Anne Canning

In 2013 Anne joined the Nottingham/ Loughborough/ Keele DTC training program in Regenerative medicine where she worked on projects such as: 3D bioprinting, in vitro bone model and osteochondral plugs. She is now working under the supervision of Dr. Mischa Zelzer, Dr. Lee Buttery and Dr. Jon Aylott in designing enzyme responsive peptide surfaces.

• Stem cell therapies rely on strict control of the niche environment to direct stem cell fate. Surface properties can stimulate stem cell proliferation or differentiation, stimulating both these responses on a single surface is highly attractive.
• The main aim of this project is to design and synthesise enzyme responsive surfaces from peptides which can be both phosphorylated and dephosphorylated by cell secreted enzymes to reversibly change the surface conformation. These surfaces will enhance communication at the biointerface between the cells and the artificial materials.

The surfaces and their conformational changes will be optically measured using a variety of techniques, notably IR, CD, NMR and biological assays and live imaging techniques will be employed to monitor cellular responses.