Publications

Discovery of phosphotyrosine-binding oligopeptides with supramolecular target selectivity

Pina Ana S, Morgado Leonor, Duncan Krystyna L, Carvalho Sara, Carvalho Henrique F, Barbosa Arménio J M, de P. Mariz Beatriz, Moreira Inês P, Kalafatovic Daniela, Morais Faustino Bruno M, Narang Vishal, Wang Tong, Pappas Charalampos G, Ferreira Isabel, Roque A Cecília A, Ulijn Rein V

Chemical Science Vol 13, pp. 210-217 (2022)

https://doi.org/10.1039/d1sc04420f

Spontaneous aminolytic cyclization and self-assembly of dipeptide methyl esters in water

Pappas Charalampos G, Wijerathne Nadeesha, Sahoo Jugal Kishore, Jain Ankit, Kroiss Daniela, Sasselli Ivan R, Pina Ana Sofia, Lampel Ayala, Ulijn Rein V

ChemSystemsChem Vol 2 (2020)

https://doi.org/10.1002/syst.202000013

Tunable supramolecular gel properties by varying thermal history

Debnath Sisir, Roy Sangita, Abul‐Haija Yousef M, Frederix Pim W J M, Ramalhete Susana M, Hirst Andrew R, Javid Nadeem, Hunt Neil T, Kelly Sharon M, Angulo Jesús, Khimyak Yaroslav Z, Ulijn Rein V

Chemistry - A European Journal Vol 25, pp. 7881-7887 (2019)

https://doi.org/10.1002/chem.201806281

Minimalistic supramolecular proteoglycan mimics by co-assembly of aromatic peptide and carbohydrate amphiphiles

Brito Alexandra, Abul-Haija Yousef M, Da Costa Diana Soares, Novoa-Carballal Ramon, Reis Rui L, Ulijn Rein V, Pires Ricardo A, Pashkuleva Iva

Chemical Science Vol 10, pp. 2385-2390 (2019)

https://doi.org/10.1039/C8SC04361B

Computational prediction of tripeptide-dipeptide co-assembly

Moreira Inês P, Scott Gary G, Ulijn Rein V, Tuttle Tell

Molecular Physics (2018)

https://doi.org/10.1080/00268976.2018.1523482

Guiding principles for peptide nanotechnology through directed discovery

Lampel A, Ulijn R V, Tuttle T

Chemical Society Reviews Vol 47, pp. 3737-3758 (2018)

https://doi.org/10.1039/c8cs00177d

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Professional Activities

Organiser of workshops and mutual visits to set up strategic links between CUNY and Strathclyde University.

Organiser

6/2016

bio|nano|med (Event)

Chair

6/2016

Organiser of workshops and mutual visits to set up strategic links between CUNY and Strathclyde University.

Organiser

4/2016

ERC Fellowship Allocation Panel (2016) (Event)

Member

2016

Active and Adaptive Materials (Event)

Chair

10/2015

Soft Nano Symposium (Event)

Chair

6/2015

More professional activities

Projects

EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Medical Devices and Health Technologies

Connolly, Patricia (Principal Investigator) Black, Richard Anthony (Co-investigator) Conway, Bernard A (Co-investigator) Graham, Duncan (Co-investigator) Hunter, Iain (Co-investigator) Mathieson, Keith (Co-investigator) Ulijn, Rein (Co-investigator) Winn, Philip (Co-investigator)

01-Jan-2014 - 30-Jan-2022

Adaptive Molecular Technology Through Minimal Biomimetics

Ulijn, Rein (Principal Investigator)

01-Jan-2014 - 31-Jan-2018

Structured peptides for food applications

Ulijn, Rein (Principal Investigator) Tuttle, Tell (Co-investigator)

01-Jan-2013 - 31-Jan-2017

EPSRC Doctoral Training Grant - DTA, University of Strathclyde | Brown, Roisin Elizabeth

Skabara, Peter (Principal Investigator) Ulijn, Rein (Co-investigator) Brown, Roisin Elizabeth (Research Co-investigator)

01-Jan-2013 - 14-Jan-2018

Dynamic surfaces to mimic mesenchymal stem cell niche functions

Ulijn, Rein (Principal Investigator) Graham, Duncan (Co-investigator)

"We live in an ageing society and we are outliving the useful lives of our bodies. Structural components suffer with arthritis or osteoporosis and organs provide reduced efficiency and can become damaged or diseased through degenerative processes. We live at an exciting point in history where we all have the expectation that unlocking the potential of stem cells will help with these urgent regenerative demands. Embryonic stem cells remain locked in ethical debate, however, and also have clinical issues associated with their use (including lack of immune privilege, which can cause adverse immune reactions, and the possibility of teratoma formation, which is a type of cancer ). Adult stem cells provide an alternate route with mesenchymal stem cells from, for example, bone marrow (obtained by e.g. marrow donation) or fat tissue (obtained by e.g. liposuction) providing an attractive, autologous (i.e. from the patient) source of multipotent cells.
A major hurdle with adult stem cells is their rapid and spontaneous differentiation during standard culture in the lab (i.e. out of the body they rapidly stop acting as stem cells). Current cell culture materials were developed before our understanding of stem cells had matured and were designed to grow mature cell types (such as fibroblasts) or cell lines (such as HeLa cells). Thus, we are currently lacking good platforms for autologous stem cell growth.
In the last few years, researchers, including ourselves, have understood that MSC growth and differentiation is controlled by the way cells adhere to materials and consistent 'rules' are starting to emerge. Developments in materials science have put forwards surfaces that are either favourable for MSC growth or good for differentiation, however, but that cannot control both.
In our bodies, stem cells reside in specialised locations (called 'niches') that control their growth to allow a supply of stem cells to be present in tissues throughout our lives and also regulate differentiation in response to tissue demand. It is, again, considered that cell adhesion is key to the niche regulation of stem cells.
Here, we will develop highly novel materials that initially support the growth (multiplication) of multipotent MSCs, which can then be switched under user control to turn on the desired type of differentiation, to generate the mature 'functional' cells of the body. To do this, we will use enzymes (biological catalysts) to cleave the self-renewal surface (this will be made by use of adhesion controlling chemistry and use of nanoscale spatial information i.e. small chemical patterns) and reveal the underlying differentiation surface (different chemistries to control differential adhesion, and hence drive stem cell fate). Such enzymes can be simply added by the user to the cell media (their food). We will then go further and place the switch under cell control. As cells become dense in a culture (near confluence) their protein (and hence enzyme) profile changes and we will exploit this to find enzymes that can perform the switch from a growth-promoting substrate to a differentiation-inducing substrate, only after the cells have grown to large numbers.
This technology will act as a platform for MSC growth and differentiation. It will be dynamic, as their natural niche is dynamic, and it will be an important step in the development of production of autologous cells with therapeutic potential."

01-Jan-2013 - 30-Jan-2016

SPRITES Optimisation of Bio-Inspired Gel Scaffolds for Hydrogen Production (ERC Proof of Concept)

Hunt, Neil (Principal Investigator) Ulijn, Rein (Co-investigator)

01-Jan-2013 - 30-Jan-2014

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