro predictions [Computer Software].
DOI
- Shearwin, K., Cutts, E. E., & Dodd, I. (n.d.). Matlab scripts for in vivo fitting [Computer Software].
DOI

Year Citation
2024 Shearwin-Whyatt, L., Fenelon, J., Yu, H., Major, A., Qu, Z., Zhou, Y., . . . Grützner, F. (2024). AMHY and sex determination in egg-laying mammals.
DOI
2024 Harlington, A., Das, T., Shearwin, K., Bell, S., & Whelan, F. (2024). The S-lignin<i>O</i>-demethylase SyoA: Structural insights into a new class of heme peroxygenase enzymes.
DOI
Funding

At the University of Adelaide, I have received funding for an ARC postdoctoral Fellowship, 6 ARC Discovery projects, 3 ARC LIEF grants, 3 NHMRC Project/Ideas grants, and a HFSP project grant.

A novel precision medicine approach for chronic suppurative otitis media. NHMRC Ideas Grant 2036772 (2025) Vreugde, S., Psaltis, A., Kuthubutheen, J., Perry, C., Shearwin, K., Morales, S. $1,993,782

Approaches to mitigate biofilm formation BTF (2025) Shearwin, K.E,  Brazel, E., Sheppard, A. $25,000

Contract Research - Aushealth (2024) Phage discovery (details subject to NDA)

An ion mobility-mass spectrometry based platform for structural proteomics. ARC LIEF LE240100135 (2024) Pakula, T., Hoffmann, P., Herderich, M., Gaskin, S., Shearwin, K., Watson, E. $880,000


Contract Research - Aushealth (2023) Phage discovery (details confidential)

Discovery and directed evolution of small molecule biosensors ARC Discovery Project DP230103062 (2023) Whelan, F., Shearwin, K., Potts, J. $522,724

Improving biorefineries by phage-assisted evolution of cytochrome P450 enzyme activity. BTF New collaboration scheme (2022) Shearwin, K., Bell, S., Hao, N., Whelan, F. Beltrame, L. and Harlington, A. $40,000

Biodegradation of Plastics via Bioengineered Enzyme Systems. Faculty of Sciences Research Roadmap Grant (2021) Whelan, F., Shearwin, K, Bell, S., Gillanders, B. $50,000

Engineering biosensors for smoke taint. Wine Australia top up scholarship to Alix Harlington. (2021-2023) Whelan, F., Shearwin, K., Wilkinson, K. $49,000

Engineering biosensors for wine spoilage. Wine Australia top up scholarship to Ranjith Cebreco Meemanage. (2021-2023) Whelan, F., Shearwin, K., Wilkinson, K. $49,000

Pesticide biosensor development and hybrid device integration for agricultural and environmental analytics. Sandland Bequest. (2021) Whelan, F., Shearwin, K, Bell, S., Wilkinson, K., Law, C., Santos, A. $25,000

Evolving phage derived proteins as potent anti-bacterial agents. BTF New collaboration scheme (2021) Shearwin, K.E. $30,000

Doing the sums: how circuit copy number affects genetic switches. BTF Near Miss Scheme (2021) Shearwin, K.E. (2021) $40,000

Developing orthogonal Cas/anti-Cas pairs as building blocks for genetic circuit design. CSIRO FSP Fellowship to Andrew Hao. (2017-2021) Hao, N., Shearwin, K.E., Dodd, I.B., Scott, C. $510,000

Synthetic biology tools for integration into bacterial chromosomes. ARC Discovery Grant DP160101450 (2016-2019) Shearwin, K.E. and Bikard, D. $410,000

Understanding and manipulating DNA looping in long range gene regulation. NHMRC Project Grant APP1100651 (2016-2019) Dodd, I.B., Shearwin, K.E., Sneppen, K. and Hao, N. $351,000

Flipping the switch: rational design of genetic circuits that respond to transient signals. ARC Discovery Grant DP150103009  (2015-2018) Shearwin, K.E., Dodd, I.B. and Sneppen, K. $241,000

