Amy Godfrey

I am currently a student on the four-year Doctoral Training Programme in Interdisciplinary Biomedical Research, funded by the Medical Research Council. The course consists of a 1 year taught Masters programme, followed by a 3 year interdisciplinary PhD project.

In 2018, I graduated with an Integrated Masters in Chemistry from the University of Warwick. The masters year included a two-term research project supervised by Professor Peter Sadler, investigating the formation of metal nanocrystals under Transmission Electron Microscopy, with a particular focus on Iron crystals, due to their formation around the plaques in the brain observed in patients with Alzheimers and Parkinsons Diseases. Throughout my undergraduate degree I developed an interest for the medicinal and biological aspects of chemistry.

Engineering cell-type specificity in a naturally occurring protein nanosyringe for intracellular protein delivery

Supervisor: Dr Nick Waterfield and Professor Matt Gibson

There is a need to develop more sophisticated tools for intracellular medicine. Nature has evolved highly diverse and efficient molecular mechanisms for the delivery of biologically active polypeptides across biological membranes. The insect pathogenic bacterium Photorhabdus secretes nanoscale syringe-like multi protein complexes which deliver toxins into eukaryotic host cells. In this project we will re-engineer these devices into viable intracellular protein drug delivery tools by adapting the cell surface binding fibres.