We are broadly interested in molecular association and aggregation phenomena in solution. These fascinating processes are important in a wide variety of fields, from drug design and formulation, to the physical and optical properties of liquid crystals, and the assembly of peptides and proteins into amyloid fibrils. We are developing state-of-the-art liquid-state NMR methodologies to probes these processes with the aim of gaining a better understanding of the kinetic and thermodynamic parameters which control them.
More generally, we also employ liquid-state NMR as a tool for small molecule structure elucidation and to investigate the properties and behaviour of these small molecules in solution. This is principally in collaboration with other research groups within the Chemistry subject area of the School. We have also recently expanded into the world of biomolecular NMR in collaboration with Prof. Laurence Pearl FRS to explore protein/lignad and protein/DNA interactions, and with Prof. Simon Ward to develop potential drug screening approaches.
Facilities
The Day lab operates the School's NMR facility consisting of three Varian VNMRS spectrometers at field strengths of 400, 500 and 600 MHz. We are well equipped with probes for multinuclear NMR (31P-15N and 19F), biomolecular NMR (1H{13C/15N/31P/2H}) and heterogeneous samples (gHX Nanoprobe).
Funding
Research in the Day lab is supported by grants from the following bodies:
Previous support has come from the University of Sussex, the Nuffield Foundation and the Analytical Chemistry Trust Fund.