Posts by Alex Chen published at ITN SNAL - Marie Curie Initial Training Network

Antioxidant modified amphiphilic polymer improves intracellular cryoprotectant delivery and alleviates oxidative stress in HeLa cells

Alex Chen — Mon, 25 Jun 2018 12:52:19 +0000

Adv Mater Sci, DOI: 10.15761/AMS.1000131 (2017) Alexander Chen, Sergio A Mercado, Nigel KH Slater The design and synthesis of a dual-function, cell permeating polymer with an antioxidative property is described and its use for the intracellular delivery of the cryoprotectant trehalose into HeLa cells is demonstrated. The polymer, PVitE-25, was created by grafting the water insoluble hydrophobic antioxidant (±)-α-Tocopherol (vitamin E) onto pendant carboxylate groups of a biocompatible cell permeating polymer, poly (L-lysine iso-phthalamide) (PLP). The modification increased the intracellular delivery efficiency of the polymer and also introduced an antioxidative effect that was able to reduce 85% of reactive oxygen

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Fluoresce-Activated Cell Sorting (FACS)

Alex Chen — Wed, 05 Nov 2014 16:13:19 +0000

Flow cytometry is a laser-based biophysical technology employed in cell counting, cell sorting, and biomarker detection. Cells or materials are suspended in a stream of fluid and passed through the electronic detection apparatus. The equipment allows simultaneous multiparametric analysis of physical and chemical characteristics up to thousands of particles per second. Fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) is a specialised type of flow cytometry. It provides methods for sorting a heterogeneous mixture of biological cells into two or more containers, one cell at a time, based upon the specific light scattering and fluorescent characteristics. These includes size, fluorescently labelled DNA sequence, and

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Summary of the Meeting in Cambridge 1 October 2014

Alex Chen — Sun, 12 Oct 2014 06:45:57 +0000

1-2 October 2014 – Cambridge, Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Cambridge. After months of discussions and proposals conducted by supervisors from each host institution and the program director, Dr. Vladimir Baulin, the management meeting in Cambridge sets the beginning of a great adventure! In an atmosphere both earnest and casual, many topics have been discussed. Some, such as schedules for jointed events, everyone’s expectation, objectives of Early Stage Researchers (ESRs), potential collaborations, and network outreach activities. Each ESR, through 10-minutes presentation, has gotten the opportunity to (1) demonstrate available infrastructure of the host institution (2) present available

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ESR10-C: Bioengineering of membrane associating polymers and polymer-protein complexes

Alex Chen — Thu, 05 Dec 2013 15:19:55 +0000

Investigation of membrane associating polymers, therapeutic nanoparticles and cell preservation experiments Biotechnology and and bioengineering, experimental Contact Alex Chen Objectives A safe polymer technology, which can be fine-tuned to deliver a wide variety of payloads into cells for various applications. Novel pH-responsive, biodegradable polymers will be synthesized to mimic the activity of viruses, both in their cell entry and endosomal escape mechanisms Synthesis of functional polymers and nanoparticles to tailor interactions and permeability of lipid bilayers for biomedical applications. Tasks and methodology Characterisation of the membrane translocation properties of the materials with mammalian cells and with lipid vesicles. Experimental investCelligation

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