Aston AIME celebrates launch with collaborative science

The “globally unique”, cross-disciplinary institute created to develop novel biomimetic membranes, was founded with a £10 million Research England grant.

It will work on the development of selective polymer structures for applications in water purification and waste remediation, nanoparticles loaded with therapeutic molecules to treat disorders including wounds and neurological injuries, as well as the purification of individual membrane proteins with polymers for drug targets.

Co-leads professor Roslyn Bill from the school of biosciences and the chemical engineering and applied chemistry department’s professor Paul Topham explained how AIME’s various research disciplines would complement each other’s contributions.

Bill’s research focuses on aquaporin-4 proteins in brain cell membranes as a drug target to treat traumatic brain injury, while Topham has developed polymer discs that can extract aquaporin-4 from cell membranes, to permit drug testing.

Bill said of the Research England funding:

“The funding allows biologists and chemists to cross-fertilise each other’s membrane science. For example, Paul’s team can take tiny discs that contain the membrane proteins that we’re interested in as biological drug targets and stitch the molecules together to make them into water purification membranes.”

Among the visiting academics, University of Washington neuroscientist professor Jeff Iliff, who played a key part in the discovery of the glymphatic waste clearance system, expanded on his research examining the link between sleep, glymphatic efficiency and the development of dementia.

Professor of sustainable polymer chemistry at the University of Birmingham Andrew Dove discussed the importance of designing for end-of-life, recycling options, upcycling polymers into new materials, and the use of biobased plastics, while Dr Torsten Bak Regueira, chief technology officer at Danish biomimetic membrane company Aquaporin and a visiting professor at Aston University explained AIME’s contribution to his field of study.

 “The key to creating our cutting-edge membrane was to bring people from different expertise fields together. The things that we have focused on at Aquaporin are protein chemistry, polymer chemistry and membrane chemistry. All of these areas are needed in building the membrane” said Regueira.

“We wanted to break down the barriers between the disciplines and the collaborative environment at Aquaporin allows us to create solutions that wouldn’t otherwise be possible. AIME is doing exactly that.”

Professor of Pharmacology David Poyner additionally led a tribute to the late Emeritus Professor Ian Martin, whose earlier work had played a key part in advancing the significance of membrane biology study at Aston University.