Estelle Payerne

I joined the group this year after doing my Bachelors and Masters degrees in chemistry at the University of Grenoble.
My project deals with the development of new drug delivery systems for cancer chemotherapy. One of the main problems in cancer treatment is achieving selectivity and we are designing systems that will exploit the unique asialoglycoprotein receptor of hepatocytes to achieve delivery.

The drug carrier I am using is a calix[4]arene, and my project will focus on attaching sugar residues, such as galactose and glucose, to the upper rim to target the receptor and known chemotherapeutic agents to the lower rim via peptide spacers.

In the first few months of this project, I am developing upper-rim functionalisation routes and will investigate the binding properties of these molecules in cell lines to determine the best guest-receptor interaction.

Ruth Lalor

I gained a degree in Medicinal Chemistry in 2003 at TCD and am currently taking a Masters degree by research and hope to start a PhD in 2004.

In my research I am looking at using calix[4]arene based dendrimers as tissue engineering supports. Tissue engineering for the preparation of artificial organs is heavily dependent on the scaffold as this can promote cellular adhesion and maintain and regulate cellular activity. We are interested in using the expression of asialoglycoprotein receptors by liver cells to promote adhesion of cells through sugar-receptor interactions.

Currently I am modifying the lower rim of the calixarene to allow the formation of dendritic wedges in which 2 or more calixarenes are covalently attached prior to derivitisation with sugars.
During the project I also hope to get involved in the biological testing of the compounds synthesised and use these results to optimise the dendritic structures.

Eoin Quinlan

I graduated from Trinity College Dublin in 2001, and stayed on as a postgraduate student, working towards my PhD, under the supervision of Dr. Susan Matthews.

My project is extremely multi-disciplinary. While organic synthesis is my main interest and focus, there is a large component of co-ordination chemistry, NMR measurements (besides characterisations!) and biological techniques.

I am derivatising calix[4]arene, at the lower rim, to accommodate gadolinium. The resulting chelates are candidates for use as contrast agents in magnetic resonance imaging. Suitable lead compounds are then to be attached to bio-macromolecules, such as albumin. The bio-conjugation element of my project is beyond the classical training of an organic chemist, as such, I am learning a wide variety of new techniques.

Debbie Moore

I first joined Dr. Matthews' group as a final year undergraduate, working on pyrogallolarenes as potential potassium channel mimics. Upon completing my first degree, I decided to return to the group as a postgraduate student in 2002.

I am currently working on the rigidification of resorcin[4]arenes through lower rim modification. Once this has been accomplished ligands for the complexation of radioactive lanthanides and actinides will be attached to the upper rim of the resorcin[4]arene. It is anticipated that the pre-organisation of these ligands will lead to more efficient extraction than the method currently in use.

So far in this project the main focus has been on developing my synthetic knowledge and techniques, later work with actinides and lanthanides will allow me to gain experience in the area of co-ordination chemistry.