Group Members
Employment-Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of Alberta, Department of Chemistry, Edmonton, Alberta. 2010-Present.
-Associate Research Scientest, KAIMRC, King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. 2009-Present.
Education-Ph.D, Physics, University of Surrey, Guildford, Surrey, UK. 2008.
-MSc, Medical Physics, University of Surrey, Guildford, Surrey, UK. 2003.
-B.Sc., Biology/Chemistry, University of The Pacific, Stockton, California, USA. 2000.
Research Project:
Characterization of natural and non-natural occurring self-assembling peptide nanofibers.
Project Description:
Peptide Self-assembly has gained a lot of attention recently from the scientific community because of its usefulness in multiple applications; such as, tissue engineering, drug delivery and wound healing. The effect of the peptide chemistry on the self-assembling process is not yet fully understood. This project will be focused on studying the effect of peptide physicochemical properties upon the adhesion of modified AFM tips with formed peptide nanofibers. The precise control of the molecular scale attributes will provide a better understanding of the effects of the peptide chemistry on the self-assembly process. Initially the work will be conducted on model self-assembling peptide structures with varying properties. Then we will investigate the effect of the presence of non-natural amino acids on the adhesion process. This project will also include the use of TEM and SEM to further investigate the self-assembling peptide nanofibers.
The project is conducted in collaboration with Dr. Larry D. Unsworth from the Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, University of Alberta.
Figure: AFM topography images show peptide nanofibers.