Departmental news

Alzheimer’s Drug Breakthrough

Dementia is becoming more common in society as we live longer. Alzheimer’s Disease is the most common form of dementia, responsible for 60-80 % of cases. It is predicted to affect 150 million people worldwide in less than 30 years.

New drug leads, discovered by a multidisciplinary team and led by scientists at the University of Sheffield including the Chen group. The work improves on previous approaches and is a step towards developing new treatments for this debilitating disease.

The causes of Alzheimer’s Disease are complex, but it is known that two rogue versions of natural proteins are involved. The first, called amyloid beta (Aβ), triggers the formation of plaque around brain cells, preventing them from communicating properly. The second, called Tau, forms toxic tangles inside the brain cell which stops it from transporting essential nutrients.

Scientists believe a third molecule, called PrPc, is responsible as when it binds to the rogue Aβ it leads to the distinctive cognitive impairment and neurotoxicity seen in Alzheimer’s disease.

Together, Aβ, Tau and PrPc are seen as the three pillars which cause Alzheimer’s disease. Yet, most recent drug trials for Alzeimer’s Disease have only targeted Aβ, by trying to prevent it causing plaques and inducing Tau to start tangling. This approach has so far proved to be unsuccessful. The Sheffield team has identified two new drug leads, through a multistep molecular-sifting process, that not only bind to Aβ, but block its interaction with PrPc and disrupts the formation of Tau tangles.

The team now hopes to gain funding to further their research by optimising these new compounds into drug candidates for pre-clinical and clinical studies.

Shedding New Light on Organic Semiconducters

Researchers have published a new study that gives scientists a better understanding of the processes driving spectral conversion in organic materials. energy photons can be converted to pairs of low energy photons, and vice versa, through the processes of down-conversion and up-conversion. This knowledge could be used to make more efficient solar cells and have useful biological applications. Researchers in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, and the Department of Chemistry, focussed on a form of down-conversion called singlet exciton fission, and the same process in reverse, known as triplet-triplet annihilation. In the study, led by Dr J. Clark and published in Nature Chemistry, researchers investigated the 1(TT) state in triplet-triplet annihilation, using two different classes of materials. Experiments were carried out in the University of Sheffield’s Lord Porter Ultrafast Laser Spectroscopy Laboratory.

The paper associated with this research can be found at the following link, why not take the time to give it a read:

Cheaper Single-Molecule Microscopes

Ateam of scientists and students from the University of Sheffield has designed and built a specialist microscope, and shared the build instructions to help make this equipment available to many labs across the world.

The microscope, called the smfBox, is capable of single-molecule measurements and works just as well as comercially avaliable instruments. it allows scientists to look at one molecule at a time rather than generating an average result from bulk samples.

This single-molecule method is currently only available at a few specialist labs throughout the world due to the cost of commercially available microscopes. The team has published a paper in the journal Nature Communications, which provides all the build instructions and software needed to run the microscope, to help make this singlemolecule method accessible to labs across the world.

The interdisciplinary team spans the University of Sheffield’s Departments of Chemistry and Physics, and the Science and Technology Facilities Council’s Central Laser Facility. They spent a relatively modest £40,000 to build a piece of kit that would normally cost £400,000 to buy. The microscope was built with simplicity in mind so that researchers interested in biological problems can use it with little training, moreover the lasers have been shielded in such a way that the smfBox can be used in normal lighting conditions, and is no more dangerous than a CD player.

Congrats Dr Burnham

Asenior university teaching in the Department of Chemisty has been given professional recognition for her strategic leadership in academic practice and contributions to high quality student learning. Dr Jenny Burnham is one of five University of Sheffield staff who have Principal Fellows of the Higher Education Academy (PFHEA).

Here, she explains a bit more about her approach to leadership education.

“My leadership takes the form of advocacy for teaching and teaching quality to create a nurturing environment in which anyone can gain recognition for excellence. I have sought to raise the profile of teaching as an activity by influencing and championing others through networking, mentoring, supporting, encouraging, and providing a stage on which they can reach a wide audience. ship is one of empowerment and I create and facilitate opportunities for colleagues to grow and develop their teaching careers and to showcase their work. Community is a key part of this and my application for PFHEA focussed on my work with the teaching networks I have led nationally, as well as in Sheffield. The assessment panel commended me for my passion for supporting others. They saw to the heart of what I do and have praised me for it.

I am proud of my networks. I am really pleased that my facilitative, bottom-up approach to leadership has been recognised with this award and I hope it encourages other teaching-specialists to seek similar recognition for their work.”