THE RIDDELL GROUP
Research
Proteins have evolved over hundreds of years to perform highly sophisticated tasks ranging from energy production to detoxification of harmful substrates, yet their structural fragility continues to limit their application beyond biological systems. In order to allow the utility of these systems to reach their full potential, it is essential that a strategy for preserving the three-dimensional structure - which represents the key to their efficacy - be developed. Our research is focused on understanding how to achieve this through building non-natural materials capable of encapsulating proteins, and thus stabilising their structure.
It is envisioned that materials capable of encapsulating proteins in their native form will prevent or inhibit their denaturation.
Broadly our research interests span the fields of inorganic chemistry, materials science and biochemistry. Skills and knowledge drawn from each of these disciplines will be combined within our interdisciplinary research program.
News
November 2022
Congratulations to Lauren for having her cover image accepted at ChemComm!
Check it out here!
OCTOBER 2022
New PDRA positions are available in the Riddell group!
Check out here!
The University of Manchester
SEPTEMBER 2021
Welcoming new member Xiangyu to the group!
NOVEMBER 2019
The University of Manchester
Welcoming new members Becky, Jonathan and Will to the group!
OCTOBER 2019
The University of Manchester
Happy Halloween from 80% of the Riddell group!
NOVEMBER 2019
The University of Manchester
Check out our new PhD position here!
NOVEMBER 2019
The University of Manchester
Our MChem Student Will presented his fourth year project proposal poster. Well done Will!
About Imogen
Imogen A. Riddell
Royal Society University Research Fellow
Imogen was born and raised in the scottish borders before completing her undergraduate degree at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow. She then moved to the University of Cambridge where she completed a PhD in the Nitschke group developing novel self-assembling architectures for a variety of applications. Following this she moved to Boston, to work with Professor Stephen Lippard at MIT. She joined the School of Chemistry at the University of Manchester as a Dame Kathleen Ollerenshaw Fellow in 2017 and in 2018 was appointed as a Royal Society University Research Fellow. Imogen is also on the editorial board of Transition Metal Chemistry.
In her spare time Imogen enjoys running, hillwalking and sharing a meal with friends.
Current Members
Yasamin Noori
PDRA
Yasamin obtained her BSc. in chemistry from the University of Tehran, Iran. She was granted the “Exceptional talent” scholarship for her M.Sc. She then moved to the UK in 2018 and was awarded President Scholarship from the University of Manchester for doing her PhD under the supervision of Prof. Jason Micklefield. Her research focused on the characterisation and development of methyl-transferase enzymes.
She joined the Riddell group as a research associate in 2023. Her current research is focused on the Biomimetic Crystallisation of Metal-Organic Materials for Protein Isolation and Stabilization.
Yasamin is from Iran and enjoys cooking Persian food, spending time with her family and watching TV series.
Xiangyu Wang
PhD Student 2021
Xiangyu completed his BSc degree at Jilin University, China, and spent two years synthesizing molecular sieves and using single molecular force spectroscopy to characterize biomacromolecules.
He worked at Univerisity College Dublin as a research assistant and worked on making nanoparticles with microfluidic devices.
His Ph.D. topic is Exploring enzyme immobilisation into MOFs by biomimetic crystallisation.
Xiangyu enjoys playing basketball and video games. He is also a big fan of Cyberpunk movies.
Tongtong Zhang
PhD Student 2021
Tongtong finished her undergraduate studies at Nankai University，China, then she moved to Paris and got her MSc degree in molecular chemistry at Sorbonne university. During her master research, she was interested in the encapsulation of metal complexes in a self-assembled, hydrogen-bonded capsule as a biomimetic model of metalloenzyme.
Tongtong’s PhD project aims to encapsulate hydrophobic proteins (such as silicatein) within self-assembling metal-organic materials, in order to facilitate the protein characterization in aqueous environment, and to protect the protein from denaturation.
Tongtong likes cooking Chinese food and doing some yoga before bedtime. She’s also a huge fan of Lionel Messi.
Jack Wright
PhD Student 2022
Jack did his Masters's degree at the University of Birmingham,
spending his final year in the Hannon Group attempting to modify supramolecular triple helicate structures aiming to inhibit DNA replication.
His PhD topic will be investigating supramolecular structures aimed at selectively sensing specific sequences of peptides.
Jack is from Manchester and likes rock climbing and boardgames and is also working towards a black belt in Taekwondo.
Publications
Chemistry - A European Journal 2023
Chem. Commun. 2022
Review:
Design of Ianthanide based methal-organic polyhedral cages for application in catalysis, sensing, separation and magnetism
Coord. Chem. Rev. 2022
Book Chapter:
Stabilising Reactive Intermediates in Cages
Chapter 4 - Reactivity in Confined Spaces, 2021
Self-assembly of a trigonal bipyramidal architecture with stabilisation of iron in three spin states
Chem. Commun. 2021
Self‐Assembly of Functional Discrete Three‐Dimensional Architectures in Water
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2018
Thanks for your interest in our research. Get in touch with us for any questions or comments regarding our work and publications. We’d love to hear from you.
Email:
Address:
School of Chemistry The University of Manchester,
Oxford Road, M13 9PL
Phone:
0161 3064516
