The School of Pharmacy

Journal

August-October 2014

Foreword

Welcome to our latest edition of the School of Pharmacy Journal, a quarterly collection of

publications and press releases from August-October.

New cell model to speed up development of brain tumour drugs.

In a new paper published in PLOS One (2014) 9, 3103817 (DOI:

10.1371/journal.pone.0103817) Dr Martin Garnett together with Professor David Walker at

the Children’s Brain Tumour Research Centre (CBTRC) at Nottingham report a new

methodology, which permits drug screening tests to be carried out efficiently, accurately,

conveniently and in high throughput in 3D cultures. New cancer drugs are typically

screened against cancer cells which are grown in culture dishes in labs (known as 2D

culture) and are then compared with normal cells from animals. However, growing the

human cancer and normal human cells in small balls (known as 3D culture) has been

repeatedly shown to mimic more closely the conditions in the human body. Mainstream

adoption of physiological 3D models has been stalled in the past 50 years due to high price,

low speed and poor reproducibility.

The first author of the paper, Delyan Ivanov, a PhD student at the School of Pharmacy at

the University, said “The test has been specifically developed to use equipment and

procedures which are readily available in all labs, so that this platform can be easily

adopted by a range of laboratories in both academia and industry.” Senior author Dr

Garnett said: “We needed to develop this test to investigate the properties of a nanoparticle

drug delivery system we were working on. However, now we have developed this test we

can see it has great potential for cancer drug screening in general, and could be applied to

a wide range of situations.”

Assessment of Allergenicity of Schistosoma mansoni Proteins

The group of Dr Franco Falcone published a new paper published in PLOS Neglected Tropical

Diseases (2014) 8, e3124 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0003124. Schistosoma is a significant

parasite of humans, a trematode worm that is one of the major agents of the disease

schistosomiasis also known as bilharzia, snail fever, and Katayama fever, a neglected

tropical disease. Symptoms may include abdominal pain, diarrhea, bloody stoo with more

severe health concerns relating to prolonged infection. Human infection with the trematode

Schistosoma mansoni is well known to correlate with a progressive increase of serum IgE

levels S. mansoni infection usually peaks in early adolescence and declines in adulthood, a

pattern that suggests that individuals in endemic areas can gradually acquire an age-related

resistance to reinfection. Taken together, this paper reports a method that offers a robust

way for assessing potential allergenicity of S. mansoni (or any other parasite) in a format

suitable for high-throughput analysis. The novelty of the method presented here lies in the

combination of a fast cell-free expression system and an equally fast reporter system which

allows expression of candidate allergens in a few hours and detection of activation within

three hours, all up-scalable to high-throughput format. This method can be used as an

additional safety test when assessing potential vaccine candidates. Perhaps more

importantly, when used at the whole genome level, it could be used to unravel the entire

allergome of S. mansoni and other medically important parasites. Ultimately this could lead

to a better understanding of the basis of allergenicity, and in combination with additional

cellular studies, to a better understanding of the relationship between parasite-specific IgE

and host protection mechanisms at the molecular level

Prof Jonas Emsley Dr Nashiru Billa

jonas.emsley@nottingham.ac.uk nashiru.billa@nottingham.edu.my

Chair of School Research Committee Chair of School Research Committee

(Nottingham) (Malaysia)

Contents

Staff Research News

Grants/Studentships Awarded

Student News

General News

Press Releases

o The New Medicine Service Study (NMS-Study) website is published today

o Study supports New Medicine Service

o Partnership agreement signed with Chinese pharma giant

o New cell model to speed up development of brain tumour drugs

o Students’ success at the RPS conference, 2014

o 3rd year student writes an article for the Pharmaceutical Journal

o Roger Knaggs quotes in ‘The Telegraph’ discussing misuse of opiates

o 3rd year student takes part in a global Social Media in Health Education project

o 3rd year student attends U21 summer school on Substance Misuse

o Mpharm student reports from the Academy of Pharmaceutical Sciences Meeting

2014

o PhD student is on I’m a Scientist get me out of here

o Kevin Shakesheff writes a blog for NC3Rs

Highlighted Papers

Collated Research Papers:

