Cameron Alexander

Contact

• workRoom B06 Boots Science Building
  University Park
  Nottingham
  NG7 2RD
  UK
• work0115 8467678
• fax0115 8466296
• cameron.alexander@nottingham.ac.uk

Expertise Summary

Polymer synthesis, drug delivery, smart materials

Research Summary

Research interests focus on the synthesis of polymers for biomedical applications, especially drug and gene delivery. Current projects are investigating controlled release of therapeutics from… read more

Selected Publications

• XUE, X., PASPARAKIS, G., HALLIDAY, N., WINZER, K., CRAMPHORN, C. J., GARDNER, P., M., CAMERON, N. R., DAVIS, B. G. and FERNANDEZ-TRILLO, F. AND ALEXANDER, C., 2011. Dual Quorum Sense Interference and Bacterial Sequestration by Synthetic Polymers Angewandte Chemie International Edition. 50, 9852 –9856.
• SAEED, ARAM O, MAGNUSSON, JOHANNES P, MORADI, EMILIA, SOLIMAN, MAHMOUD, WANG, WENXIN, STOLNIK, SNOW, THURECHT, KRISTOFER J, HOWDLE, STEVEN M and ALEXANDER, CAMERON, 2011. Modular construction of multifunctional bioresponsive cell-targeted nanoparticles for gene delivery. Bioconjugate chemistry. 22(2), 156-68
• THURECHT, KRISTOFER J, BLAKEY, IDRISS, PENG, HUI, SQUIRES, OLIVER, HSU, STEVEN, ALEXANDER, CAMERON and WHITTAKER, ANDREW K, 2010. Functional hyperbranched polymers: toward targeted in vivo 19F magnetic resonance imaging using designed macromolecules. Journal of the American Chemical Society. 132(15), 5336-7
• PASPARAKIS, GEORGE and ALEXANDER, CAMERON, 2008. Sweet talking double hydrophilic block copolymer vesicles. Angewandte Chemie International Edition in English. 47(26), 4847-50

• View all publications

Current Research

Research interests focus on the synthesis of polymers for biomedical applications, especially drug and gene delivery. Current projects are investigating controlled release of therapeutics from synthetic-biopolymer complexes and conjugates, targeted degradable polymers for gene therapy, and smart materials for protein and cell recognition in solution and at surfaces. Collaborative projects span disciplines including synthetic chemistry, molecular medicine, cell biology, molecular imprinting and polymer physics.

Memberships of Committees and Professional Bodies

• Member of Editorial Board, Journal of Materials Chemistry from 2006-.
• Steering Group - RSC Review of Chemical Biology, 2007.
• EPSRC Peer Review College 2003-2006 and 2006-
• Founder member of Royal Society of Chemistry Biomaterials Chemistry Group.
• Chartered Chemist (CChem MRSC)
• EPSRC Leadership fellow 2009-2014

Teaching

I also contribute to B32D05 - Biopharmaceutics, B33E07 - Laboratory Studies in Pharmaceutics and B34G10 - Biomolecular Therapeutics

Past Research

Polymer synthesis, organic magnets, self-assembly of liquid crystalline polymers and molecular imprinting

