Gibson Group News
Review on Glycan-Based Diagnostics Published in ChemSoc Rev!
We have a long standing interest in how we can use biomaterials to probe, understand and exploit glycans (sugars) for a range of applications. During infection glycans are often the first thing a pathogen encounters and binds to. Hence there is an opportunity to use this binding event as a tool to sense or diagnose the presence of pathogens. In this review, written with Prof Rob Field (Manchester) and Simone Dedola (Iceni Glycoscience) we review the state of the art for using glycans in diagnostics and in particular how they can be used in lateral flow devices. Lateral flow devices have been widely used during COVID-19 pandemic, but typically rely on antibodies on gold nanoparticles (which give the red colour). We show how glycans have potential to be used alongside these.
Read the review here
Induced ice nucleation to enhance cell cryopreservation published!
We, along with Dr Tom Whale, have an interest in developing and discovering new disruptive tools for biologic cryopreservation. In our latest paper, led by Dr Kat Murray and Dr Tom Whale, we show that macromolecules extracted from pollen can enhance cell cryopreservation, in particular for challenging 2-D monolayers. Common sense, says that water turns to ice at zero, but in fact in low volumes, water can super-cool to below - 30 C. This is a huge problem when freezing cells. IN this work we used pollen extracts which nucleate ice at - 10 C, and can increase the recovery cell yield dramatically. This adds to our growing evidence base that thinking beyond 'just re-fomulating DMSO' and using chemical probes/tools, can transform how biologics are stored, transported and eventually delivered to patients/users.
Read the paper here
Pollen derived macromolecules serve as a new class of ice-nucleating cryoprotectants
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-15545-4Link opens in a new window
Chemical Tools for Cryopreservation Published in Nature Reviews Chemistry
Our team is developed next generation (macro-)molecular tools to improve the cryopreservation of biologics (cells/protein therapies). In our latest review article, in Nature Reviews Chemistry, we discuss the role of chemistry-driven approaches to this challenge. This summarises the key challenges in cryopreservation - the need to cool material to stop it degrading, whilst minimising the damage caused by the freezing process. The review tries to highlight how consideration of the physical , as well as biochemical, damage pathways together offers a route to improving cryopreservation and that a 'med-chem' like approach could be taken.
Read it here:
Chemical Approaches to CryopreservationLink opens in a new window
Degradable Macromolecular Cryoprotectants Published in ACS MacroLetters
We have previously developed maromolecular cryoprotectants, based on polyampholytes (polymers with cationic/anionic groups) which are remarkable cryoprotectants - they protect cells from damage during freezing, leading to more, healthier cells being recovered. However, our previous work has been focussed on all-carbon backboned polymers which are not intrinsically degradable. In our latest work, we collaborated with Prof Julien Nicolas (Paris) to develop polyampholytes containing ester bonds in their backbone, which can be hydrolysed. This was achieved using radical ring-opening copolymerization, enabling convention controlled radical methods to introduce esters (instead of the normal C-C bonds). The resulting polymers were shown to enhance the cryopreservation of cell monolayers - a very challenging cryopreservation scenario.
Read the paper here:
Potent ice recrystallisation inhibitors based on Phenyl Alanine Published
We are very interested in understand how ice binding proteins function, but also discovering the design rules to let us obtain synthetic mimics. Macromolecular mimics are now established, but obtaining structure-function relationships is challenging due to e.g. dispersity, and the computation cost of modelling large flexible polymers. In our latest work, as part of our collaboration with the Sosso Group, we discover that phenyl alanine (the amino acid) is a potent ice recrystallisaiton inhibitor. Modification of different parts of the molecule helped us identify the key motifs, including the need for hydrophobicity.
This work is published in ChemComm and is can be read here:
Team Ice Awarded RSC Horizon Prize
We have been awarded a prestigious Horizon Prize from the Royal Society of Chemistry for our work on "development, application and translation of chemical tools for cryobiology". This is a TEAM prize, including our collaborators at Warwick: Sosso, Whale and Notman as well as our industrial partners Cytivia and Cryologyx (our spin out). There will be a big party to celebrate soon!
https://www.rsc.org/prizes-funding/prizes/2022-winners/team-ice/Link opens in a new window
Matt Awarded McBain Medal
Last year, Prof Matt Gibson was announced as the awardee of the 2021 McBain medal. On the 11th May, a special meeting was heldLink opens in a new window, where Matt was formally awarded the medal.
Slowing the growth of ice with amino acids
Ice binding proteins have been widely studied, and we have a large research program into macromolecular (polymer) cryoprotectants. There has been less work on the study of small molecules which can modulate ice formation and growth, however. In our latest work with the Sosso GroupLink opens in a new window we show that simple amino acids can reduce ice recrystallisation. L-alanine could inhibit, whereas beta-alanine did not. Modelling suggests incompatability with the ice lattice explains the activity, rather than intrinisic ice binding affinity. This work shows that the design and discovery of small molecules to control ice growth is possible.
Read the paper here