Protein-based fluorescent metal nanoclusters for small molecular drug

screening

Yong Yu, Siu Yee New, Jianping Xie, Xiaodi Su and Yen Nee Tan

Chemical Communications (2014) 50, 13805-13808

Changes in trends and pattern of strong opioid prescribing in primary care

C.S. Zin, L.-C. Chen and R.D. Knaggs

European Journal of Pain (2014) 18, 1343-1351

DOI: 10.1002/j.1532-2149.2014.496.x

Lipidomic analysis of plasma samples from women with polycystic ovary

syndrome.

Zeina Haoula, Srinivasarao Ravipati, Dov J. Stekel , Catharine A. Ortori, Charlie

Hodgman, Clare Daykin, Nick Raine-Fenning, David A. Barrett, William Atiomo

Metabolomics (2014) available online DOI:10.1007/s11306-014-0726-y

Surgical delivery of drug releasing poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid)/poly(ethylene

glycol) paste with in vivo effects against glioblastoma

SJ Smith, CV Rahman, PA Clarke, AA Ritchie, TW Gould, JH Ward, KM Shakesheff,

RG Grundy, R Rahman

Annals of The Royal College of Surgeons of England (2014) 96, 495-501

DOI: 10.1308/003588414X13946184903568

Injectable and porous PLGA microspheres that form highly porous

scaffolds at body temperature

Omar Qutachi, Jolanda R. Vetsch, Daniel Gill, Helen Cox, David J. Scurr, Sandra

Hofmann, Ralph Müller, Robin A. Quirk, Kevin M. Shakesheff, Cheryl V. Rahman

Acta Biomaterialia (2014) available online DOI: 10.1016/j.actbio.2014.08.015

Evaluation of skeletal tissue repair, Part 1: Assessment of novel

growth-factor-releasing hydrogels in an ex vivo chick femur defect

model

E.L. Smith, J.M. Kanczler, D. Gothard, C.A. Roberts, J.A. Wells, L.J. White, O. Qutachi,

M.J. Sawkins, H. Peto, H. Rashidi, L. Rojo, M.M. Stevens, A.J. El Haj, F.R.A.J. Rose, K.M.

Shakesheff, R.O.C. Oreffo

Acta Biomaterialia (2014) 10, 4186-4196 DOI: 10.1016/j.actbio.2014.06.011

Evaluation of skeletal tissue repair, Part 2: Enhancement of skeletal

tissue repair through dual-growth-factor-releasing hydrogels within

an ex vivo chick femur defect model

E.L. Smith, J.M. Kanczler, D. Gothard, C.A. Roberts, J.A. Wells, L.J. White, O. Qutachi,

M.J. Sawkins, H. Peto, H. Rashidi, L. Rojo, M.M. Stevens, A.J. El Haj, F.R.A.J. Rose, K.M.

Shakesheff, R.O.C. Oreffo

Acta Biomaterialia (2014) 10, 4197-4205 DOI: 10.1016/j.actbio.2014.05.025

Revision workshops in elementary mathematics enhance student performance

in routine laboratory calculations

Jenny L. Sawbridge, Haseeb K. Qureshi, Matthew J. Boyd, and Angus M. Brown

Advances in Physiology Education (2014) 38, 239–245 DOI:10.1152/advan.00036.2014

Identifying patient-level health and social care costs for older adults

discharged from acute medical units in England

Rachel A. Elliott, Matthew Franklin, Vladislav Berdunov, Judi Edmans, Simon Conroy,

John Gladman

Age and Ageing (2014) 43, 703-707 DOI: 10.1093/ageing/afu073

Folic acid handling by the human gut: implications for food fortification

and supplementation

Imran Patanwala, Maria J King, David A Barrett, John Rose, Ralph Jackson, Mark

Hudson, Mark Philo, Jack R Dainty, Anthony JA Wright, Paul M Finglas, and David E