• SOLIMAN M, NASANIT R, ABULATEEFEH SR, ALLEN S, DAVIES MC, BRIGGS SS, SEYMOUR LW, PREECE JA, GRABOWSKA AM, WATSON SA and ALEXANDER C, 2012. Multicomponent Synthetic Polymers With Viral-Mimetic Chemistry For Nucleic Acid Delivery. Molecular Pharmaceutics. 9(1), 1-13
• VLLASALIU D, SHUBBER S, GARNETT M, ALEXANDER C, EATON M and STOLNIK S, 2012. Evaluation Of Calcium Depletion As A Strategy For Enhancement Of Mucosal Absorption Of Macromolecules. Biochemical And Biophysical Research Communications. 418(1), 128-33
• SAEED, ARAM O, MAGNUSSON, JOHANNES P, MORADI, EMILIA, SOLIMAN, MAHMOUD, WANG, WENXIN, STOLNIK, SNOW, THURECHT, KRISTOFER J, HOWDLE, STEVEN M and ALEXANDER, CAMERON, 2011. Modular construction of multifunctional bioresponsive cell-targeted nanoparticles for gene delivery. Bioconjugate chemistry. 22(2), 156-68
• DEY, S., KELLAM, B., ALEXANDER, M., ALEXANDER, C. and ROSE, F. A., 2011. Enzyme-passage free culture of mouse embryonic stem cells on thermo-responsive polymer surfaces JOURNAL OF MATERIALS CHEMISTRY. VOL 21(NUMBER 19), 6883-6890
• IEONG, N.S., REDHEAD, M., BOSQUILLON, C., ALEXANDER, C., KELLAND, M. and O REILLY, R.K., 2011. The Missing Lactam-Thermoresponsive and Biocompatible Poly(N-vinylpiperidone) Polymers by Xanthate-Mediated RAFT Polymerization MACROMOLECULES. VOL 44(NUMB 4), 886-893
• XUE, X., PASPARAKIS, G., HALLIDAY, N., WINZER, K., CRAMPHORN, C. J., GARDNER, P., M., CAMERON, N. R., DAVIS, B. G. and FERNANDEZ-TRILLO, F. AND ALEXANDER, C., 2011. Dual Quorum Sense Interference and Bacterial Sequestration by Synthetic Polymers Angewandte Chemie International Edition. 50, 9852 –9856.
• MASTROTTO, F., BERSANI, S., MAGNUSSON, J. P., CALICETI, P., AMENDOLA, V., MENEGHETTI, M., MANTOVANI, G. and ALEXANDER, C. AND SALMASO, S., 2011. Polymer control of nanoparticle ligand display for switchable cell targeting. Chemical Communications. 47, 9846-9848
• YASAYAN G., SAEED, A.O., FERNANDEZ-TRILLO, F., ALLEN, S., DAVIES, M.C., JANGHER, A., PAUL, A., THURECHT, K.J., KING, S.M., SCHWEINS, R., GRIFFITHS, P.C., MAGNUSSON, J.P. and ALEXANDER, C., 2011. Responsive hybrid block co-polymer conjugates of proteins-controlled architecture to modulate substrate specificity and solution behaviour Polymer Chemistry. 2(7), 1567-1578
• SHAHIDAN NN, LIU R, CELLESI F, ALEXANDER C, SHAKESHEFF KM and SAUNDERS BR, 2011. Thermally Triggered Assembly Of Cationic Graft Copolymers Containing 2-(2-Methoxyethoxy)Ethyl Methacrylate Side Chains. Langmuir : The Acs Journal Of Surfaces And Colloids. 27(22), 13868-78
• ALEXANDER, C and O'REILLY, RK, 2011. Materials Chemistry In The Emerging Field Of Synthetic Biology
• SOLIMAN, MAHMOUD, ALLEN, STEPHANIE, DAVIES, MARTYN C and ALEXANDER, CAMERON, 2010. Responsive polyelectrolyte complexes for triggered release of nucleic acid therapeutics. Chemical Communications. 46(30), 5421-33
• FRAYLICH, MICHAEL R, LIU, RUIXUE, RICHARDSON, STEPHEN M, BAIRD, PAULINE, HOYLAND, JUDITH, FREEMONT, ANTHONY J, ALEXANDER, CAMERON, SHAKESHEFF, KEVIN, CELLESI, FRANCESCO and SAUNDERS, BRIAN R, 2010. Thermally-triggered gelation of PLGA dispersions: towards an injectable colloidal cell delivery system. Journal of Colloid and Interface Science. 344(1), 61-9
