Fiona Whelan

Dr Fiona Whelan

Senior Lecturer

School of Biological Sciences

College of Sciences

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


Previously based at the University of York, UK, my research is focused on the structural biology of viral and bacterial nucleic acid binding proteins; Staphylococcal cell surface adhesins and two-component sensors. I use methods including bioinformatics, structure prediction, molecular biology, bacterial recombinant protein expression and purification, X-ray crystallography and small angle X-ray scattering to determine the relationship between the structure and the function of target proteins. Having relocated to the University of Adelaide, I have been developing the use of cryo electron microscopy in analysis of bacteriophage transcriptional regulators.

I am now engaged in protein engineering to develop a pipeline for directed evolution of novel small molecule binding proteins based on natural bacterial two-component sensor systems, transcription factors and enzymes. We aim to select for new sensor/small molecule binding by building bacterial circuitry to diversify and modulate sensor activation. This synthetic biology approach is anticipated to provide the foundation for development of a small molecule binding protein library able to specifically detect the presence of target molecules for deployment in diverse industries including medical diagnostics, food security, biomonitoring and bioremediation. This work is supported by the Ramsay Fellowship in Applied Science and an ARC discovery project, commenced 2023.

In press: PhD candidate Alix Harlington is the driving force behind this study into the structure, specificity and green chemistry catalytic potential of this unique P450 enzyme, SyoA, a S-lignin-derived monolignol specific O-demethylase. Published online 20th Feb, 2025.

And for the story behind the paper, head to Research Communities.

Date Position Institution name
2025 - ongoing Senior Lecturer in Biotechnology The University of Adelaide
2019 - ongoing Ramsay Fellow in Applied Science University of Adelaide
2018 - 2019 Postdoctoral Research Associate University of Adelaide
2012 - 2018 Postdoctoral Research Associate University of York
2009 - 2012 Postdoctoral Research Associate University of York

Date Institution name Country Title
2003 - 2009 University of Adelaide Australia PhD
2002 - 2002 University of Adelaide Australia B.Sc. Hons. (Biochemistry)
1998 - 2001 University of Adelaide Australia B.Sc. (Mol. Biol.)

Date Title Institution name Country
2020 ADEPT Introduction to University Teaching University of Adelaide -
2019 Epigeum: Supervising Doctoral Studies University of Adelaide -

