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PhD

Glycosylated nanomaterials: Neutralisation and detection of bacteria and toxins

Supervised by: Dr Matthew Gibson and Prof. Gurdyal Besra

My PhD research lay at the interface between materials chemistry and life sciences. The focus of my PhD research was on the design, synthesis and application of multivalent macromolecular vectors that can interact with microbial membranes. In particular, the use of glycopolymers synthesised by tandem post-polymerisation modification to selectively inhibit bacterial toxins (Angew. Chem. 2012, Polym. Chem. 2013 and Chem. Sci. 2014) and glyco-gold nanoparticles with optimised polymer coatings to discriminate between lectins and bacterial phenotypes (J. Mater. Chem. B. 2014 and ACS Macro Lett. 2014).

Neutralisation of bacterial toxins using glycopolymers

Richards, S-J., Jones, M.W., Hunaban, M., Haddleton, D.M., Gibson, M.I., Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2012, 51, 7812. "Probing Bacterial Toxin Inhibition with Synthetic Glycopolymers using Tandem Post-Polymerization Modification: Role of Linker and Carbohydrate Density" link

richards_angew_chem_2012.gif

Jones, M.W., Richards, S-J., Haddleton, D.M., Gibson M.I., Polym. Chem., 2013, 4, 717. "Poly(Azlactone)s: Versatile Scaffolds for Tandem Post-Polymerisation Modification and Glycopolymer Synthesis" link

jones polym chem 2013

Jones, M.W., Otten, L., Richards, S-J., Lowery, R., Phillips D.J., Haddleton D.M., and Gibson M.I. Chem. Sci., 2014, 5, 1611. "Glycopolymers with secondary binding motifs mimic glycan branching and display bacterial lectin selectivity in addition to affinity" link

jones_chem_sci_2014.gif

Detection of bacteria and toxins using glyco-goldnanoparticles

Richards, S-J., Fullam, E.C., Besra, G.S., Gibson, M.I. J. Mater. Chem. B, 2014, 2, 1490-1498. "Discrimination between bacterial phenotypes using glyco-nanoparticles and the impact of polymer coating on detection readouts" link

richardsj mater chem b 2014

Richards, S-J., Gibson, M. I., ACS Macro Lett., 2014, 3, 1004-1008. "Optimization of the Polymer Coating for Glycosylated Gold Nanoparticle Biosensors to Ensure Stability and Rapid Optical Readouts" link

macro lett 2014

Other related collaborations

Gou, Y., Richards, S-J., Haddleton, D.M., Gibson, M.I., Polym. Chem., 2012, 3, 1634. "Investigation of Glycopolymer-Lectin Interactions using QCM-d: Comparison of Surface Binding with Inhibitory Activity" link

yanzi_polym_chem_2012.gif

Otten, L., Richards, S-J., Fullam, E., Besra, G.S., Gibson, M.I., J. Mater. Chem. B, 2013, 1, 2665. "Gold Nanoparticle-Linked Analysis of Carbohydrate-Protein Interactions, and Polymeric Inhibitors, using Unlabelled Proteins; Easy Measurements Using a ‘Simple’ Digital Camera" link

otten_j_mater_chem_b_2013.gif

Gou, Y., Geng, J., Richards, S-J., Burns, J., Becer, C.R., Haddelton, D.M., J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem., 2013, 51, 2588. "A Detailed Study on Understanding Glycopolymer Library and Con A Interactions" link

Lu, J., Zhang, W., Richards, S-J., Gibson, M.I., Chen, G. Polym. Chem., 2014, 5, 2326. "Glycopolymer-coated Gold Nanorods Synthesied by a One Pot Copper(0) Catalyzed Tandem RAFT/Click Reaction" link

Conference Attendances

Multiglyconano COST/IBCARB training school on "Synthesis for nano- and glyco-sciences" - Bangor, UK, April 2015

- Poster and Flash Presentation - "Glycosylated Nanomaterials: Neutralisation and Detection of Bacteria and Toxins"

IBCARB workshop on Carbohydrate Recogntion and Inhibtion - Norwich, UK, November 2014

Emerging Nanomaterials for Healthcare - The University of Warwick, UK, October 2014

- Poster - "Glycosylated Nanomaterials: Neutralisation and Detection of Bacteria and Toxins"

248th ACS National Meeting - San Francisco, CA, USA, August 2014

- Oral Presentation - "Glycosylated Nanomaterials: Neutralisation and Detection of Bacteria and Toxins"

Macro group YMS, The University of Durham, UK, July 2014

MultiGlycoNano 2014 - Certosa Di Pontignano, Siena, Italy, June 2014

- Oral Presentation - "Glycosylated Nanomaterials: Neutralisation and Detection of Bacteria and Toxins"

RSC YMS 2014 - The University of Birmingham, UK, June 2014

- Oral Presentation - "Glycosylated Nanomaterials: Neutralisation and Detection of Bacteria and Toxins"

Chemistry Postgraduate Research Symposium, The University of Warwick, UK, May 2014

- Oral Presentation - "Glycosylated Nanomaterials: Neutralisation and Detection of Bacteria and Toxins"

MultiGlycoNano COST training school on "Dynamic nano- and glyco-sciences", Namur, Belgium, April 2014

- Poster - "Glycosylated Nanomaterials: Neutralisation and Detection of Bacteria and Toxins"

IUPAC 10th International Conference on Advanced Polymers via Macromolecular Engineering - The University of Durham, UK, August 2013

- Poster - "Glycopolymer–Lectin Interactions and Inhibition of Pathogens using Multivalent Scaffolds"

11th International Conference on Materials Chemistry (MC11) - The University of Warwick, UK, July 2013

- Poster - "Glycopolymer–Lectin Interactions and Inhibition of Pathogens using Multivalent Scaffolds"

Joint DTC conference - Imperial College London, June 2013

- Contributed lecture - "Inhibiton of bacterial toxins with multivalent glycopolymers: affinity and specificity"

RSC Biomaterials Conference - Sheffield UK, January 2013.

- Contributed lecture - "Inhibiton of bacterial toxins with multivalent glycopolymers: affinity and specificity"

Multivalent Glycosciences: co-organised with RSC Carbohydrate Interest Group, The University of Birmingham, September 2012

- Flash presentation - "Inhibiton of bacterial toxins with multivalent glycopolymers: affinity and specificity"

Warwick Polymer Conference 2012, July 2012

- Poster - "Glycopolymer–Lectin Interactions and Inhibition of Pathogens using Multivalent Scaffolds"