• SOLIMAN, M., NASANIT, R., ALLEN, S., DAVIES, M.C., BRIGGS, S.S., SEYMOUR, L.W., PREECE, J.A. and ALEXANDER, C., 2010. Interaction of reducible polypeptide gene delivery vectors with supported lipid bilayers: pore formation and structure-function relationships Soft Matter. 6(11), 2517-2524
• ALEXANDER, C. and GILL, I., 2010. Responsive materials MRS BULLETIN- MATERIALS RESEARCH SOCIETY. VOL 35(NUMB 9), 659-664
• NEWLAND, BEN, TAI, HONGYUN, ZHENG, YU, VELASCO, DIEGO, DI LUCA, ANDREA, HOWDLE, STEVEN M, ALEXANDER, CAMERON, WANG, WENXIN and PANDIT, ABHAY, 2010. A highly effective gene delivery vector--hyperbranched poly(2-(dimethylamino)ethyl methacrylate) from in situ deactivation enhanced ATRP. Chemical Communications. 46(26), 4698-700
• HEATH, F., SAEED, A., PENNADAM, S., THURECHT, K. and ALEXANDER, C., 2010. `Isothermal' phase transitions and supramolecular architecture changes in thermoresponsive polymers via acid-labile side-chains POLYMER CHEMISTRY. VOL 1(NUMBER 8), 1252-1262
• THURECHT, KRISTOFER J, BLAKEY, IDRISS, PENG, HUI, SQUIRES, OLIVER, HSU, STEVEN, ALEXANDER, CAMERON and WHITTAKER, ANDREW K, 2010. Functional hyperbranched polymers: toward targeted in vivo 19F magnetic resonance imaging using designed macromolecules. Journal of the American Chemical Society. 132(15), 5336-7
• MAGNUSSON, JOHANNES PALL, BERSANI, SARA, SALMASO, STEFANO, ALEXANDER, CAMERON and CALICETI, PAOLO, 2010. In situ growth of side-chain PEG polymers from functionalized human growth hormone-a new technique for preparation of enhanced protein-polymer conjugates. Bioconjugate Chemistry. 21(4), 671-8
• DONG, Y., GUNNING, P., CAO, H., MATHEW, A., NEWLAND, B., SAEED, A., MAGNUSSON, J., ALEXANDER, C., TAI, H. and PANDIT, A., 2010. Dual stimuli responsive PEG based hyperbranched polymers POLYMER CHEMISTRY. VOL 1(NUMBER 6), 827-830
• SMALDON J, ROMERO-CAMPERO FJ, FERNÁNDEZ TRILLO F, GHEORGHE M, ALEXANDER C and KRASNOGOR N, 2010. A Computational Study Of Liposome Logic: Towards Cellular Computing From The Bottom Up. Systems And Synthetic Biology. 4(3), 157-79
• WANG, W., LIANG, H., HAMILTON, L., FRAYLICH, M., SHAKESHEFF, K.M., SAUNDERS, B. and ALEXANDER, C., 2009. Biodegradable Thermoresponsive Microparticle Dispersions for Injectable Cell Delivery Systems prepared using a single-step process Advanced Materials. 21 (18), 1809-1813
• SAEED, A.O., DEY, S., THURECHT, K.J., HOWDLE, S.M. and ALEXANDER, C., 2009. One pot controlled synthesis of biodegradable and biocompatible co-polymer micelles Journal of Materials Chemistry. 19, 4529-4535
• SALMASO, S., CALICETI, P., AMENDOLA, V., MENEGHETTI, M., MAGNUSSON, J.P., PASPARAKIS, G. and ALEXANDER, C., 2009. Cell up-take control of gold nanoparticles functionalised with a thermoresponsive polymer Journal of Materials Chemistry. 19, 1608-1615
• SMALDON, J., ALEXANDER, C., KRASNOGOR, N. and GHEORGHE, M., 2009. Liposome Logic: Artificial Life,Evolutionary Robotics, Adaptive Behaviour, Evolvable Hardware Track. GECCO (Proceedings of the 11th Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference. 2, 161-168
• ROBINSON, I., ALEXANDER, C., TUNG, L.D., FERNIG, D.G. and THANH, N.T.K., 2009. Fabrication of water-soluble magnetic nanoparticles using thermo-responsive polymers Journal of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials. 321, 1421-1423