Jones

American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (2014) 100, 593-599

DOI: 10.3945/ajcn.113.080507

An international validation study of two achievement goal measures in a

pharmacy education context

Saleh Alrakaf, Ahmed Abdelmageed, Mary Kiersma, Sion A Coulman, Dai N John, June

Tordoff, Claire Anderson, Ayman Noreddin, Erica Sainsbury, Grenville Rose, Lorraine

Smith

Advances in Medical Education and Practice (2014) 5, 339-345

DOI: 10.2147/AMEP.S68241

Rapid Detection of Peptide Markers for Authentication Purposes in Raw and

Cooked Meat Using Ambient Liquid Extraction Surface Analysis Mass

Spectrometry

Magdalena Montowska, Morgan R. Alexander, Gregory A. Tucker and David A. Barrett

Analytical Chemistry (2014) 86, 10257−10265 DOI: 10.1021/ac502449w

Importance of Sample Form and Surface Temperature for Analysis by Ambient

Plasma Mass Spectrometry (PADI)

Tara La Roche Salter, Josephine Bunch and Ian S. Gilmore

Analytical Chemistry 2014, 86, 9264−9270 DOI: 10.1021/ac502363v

Characterisation of a micro-plasma for ambient mass spectrometry imaging

Andrew Bowfield, Josephine Bunch, Tara L. Salter, Rory T. Steven, Ian S. Gilmore, Dave

A. Barrett, Morgan R. Alexander, Kirsty McKay and James W. Bradley

Analyst (2014) 139, 5430-5438 DOI: 10.1039/C4AN01110D

A novel electrospun biphasic scaffold provides optimal three-dimensional

topography for in vitro co-culture of airway epithelial and fibroblast cells

G E Morris, J C Bridge, L A Brace, A J Knox, J W Aylott, C E Brightling, A M

Ghaemmaghami and F R A J Rose

Biofabrication (2014) 6, 035014 DOI: 10.1088/1758-5082/6/3/035014

Chemically diverse polymer microarrays and high throughput surface

characterisation: a method for discovery of materials for stem cell culture

A.D. Celiz, J.G.W. Smith, A.K. Patel, R. Langer, D.G. Anderson, D.A. Barrett, L.E. Young,

M.C. Davies, C. Denning and M.R. Alexander

Biomaterials Science (2014) 2, 1604-1611 DOI: 10.1039/c4bm00054d

Design, synthesis and SAR exploration of tri-substituted 1,2,4-triazoles as

inhibitors of the annexin A2–S100A10 protein interaction

Tummala R.K. Reddy, Chan Li, Xiaoxia Guo, Peter M. Fischer, Lodewijk V. Dekker

Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry (2014) 22, 5378-5391

DOI: 10.1016/j.bmc.2014.07.043

Assessing the safety features of electronic patient medication record systems

used in community pharmacies in England

Oluwagbemileke Ojeleye, Anthony J. Avery and Matthew J. Boyd

British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology (2014) 78, 401-409

