About the Project
Intracellular redox homeostasis governs fundamental biological processes, including cell signalling, metabolic adaptation, and cell death. Redox imbalance is also central to conditions such as cardiovascular disease, neurodegenerative disorders, diabetes, and cancer. While oxidative and reductive stress drive key cellular pathways, mapping localised redox changes inside complex tissue remains a major hurdle. To aid in these challenges, this project will focus on the design of transition-metal vanadium complexes which will target microenvironments due to their unique optical, electrochemical, and structural properties. This interdisciplinary project combines synthetic inorganic chemistry and cell biology to develop redox-active metal probes to map biosystem dynamics in real time.
Objectives
- Design & Synthesis: Prepare a modular library of vanadium complexes, which possess unique redox chemistry, and which will be functionalised with fluorescent tags for selective intracellular targeting and signal readout.
- Physicochemical Characterisation: Evaluate electrochemical profiles, reversibility, luminescence, and stability under physiological conditions.
- Biological Validation: Map intracellular redox shifts, organelle localisation, and metabolic responses in 2D and complex 3D cell models.
The Lord group (Chemistry) will drive the vanadium complexes, including design, synthesis, cyclic voltammetry, spectroscopic profiling, and cytotoxicity screening. The Bridgewater group (Life Sciences) will lead further cellular studies, including confocal microscopy localisation and phenotypic redox monitoring. Established 3D organoid and raft models of cancer will be utilised to test complexes in diseases with known redox imbalance. This cross-faculty collaboration provides high-level interdisciplinary training in chemical biology, advancing BBSRC priorities in functional bioscience tools.
