School of Chemistry, University of Bristol, Cantock's Close, Bristol BS8 1TS, UK
Ph: +44 (0)117 3318256; email: wuge.briscoe@bristol.ac.uk
Alex de Bruin
Alex did his undergraduate Masters degree in Chemical Physics at Bristol, coming second in his class (out of two!) and decided this was the best place for him. He started a PhD in the Bristol Centre for Functional Nanomaterials (BCFN), an EPSRC funded centre for doctoral training. After shorter projects in Physics and Engineering, he came back to the Briscoe group for his PhD project, where he is trying to measure the interactions between chiral polymer brushes. He spends some of his time working down in the Bristol Dental Hospital, working on potential biomedical applications of his chiral polymers.
When not doing science, Alex can most often be found singing, whenever and wherever he can. (which often is everywhere...)
PhD Research: Interactions between chiral polymer brushes
Chiral symmetry is ubiquitous in nature, but, as everpresent as chirality is, it remains enigmatic. My project aims to unravel nature's preference for chiral purity in its macromolecules, such as proteins and sugars, using carefully designed experiments in the Surface Force Apparatus. In order to produce sensible results, I have synthesised chiral acryloyl-amino acid monomers, which result in polymer brushes with amino acid pendant groups. By measuring the interactions between these chiral polymer/protein brushes and correlating the measured interactions with any macroscopic structures on the surface, I hope to probe the mysterious chiral interactions between macroscopically chiral structures. The other side of my project involves synthesising my chiral polymer brushes on biomedically relevant substrates, such as Titanium, and investigating the biological response to the chiral brushes. This work is done with my second supervisor, Dr Michele Barbour, who heads the Oral Nanoscience research group in the School of Oral and Dental Sciences.