Bradley Unwin

Bradley Unwin

Email: b8024691@hallam.shu.ac.uk
Research Centre: BMRC
Research Group: Johnson Group
PhD Thesis Title: Synthesis of Gold (I) Complexes with Bioactive Ligands as Dual-action Anticancer Agents
Director of Studies: Dr Alice Johnson
Supervisors: Dr Neil Cross, Dr Nicola Jordan-Mahy

SUMMARY

Bradley earned a first-class degree in Biochemistry in 2023. He was honoured with the Royal Society of Biology’s Top Student Award and The Biochemical Society’s Undergraduate Recognition Award. Additionally, he undertook a work placement in the technical team at SHU and serves as a representative at many university events.

RESEARCH

Our novel synthetic route prepares gold(I) complexes with bioactive polyphenol ligands in which gold is bound to polyphenol’s carboxylate oxygen. In the presence of thiols/selenol, the polyphenol is released leaving the gold complex bound, thus creating a dual-action approach to cancer treatment.

These complexes are screened against a panel of cancer cell lines using 2D and 3D tumour cell culture techniques, to elucidate their potential anti-cancer activity and mechanism of action, and how this relates to the structure-activity relationships at a molecular level. Techniques including fluorescence, protein purification, microscopy and ICP-MS assess structural interactions.

Anti-cancer activity is evaluated by assessing cell viability (MTT / CellTiterGlo ATP), and cell death mechanism (necrosis, apoptosis, autophagy and ferroptosis) with further interrogation of molecular mechanisms of actions at gene and protein levels using a combination of qRT-PCR and biochemicals assays. Visualizing key markers of cancer cell death mechanisms uses selected histochemical methodologies.