Dr Moontaha Mahbub
Postdoctoral Researcher Assistant (Conrad Mullineaux Group)
Email: moontaha.mahbub@qmul.ac.uk
Room Number: Room 4.28, G.E. Fogg Building
Website: https://www.linkedin.com/in/moontaha-mahbub-93644895/
Profile
Bio: I am a Postdoctoral Research Assistant in Professor Conrad Mullineaux’s lab at Queen Mary University of London, studying protein targeting mechanisms in cyanobacteria. My research combines confocal microscopy, including fixed and live-cell imaging, with molecular and biochemical techniques to trace protein synthesis and localisation. I completed my PhD in the same lab and hold an MRes in Molecular Plant and Microbial Sciences from Imperial College London, building a strong foundation in microbial cell biology.
Project: My research explores how cyanobacteria, which are photosynthetic prokaryotes with internal thylakoid membrane systems, organise and differentiate their membrane architecture. Using Fluorescence in situ Hybridisation and confocal microscopy on both fixed and live cells, I track 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. Uncovering these processes could enable the precision engineering of cyanobacterial cells for applications in synthetic biology and sustainable technologies.