Dr Alex Smith

Research Fellow in Glycotherapeutic

School of Chemical Engineering
Faculty of Engineering, Architecture and Information Technology

Overview

Dr. Alex Smith is a Research Fellow at UQ's School of Chemical Engineering. His interests are in understanding structure: function relationships between complex carbohydrates (such as heparan sulphate) and proteins, and how these interactions can inform the development of glycotherapeutic agents to treat a wide varienty of injuries and diseases.

Research Interests

  • Heparan sulphate and other glycosaminoglycans
    Understanding structure: function relationships between complex carbohydrates such as heparan sulphate and the myriad of proteins to which heparan sulphate binds. Specifically, assessing interactions between heparan sulphate and proteins involved in wound healing, inflammation, cell survival, and differentiation.
  • Cell membrane engineering
    Developing novel strategies for cell membrane engineering using glycoconjugates to influence cell behaviour.
  • Glycotherapeutics
    Assessing the potential of using heparan sulphate and synthetic heparan sulphate mimetics in the treatment of numerous diseases, injuries, and as media additives in the expansion of therapeutically relevant cell types.

Publications

View all Publications

Available Projects

  • Heparan sulphate (HS) plays key roles in many biological processes, including wound healing, as it binds and protects critical pro-regenerative factors within a wound site. HS-functionalised biomaterials have shown promise in enhancing the endogenous wound healing response in various models, including bone repair.

    This project aims to investigate novel methods for functionalising common biomaterials used in bone repair (such as (poly)caprolactone and hydroxyapatite) with HS using several different grafting strategies. These novel, glycan-functionalised biomaterials will then be characterised extensively using chemical, physical, biophysical, and biological techniques to assess structure, function, and ability to enhance osteogenesis.

  • Adult stem cells offer great potential as a cell therapy through the secretion of immunomodulatory factors. However, understanding what mechanisms underpin the regulation of these factors and the balance between a pro- and anti-inflammatory secretome remains to be elucidated. Using induced pluripotent stem cell-derived adult stem cells from different genomic backgrounds, this project will use biochemical and molecular techniques to identify changes in the secretion of pro- and anti-inflammatory factors through continuous in vitro culture. The performance of these stem cells will be assessed using in vitro and potentially in vivo models of inflammation and inflammatory disease. Finally, correlation between genomic background and immunomodulatory performance will be established, offering crucial insight into the generation of future cell therapies.

View all Available Projects

Publications

Book Chapter

  • Huang, Mia L., Smith, Raymond A. A., Trieger, Greg W. and Godula, Kamil (2016). Glycocalyx remodeling with glycopolymer-based proteoglycan mimetics. Macro-glycoligands: methods and protocols. (pp. 207-224) edited by Xue-Long Sun. New York, NY, United States: Humana Press. doi: 10.1007/978-1-4939-3130-9_17

Journal Article

Conference Publication

Possible Research Projects

Note for students: The possible research projects listed on this page may not be comprehensive or up to date. Always feel free to contact the staff for more information, and also with your own research ideas.

  • Heparan sulphate (HS) plays key roles in many biological processes, including wound healing, as it binds and protects critical pro-regenerative factors within a wound site. HS-functionalised biomaterials have shown promise in enhancing the endogenous wound healing response in various models, including bone repair.

    This project aims to investigate novel methods for functionalising common biomaterials used in bone repair (such as (poly)caprolactone and hydroxyapatite) with HS using several different grafting strategies. These novel, glycan-functionalised biomaterials will then be characterised extensively using chemical, physical, biophysical, and biological techniques to assess structure, function, and ability to enhance osteogenesis.

  • Adult stem cells offer great potential as a cell therapy through the secretion of immunomodulatory factors. However, understanding what mechanisms underpin the regulation of these factors and the balance between a pro- and anti-inflammatory secretome remains to be elucidated. Using induced pluripotent stem cell-derived adult stem cells from different genomic backgrounds, this project will use biochemical and molecular techniques to identify changes in the secretion of pro- and anti-inflammatory factors through continuous in vitro culture. The performance of these stem cells will be assessed using in vitro and potentially in vivo models of inflammation and inflammatory disease. Finally, correlation between genomic background and immunomodulatory performance will be established, offering crucial insight into the generation of future cell therapies.