Quantitative analysis of the DNA loop-domain model for long range regulation of transcription. Human Frontiers Science Program  RGP0051 (2009-2012) Shearwin, K.E., Dunlap, D. and Swigon, D. $1,251,000 (total)

Road rules for traffic on DNA - gene regulation by encounters between transcribing RNA polymerases and DNA-bound proteins. ARC Discovery Grant DP110101470  (2011-2013) Dodd, I.B., Shearwin, K.E., and Sneppen, K. $300,000

Synthetic Biology - The Rational Design and Construction of New Genetic Circuits. ARC Discovery Grant DP110100824 (2011-2013) Shearwin, K.E., Dodd, I.B., Finzi, L. and Sneppen, K. $300,000

Understanding and controlling PAS domain interactions in basic helix-loop-helix transcription factors. NHMRC Project Grant APP627140 (2010-2012) Chapman-Smith, A., Whitelaw, M.L., Shearwin, K.E. and Dodd, I.B. $608,000

Rational design of small genetic circuits for synthetic biology. ARC Discovery Grant DP0665185 (2006-2008) Shearwin, K.E. and Egan, J.B. $368,000

Transcriptional Interference in Gene Regulatory Decisions. NIH R01 Grant (2006-2009) Egan, J.B., Dodd, I.B. and Shearwin, K.E. $526,000

The South Australian Facility for Small and Large Molecule X-Ray Diffraction Structure Determination. ARC LIEF (2009) Sumby, C.J, Shearwin, K.E. and 26 others $560,000

Biophysical Characterisation Facility. ARC LIEF Grant LE0882382 (2008) Brooks, D.A., Shearwin, K.E. (lead CI for University of Adelaide) and 14 others $245,000

Biophysical Characterisation Facility. AIB Labs (2008) Brooks, D.A., Shearwin, K.E. (lead CI for University of Adelaide) and 14 others $50,000

ARC Australian Research Fellowship (1996-2000) Shearwin, K.E. $400,000

 

 

 
Course coordinator: Biochemistry II (2021- present)
I typically teach in the following courses

Biochemistry II Molecular and Cellular Biology (course coordinator, lectures)

Biomedical Science IIA (lectures)

Biotechnology II (lectures)

Principles and Practice of Research I (interview)

Principles and Practice of Research II (mentor)

Principles and Practice of Research III (research placements)

Molecular and Structural Biology III (lectures, tutorials, practicals)

Cancer, Stem Cells and Development (Biomed) (PBL)

Cancer, Stem Cells and Development III (essays)

Masters in Biotechnology: Advanced Research Platforms (lectures)

Honours in Biochemistry (journal club; research grant proposal and thesis assessment)

Laboratory Placements

We host 3rd year laboratory placement students each year.

2024: Sophie Loveys, Hugh Evans, Maddie Fechner, Kaitlin Turland

2023: Amal Mostafa

2022: Sarah Eisemann, Deannon Branch, Julia Leeflang, Jayden Revink

2020: Sonia Budnikova

2019: Emma Beecroft

2018: Smriti Singh, Grace Tulysewski

2017: Khalia Primer

2016: Emi Schutz, Daniel Reed

2015: Jasmine Kelly, Mara Zeissig, Alejandra Isabel, Joe Rossi, Matilda Handsley-Davis

2014: Dominique Jackson, Queenie Tangseefa, Jade Feong, Andrew Hayes, Trang Pham

2013: Byron Shue, Jia Truong, Andelain Erickson

2012: Duncan McKenzie, Dylan Agnew, Grace De La Lande

2011: Emma Rollo, Ashleigh Paparella, Katrina Lee, Danna Lee

2010: Emily Higginson, Sofia Xuan, George Dimitroff, James Paltridge

2009: Courtney Potter

2008: Joey Puccini

2007: Veronica Bhakti, Jessica Murray

2006: Scott Berry

 

 