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 Scopus8 WoS9 Europe PMC6
2025 Dehkhoda, F., Ringuet, M. T., Whitfield, E. A., Mutunduwe, K., Whelan, F., Nowell, C. J., . . . Furness, S. G. B. (2025). Constitutive ghrelin receptor activity enables reversal of dopamine D2 receptor signaling. Molecular Cell, 85(11), 2246-2260.
DOI Scopus3 WoS3 Europe PMC1
2025 Chen, R., Xu, L., Zhang, N., Yu, H., Wang, X., Zhai, J., . . . Zhao, C. X. (2025). Replacing Helper Lipids With Cationic Lipids Enhances mRNA Lipid Nanoparticles Stability in Solution. Advanced Science, 10 pages.
DOI
2024 Akter, J., Lee, J. H. Z., Whelan, F., De Voss, J. J., & Bell, S. G. (2024). Characterisation of the Cytochrome P450 Monooxygenase CYP116B46 from Tepidiphilus thermophilus as a Homogentisic Acid Generating Enzyme and its Conversion to a Peroxygenase.. Chembiochem, 26(5), e202400880-1-e202400880-12.
DOI Scopus2 WoS2 Europe PMC2
2024 Lee, J. H. Z., Coleman, T., Mclean, M. A., Podgorski, M. N., Hayball, E. F., Stone, I. S. J., . . . Bell, S. G. (2024). Selective α-Hydroxyketone Formation and Subsequent C–C Bond Cleavage by Cytochrome P450 Monooxygenase Enzymes. ACS Catalysis, 14(11), 8958-8971.
DOI Scopus6 WoS7 Europe PMC2
2023 Clark, L. C., Atkin, K. E., Whelan, F., Brentnall, A. S., Harris, G., Towell, A. M., . . . Potts, J. R. (2023). Staphylococcal Periscope Proteins Aap, SasG and Pls project non-canonical legume-like lectin adhesin domains from the bacterial surface.. The Journal of biological chemistry, 299(3), 102936.
DOI Scopus7 WoS8 Europe PMC10
2022 Whelan, F. (2022). The long and the short of Periscope Proteins.. Biochem Soc Trans, 50(5), 1293-1302.
DOI Scopus2 WoS3 Europe PMC3
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 WoS32 Europe PMC14
2021 Hutvagner, A., Scopelliti, D., Whelan, F., & Jaschke, P. (2021). Orthogonal translation initiation using the non-canonical initiator tRNA(AAC) alters protein sequence and stability in vivo.
DOI
2021 Whelan, F., Lafita, A., Gilburt, J., Dégut, C., Griffiths, S. C., Jenkins, H. T., . . . Potts, J. R. (2021). Periscope Proteins are variable-length regulators of bacterial cell surface interactions. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 118(23), e2101349118-1-e2101349118-10.
DOI Scopus14 WoS14 Europe PMC18
2020 Jasaitis, L., Silver, C. D., Rawlings, A. E., Peters, D. T., Whelan, F., Regan, L., . . . Staniland, S. S. (2020). Rational Design and Self-Assembly of Coiled-Coil Linked SasG Protein Fibrils. ACS synthetic biology, 9(7), 1599-1607.
DOI Scopus4 WoS4 Europe PMC4
2019 Whelan, F., Lafita, A., Griffiths, S. C., Cooper, R. E. M., Whittingham, J. L., Turkenburg, J. P., . . . Potts, J. R. (2019). Defining the remarkable structural malleability of a bacterial surface protein Rib domain implicated in infection.. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, 116(52), 26540-26548.
DOI Scopus18 WoS17 Europe PMC16
2017 Devine, P. W. A., Fisher, H. C., Calabrese, A. N., Whelan, F., Higazi, D. R., Potts, J. R., . . . Ashcroft, A. E. (2017). Investigating the Structural Compaction of Biomolecules Upon Transition to the Gas-Phase Using ESI-TWIMS-MS. Journal of the American Society for Mass Spectrometry, 28(9), 1855-1862.
DOI Scopus48 WoS48 Europe PMC32
2016 Gruszka, D. T., Mendonça, C. A. T. F., Paci, E., Whelan, F., Hawkhead, J., Potts, J. R., & Clarke, J. (2016). Disorder drives cooperative folding in a multidomain protein. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 113(42), 11841-11846.
DOI Scopus25 WoS23 Europe PMC24
2015 Whelan, F., & Potts, J. R. (2015). Two repetitive, biofilm-forming proteins from Staphylococci: From disorder to extension. Biochemical Society Transactions, 43(5), 861-866.
DOI Scopus6 WoS6 Europe PMC6
2015 Byrne, R. T., Jenkins, H. T., Peters, D. T., Whelan, F., Stowell, J., Aziz, N., . . . Antson, A. A. (2015). Major reorientation of tRNA substrates defines specificity of dihydrouridine synthases.. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 112(19), 6033-6037.
DOI Scopus41 WoS39 Europe PMC36
2015 Gruszka, D. T., Whelan, F., Farrance, O. E., Fung, H. K. H., Paci, E., Jeffries, C. M., . . . Clarke, J. (2015). Cooperative folding of intrinsically disordered domains drives assembly of a strong elongated protein. Nature Communications, 6(1), 7271.
DOI Scopus52 WoS47 Europe PMC48
2015 Whelan, F., Jenkins, H. T., Griffiths, S. C., Byrne, R. T., Dodson, E. J., & Antson, A. A. (2015). From bacterial to human dihydrouridine synthase: automated structure determination.. Acta crystallographica. Section D, Biological crystallography, 71(Pt 7), 1564-1571.
DOI Scopus19 WoS18 Europe PMC14
2015 Chaban, Y., Stead, J. A., Ryzhenkova, K., Whelan, F., Lamber, E. P., Antson, A., . . . Orlova, E. V. (2015). Structural basis for DNA strand separation by a hexameric replicative helicase.. Nucleic acids research, 43(17), 8551-8563.
DOI Scopus11 WoS10 Europe PMC13
2013 Byrne, R. T., Whelan, F., Aller, P., Bird, L. E., Dowle, A., Lobley, C. M. C., . . . Waterman, D. G. (2013). S-Adenosyl-S-carboxymethyl-l-homocysteine: A novel cofactor found in the putative tRNA-modifying enzyme CmoA. Acta Crystallographica Section D Biological Crystallography, 69(6), 1090-1098.
DOI Scopus17 WoS16 Europe PMC18
2012 Whelan, F., Stead, J. A., Shkumatov, A. V., Svergun, D. I., Sanders, C. M., & Antson, A. A. (2012). A flexible brace maintains the assembly of a hexameric replicative helicase during DNA unwinding. Nucleic Acids Research, 40(5), 2271-2283.
DOI Scopus11 WoS11 Europe PMC11
2012 Griffiths, S., Byrne, R. T., Antson, A. A., & Whelan, F. (2012). Crystallization and preliminary X-ray crystallographic analysis of the catalytic domain of human dihydrouridine synthase. Acta Crystallographica Section F Structural Biology and Crystallization Communications, 68(3), 333-336.
DOI Scopus5 WoS5 Europe PMC5
2010 Whelan, F., Hao, N., Furness, S., Whitelaw, M., & Chapman-Smith, A. (2010). Amino acid substitutions in the aryl hydrocarbon receptor ligand binding domain reveal YH439 as an atypical AhR activator. Molecular Pharmacology, 77(6), 1037-1046.
DOI Scopus21 WoS18 Europe PMC19
2009 Dave, K., Whelan, F., Bindloss, C., Furness, S., Chapman-Smith, A., Whitelaw, M., & Gorman, J. (2009). Sulfonation and Phosphorylation of Regions of the Dioxin Receptor Susceptible to Methionine Modifications. Molecular and Cellular Proteomics, 8(4), 706-719.
DOI Scopus12 WoS10 Europe PMC8
2009 Furness, S. G. B., & Whelan, F. (2009). The pleiotropy of dioxin toxicity - Xenobiotic misappropriation of the aryl hydrocarbon receptor's alternative physiological roles. Pharmacology and Therapeutics, 124(3), 336-353.
DOI Scopus56 WoS48 Europe PMC44
2001 Chapman-Smith, A., Mulhern, T., Whelan, F., Cronan Jr., J., & Wallace, J. (2001). The C-terminal domain of biotin protein ligase from E-coli is required for catalytic activity. Protein Science, 10(12), 2608-2617.
DOI
2001 Chapman-Smith, A., Mulhern, T. D., Whelan, F., Cronan, J. E., & Wallace, J. C. (2001). The C-terminal domain of biotin protein ligase from E. coli is required for catalytic activity. Protein Science, 10(12), 2608-2617.
DOI Scopus67 WoS61 Europe PMC57
- Law, C. S., Revink, J., Lee, J., Wang, J., Abell, A. D., Whelan, F., & Santos, A. (2026). Protein binding assessment of immobilized nanobody using interferometric nanoporous platform. VIEW, 15 pages.
DOI

