Gibson Group News
Phage Cryopreservation Published.
With our partners at Cytivia (who host Prof Gibson as a Royal Society Industry fellow) and the Sagona Group (School of life sciences) we have investigated how polymers can be used to cryopreserve bacteriophages. Methods to freeze cells have attracted huge interest of late, for application in cell based therapies and biotechnology.We have, for example, developed macromolecular cryoprotectants which can control ice growth/formation and/or protect cells during freezing. However, virus storage is less explored. Viruses are essential from as vaccines, to vectors to engineer cells. Bacteriophages (phage) are specific bacterial viruses and several are used already to remove bacterial infections and they may have application in the future as therapies, or diagnostics. In this work, we observed (surprisingly) that just adding a small amount of PEG (poly(ethyleneglycol) protected phage during several freeze/thaw cycles at both -80 and -20 C. The mechanism of this was not clear, but ice growth (and its inhibition) was ruled out. We are continuing to study this, and to evaluate the use of polymers in many cryopreservation scenarios.
Read the paper here
Polymeric-Test Line for Lateral Flow Devices Published
Our latest work into how we can re-engineer lateral flow tests with polymeric components is published! Lateral flow tests (LFDs) are widely used for home pregnancy tests, to monitor the spread of COVID-19. A typical LFD uses antibodies on a gold nanoparticle (which makes the red colour) and forms a 'sandwich' with the analyte and another anti-body immobilised onto the paper-surface of the device. We have recently shown how synthetic polymers can be used on the gold nanoparticle surface to anchor targetting ligands which are not antibodies (e.g. glycans). In this work we explored using polymers to immobilise onto the test line (i.e. onto the paper). The current methods to immobilise non-antibody ligands is to chemically conjugate ligands onto polymeric carriers, which is non-trivial. We show here that poly(vinyl pyrrolidone) can be immobilised onto the paper, due to its ability to be dissolved in water (essential for printing) but being sufficiently hydrophobic to be retained. We install biotin and N-acetyl galactosamine as model capture units, showing that the PVP test line can be used. This is the first step towards making a robust and versatile polymeric capture agent to expand the scope of LFDs beyond antibodies.
Read the paper here:
End-Functionalized Poly(Vinyl Pyrrolidone) for Ligand Display in Lateral Flow Device Test Lines
COVID-19 detection in a rapid glycan-based diagnostic device
Our latest work, investigating SARS-COV-2 glycan interactions, and translation to diagnostic technology has been published in ACS sensors. Last year we discovered that the SARS-COV-2 spike protein could bind sialic acids (glycans found on cell surfaces and in the respiratory tract) using our glyconanoparticle platform. With our partners at Iceni Diagnostics and UHCW (Coventry Hospital) we integrated this into a flow-through device - similar to a lateral flow device - where the sample is dried, rather than captured on a test line. Using this, we show that primary swab samples of positive/negative patients can be identified correctly by this technology, and demonstrating the principle that rapid (eg lateral flow) devices that currently use antibodies as the detection agents, can be modified to use glycans instead. We also show that the spike proteins from variants of concern can still be detected in this format. Whilst still a prototype and this shows that glycan recognition can be deployed for infection monitoring and we are actively pursuing this technology.
Read the paper here; <span class="hlFld-Title">Glycan-Based Flow-Through Device for the Detection of SARS-COV-2</span>
Press release here. https://warwick.ac.uk/newsandevents/pressreleases/alternative_to_antibodies
Welcome to Yanan Gao our new PhD visitor
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Yanan has joined the Gibson Group as a PhD student in October. Her research will involve development of 3D spheroid models for application on new polymers-based cryopreservation evaluation. |
Toward Glycomaterials with Selectivity as Well as Affinity
Our perspective article on glycomaterials has been published in JACS Au. Glycans (sugars) coat the surface of mammalian cells (the Glycocalyx) and >50 % of all proteins are estimated to be glycosylated. These glycans provide a vast range of roles, such as 'markers of self' and as sites for pathogen adhesion. Presenting glycans on polymers, particles or surfaces is an appealing means to mimic/interfere with these processes, and due to the cluster glycoside effect, displaying lots of glycans on the same scaffolds leads to remarkable enhancements in affinity, which has been widely studied. This perspective discusses examples where selectivity, as well as affinity has been introduced into materials. Most current glycomaterials show high affinity, but will bind a wide range of protein targets (such as lectins), but we summarise how materials-solutions can be deployed to selectively target one protein, over another, even when they 'like' the same glycan. This is crucial if glycans are to be deployed in sensing, and other application areas.
Read the paper here!
Gibson Group welcomes Dr Akalabya Bissoyi
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Akalabya Bissoyi studied for his Ph.D at the National Institute of Technology, Rourkela, Odisha, India, and was awarded the Ph.D. degree in 2015 with a thesis on “Cryopreservation of mesenchymal stem cell and tissue-engineered constructs using non-toxic cryoprotective agents ”. As a former postdoctoral student at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Israel, his research focuses on the role that antifreeze and ice-nucleating proteins play in tissue cryopreservation. His research will involve cryopreservation (freezing) of 3-dimensional and 2-dimensional cell models. The project will make use of macromolecular cryoprotectants which can protect the cell from cold damage as well as preventing ice growth, and are inspired by ice-binding proteins found in extremophiles. |
Welcome to our new PhD Students: Natalia Gonzalez-Martinez, Erin Thompson & Douglas Soutar
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Natalia has joined the group after graduating in June with a First-Class degree in Biomedical Science with a Sandwich Year from the University of Kent. Her PhD project focuses on improving cellular recovery and function after cryopreservation, with a special focus on immune cell cryopreservation. |
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Erin is joining the Gibson Group from the University of Bristol, where she graduated with a master’s degree in Biochemistry with Molecular Biology and Biotechnology. She is beginning her PhD project at Warwick to work on developing polymeric materials with advanced functions for the cryopreservation of therapeutic cells and proteins to protect them from cold-induced damage. The initial stages of her work will involve protein bioengineering to allow site-specific attachment of cryoprotectant polymers. |
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My name is Douglas Soutar, I am joining the group as a PhD student and will be working on polymer synthesis for biologic cryopreservation. I have been at Warwick a while, I finished my undergraduate chemistry studies in 2019, studied for an MSc in polymer chemistry in 2020 and worked as a research assistant for BonLab for the past year, so you might recognise me from the corridor. |
Our work highlighted in ERC Horizon Magazine
Our work on developing new materials which can impact the growth/formation of ice, and the development of macromolecular cryoprotectants has been featured in the ERC (European Research Council)'s Horizon Magazine. It also features some other exciting ERC-funded research in cryobiology.