• TAI, H., WANG, W., VERMONDEN, T., HEATH, F., ALEXANDER, C., HENNINK, W.E., SHAKESHEFF, K.M. and HOWDLE, S.M.., 2009. Thermoresponsive and Photocrosslinkable Hyperbranched Polymers from One-step ATRP Synthesis Biomacromolecules. 10, 822-828
• PASPARAKIS, G, VAMVAKAKI, M, KRASNOGOR, N and ALEXANDER, C, 2009. Diol-Boronic Acid Complexes Integrated By Responsive Polymers-A Route To Chemical Sensing And Logic Operations Soft Matter. 5(20), 3839-3841
• NASANIT, RUJIKAN, IQBAL, PARVEZ, SOLIMAN, MAHMOUD, SPENCER, NEIL, ALLEN, STEPHANIE, DAVIES, MARTYN C, BRIGGS, SIMON S, SEYMOUR, LEONARD W, PREECE, JON A and ALEXANDER, CAMERON, 2008. Combination dual responsive polypeptide vectors for enhanced gene delivery. Molecular BioSystems. 4(7), 741-5
• FRAYLICH, M, WANG, W, SHAKESHEFF, K.M, ALEXANDER, C and SAUNDERS, B., 2008. Poly(d,l-lactide-co-glycolide) Dispersions Containing Pluronics: from Particle Preparation to Temperature-Triggered Aggregation. Langmuir. 24,, 7761-7768.
• ALEXANDER, CAMERON, 2008. Convergence of synthetic and natural polymers: next generation nanomedicines? Nanomedicine (London, England). 3(6), 749-51
• GRIFFITHS, PETER C, ALEXANDER, CAMERON, NILMINI, RENUKA, PENNADAM, SIVANAND S, KING, STEPHEN M and HEENAN, RICHARD K, 2008. Physicochemical characterization of thermoresponsive poly(N-isopropylacrylamide)-poly(ethylene imine) graft copolymers. Biomacromolecules. 9(4), 1170-8
• JOHANNES PALL MAGNUSSON, ADNAN KHAN, GEORGE PASPARAKIS, ARAM OMER SAEED, WENXIN WANG, AND CAMERON ALEXANDER, 2008. Ion-sensitive ‘isothermal’ responsive polymers prepared in water Journal of the American Chemical Society. 130(33), 10852 - 10853
• STOICA, FLORENTINA, ALEXANDER, CAMERON, TIRELLI, NICOLA, MILLER, ALINE F and SAIANI, ALBERTO, 2008. Selective synthesis of double temperature-sensitive polymer-peptide conjugates. Chemical Communications. 4433-5
• ALEXANDER, CAMERON, 2008. Stimuli-responsive hydrogels: drugs take control. Nature Materials. 7(10), 767-8
• PASPARAKIS, GEORGE and ALEXANDER, CAMERON, 2008. Sweet talking double hydrophilic block copolymer vesicles. Angewandte Chemie International Edition in English. 47(26), 4847-50
• FLORENTINA STOICA, CAMERON ALEXANDER, NICOLA TIRELLI, ALINE F. MILLER AND ALBERTO SAIANI, 2008. Selective synthesis of double temperature-sensitive polymer–peptide conjugates Chemical Communications. 4433 - 4435
• WANG, WENXIN and ALEXANDER, CAMERON, 2008. Self-immolative polymers. Angewandte Chemie (International Edition in English). 47(41), 7804-6
• PENNADAM, S.S., ELLIS, J.S., LAVIGNE, M.D., GORECKI, D.C., DAVIES, M.C. and ALEXANDER, C., 2007. Synthesis and characterization of variable-architecture thermosensitive polymers for complexation with DNA Langmuir. 23(1), 41-49
• PASPARAKIS, G., COCKAYNE, A. and ALEXANDER, C., 2007. Control of bacterial aggregation by thermoresponsive glycopolymers Journal of the American Chemical Society. 129(36), 11014-11015
• LAVIGNE, M.D., PENNADAM, S.S., ELLIS, J., YATES, L.L., ALEXANDER, C. and GÓRECKI, D.C., 2007. Enhanced gene expression through temperature profile-induced variations in molecular architecture of thermoresponsive polymer vectors Journal of Gene Medicine. 9(1), 44-54