Year Citation
2016 Bilder, R. M., Loo, S., McGough, J. J., Whelan, F., Helleman, G., Sugar, C., . . . McCracken, J. T. (2016). Cognitive Effects of Stimulant, Guanfacine, and Combined Treatment in Child and Adolescent Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder. In BIOLOGICAL PSYCHIATRY Vol. 79 (pp. 158S). ELSEVIER SCIENCE INC.
2015 Gruszka, D. T., Whelan, F., Paci, E., Brockwell, D. J., Potts, J. R., & Clarke, J. (2015). The Folding of SasG: A Long and Remarkably Strong Monomeric Protein Responsible for Biofilm Formation is a Highly Cooperative System. In BIOPHYSICAL JOURNAL Vol. 108 (pp. 346A). MD, Baltimore: CELL PRESS.
DOI
2014 Whelan, F., Gruszka, D. T., Clarke, J., & Potts, J. R. (2014). The SasG E-G5 Protein Fold Forms A Stable Contiguous Rigid Nanorod Of Tunable Length. In PROTEIN SCIENCE Vol. 23 (pp. 134-135). CA, San Diego: WILEY-BLACKWELL.
2008 Gorman, J. J., Dave, K. A., Whelan, F., Hamilton, B. R., Wallis, T. P., Headlam, M. J., . . . Whitelaw, M. L. (2008). Comparison of Stable-Isotope Labelling Strategies for Quantification of Phosphosite Occupancy and Differentiation Between Phosphorylation and Sulfonation of the Murine Dioxin Receptor. In Journal of Proteomics & Bioinformatics Vol. S2 (pp. 067-068). OMICS Publishing Group.
DOI
2008 Gorman, J. J., Dave, K. A., Whelan, F., Hamilton, B. R., Wallis, T. P., Headlam, M. J., . . . Whitelaw, M. L. (2008). Comparison of Stable-Isotope Labelling Strategies for Quantification of Phosphosite Occupancy and Differentiation Between Phosphorylation and Sulfonation of the Murine Dioxin Receptor. In Journal of Proteomics & Bioinformatics Vol. S2 (pp. 067-068). OMICS Publishing Group.
DOI

