David Jayne is Bowel Cancer UK and RCS Engl. Professor of Surgery and Honorary Consultant Surgeon at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust. His research interests focus on novel therapies for colorectal cancer and preclinical cancer models through to late phase surgical trials. He has previously held a multi centre grant from the MRC/NIHR IntAct study…
Dr Stasiuk is a Reader in Imaging Chemistry at King’s College London. Dr Stasiuk’s research includes design and synthesis of novel multimodal imaging agents for MRI, PET and Optical Imaging. These include both small molecules and nanomaterials, based on inorganic complexes and semiconducting nanoparticles/quantum dots. The research is focused on tools for image guided surgery…
A key focus of his research is the application of electronic structure methods to understand and predict materials properties.
This project is inspired by the pioneering technology developed by PartitionBio (an external partner of the project) for targeted gene delivery, dubbed ‘bubbles’. The bubbles are engineered peptide-based systems that are assembled using liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS) and enter mammalian cells by fusing with their membranes via micropinocytosis. The bubbles are unconventional gene delivery systems…
Healthcare Nanomaterials have significant application in delivering therapeutic for a variety of diseases from cancer to vaccines. The mode of entry into the cell to give the biggest payload in an effective manner is not yet realised. Currently through liposome or surface protein interaction and endocytosis are non-specific and slow kinetic driven pathways. This project…
Engineered nucleic acids (xeno nucleic acids, XNAs) use chemical configurations not found in nature to extend their structural and functional scope, and are increasingly a source of novel nanostructures, -devices and drugs. In this project, you will study XNAs designed with specific enzymatic and high-affinity binding functionalities and elucidate structure-function relationships. You will develop and…
Antibiotics are the foundation of modern healthcare. Without them, standard surgeries, cancer treatment and modern maternity care are impossible. The antimicrobial resistance crisis continues to grow as antibiotic development stagnates. Technology to produce new antibiotics and derivatise existing ones are rapidly needed. Our traditional source of antibiotics has been microorganisims through their extraordinary ability to…
Intracellular pathogens infect and multiply in human cells. Conventional antibiotics are of little help and particularly against dormant bacteria that are phenotypically tolerant to antibiotic treatments. Compounded by the looming “silent pandemic” of antimicrobial resistance, this challenge prompts the development of innovative approaches for delivering antimicrobial interventions inside human cells without cytotoxicity. This project will…
This project combines multidisciplinary approaches, bridging biology and soft polymer physics, to deliver new biocompatible synthetic systems as programmable environments for applications in drug delivery and tissue engineering. These synthetic scaffolds will be designed using beta-glucan components, naturally found in the cell walls of plants and microbes. These scaffolds will support membranous interfaces to generate…
Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most common cancer in the UK, with 100 people diagnosed every day. Surgery is the mainstay of treatment for colorectal cancer with around 30,000 operations performed each year in the NHS. Around 50% of patients will be cured by surgery, but 10-15% will develop locoregional disease recurrence due to…