• HEATH, FELICITY, HARIA, PRINAL and ALEXANDER, CAMERON, 2007. Varying polymer architecture to deliver drugs. The AAPS journal. 9(2), E235-40
• SALMASO, STEFANO, BERSANI, SARA, PENNADAM, SIVANAND S, ALEXANDER, CAMERON and CALICETI, PAOLO, 2007. Avidin bioconjugate with a thermoresponsive polymer for biological and pharmaceutical applications. International Journal of Pharmaceutics. 340(1-2), 20-8
• ROBINSON, IAN, ALEXANDER, CAMERON, LU, LE T, TUNG, LE D, FERNIG, DAVID G and THANH, NGUYEN T K, 2007. One-step synthesis of monodisperse water-soluble 'dual-responsive' magnetic nanoparticles. Chemical Communications. 4602-4
• STOICA, F., F. MILLER, A., ALEXANDER, C. and SAIANI, A., 2007. Thermo-Responsive PNIPAAm Copolymers with Hydrophobic Spacers MACROMOLECULAR SYMPOSIA. VOL 251, 33-40
• PASPARAKIS, GEORGE and ALEXANDER, CAMERON, 2007. Synthetic polymers for capture and detection of microorganisms. Analyst. 132(11), 1075-82
• CRONIN, L., KRASNOGOR, N., DAVIS, B.G., ALEXANDER, C., ROBERTSON, N., STEINKE, J.H.G., SCHROEDER, S.L.M., KHLOBYSTOV, A.N., COOPER, G., GARDNER, P.M., SEIPMANN, P., WHITAKER, B.J. and MARSH, D., 2006. The imitation game–a computational chemical approach to recognizing life. Nature Biotechnology. 24(10), 1203-1206
• ALEXANDER,C., 2006. Temperature- and pH- responsive smart polymers for gene delivery Expert Opinion on Drug Delivery. 3(5), 573-581.
• MOSS, GARY P, GULLICK, DARREN R, COX, PAUL A, ALEXANDER, CAMERON, INGRAM, MATTHEW J, SMART, JOHN D and PUGH, W JOHN, 2006. Design, synthesis and characterization of captopril prodrugs for enhanced percutaneous absorption. Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmacology. 58(2), 167-77
• ALEXANDER, C., ANDERSSON, H. S., ANDERSSON, L. I., ANSELL, R. J., KIRSCH, N., NICHOLLS, I. A., OMAHONY, J. and WHITCOMBE, M. J., 2006. Molecular imprinting science and technology: a survey of the literature for the years up to and including 2003 Journal of Molecular Recognition. VOL 19(NUMBER 2), 106-180
• ALEXANDER,C.SHAKESHEFF,K.M., 2006. Polymers at the Biology/Materials Science Interface Advanced Materials. 18(24), 3321-3328
• DE LAS HERAS ALARCÓN, C., FARHAN, T., OSBORNE, V.L., HUCK, W.T.S. and ALEXANDER, C., 2005. Bioadhesion at micro-patterned stimuli-responsive polymer brushes Journal of Materials Chemistry. 15(21), 2089-2094
• TWAITES, B.R., DE LAS HERAS ALARCÓN, C., LAVIGNE, M., SAULNIER, A., PENNADAM, S.S., CUNLIFFE, D., GÓRECKI, D.C. and ALEXANDER, C., 2005. Thermoresponsive polymers as gene delivery vectors: cell viability, DNA transport and transfection studies Journal of Controlled Release. 108(2-3), 472-483
• CUNLIFFE, D., KIRBY, A. and ALEXANDER, C., 2005. Molecularly imprinted drug delivery systems Advanced Drug Delivery Reviews. VOL 57(NUMBER 12), 1836-1853
• DE LAS HERAS ALARCON, C., PENNADAM, S. and ALEXANDER, C., 2005. Stimuli responsive polymers for biomedical applications Chemical Society Reviews. VOL 34(NUMB 3), 276-285
• ALARCON, C. D., TWAITES, B., CUNLIFFE, D., SMITH, J. R. and ALEXANDER, C., 2005. Grafted thermo- and pH responsive co-polymers: Surface-properties and bacterial adsorption International Journal of Pharmaceutics. VOL 295(NUMBER 1-2), 77-91
