Rob (formally PhD, now PDRA) in the group has won the prize for the best poster at the 2014 RAPS Recent Appointees in Polymer Science) Conference.

Caroline Biggs has won a poster prize at the 2014 MacroGroup UK young researchers meeting, held in Durham 24/25 July.

Her poster was entitled 'Polymer Functionalised Surfaces for Microarray Applications'

Caroline Biggs in the GibsonGroup won the prize for best poster presentation at the 13th European Summer Course on Glycosciences. Her winning poster was entitled 'Polymer Functionalised Surfaces for Microarray Applications'.

Our blood freezing methods, inspired by antifreeze proteins found in fish, has been shortlisted for an RSC emerging technology prize.

http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/ventures/news/warwick_blood_freezing/

http://www.rsc.org/Membership/Networking/InterestGroups/IndustryAndTechnologyForum/emerging-technologies/final.asp

Paper here

http://www.nature.com/ncomms/2014/140203/ncomms4244/full/ncomms4244.html

Watch/Listen to MIG discussing how philanphropic donations can make a huge difference to ambitious research projects.

http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/insite/awards/philanthropy_awards/2014/cryopreservation_award/

MIG was awarded a Noreen Murrary Award in November 2013 which provides flexible funding to pursue ambitious research projects. In this case, the GibsonGroups pioneering work on polymers to enhance tissue cryopreservation to address the challenges of storing donated tissue, but also to facilitate advances in regenerative medicine.

Our recent paper on cryopreservaiton of blood has attracted a lot of media attention:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-coventry-warwickshire-26087585

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ViXUgG-0h8&feature=youtu.be

complete list to follow

In a feature article in Chemistry World - the Royal Society of Chemistry's monthly Magazine, work by the Gibson Group on synthetic alternatives to Antifreeze Proteins is highlighted.

Read the article here:

http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/2013/04/antifreeze-proteins

A collaborative paper with JGU Mainz and EPFL Lausanne has been accepted for publication in Biomaterials Science.

This paper describes the interactions of a series of polymer-coated gold nanoparticles with the blood-brain barrier (BBB). THe BBB is perhaps the most challenging biological barrier in medicine; the failure of many treatments for neurodegerative diseases is not due to their lack of efficacy, but rather their inability to traverse the BBB and reach the site of action. Here we compare the uptake of nanoparticles into cells from the outside of the BBB and how this correlates with the ability to pass through the BBB, using a complex co-culture in vitro model. The use of gold removed the need for non-qunatitive fluorescence labels and allowed us to track uptake by ICP-MS - Science City funded piece of equipment capable of parts per billion level detection of gold atoms.

Read the paper here