The Molecular Function Regulation Lab (M. Firdaus Raih research group) at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia is primarily involved in investigating the molecular interactions that affect function and/or effect molecular level function regulation. By exploring these interactions and their associated regulatory pathways as deeply as up to the atomic level, we can elucidate the mechanisms of how many biological processes are carried out.

To accomplish this, the research group studies the structure, function and evolution of biological macromolecules to compare how the atomic level differences can result in different functions by effecting regulatory or mechanistic changes. We source our data from public repositories such as GenBank and the Protein Data Bank as well as by generating internal data such as structure coordinates, genome sequences, transcriptome sequences and methylome sequences from specific experiments.

The approaches employed in exploring and investigating these datasets primarily involve bioinformatics, computational biology and genomics but also extend to structural biology (mainly X-ray crystallography), synthetic biology and systems biology.

The insights revealed from these investigations can provide clues as to how molecular level regulation and responses in living systems are carried out that eventually lead to an organism’s capacity to adapt to extreme (ie. extremophiles) or diverse environments (such as a bacterial pathogen or parasite adapting to a host), as well as the discovery of novel factors associated with pathogenesis (toxins and pathogenesis/virulence regulation systems).

The group’s understanding of the atomic level interactions that define specific biological mechanisms have led to the development of applications for drug repositioning and tools for the synthetic design of nucleic acid self-assembling structures.

Non-technical Research Summary
My research group studies the interactions of biological molecules to discover new mechanisms in biological processes and from there, attempt to understand how a living system is able to effect life’s many chemical reactions at the molecular level. For our investigations, we use various tools that range from high performance computing to cutting edge analytical instruments. By understanding how biological processes occur and are regulated at the atomic level, we can understand how diseases occur and in turn may lead to the discovery and design of new therapeutic agents. These efforts include the use of programmable nano-materials constructed from self-assembling molecules of DNA/RNA that can be applied for diagnostics and therapy.