What is a membrane?

Jedi jam and bioprinting

Jedi jam and bioprinting In this episode of What is a Membrane?, host Dr Matt Derry is joined by Dr Emma Shepherd, Dr Dominic Mosses, and Dr David Jenkins to explore the groundbreaking Quantum X bio printer at Aston University — the first of its kind in the UK. Installed in 2024 with support from the BBSRC, this cutting-edge bioprinter uses ultra-precise lasers to create intricate 3D structures of living cells within a gel scaffold — mimicking real organ and tissue environments. The team discusses how this revolutionary technology is transforming research into diseases, drug development, and tissue engineering. Dr Shepherd explains the process with a little help from “Jedi jelly” and “lightsabres,” while Dr Jenkins shares how brain and liver tissues can now be printed to study real-life biological systems in stunning detail. Dr Mosses also highlights why this printer sets a new standard in bioprinting. Discover how this sci-fi-sounding tech is advancing science in real time. Learn more about the Quantum X bio printer and how researchers can access it by emailing: qxb_support@aston.ac.uk.

Simmering science for membrane protein production

Episode 5 – Simmering Science: Engineering Bacteria for Membrane Protein Production In this episode of What is a Membrane?, host Dr Matt Derry sits down with Dr Doug Browning to explore how harmless strains of E. coli are being genetically engineered to supercharge membrane protein production. Membrane proteins play a vital role in biology and are the targets of top-selling medicines and major vaccines — from COVID-19 to hepatitis B. But producing them in large amounts has always been a scientific challenge, thanks to stress responses that shut down the process in bacteria. Dr Browning shares how his team is redesigning E. coli to better handle these stresses, using a clever analogy: cooking rice in a rice cooker rather than on a stove. The goal? A smart system that avoids the biological equivalent of a boil-over. This work is part of a £1.8m project funded by UKRI’s Engineering Biology Mission Award, in collaboration with the University of Warwick and Aston Institute for Membrane Excellence (AIME). Tune in to learn how this innovative research could pave the way for next-generation drug development and vaccine creation.

Making safer, greener device batteries

Dr Matt Derry, a polymer chemist and founding member of Aston Institute for Membrane Excellence (AIME), has spoken to AIME co-director Professor Roslyn Bill about his groundbreaking battery research in the latest episode of What is a membrane? His research aims to make batteries safer, greener and more recyclable, with the potential to impact portable electronics like mobile phones, electric vehicles and energy storage systems worldwide. Dr Derry was recently awarded a prestigious New Investigator Award from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) for his pioneering work on polymer gel electrolytes for batteries. The electrolyte in a battery carries the charge, and is generally a highly flammable, organic liquid. There have been several high-profile incidents involving battery fires. The £450,000 EPSRC funding will support Dr Derry’s research project, which seeks to replace the flammable, organic liquid electrolytes with safer, more stable gel alternatives. His research group has recently published in this area in the Royal Society of Chemistry’s flagship journal, Chemical Science [https://doi.org/10.1039/D3SC06717C].