Year Citation
2018 Gilburt, J. A. H., Baumann, C. G., Potts, J. R., & Whelan, F. (2018). Probing the Elongated Structure of a Streptococcal Surface Protein using Structural and Single-Molecule Biophysical Approaches. Poster session presented at the meeting of BIOPHYSICAL JOURNAL. CA, San Francisco: CELL PRESS.
DOI
2018 Gilburt, J. A. H., Baumann, C. G., Potts, J. R., & Whelan, F. (2018). Probing the Elongated Structure of a Streptococcal Surface Protein using Structural and Single-Molecule Biophysical Approaches. Poster session presented at the meeting of BIOPHYSICAL JOURNAL. CA, San Francisco: CELL PRESS.
DOI
2017 Whelan, F., Baumann, C., & Potts, J. (2017). Structure and function of highly repetitive bacterial surface proteins involved in infection. Poster session presented at the meeting of EUROPEAN BIOPHYSICS JOURNAL WITH BIOPHYSICS LETTERS. Edinburgh, Scotland.
2017 Whelan, F., Baumann, C., & Potts, J. (2017). Structure and function of highly repetitive bacterial surface proteins involved in infection. Poster session presented at the meeting of EUROPEAN BIOPHYSICS JOURNAL WITH BIOPHYSICS LETTERS. Edinburgh, Scotland.
2017 Abstracts (2017). Poster session presented at the meeting of European Biophysics Journal. Springer Science and Business Media LLC.
DOI
2016 Jenkins, H., Whelan, F., Peters, D., Byrne, R., Konevega, A., Koonin, E., & Antson, F. (2016). Recognition of Specific Uridines in tRNA Substrates by Dihydrouridine Synthases. Poster session presented at the meeting of BIOPHYSICAL JOURNAL. CA, Los Angeles: CELL PRESS.
DOI
2016 Jenkins, H., Whelan, F., Peters, D., Byrne, R., Konevega, A., Koonin, E., & Antson, F. (2016). Recognition of Specific Uridines in tRNA Substrates by Dihydrouridine Synthases. Poster session presented at the meeting of BIOPHYSICAL JOURNAL. CA, Los Angeles: CELL PRESS.
DOI

