Astrocytes represent a major class of glial cells responsible for maintaining the microenvironment of the central nervous system. They are thought to play an important role in the development of many diseases, such as stroke, neurodegenerative disease and pain. It is apparent that astrocytes become reactive during the onset of these diseases to for...
The problems caused by urban congestion and population growth result in a growing need to construct railway networks in urban areas due to the advantages of safety, efficiency and reliability over alternative mass transportation options. However, railway systems can cause environmental issues due to the transit of vehicles, including railway noise ...
Amorphous solid dispersions (ASDs) can be a successful approach to improve the apparent solubility and hence the bioavailability of poorly water-soluble drugs, specifically BCS class II ingredients. However, it has been reported that an increase in active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) loading can lead to a decrease in the API release rate from th...
Fluid Catalytic Cracking (FCC) units are responsible for ~25% of CO2 emissions released from the oil refineries, which themselves account for 4-6% of total global CO2 emissions. Although post- and oxy-combustion technologies have been suggested to capture the CO2 released from the regenerator of FCC, Chemical Looping Combustion (CLC) may also be a ...
This thesis is comprised of two sections; The first is a semi synthesis of the cytotoxic natural product jerantinine A. Starting from the natural product tabersonine, isolated from Voacanga africana, which contains the 3 stereocenters present in jerantinine alkaloids set in the correct conformation. The reaction conditions were optimised and produc...
In this thesis we describe high-harmonic cosmic string loops in a general relativistic context, and study the implications of high-harmonic content for the predicted gravitational wave signal from cosmic string networks. Initially, we introduce the variational principle, spacetime concepts and other mathematical tools that we will need for the calc...
A fully quantitative theory connecting protein conformation and optical spectroscopy would facilitate deeper insights into biophysical and simulate studies of protein dynamics and folding. The regular, repeating, chiral nature of secondary structure elements leads to intense bands in the far-ultraviolet (UV). The near-UV bands are much weaker and h...
Herein the synthesis and catalytic properties of low-coordinate m-terphenyl transition metal complexes are reported. Previous work in the group has shown that these complexes act as precatalysts for the cyclotrimerisation and hydrophosphination of isocyanates. This project builds on this work and aims to expand the scope of these precatalysts. The ...
Cancer has a major impact on society in the United Kingdom and across the world. Lung cancer is the most common cancer worldwide. Advances in lung cancer diagnosis are essential to reduce the mortality burden. The current histopathology methods for the diagnosis of human lung tissues require highly specialised staff, are labour-intensive, and expen...
Ficolins are polymorphic liver-expressed pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) that contribute to the innate surveillance of virus infections, recognising carbohydrates such as N-acetyl glucosamine, which are components of glycoproteins found on the surface of different viruses. While human ficolin-2 has been demonstrated to bind and inhibit entry o...