Explaining novel membrane separation through the medium of chocolate boxes

In the latest Aston Institute for Membrane Excellence (AIME) podcast, three researchers discuss the international BIOmimetic selective extraction MEMbranes (BIOMEM) project and how it will feed into AIME’s work. BIOMEM will develop a bioinspired membrane technology to selectively extract compounds from water, using 50-75% less energy than current state-of-the-art nanofiltration technologies. The membranes will work at low pressures and at low concentration of the target molecule. Podcast host Dr Matt Derry was joined by fellow AIME researcher Dr Alan Goddard and Dr Mona Semsarilar from the French National Centre for Scientific Research (Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS)). The BIOMEM project, which involves collaborators from across Europe, is being led by Dr Torsten Bak from Danish company Aquaporin, with Dr Goddard the research lead at Aston University. Dr Goddard explained: “You might want to work on a biotechnology process where you've made a high value chemical that you want to extract from a complex mix, and at the moment you might have to concentrate your solution up, and you might have to do six or seven filtration steps. We want a filter that does it in a single step using a biological transporter. “And if you can do that in a single step in a platform technology, you'll make all these brilliant biotech processes more commercialisable, reduce your reliance on petrochemicals, and to maybe oversell what we can do, save the planet.” Dr Derry likened it to a quick way to find your favourite chocolate in a box at Christmas. Rather than scrabbling through, taking out one type at a time until you find your favourite, the process can immediately separate it out with minimal effort. Aquaporin has developed a membrane that can selectively transport only water molecules to quickly purify water, which is already in use across the world, and even out of this world, for space missions. Dr Bak and the team will bring their membrane expertise to the project. The team at CNRS, led by polymer scientist Dr Semsarilar, is working on a number of projects for BIOMEM, including developing a type of crystalline material called trianglamine, which they can modify through chemical processes to be hydrophobic or hydrophilic to make things like water channels or adsorption sites, which can be embedded in polymer network for purification processes. Other researchers at AIME, including Dr Derry and Professor Paul Topham, will work on the ‘glue’ to stick the biological elements of the membranes to the non-biological polymer matrix. BIOMEM will also benefit from the input of partners across Europe including dsm-firmenich, University of Copenhagen and Tampere University. The podcast was recorded just after the project kick-off meeting with all the project partners, which was held at Aston University in May 2024. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under grant agreement 1011246765, with co-funding for Aston University from UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) under grant agreement No 10112970. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or European Innovation Council and SMEs Executive Agency (EISMEA). Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them. For more information about AIME, job opportunities and updates about the launch, visit the webpage - http://tinyurl.com/2ufttvsa. Dr Matt Derry - http://tinyurl.com/55vv43ee Dr Alan Goddard - http://tinyurl.com/4ebn8nur Dr Mona Semsarilar - https://tinyurl.com/3pftwbus

Brains, dishwashers and dementia

• Professor Roslyn Bill discusses her research into brain cell membranes with Dr Matt Derry • Serious brain injuries and dementia are affected by the flow of water through a protein called aquaporin-4 in brain cell membranes • Aquaporins are responsible for clearing the build-up of waste products in brain cells in a process Professor Bill likens to a ‘dishwasher for your brain’. Professor Roslyn Bill, co-founder of Aston Institute for Membrane Excellence (AIME), joins Dr Matt Derry to discuss her research into brain cell membranes in the latest Aston Originals podcast. Water moves in and out of brain cells through tiny protein channels in the cell membrane called aquaporins. One in particular, aquaporin-4, is the focus of Professor Bill’s research. In 2020, she was lead author on a paper published in prestigious journal Cell on how the channels open and close and how this can be controlled. Uncontrolled water entry into brain cells can occur after head trauma, causing swelling which leads to severe brain injuries of the type suffered by racing driver Michael Schumacher after a skiing accident. Finding drugs to control this water movement could lead to treatments to prevent brain swelling in the first place. This research into brain swelling and the contribution of aquaporins led Professor Bill to research into Alzheimer’s, a common form of dementia, which is also related to the action of aquaporins. Alzheimer’s is caused by a build-up of waste products in brain cells. In a process Professor Bill likened to a ‘dishwasher for your brain’, aquaporins are responsible for clearing this waste as we sleep. Professor Bill was selected for an Advanced Grant by the European Research Council (ERC) in 2023, which is being funded by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). The funded project will further investigate the process, and whether it might be possible to develop a drug to boost the ‘brain dishwasher’, which could be taken to slow or even prevent cognitive decline due to ageing. Bringing together this biological research with the polymer research of AIME, chemists like Dr Derry will help in the drug development and could also lead to totally different applications. Professor Bill said in the podcast to Dr Derry: “We can take the knowledge that we have of how these proteins work in cells and try and apply them to interesting applications in biotechnology. And this is where the sort of work that you (Dr Derry) do comes in, where you can develop plastic membranes, polymer membranes, and then take learning from the biology and try and make really, really good ways of purifying water, for example.” For more information about AIME and open positions, visit https://tinyurl.com/2ufttvsa Professor Roslyn Bill - http://tinyurl.com/38rbrzds Dr Matt Derry - http://tinyurl.com/55vv43ee