Year Citation
2025 Scopelliti, D., Vincent, R. M., Hutvagner, A., Whelan, F., Klare, W. P., Pang, I., . . . Jaschke, P. R. (2025). Defining bottlenecks and physiological impact of an orthogonal translation initiation system.
DOI
2025 Law, C. S., Revink, J., Lee, J., Wang, J., Abell, A., Whelan, F., & Santos, A. (2025). Protein Binding Assessment of Immobilised Nanobody using Interferometric Nanoporous Platform.
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

ARC Discovery Project

Whelan, Shearwin and Potts

Title: Discovery and directed evolution of small molecule biosensors

2023–2026

Total Awarded: $522,724

AWRI/University of Adelaide Collaborative Research Fund

Title: Predicting wine haze potential

2023

Total Awarded: $30,000

 

Research Roadmap grant scheme

Title: Biodegradation of Plastics via Bioengineered Enzyme Systems

September 2021 – December 2022

Total Awarded: $50,000

 

Agrifood and Wine FAME Strategy internal grant

Title: Pesticide biosensors for viticulture and winemaking industries

August 2021 – December 2022

Total Awarded: $20,000

 

Sandland Bequest

Title: Pesticide biosensor development and hybrid device integration for agricultural and environmental analytics

May 2021 — Dec 2022

Total Awarded: $25,000

 

Wine Australia top-up scholarship

Title: Engineering biosensors for smoke taint

February 2021—2024

Total awarded: $49,509

 

Wine Australia top-up scholarship

Title: Engineering biosensors for wine spoilage

February 2021—2024

Total awarded $49,509

 

Biochemistry Trust Fund

Title: Evolution of bespoke small molecule in-cell sensors

Oct 2020 — Dec 2021

Total awarded: $27,000

 

Ramsay Fellowship in Applied Science 

Title: Making bacteria sense what they've never seen

Nov 2019 — Nov 2023

Total awarded: $459,282

 

Travel Award

Australian Microscopy and Microanalysis Society – June 2019

CRYOZ 2019 2nd AMMS Cryo EM symposium (June 5—7, 2019)

Total awarded $800

 

Lecturer – Microbiology II – B.Sc. 2nd Year cohort – 1 lecture, Semester 1 2022-2024

Molecular and Biomedical Science, University of Adelaide

Lecturer – Cancer, Stem cells and Development/Biochemistry III – B.Sc. 3rd Year cohort – 3 lectures, 3 tutorials, Semester 1/2, 2020-2024

Molecular and Biomedical Science, University of Adelaide

 

Lecturer – Advanced Research Platforms – M.Sc (Biotechnology) – 1 lecture, Semester 1, 2020-2024

Molecular and Biomedical Science, University of Adelaide

 

Journal Club Organiser/Assessor, B.Sc. (Honours) – 2019, 2020

Molecular and Biomedical Science, University of Adelaide

 

Thesis examiner, M.Sc (Biotechnology) – 2019, 2020

Molecular and Biomedical Science, University of Adelaide

 

Examiner - B.Sc.(Hons.) Research Proposal - 2020

Molecular and Biomedical Science, University of Adelaide

 

Laboratory supervisor – PhD (2), Undergraduate (7), 2010—2018

Dept. of Chemistry and Biology Department, University of York

 

Student mentoring – PhD (4), Undergraduate (2), 2008—2019

Molecular and Biomedical Science, University of Adelaide; Dept. of Chemistry and Biology Department, University of York

