Dr Melanie Britton

Supervisor Details

Contact Details

School of Chemistry, University of Birmingham

Scientific Background

Melanie’s research is at the interface between chemistry, chemical engineering and physics. She has 15 years experience of developing magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) experiments to probe chemistry and flow in complex systems and has published over 30 papers and book chapters in this area.

Melanie is also a part of the Birmingham Plastics Network, an interdisciplinary team of more than 40 academics working together to shape the fate and sustainable future of plastics. This unique team brings together chemists, environmental scientists, engineers, philosophers, linguists, economists, artists, writers, lawyers, and experts in many other fields, to holistically address the global plastics problem.

Research Interests

Melanie’s group specialises in the development of MRI for visualising electrochemical processes in operando, including batteries, metal surface finishing and corrosion. She also specialises in flow visualisation techniques to probe the rheology and dynamics of complex fluids, such as ionic liquids and micelle solutions, leading to an understanding of the molecular dynamics that underpin their bulk (macroscopic) behaviour. Using these methods, they have investigated how chemical reactions can couple with diffusion and flow to produce chemical gradients, waves and patterns. Understanding the coupling of chemical reaction with transport processes is of fundamental importance in electrochemical technologies, fast moving consumer goods, reaction engineering and understanding many biological processes. Her group also develop MRI contrast agents and probes for the visualisation of chemical reactions/processes and disease biomarkers.

Research Groups

The Britton Research Group

Supervision Style

In three words or phrases: Detail-oriented, outcome-oriented, collaborative.

Provision of Training

I prefer to take responsibility for your technical training at first, leading to more independence later.

Progression Monitoring and Management

I will initially provide clear guidance on you project, but will work towards you taking full ownership of your progression, while still encouraging you to come to me when you need help troubleshooting.

Communication

The team has a WhatsApp group chat, which I am not part of, with which they regularly communicate using. I communicate with the group mostly via email, though very rarely out-of-hours. However, I can be contacted on my mobile and am happy to discuss any issues that are impacting your ability to fulfil your potential or my/our expectations, at any time.

PhD Students can expect scheduled meetings with me:

In a group meeting

At least once per week

In year 1 of PhD study

At least once per week

In year 2 of PhD study

At least once per week

In year 3 of PhD study

At least once per fortnight

These meetings will be mainly face to face and video chat, and I am usually contactable for an instant response on every working day.

Working Pattern

The timing of work in my lab is completely flexible, and (other than attending pre-arranged meetings), I expect students to manage their own time.

Notice Period for Feedback

I need at least 2 weeks' notice to provide feedback on written work of up to 5000 words.

MIBTP Project Details

Current Projects (2025-26)

Primary supervisor for:

Design of metallo coiled coil MRI contrast agents

See the PhD Opportunities section to see if this project is currently open for applications via MIBTP.

Please Note: The main page lists projects via BBSRC Research Theme(s) quoted and then relevant Topic(s).

Design of metallo coiled coil MRI contrast agents

Secondary Supervisor(s): Dr Anna Peacock

University of Registration: University of Birmingham

BBSRC Research Themes: Integrated Understanding of Health (Pharmaceuticals)

Project Outline

This PhD project will develop a new class of MRI contrast agents. MRI is an essential tool for medical diagnosis. Contrast agents play a crucial role in improving the images obtained, and hence patient outcomes. Most clinical MRI contrast agents are based on gadolinium, due to its electronic structure. However, gadolinium toxicity is a recognised problem for patients and our environment. This project will take inspiration from biology to design, synthesize and study, miniature artificial protein scaffolds (easily prepared on an automated peptide synthesiser), for use as ligands for paramagnetic metal ions.

We have previously shown that when coordinated to gadolinium, these complexes are more “efficient”, better than clinical agents.[1] Through peptide redesign it has been possible to further enhance performance.[2] More recently, we reported for the first time that copper, previously entirely disregarded for use in MRI contrast agent design, is better than clinical agents when coordinated to these ligands.[3] This was previously thought to be impossible! Using a biologically essential metal ion (essential for correct biological function), such as copper, is exciting as our bodies already know how to process and remove trace amounts of these metals if needed. Unlike gadolinium which will accumulate in the body over time.

The project will develop new miniature protein-inspired ligands, based on coiled coils, for use in MRI contrast agent design, and will be ideal for students that are interested in inorganic chemistry and synthetic biology. Training will be gained in (computational) peptide design, synthesis, characterisation, metal binding evaluation and MRI. Including, but not limited to, solid-phase peptide synthesis, HPLC and biophysical characterisation techniques (e.g., native MS, UV-visible, fluorescence and CD spectroscopy, X-ray protein crystallography). This project builds on a long-term collaboration between the Peacock and Britton groups, bringing together expertise in peptide and protein design, synthesis and characterisation (Peacock) with MRI application and development (Britton). This powerful synergy will offer the student the opportunity to become expert in the broadest range of techniques and skills.

References

[1] Berwick et al “De Novo Design of Ln(III) Coiled Coils for Imaging Applications” J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2014, 136, 1166.

[2] Berwick et al “Location dependent coordination chemistry and MRI relaxivity in de novo designed lanthanide coiled coils” Chem. Sci., 2016, 7, 2207.

[3] Shah et al “Design of the elusive proteinaceous oxygen donor copper site suggests a promising future for copper for MRI contrast agents“, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., USA., 2023, 120, e2219036120.

Previous Projects (2024-25)

Primary supervisor for:

Artificial metalloproteins as novel MRI contrast agents

Previous Projects (2023-24)

Primary supervisor for:

Artificial metalloproteins as novel MRI contrast agents