DOI: 10.1111/bcp.12347

The economics of medicines optimization: policy developments, remaining

challenges and research priorities

Rita Faria, Marco Barbieri, Kate Light, Rachel A. Elliott and Mark Sculpher

British Medical Bulletin (2014) 111, 45-61 DOI: 10.1093/bmb/ldu021

The effect of the electronic transmission of prescriptions on dispensing errors

and prescription enhancements made in English community pharmacies: a

naturalistic stepped wedge study

Bryony Dean Franklin, Matthew Reynolds, Stacey Sadler, Ralph Hibberd, Anthony J

Avery, Sarah J Armstrong, Rajnikant Mehta, Matthew J Boyd, Nick Barber

BMJ Quality & Safety (2014) 23, 629-638 DOI: 10.1136/bmjqs-2013-002776

Interface and surface analysis for pharmaceutical applications: Challenges and

recent advances

Matthew Piggott and Mischa Zelzer

Chemistry Today (2014) 32, 53-59

Tissue engineered bone using select growth factors: A comprehensive review

of animal studies and clinical translation studies in man

D. Gothard, E.L. Smith, J.M. Kanczler, H. Rashidi, O. Qutachi, J. Henstock, M.

Rotherham, A. El Haj, K.M. Shakesheff and R.O.C. Oreffo

European Cells and Materials (2014) 28, 166-208

Kinetic analysis of antagonist-occupied adenosine-A3 receptors within

membrane microdomains of individual cells provides evidence of receptor

dimerization and allosterism

Ross Corriden, Laura E. Kilpatrick, Barrie Kellam, Stephen J. Briddon and Stephen J. Hill

The FASEB Journal (2014) 28, 4211-4222 DOI: 10.1096/fj.13-247270

Effectiveness of a community pharmacy weight management programme

Helen F. Boardman, Anthony J. Avery

International Journal of Clinical Pharmacy (2014) 36, 800-806

DOI: 10.1007/s11096-014-9964-3

Two-pronged Attack: Dual Inhibition of Plasmodium falciparum M1 and M17

Metalloaminopeptidases by a Novel Series of Hydroxamic acid-based Inhibitors

Shailesh N Mistry, Nyssa Drinkwater, Chiara Ruggeri, Komagal Kannan

Sivaraman, Sasdekumar Loganathan, Sabine Fletcher, Marcin Drag, Alessandro

Paiardini, Vicky M. Avery, Peter J. Scammells, and Sheena McGowan

Journal of Medicinal Chemistry (2014) 57, 9168-9183 DOI: 10.1021/jm501323a

Mechanism of phosphatidylserine inhibition of IgE/FcεRI-dependent

anaphylactic human basophil degranulation via CD300a

Vito Sabato, Monica Boita, Saif Shubber, Chris H. Bridts, Akira Shibuya, Luc S. De

Clerck, Franco H. Falcone and Didier G. Ebo

Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (2014) 134, 734-737

DOI: 10.1016/j.jaci.2014.03.029

Mechanistic Insights into Allosteric Structure-Function Relationships at the M1

Muscarinic Acetylcholine Receptor

Alaa Abdul-Ridha, J. Robert Lane, Shailesh N. Mistry, Laura López, Patrick M. Sexton,

Peter J. Scammells, Arthur Christopoulos and Meritxell Canals

Journal of Biological Chemistry (2014) 289, 33701-33711

The scale-up of a tissue engineered porous hydroxyapatite polymer composite

scaffold for use in bone repair: An ovine femoral condyle defect study

Edward Tayton, Matthew Purcell, James O. Smith, Stuart Lanham, Steven M. Howdle,

Kevin M. Shakesheff, Allen Goodship, Gordon Blunn, Darren Fowler, Douglas G. Dunlop,

Richard O.C. Oreffo

Journal of Biomedical Materials Research Part A (2014) available online

DOI: 10.1002/jbm.a.35279

Biocompatibility and enhanced osteogenic differentiation of human

mesenchymal stem cells in response to surface engineered poly(D,L-lactic-co-

glycolic acid) microparticles

Catherine M. Rogers, David J. Deehan, Callie A. Knuth, Felicity R. A. J. Rose, Kevin M.

Shakesheff and Rachel A. Oldershaw

Journal of Biomedical Materials Research Part A (2014) 102A, 3872-3882

DOI: 10.1002/jbm.a.35063

Simultaneous tissue profiling of eicosanoid and endocannabinoid lipid families

in a rat model of osteoarthritis

Amy Wong, Devi R. Sagar, Catharine A. Ortori, David A. Kendall, Victoria Chapman and

David A. Barrett

Journal of Lipid Research (2014) 55, 1902-1913 DOI: 10.1194/jlr.M048694

A strategy for characterization of triterpene saponins in Caulophyllum

robustum hairy roots by liquid chromatography with electrospray ionization

quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry

Yong-Gang Xia, Guo-Yu Li, Jun Liang, Catharine A. Ortori, Bing-You Yang, Hai-Xue

Kuang and David A. Barrett

Journal of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Analysis (2014) 100, 109-122

DOI: 10.1016/j.jpba.2014.07.024

Potentiation of latent inhibition by haloperidol and clozapine is attenuated in

Dopamine D2 receptor (Drd-2)-deficient mice: Do antipsychotics influence

learning to ignore irrelevant stimuli via both Drd-2 and non-Drd-2

mechanisms?

