Welcome to the GibsonGroup

Thanks to the Henry Royce Institute (UK's national materials institute, with its Hub Building based in Manchester) we have been provided with funding to established an automated polysaccharide discovery platform at the MIB. This is based on the Glyconeer platform, for solid phase elongation of glycan-chains. We will use this to discover future sustainable (bio)materials … Continue reading Funding for automatic polysaccharide synthesis

We are proud to announce that we will be hosting the 60th Anniversary Meeting of the Society for Low Temperature Biology conference here in Manchester. The event will be the 11-13th September in the Manchester Institute of Biotechnology. The registration fee is just £100 for members, including refreshments and conference dinner. Submit abstracts and register … Continue reading Hosting Society for Low Temperature Biology Conference

We have a range of PhD vacancies to join our team this year. Please scroll through the webpage to find details. These will span polymer and carbohydrate chemistry to address issues in biotechnology, sustainability and health. We offer brand new laboratories in a world-class enviroment, based near the heart of a vibrant international city.

On 23rd January, Prof Gibson was awarded the SCI Innovation in Formulation Prize, for our work developing macromolecular (polymer) cryoprotectant formulations, which underpin the Cryoshield(TM) technology enabling assay_ready cell products. This was joint with CryoLogyx (who have commercialised the technology) and recognises our collaboration with Tom Whale, and hard work from many group members. Still … Continue reading Innovation in formulation Award

We have a large programme in chemical cryobiology - new chemical tools to help us store and transport biological material, protecting them from cold damage during cryopreservation. Our latest work, in collaboration with Cytiva and Dr Sagona (Warwick) asks the question of 'what is needed for a polymer to be a good cryoprotectant for bacteriophage'? … Continue reading Polymers to cryopreserve bacteriophage is published

We have a large interest in glycobiology, and in particular how we can deploy glyco-tools in biosensing and diagnostics. Our latest review article, written in collaboration with our long-term collaborators Iceni Glycoscience and Prof Field, discusses the role of sialic acids (found on mammalian cell surface) as anchors for pathogens and the potential to use … Continue reading The role of Sialic acids in infection, and application in detection/therapy published

We have up to 6 PhD vacancies to join our multidisciplinary, supportive, team. Projects spam important areas from new degradable polymer materials, strategies to store/transport cells for therapy, new diagnostics, to tissue models to replace animal testing. Navigate to 'how to join us' to see vacancies, and how to work in amazing new facilities in … Continue reading PhD Vacancies for 2024 are Open

We are applying medicinal chemistry (Chemical CryoBiology) approaches to improve the storage of cell based therapies. In the latest work, they apply ROCK (Rho-associated protein kinases) inhibitors to target pathways which lead to cell death after thawing cryopreserved t-cells. This approach is exciting as there is no change required to the cryoprotectants nor the handing … Continue reading Using ROCK inhibitors to improve cryopreservation outcomes

Prof Gibson Interviewed for Technology Networks Prof Gibson was interviewed regarding current challenges, and opportunities, in cryopreservation research. Read the article here

Later in 2023 our research programme is moving to the University of Manchester, and Matt is taking up a new Chair in Sustainable Biomaterials. The team will be based in brand new laboratories in the Department of Chemistry and also the Manchester Institute of Biotechnology. More news will be coming soon!