The term hydrodynamics means "water movement" and the "National Centre for Macromolecular Hydrodynamics" is a Facility for the characterisation of the sizes, shapes and interactions of large molecules - "macromolecules" - of biomedical and industrial importance (proteins, polysaccharides, DNA, synthetic polymers etc.) in solution.
Hot off the Press! A new method for determining molecular weight distributions of polymers using analytical ultracentrifugation, we have developed, called the "Extended Fujita Approach" From Harding, S.E., Schuck, P., Abdelhameed, A.S., Adams, G. Kok, M.S. and Morris, G.A. (2011) Methods (more....)
The research portfolio of the NCMH is focused into the following areas: Crystallohydrodynamics (combining high resolution crystallographic information with solution data for elucidating the solution conformation of molecular assemblies, with particular reference to antibodies), Therapeutic Polysaccharides (relating solution structure and interactions with bioactivity and mucoadhesion), Macromolecular Stability (with particular reference to industrial preparations of antibodies and polysaccharides), Archaea (a distinct domain of life ranked equally with the Bacteria and the Eukaryotes - we are trying to gain an understanding of the fundamental molecular biology and physical chemistry underpinning these fascinating microorganisms) and Insulin Delivery (using a detailed knowledge of its physico-chemical interactions to help develop a self-regulating insulin delivery route for the treatment of diabetes). There are four laboratories - the Harding Laboratory (Physical Biochemistry and Glycobiology), the Scott Laboratory (Physical Biochemistry and Archae), the Rowe Laboratory (NCMH Business Centre) and the Adams Laboratory (Insulin Research).
We also provide an international centre of expertise for Academia and Industry. The principal techniques used are analytical ultracentrifugation (including disc centrifugation for large >100nm particles), light scattering (dynamic and "SEC-MALLs") and high-precision viscometry.