Date Role Research Topic Program Degree Type Student Load Student Name
2025 Principal Supervisor Discovery and directed evolution of bacterial biosensors Master of Philosophy Master Full Time Ms Madeline Rose Fechner
2025 Principal Supervisor Developing novel systems for bacteriophage particle assembly and characterising bacteriophage proteins of unknown function Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Jayden Thomas Revink
2025 Principal Supervisor Study of bacteriophage protein structures for the production of improved antimicrobial
agents		 Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Ms Sarah Jayne Eisemann
2021 Principal Supervisor Engineering biosensors for wine spoilage Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Part Time Mr Ranjith Manjula Meemanage Cebreco

Date Role Research Topic Program Degree Type Student Load Student Name
2022 - 2025 Principal Supervisor Biochemical and Structural Characterisation of Bacterial Cytochrome P450 Enzymes and Bacteriophage Portal Proteins Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Alix Charles Harlington
2019 - 2023 Co-Supervisor Protein and Reaction Engineering of P450 Enzymes for Selective Oxidations Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Dr Joel Hoong Zhang Lee
2018 - 2021 Co-Supervisor Structural and Biochemical Insights into Antifungal Drug Targets from Aspergillus fumigatus Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Ms Stephanie Nguyen
2018 - 2023 Co-Supervisor Functional and Structural Characterisation of Bacterial ATP-grasp Ligases Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Jordan Luke Pederick
2018 - 2024 Principal Supervisor Development of the PHEARLESS system and its application for directed protein mutagenesis and characterisation of putative endolysin activity Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Miss Hannah Rose Bonham
2017 - 2021 Principal Supervisor Investigating catalytically inactive Cas proteins as transcriptional roadblocks Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Miss Alana Jane Donnelly
2017 - 2020 Principal Supervisor Bacteriophage 186 Investigating the role of transcriptional regulators CI, Apl, CII and Tum at the lytic/lysogenic switch during 186 prophage induction Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Miss Alejandra Isabel
2015 - 2021 Principal Supervisor Structural Characterization of Lysogeny-Promoting Transcription Factor of Bacteriophage 186 Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Jia Quyen Truong
2011 - 2014 Principal Supervisor Testing the DNA loop domain model in Escherichia coli Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr David Priest
2010 - 2014 Principal Supervisor DNA looping mediated transcriptional regulation Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Lun Cui
2008 - 2015 Principal Supervisor The Design, Synthesis and Quantitative Analysis of a Bistable Mixed Feedback Loop Gene Network Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Julian Pietsch
2006 - 2008 Co-Supervisor Calcium and Phosphoinositides Regulations in Alpha-Actinin-4 F-Actin Binding Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Huang-Hui Chen

Date Topic Location Name
2018 - ongoing Synthetic Biology The University of Adelaide Dr. Fiona Whelan
2012 - ongoing DNA looping, Synthetic Biology The University of Adelaide Dr. Andrew Hao
2009 - 2016 Phage genetics, synthetic biology The University of Adelaide Dr. Iain Murchland
2007 - 2012 Post-doctoral fellow The University of Adelaide Dr. Alexandra Ahlgren-Berg
2005 - 2007 Post-doctoral Fellow The University of Adelaide Dr. Rachel Schubert

Date Role Committee Institution Country
2024 - ongoing Member People and Culture School of Biological Sciences Australia
2024 - ongoing Member MBS Seminar committee University of Adelaide Australia
2017 - ongoing Chair Associate Head (HDR) The University of Adelaide Australia
2017 - ongoing Member Faculty of Science Higher Degree by Research The University of Adelaide Australia
2017 - ongoing Member Postgraduate Coordinator The University of Adelaide Australia
2015 - ongoing Member School of Biological Sciences Executive The University of Adelaide Australia
2007 - 2021 Convener School Summer Scholarship Coordinator University of Adelaide Australia

Date Role Membership Country
2015 - ongoing Representative Synthetic Biology Australasia Australia
1993 - ongoing Member Australian Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Australia

Date Role Editorial Board Name Institution Country
2020 - ongoing Associate Editor Biophysical Reviews The University of Adelaide Australia

Date Title Type Institution Country
2019 - ongoing Associate Editor - Biophysical Reviews Editorial The Univeristy of Adelaide Australia

Connect With Me

External Profiles

Other Links