Matthew J O’Callaghan, Cecilie Bay-Richter, Colm MP O’ Tuathaigh, David M Heery, John

L Waddington and Paula M Moran

Journal of Psychopharmacology (2014) 28, 973-977

DOI: 10.1177/0269881114544774

Conducting Nanofibers and Organogels Derived from the Self-Assembly of

Tetrathiafulvalene-Appended Dipeptides

Siva Krishna Mohan Nalluri, Nadezhda Shivarova, Alexander L. Kanibolotsky, Mischa

Zelzer, Swati Gupta, Pim W. J. M. Frederix, Peter J. Skabara, Helena Gleskova and Rein

V. Ulijn

Langmuir (2014) 30, 12429-12437 DOI: 10.1021/la503459y

Investigation of the Flexibility of Protein Kinases Implicated in the Pathology

of Alzheimer’s Disease

Michael P. Mazanetz, Charles A. Laughton and Peter M. Fischer

Molecules (2014) 19, 9134-9159 DOI:10.3390/molecules19079134

Flavonoids with M1 Muscarinic Acetylcholine Receptor Binding Activity

Meyyammai Swaminathan, Chin Fei Chee, Sek Peng Chin, Michael J. C. Buckle,

Noorsaadah Abd. Rahman, Stephen W. Doughty and Lip Yong Chung

Molecules (2014) 19, 8933-8948 DOI:10.3390/molecules19078933

The mechanisms of nanoparticle internalization and transport across an

intestinal epithelial cell model: effect of size and surface charge

Azzah M Bannunah, Driton Vllasaliu, Jennie Lord, and Snjezana Stolnik

Molecular Pharmaceutics (2014) 11, 4363-4373 DOI: 10.1021/mp500439c

Quantification of Gastrointestinal Liquid Volumes and Distribution Following a

240 mL Dose of Water in the Fasted State

Deanna M. Mudie, Kathryn Murray, Caroline L. Hoad, Susan E. Pritchard, Martin C.

Garnett, Gordon L. Amidon, Penny A. Gowland, Robin C. Spiller, Gregory E. Amidon and

Luca Marciani

Molecular Pharmaceutics (2014) 11, 3039-3047 DOI: 10.1021/mp500210c

A facile approach to tryptophan derivatives for the total synthesis of argyrin

analogues

Chou-Hsiung Chen, Sivaneswary Genapathy, Peter M. Fischer and Weng C. Chan

Organic & Biomolecular Chemistry (2014) 12, 9764-9768 DOI: 10.1039/c4ob02107j

Study of NAP adsorption and assembly on the surface of HOPG

Vladimir V. Korolkov, Stephanie Allen, Clive J. Roberts, Illana Gozes and Saul J.B.

Tendler

Peptides (2014) 62, 55-58 DOI: 10.1016/j.peptides.2014.09.017

Mechanism of Mucosal Permeability Enhancement of CriticalSorb® (Solutol®

HS15) Investigated In Vitro in Cell Cultures

Saif Shubber, Driton Vllasaliu, Cyril Rauch, Faron Jordan, Lisbeth Illum and Snjezana

Stolnik

Pharmaceutical Research (2014) available online DOI: 10.1007/s11095-014-1481-5

Use of Humanised Rat Basophilic Leukaemia Cell Line RSATL8 for the

Assessment of Allergenicity of Schistosoma mansoni Proteins

Daniel Wan, Fernanda Ludolf, Daniel G. W. Alanine, Owen Stretton, Eman Ali Ali, Nafal

Al-Barwary, Xiaowei Wang, Michael J. Doenhoff, Adriano Mari, Colin M. Fitzsimmons,

David W. Dunne, Ryosuke Nakamura, Guilherme C. Oliveira, Marcos J. C. Alcocer and

Franco H. Falcone

PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases (2014) 8, e3124

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0003124

Multiplexing Spheroid Volume, Resazurin and Acid Phosphatase Viability

Assays for High-Throughput Screening of Tumour Spheroids and Stem Cell

Neurospheres

Delyan P. Ivanov, Terry L. Parker, David A. Walker, Cameron Alexander, Marianne B.

