Keele University
Bioinorganic Chemistry of Aluminium & Silicon
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Krista Jones
In 2012 I graduated with a 2:1 honours In Biology with Forensic Science.
In between my second and third year of study I was selected for a Nuffield Bursary grant to work with Prof Chris Exley. This research was in the area of Amyloid protein accumulation in the brain and the resulting formation of spherulites and senile plaques. The work resulted in a paper being published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease early in 2010, entitled, ‘Spherulites in Human Brain Tissue are Composed of Beta Sheets of Amyloid and Resemble Senile Plaques’.
I then went on to complete a year in industry before completing the third year of my degree. I worked for 13 months as an Analytical Scientist at a Biopharmaceutical company in Liverpool called Eden Biodesign. In this role I worked closely with DNA and protein analytical testing methods. During this time, I was able to conduct and investigation into the Chinese Hamster Ovary (CHO) genome, a popular organism for recombinant protein growth in pharmaceuticals, and develop a test method to quantify the residual DNA in drug samples. I conducted this research as part of the experimental work for my third year experimental project. The result of this work was the development of a specific assay for the quantification of residual CHO DNA in drug samples by quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR).
I am currently studying for a PhD at Keele University in Inorganic Biochemistry. I am researching the mechanisms involved in the production of hydroxyaluminosilicates (HAS) and the therapeutic potential of silicic acid in neurodegenerative disease. The purpose of this research is to discover the way in which aluminum binds to silicon to be excreted from the body, preventing and reducing aluminum accumulation in cells. I have always had an interest in analytical chemistry and I hope to use a variety of methods in my research, including UV/VIS Spectroscopy, GFAAS and HPLC analysis.
Contact
Room LJ0.04B
The Birchall Centre
Lennard-Jones Laboratories
Keele University
Staffordshire, ST5 5BG, UK.
