Heat shock protein 70 (HSPA/HSP70) gene expression is induced by a wide range of cellular stress conditions. This study investigated HSPA/HSP70 expression in human cell lines exposed to hypoxic conditions, in cancerous and non-cancerous brain tissue specimens from 18 patients (g…
Forensic science is growing rapidly in the world today. During the past decade, medico-legal investigations have been highly expanded to include all areas of forensic science. The present study investigated three important aspects of forensic biology. First, this present project…
The potential for nitric oxide (NO) metabolites (e.g. inorganic nitrite) to act as stable stores of “Transported Nitric Oxide” has excited huge interest due to the substantial potential therapeutic avenues. The prospect developing of a “silver bullet” that could target areas mos…
Pseudomonas aeruginosa is an important opportunistic pathogen of humans and also has the ability to form biofilms in drinking water. However, the survival, persistence and the control of this pathogen within mixed-species bacterial communities in drinking water distribution syst…
• Gastro-oesophageal reflux disease (GORD) is the commonest chronic disease in Western countries. Symptomatic GORD is the strongest risk factor for the development of oesophageal adenocarcinoma with obesity and male sex also linked to the development of neoplasia at this site. R…
Birt Hogg Dubé (BHD) syndrome is an inherited cancer susceptibility syndrome characterised by the development of fibrofolliculomas on the face and upper torso, and increased risk of lung cysts, spontaneous pneumothorax and renal cancer. The findings presented in this thesis adva…
Dialysis Related Amyloidosis (DRA) is a serious complication of long term haemodialysis. Amyloid deposits accumulate in the joints causing great pain & restricting mobility of sufferers. The main constituent of these amyloid deposits is fibrillar β2-microglobulin (β2m), although…
Duplication of the proteolipid protein (PLP1) gene, which encodes the most abundant protein of central nervous system (CNS) myelin, is the most common cause of Pelizaeus Merzbacher disease (PMD). Various animal models have been generated to study the effect of Plp1 gene overexpr…
Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) is a global health problem, with over 170 million infected individuals worldwide. 70-80% of infected individuals develop progressive disease, and approximately 2% of these acquire hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). HCV entry is dependent on tetraspanin CD81,…
XRCC4-like factor (XLF) is the most recently discovered core member of the nonhomologous end joining (NHEJ) machinery. XLF enhances ligation of DNA ends by DNA ligase IV (LIG4) and functionally interacts with KU70. Previous results showed that some polymorphic changes in LIG4 im…
The measurement of oxygen saturation SO2 is one of the vital signs relied on by the medical profession. Pulse oximeters are widely used in many branches of medicine; and are the most widely used method of assessing oxygen saturation. However they can only be applied to an extrem…
Type 1 diabetes (T1D) is characterised by pancreatic cell autoimmunity and inflammation, resulting in cell islet destruction and insulin deficiency. Prospective studies from different continents have shown that insulin resistance is independently associated with risk for the dev…
The aim of this project was the study of neutrophil recruitment and reverse transmigration using murine and human in vitro models of inflammation. Murine in vitro models of inflammation were developed using an immortalised microvascular cell line (MCEC-1) and primary murine vasc…
Trypanosoma brucei is a protozoan parasite, and the causative agent of Human African Trypanosomiasis and Nagana in cattle. The life cycle and cell cycle of the parasite is complex and unusual. In particular, cytokinesis regulation in T. brucei is divergent, and significantly doe…
Campylobacter spp. are the most common causes of bacterial gastroenteritis in humans worldwide, and although poultry and cattle are considered major sources of Campylobacter spp., infection has also been associated with dogs. In order to investigate the potential zoonotic risk t…
Prostate cancer has high cancer incidence in males and is the second highest cause of male cancer related mortality. Currently the main stay therapy for localised and metastatic disease is maximum androgen blockade (MAB). This aims to inhibit androgen production or action, there…
Recent studies have demonstrated a key role for platelets and microthrombi in the pathophysiology of intestinal ischaemia-reperfusion (IR) injury. The research described in this thesis investigates the role of the major platelet glycoprotein receptors in recruiting and activatin…
In the absence of any vaccine, prophylactic drug and effective vector control, the fight against human African trypanosomiais (HAT) is based on the the combination of active case-finding and consequent drug treatment of identified positive cases. Unfortunately, low sensitivity a…
In this thesis I report three related studies that utilise state-of-the-art technologies to investigate germline and somatic chromosomal rearrangements in humans. Firstly, 16 patients with cytogenetically detectable deletions of 3p25-p26 were analysed with high density single nu…