Ashford, Paul R. Gellert and Martin C. Garnett

PLOS One (2014) 9, 3103817 DOI: 10.1371.journal.pone.0103817

Camptothecin prodrug block copolymer micelles with high drug loading and

target specificity

Adnan R. Khan, Johannes Pall Magnusson, Sue Watson, Anna M. Grabowska,

Robert W. Wilkinson, Cameron Alexander and David Pritchard

Polymer Chemistry (2014) 5, 5320-5329 DOI: 10.1039/c4py00369a

The development and validation of the Satisfaction Questionnaire for

Osteoporosis Prevention in Malaysia

Li Shean Toh, Pauline Siew Mei Lai, David Bin-Chia Wu, Kok Thong Wong,

Bee Yean Low, Alexander Tong Boon Tan and Claire Anderson

Patient Preference and Adherence (2014) 8, 1365-1381 DOI: 10.2147/PPA.S65718

An appraisal of the Suzuki cross-coupling reaction for the synthesis of novel

fluorescent coumarin derivatives

Amer Alhaj Zen, Jonathan W. Aylott and Weng C. Chan

Tetrahedron Letters (2014) 55, 5521-5524 DOI: 10.1016/j.tetlet.2014.08.058

Translational insight into statin-induced muscle toxicity: from cell culture to

clinical studies

Dhiaa A. Taha, Cornelia H. De Moor, David A. Barrett and Pavel Gershkovich

Translational Research (2014) 164, 85-109 DOI: 10.1016/j.trsl.2014.01.013

Surface engineering of synthetic polymer materials for tissue engineering and

regenerative medicine applications

Hassan Rashidi, Jing Yang and Kevin M. Shakesheff

Biomaterials Science (2014) 2, 1318-1331 DOI: 10.1039/c3bm60330j

Reductions in Endocannabinoid Levels and Enhanced Coupling of Cannabinoid

Receptors in the Striatum are Accompanied by Cognitive Impairments in the

AβPPswe/PS1ΔE9 Mouse Model of Alzheimer's Disease

Nazia Maroof, Srinivasarao Ravipati, Marie Christine Pardon, David A. Barrett, David A.

Kendall

Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease (2014) 42, 227-245 DOI: 10.3233/JAD-131961

Assessment of the feasibility and clinical value of further research to evaluate

the management options for children with Down syndrome and otitis media

with effusion: a feasibility study

Fortnum H, Leighton P, Smith MD, Brown L, Jones M, Benton C, Marder E, Marshall A,

Sutton K

Health Technology Assessment (2014) 60 available online DOI: 10.3310/hta18600

Stop that nonsense! Cells can prevent so-called ‘nonsense’ mutations by

several methods, including a newly discovered mechanism driven by microRNA

molecules

Catherine L Jopling

eLIFE (2014) 3: e04300 DOI: 10.7554/eLife.04300

Staff Research News

Professor Morgan Alexander has been invited to speak at:

o Wyss Institute, Harvard (host David Mooney) on the 13th November 2014 – ‘High

Throughput Materials Discovery’

o University of Twente on the 20th November 2014 – ‘High Throughput Materials

Discovery Adventures with Polymer Microarrays’

o NMAET, National Physical Laboratory, Teddington on the 25th November – ‘ToF

SIMS as a navigation aid through the complex world of high throughput materials

discovery’

o The Training Partnership Lecture on the 28th November and 11th December to

900 A level students, London – ‘High throughput materials discovery adventures

with polymer microarrays’ -

Professor Martyn Davies visited the University of Leuven on the 12th September 2014 to

act as external examiner for a PhD student, J Meeus, and gave a talk ‘Just scratching

the surface – pharmaceutical nanotechnology in the real world’.