• TWAITES, B., DE LAS HERAS ALARCON, C. and ALEXANDER, C., 2005. Synthetic polymers as drugs and therapeutics Journal of Materials Chemistry. VOL 15(NUMB 4), 441-455
• PENNADAM, S.S., LAVIGNE, M.D., DUTTA, C.F., FIRMAN, K., MERNAGH, D., GÓRECKI, D.C. and ALEXANDER, C., 2004. Control of a multisubunit DNA motor by a thermoresponsive polymer switch Journal of the American Chemical Society. 126(41), 13208-13209
• TWAITES, B.R., DE LAS HERAS ALARCÓN, C., CUNLIFFE, D., LAVIGNE, M., PENNADAM, S., SMITH, J.R., GÓRECKI, D.C. and ALEXANDER, C., 2004. Thermo and pH responsive polymers as gene delivery vectors: effect of polymer architecture on DNA complexation in vitro Journal of Controlled Release. 97(3), 551-566
• CUNLIFFE, D., PENNADAM, S. and ALEXANDER, C., 2004. Synthetic and biological polymers--merging the interface European Polymer Journal. VOL 40(NUMBER 1), 5-25
• PENNADAM,, FIRMAN,, ALEXANDER, and GóRECKI,, 2004. Protein-polymer nano-machines. Towards synthetic control of biological processes. Journal of Nanobiotechnology. 2(1), 8
• KIRSCH, N., ALEXANDER, C., DAVIES, S. and WHITCOMBE, M. J., 2004. Sacrificial spacer and non-covalent routes toward the molecular imprinting of "poorly-functionalized" N-heterocycles Analytica Chimica Acta. VOL 504(NUMBER 1), 63-71
• CUNLIFFE, D., DE LAS HERAS ALARCÓN, C., PETERS, V., SMITH, J.R. and ALEXANDER, C., 2003. Thermoresponsive surface-grafted poly(<i>N</i>-isopropylacrylamide) copolymers: effect of phase transitions on protein and bacterial attachment Langmuir. 19(7), 2888-2899
• ALEXANDER, C., DAVIDSON, L. and HAYES, W., 2003. Imprinted polymers: artificial molecular recognition materials with applications in synthesis and catalysis Tetrahedron. VOL 59(NUMBER 12), 2025-2057
• MARSH, L. H., ALEXANDER, C., COKE, M., DETTMAR, P. W., HAVLER, M., NEVELL, T. G., SMART, J. D., TIMMINS, B. and TSIBOUKLIS, J., 2003. Adsorbed pluronics on the skin of human volunteers: effects on bacterial adhesion International Journal of Pharmaceutics. VOL 251(NUMBER 1-2), 155-163
• JONES, D.M., SMITH, J.R., HUCK, W.T.S. and ALEXANDER, C., 2002. Variable adhesion of micropatterned thermoresponsive polymer brushes: AFM investigations of poly(<i>N</i>-isopropylacrylamide) brushes prepared by surface-initiated polymerizations Advanced Materials. 14(16), 1130-1134
• MARSH, L.H., COKE, M., DETTMAR, P.W., EWEN, R.J., HAVLER, M., NEVELL, T.G., SMART, J.D.., SMITH, J.R., TIMMINS, B., TSIBOUKLIS, J. and ALEXANDER, C., 2002. Adsorbed poly(ethyleneoxide)–poly(propyleneoxide) copolymers on synthetic surfaces: spectroscopy and microscopy of polymer structures and effects on adhesion of skin-borne bacteria Journal of Biomedical Materials Research. 61(4), 641-652
• D'SOUZA,S.M., ALEXANDER,C., CARR,S.W., WALLER,A.M., WHITCOMBE,M.J. and VULFSON,E.N., 1999. Directed nucleation of calcite at a crystal-imprinted polymer surface Nature. 398(6725), 312-316
• ALEXANDER,C., SMITH,C.R., WHITCOMBE,M.J. and VULFSON,E.N, 1999. Imprinted polymers as protecting groups for regioselective modification of polyfunctional substrates Journal of the American Chemical Society. 121(28), 6640-6651.