ABOUT THE TEAM

Figure 1. Schematic diagram of virucidal materials action mechanism on viruses (top) and potential results in blue woodlice. The crystalline structure formed by the accumulation of viruses is the origin of the blue colour. Destroying the viruses will remove this effect leading to the woodlice turning back to their normal colour (bottom)

Dr Samuel Jones

Dr. Samuel Jones is a Dame Kathleen Ollerenshaw Fellow in the Department of Materials at the University of Manchester. He heads up the Jones Lab which focuses on understanding material/virus interactions. Sam completed his masters in Chemistry, from the University of Warwick, under the direction of Prof. Stefan A. F. Bon in 2009. His work at the time focused on hydrogen bonding interactions for gold nanorod assembly. During his studies he also undertook a research project at the University of Tasmania in the group of Dr. Adrian Blackman. For his Ph.D. Sam moved to the University of Cambridge where he worked in the Melville Laboratory for Polymer Synthesis under Prof. Oren A. Scherman, on the supramolecular assembly of nanomaterials via cucurbit[n]uril. Upon completion of his Ph.D. in 2013, Sam moved to the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) where he worked alongside Prof. Francesco Stellacci. His research focused on the synthesis of novel virucidal materials and the synthesis of Janus nanoparticles for targeted delivery.

His interest in Blue woodlice lies in the virus itself. The iridovirus that causes the unusual blue colour to form will be studied and used to develop methods to quickly test new antivirals. The antivirals developed in the Jones lab are able to destroy a wide range of viruses on contact. Having structural colour formed from the assembly of a virus would mean that if new antivirals can destroy viruses, the blue colour will be lost, Figure 1.

Figure 2. Microscopy images of the self-assembled (a) Cellulose films [1] (b) Wiseana iridescent virus (WIV) pellet assembly fixed with glutaraldehyde [2]

In Dr. Dumanli-Parry’s BioFUM Research labs, one of the main research interests is how nature builds complex organized matter from molecular and supramolecular building blocks. We investigate structural organisation in cellulose, chitin and collagens. Woodlice is an interesting family of species that has a very similar organization of chitin, proteins and mineral matter in their endocuticle to prawns. While the woodlice has no colour or amber to brown colouration that comes from the pigmentation. When they are infected by the isopod iridescent virus (IIV-31), is a species of virus in the family Iridoviridae which has diameter range of 125 to 145 nm they change in to a bright dark blue color. Such colouration is basically due to the virions forming a photonic crystalline like arrays in heavily infected cells which then cause appearance of iridescent blue. We are interested to isolating the virus and invitro self-assembly of these species in-situ under an optical microscope and assess their colloidal behavior and assess the parameter space for their self-assembly behavior and compare them to the soft colloidal evaporation driven assembly systems we are working on, Figure 2.

Dr Ahu Dumanli-Parry

Ahu is currently a BP-ICAM Kathleen Lonsdale Research Fellow at the University of Manchester where her research focuses on bio-inspired functional and adaptive materials to develop photonic sensors, smart textiles and bio-polymers for packaging applications with low-environmental impact. Ahu completed her masters in Polymer Science and Technology, from the Middle East Technical University. She received her PhD from Sabanci University under supervision of Prof Yuda Yurum where she worked on the rational design of metal catalysts for the synthesis of carbon nanotubes with truly unusual physicochemical traits. From there she moved to the University of Cambridge where she worked in the Macromolecular Materials Laboratory with Prof. Alan Windle. In 2012 she received a Schlumberger Faculty for Future Research Fellowship to move her studies to Cavendish Laboratories to work under Prof Ulli Steiner, where she develop her research vision on biomimetic and sustainable materials.

Solen Monteil

Solen is a Graphene Nownano PhD student in Dr Jones lab, where she investigates different sensing mechanisms to detect viruses. Her main focus is the electrochemical detection of viral DNA, using a new generation of molecules to functionalise screen-printed graphene electrodes.
Solen is involved in several outreach activities such as the Graphene Hackathon and the Brilliant Club, with the aim of sharing science to different groups and make it more accessible (because science is fun!).

Louis Nicholls

Louis is an Entomology MSc student at Harper Adams University. He is currently in the preliminary phase of investigating prey DNA half-life in tropical praying mantids as a precursor to a PhD using them as biodiversity sinks for ecological metabarcoding-based food web and biodiversity assessments. Louis is also in the process of finalising the publication of his undergraduate 3rd year research project assessing the responses of Kenyan mantid assemblages to differing levels of savannah disturbance.

As well as a specific interest in Mantodea (praying mantises), Louis has contributed towards various recording schemes across the UK, worked with Dmitri Logunov, curator of arthropods for the Manchester Museum and aided Scott Pedley with Carabid (ground beetle) identification for his ecological research on Thetford forest. Louis has also been involved in a number of research projects in Portugal such as the Bussaco checklist project, the Vaca Loura (stag beetle) outreach project and a PhD focused on solitary bee ecology. He is also a member of the Royal society of Entomology.

Thanks to Prof Richard Johnston and Albert Kang for their great photos

References
1. Dumanli, A.G., et al., Digital Color in Cellulose Nanocrystal Films. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 2014. 6(15): p. 12302-12306.
2. Juhl, S.B., et al., Assembly of Wiseana Iridovirus: Viruses for Colloidal Photonic Crystals. 2006. 16(8): p. 1086-1094.