Professor David Heery has been invited to speak at the Gene Networks in Chromatin

Meeting being held in Bangalore from January 15th-18th, 2015.

Dr Franco Falcone has been invited to act as external examiner at an MPhil examination

at The University of Southampton.

Grant/Studentships Awarded

Professor Kevin Shakesheff and Dr Lee Buttery have been awarded £165k to purchase

equipment for the School’s new CDT in Regenerative Medicine, led by Loughborough.

Dr Charlie Laughton has been awarded approx. £19k from the EPSRC to set up a

transatlantic computational chemistry software development network.

Professor Clive Roberts and Dr Tian Bowen have received Hermes funding from the

University to carry out commercialisation studies in drug delivery.

Final-year PhD student Giovanna Sicilia has been awarded an EPSRC Doctoral Prize

consisting of two years of postdoctoral funding at the University.

Marloes Technologies has donated £10k to the School to support cancer research

activities.

Dr Siu Yee New has been awarded a Fundamental Research Grant Scheme (FRGS) (RM

143,200): Novel Colorimetric & Fluorogenic Nanobiosensors for Telomerase Activity

Detection Using (i) Cysteamine-Derived Gold Nanoparticles and (ii) Silver Nanoclusters/

Graphene Oxide Hybrid as Probes

Student News

Dr Tracey Bradshaw would like to congratulate her final year student, Anchala

Kuruppu, for winning the poster prize at the recent Flow Cytometry Symposium

(organised by David Onion).

General News

Summer School 2014

The Interface and Surface Analysis

Centre (ISAC) and Laboratory of

Biophysics and Surface Analysis

(LBSA) hosted a session of the

Outreach programme’s Summer

School 2014 on Wednesday 16th

July. The session showcased to local

A-level students some of the

exciting projects, techniques and

practical relevance of the research

going on within these divisions of

the school of pharmacy. The session

attendees were actively involved in

two informative and fun exercises

run by Nichola Starr and Matt Piggott. The first, titled ‘Getting Under Your Skin’, introduced

the students to the application of tape stripping and time-of-flight secondary ion mass

spectrometry to the skin permeation assessment of topical formulations. The second

exercise ‘Pharmaceutical Guess Who’ had the students assuming the role of customs

officers at an airport where they were presented with unidentified tablets from a luggage

accident. Safely preparing the tablets for analysis by Raman spectroscopy they then had to

first identify the tablets and second the probable owners of these medicines based on

medical history statements. The session was very well received with extremely positive

feedback. A large amount of credit and thanks should go to the team of postgraduates that

volunteered to help run the session and contributed to its success (Michael Taylor, Stephen

Kenny, Sunil Rajput, Andreea Iuras, Monica Mistry and Gudrun Fridgeirsdottir).

Highlighted Papers

Use of Humanised Rat Basophilic Leukaemia Cell Line RS-ATL8 for the Assessment of

Allergenicity of Schistosoma mansoni Proteins. Wan et al.

Published in PloS NTD. The paper has been accessed more than 2800 times in less than

a month since its publication.

Improved expression and purification of the Helicobacter pylori adhesin BabA through

the incorporation of a hexa-lysine tag. Accepted for publication in Protein Expression

and Purification. Hage et al.

Not a high IF Journal but the authors are very proud of the quality of this paper.

The Springer Science Book Basophils and Mast Cells: Methods and Protocols was

published in August. The book was jointly edited By Bernhard F Gibbs and Dr Franco H.

Falcone.

Gelation properties of self-assembling N-acyl modified cytidine derivatives

K.J. Skilling, A. Ndungu, B. Kellam, M. Ashford, T.D. Bradshaw and M. Marlow

J. Mater. Chem. B, 2014, 2 (47), 8412 – 8417

Dr Maria Marlow’s first paper as an academic.