Date Role Research Topic Program Degree Type Student Load Student Name
2025 Co-Supervisor Exploring Cold-Adapted Cytochrome P450 Enzymes from Psychrophilic Organisms: Production, Characterization, and Biotechnological Applications. Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Miss Rabia Mehmood
2025 Co-Supervisor Study of bacteriophage protein structures for the production of improved antimicrobial
agents
Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Ms Sarah Jayne Eisemann
2025 Co-Supervisor Study of bacteriophage protein structures for the production of improved antimicrobial
agents
Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Ms Sarah Jayne Eisemann
2025 Co-Supervisor Exploring Cold-Adapted Cytochrome P450 Enzymes from Psychrophilic Organisms: Production, Characterization, and Biotechnological Applications. Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Miss Rabia Mehmood
2023 Co-Supervisor Characterization and Structural Study of Cytochrome P450 enzymes from thermophilic bacteria Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Tuhin Das
2023 Co-Supervisor Characterization and Structural Study of Cytochrome P450 enzymes from thermophilic bacteria Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Tuhin Das
2021 Co-Supervisor Engineering biosensors for wine spoilage Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Part Time Mr Ranjith Manjula Meemanage Cebreco
2021 Co-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 Co-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 - 2024 Co-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

Date Role Research Topic Location Program Supervision Type Student Load Student Name
2020 - ongoing Principal Supervisor Isolating bacteriophage host binding and infection machinery University of Adelaide Masters of Biotechnology Master Full Time Diva Sinha
2017 - ongoing Other Thermal unfolding of tandem repeat protein domains University of York - Doctorate Full Time Rachael Cooper
2016 - 2016 Co-Supervisor mutagenesis, protein expression, purification and crystallisation of mutant adhesin domains from Staphylococcal surface adhesins SasG and Aap University of York B.Sc. Research Project Other Part Time Nicholas Butler
2015 - 2018 Other Structural and biophysical analysis of tandem repeat domains of Gram-positive bacteria University of York - Doctorate Full Time Lotte Van Beek
2015 - 2015 Other Cloning and purification of human Cip1 interacting zinc finger protein University of York B.Sc. Research Project Other Part Time Caroline Pearson
2012 - 2012 Other Supervision of lab work and manuscript preparation resulting in a peer reviewed publication on a human tRNA modifying enzyme. Samuel went on to be awarded a competitive and highly prestigious Wellcome Trust funded scholarship to study on the Oxford PhD program University of York B.Sc. Research Project Other Part Time Samuel Griffiths

Date Role Committee Institution Country
2024 - ongoing Member Australian Biocommons Computational Structural Biology Node Australian Biocommons Australia
2024 - ongoing Member Australian Microscopy and Microanalysis Society CryOz Executive Australian Microscopy and Microanalysis Society Australia
2022 - ongoing Member SET Faculty Workload Model Working Group University of Adelaide Australia
2021 - ongoing Member School of Biological Sciences Research Committee University of Adelaide Australia
2021 - 2022 Member School of Biological Sciences Review Team University of Adelaide Australia
2013 - 2016 Representative Staff Committee University of York United Kingdom

Date Role Membership Country
2019 - ongoing Member Australian Microscopy and Microanalysis Society Australia
2019 - ongoing Member Synthetic Biology Australasia Australia
2012 - ongoing Member Biochemical Society United Kingdom

Date Title Engagement Type Institution Country
2016 - 2016 British Heart Foundation visit day Public Community Engagement University of York United Kingdom

Date Event Name Event Type Institution Country
2019 - 2019 University Open Day Function University of Adelaide Australia

Date Office Name Institution Country
2020 - ongoing Adelaide SBA Node Leader Synthetic Biology Australasia Australia
2019 - 2020 EMCRA Social Media Officer EMCRA, School of Biological Sciences, University of Adelaide Australia

Date Title Type Institution Country
2019 - ongoing Referee: Genomics Peer Review University of Adelaide Australia
2019 - ongoing Thesis examiner - Masters of Biotechnology Thesis Review University of Adelaide Australia
2015 - ongoing Journal of Molecular Biology Peer Review University of York United Kingdom

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