糖心原创

Recent Research Highlights

• Our extensive work in developing hydrodynamic and thermodynamic methodology for modelling the shapes and conformations of macromolecules in solution using “whole body” approaches is extensively featured in Biophysical and Biochemical Text Books such as the Cambridge University Press books  (CUP 2007) and  (CUP 2018).
• The nature and stability of glycoconjugate vaccines (view  &   and ).
• An important advance involving the hydrogen producing microbe Rhodobacter spheroides ().
• Elucidation of the hydrodynamics of microbial resistance mechanisms: the first demonstration that vancomycin is able to bind to the VanS protein in the glycopeptide resistance pathway (view  & ) and . See also , and .
• Development of improved methods of getting molecular weights () molecular weight distributions (), conformation () and interactions () of macromolecules in solution.
• The discovery of sugars that behave like proteins (published in and & reported in )
• The NCMH contributed the hydrodynamics to Nottingham’s elucidation of the genetics of fruit ripening (view 2016   article).
• Finding natural polymer consolidants to save alum treated Oseberg Viking ship artefacts – Norways National Treasure - from disintegration (view  & ). This also impacts on the Mary Rose and the Meols Boat - see this 2020 clip from BBC's Our Coast.
• Re-analysis of the 1948 Creeth 2-chain model for DNA ().

People

Staff (Nottingham Laboratory) 

• : Director of the Nottingham Laboratory of the NCMH 
• Kieran Ellis: Research/Teaching Technician 
• Dr Jennifer Wakefield (Postdoctoral Fellow) – joint with University of Oslo
• Honorary Professors: Prof. Bernardo Perez-Ramirez (Sanofi, Massachusetts); Prof. Tejash Shah (GSK Stevenage); Prof. Nicholas Darton (Astra-Zeneca, Cambridge); Prof. Jan Jezek (Arecor, Cambridge); Prof. Cleanthes Israilides (NAGREF, Athens) 
• Honorary Associate Professors: Dr. Tony Corfield (Glycobiology); Dr. Mary Phillips-Jones (Microbial Biophysics); Dr. Immo Fiebrig (Green therapies); Tom Harding (Scientific Patenting, Potter Clarkson LLP)
• Associate Members: Dr Vlad Dinu (Biomolecular Technology), Chas Jones (BioArchaeology)

PhD students

• Dalal Mohammed Almutairi (University of Tabuk Scholar): Interactions between mucins and plant based food macromolecules (Supervisors: I. Fisk, S. Harding & G. Yakubov)
• Yudong Lu (Chinese Scholar): Glycans in Food and Health (Supervisors: S. Harding, M. Phillips-Jones)

MRes Biomolecular Technology students (2024-25)

• Genevieve Paton (UK)
• Joe Turpin (UK)
• Alicia Richardson (UK)
• Michal Pilarski
• Jathushan Baheerathan (UK)
• Longxiao Du (China)
• Muyang Tian (China)

Some Earlier Research Highlights

• Development of the COVOL program with Dame Janet Thornton FRS for predicting/allowing for non-ideality based on protein shape (,  and view )
• Development of an algorithm for analysing mucins and other complex polydisperse and non-ideal systems using sedimentation equilibrium in the analytical ultracentrifuge () 
• Development of triaxial ellipsoids as hydrodynamic models for proteins in solution using ‘hydration independent’ shape functions () and the ELLIPS suite of algorithms ()
• Development of SOLPRO algorithm with Prof J. Garcia de la Torre for the bead modelling of complex proteins in solution using ‘hydration independent’ shape functions ( and )
• Development of a combined SEC-sedimentation equilibrium method for polymer molecular weight distribution analysis (view paper 1, , )
• Development with Dr A.J. Rowe of off-line automatic data capture of analytical ultracentrifuge patterns ()
• Development with Dr J.M. Creeth of a simple test for macromolecular heterogeneity in a single sedimentation equilibrium experiment () and the MSTAR method for sedimentation equilibrium analysis of polymer molecular weights ()
• Development and first demonstration of the principle of co-sedimentation in the analytical ultracentrifugation for ligand-macromolecule interactions (view paper 1, paper 2,   & a more recent review)
• First demonstration of a protein which forms trimers – chloramphenicol transacetylase (), and a further demonstration ()
• First demonstration with Prof Dennis Burton of a cusp shape conformation for the antibody IgE ( and )
• First demonstration of how pegylation can screen antibodies ()
• First demonstration of how processing and point mutations can affect the conformation of monoclonal antibodies ()
• First application of dynamic light scattering with analytical ultracentrifugation to elucidate the after-process integrity of monoclonal antibodies ()
• First demonstration of a weak association in carbohydrate polymers ()
• First SEC-MALS elucidation of the molecular weight distribution of polysaccharides () and mucins ()
• First application of dynamic light scattering to bacterial spores () and demonstration of resistance to disinfectants ()
• Development with Dr Paley Johnson of the theory for the concentration dependence of hydrodynamic parameters (), tested using TYMV () and a recent update with Prof Don Winzor and Dr David Scott for the concentration dependence of diffusion ()
• Development of the technique of flotation equilibrium in the analytical ultracentrifuge ()
• Development of the linear coil array model for the structure mucins (,   and )
• Discovery of high levels of Viking genes in the population of coastal north-west England ( and  and )
• Development with Prof J. Garcia de la Torre of ‘Crystallohydrodynamics’: combination of x-ray crystallography with hydrodynamics to elucidate the domain orientation of antibodies (, )
• Resolution of an important discrepancy with a theory relating viscosity determination with molecular shape ( and )

Comprehensive list (~600) of publications from the NCMH () and links ()

MRes Biomolecular Technology Graduation class & staff (2022-23)