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Dr J. Gerard Wall                                      

Contact Information   
Microbiology
National University of Ireland, Galway
University Rd 
Galway
Ireland.
Tel.: 353 (0)91 495808
Fax.: 353 (0)91 494598
E-mail: gerard.wallnuigalway.ie
Research Gate profile 
LinkedIn profile

Teaching

Notes from all lecture series plus supporting materials, additional reading, etc are available on Blackboard prior to commencement of the lectures. 
For issues to do with coordination of the final year Microbiology programme, feel free to contact me via email, in my office, or through class reps.

Research Interests

• (Bio)materials functionalisation; biomimetisation / functionalisation of materials using engineered recombinant proteins for addition- or modification-of-function. Specific interest in functionalisation of cardiovascular stents for improved in vivo performance, carried out as part of a recently funded EU Consortium; project started 04/13. Partners Balton Sp. z o.o., Vornia Ltd., Wrocław Medical University, Wrocław University of Technology.
• Functional biomaterials / drug delivery: use of phage and peptide libraries to direct biodegradable nanospheres to specific cell types for targeted gene delivery; current applications in regeneration of degraded intervertebral disc regions (within the SFI-funded Network of Excellence for Functional Biomaterials)
• Expression of "difficult" proteins, such as glycosylated or glyco-engineered proteins, in E. coli. Improved of expression through, e.g., metabolic and protein engineering, co-production of molecular chaperones to increase yields of aggregation-prone or glycosylated recombinant proteins of therapeutic and biotechnological interest (with Prof. Xuejun Hu, Dalian University of Technology, China)
• Protein immobilisation studies: production and engineering (affinity maturation, increasing stability) of antibody fragments in E. coli for use in immunosensors; investigation of novel (nano)supports (with Prof Francisco del Monte's Group of Bioinspired Materials at ICCM, Madrid).
• Production of recombinant membrane proteins for purification, crystallisation and X-ray diffraction analysis. This is typically carried out in E. coli but we have also used  P. pastoris and cell-free systems (with Membrane Protein Laboratory at Diamond Light Source, UK).

Recent Publications

• Esquembre R, Sanz JM, Wall JG, del Monte F, Mateo CR, Ferrer ML. (2013) Thermal unfolding and refolding of lysozyme in deep eutectic solvents and their aqueous dilutions. Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., in press; DOI: 10.1039/c3cp44299c.
• Hu X, Hortigüela MJ, Robin S, Lin H, Li Y, Moran AP, Wang W, Wall JG. (2013) Covalent and oriented immobilization of scFv antibody fragments via an engineered glycan moiety. Biomacromolecules 14: 153-9.
• Hortigüela MJ, Wall JG. (2013). Improved detection of domoic acid using covalently immobilised antibody fragments. Marine Drugs. 11: 881-95.
• Monaghan M, Greiser U, Wall JG, O'Brien T, Pandit A. (2012) Interference: An alteRNAtive therapy following acute myocardial infarction. Trends Pharmacol. Sci. 33: 635-45.
• Power KA, Grad S, Rutges J, Creemers LB, van Rijen MHP, Ó Gaora P, Wall JG, Alini M, Pandit A, Gallagher WM. (2011) Identification of cell surface markers to target human nucleus pulposus cells: expression of carbonic anhydrase 12 varies with age and degeneration. Arthritis Rheum. 63: 3876-86.
• Hu X, O'Connor IB, Wall  JG. (2011) Antibody immobilization on solid surfaces: Methods and applications. In RSC Nanoscience and Nanotechnology No. 21: Biological Interactions with Surface Charge Biomaterials (Ed. T Syed), 90-104. Royal Society of Chemistry.
• Hu X, O’Connell S, Robin S, Walsh G, Wall JG. (2010) Engineering of a fungal β-galactosidase to remove product inhibition by galactose. Appl. Microbiol. Biotechnol. 87: 1773-82.
• O'Dwyer R, Razzaque R, Hu X, Hollingshead SK, Wall  JG. (2009) Engineering of cysteine residues leads to improved production of a human dipeptidase enzyme in E. coli. Appl. Biochem. Biotechnol. 159: 178-90.
• Robin S, Togashi DM, Ryder AG, Wall  JG. (2009) Trigger factor from the psychrophilic bacterium P. frigidicola is a monomeric chaperone. J. Bacteriol. 191: 1162-8.
• Kolaj O, Spada S, Robin S, Wall  JG. (2009) Use of folding modulators to improve heterologous protein production in Escherichia coli. Microb. Cell Fact. 8: 9.
• Cherezov V, Höfer N, Szebenyi DME, Kolaj O, Wall  JG, Gillilan R, Srinivasan V, Jaroniec CP, Caffrey M. (2008) Insights into the mode of action of a putative zinc transporter CzrB in Thermus thermophilus. Structure 16: 1378-88.
• Hu X, O'Hara L, White S, Magner E, Kane M, Wall  JG. (2007) Optimisation of production of a domoic acid-binding scFv antibody fragment in E. coli using molecular chaperones and functional immobilisation on a mesoporous silicate support. Protein Expr. Purif. 52: 194-201 .
• Höfer N, Kolaj O, Li H, Cherezov V, Gilliam R, Wall  JG, Caffrey M. (2007) Crystallization and preliminary X-ray diffraction analysis of a soluble domain of the putative zinc transporter CzrB from Thermus thermophilus. Acta Crystallogr. Sect. F Struct. Biol. Cryst. Commun. 63: 673-7.

Patents

• Wall JG, Spada S, Pembroke JT. (2008) Polypeptide factor from a thermophilic eubacterial species and use thereof in the production of functional, heterologous proteins in an expression host (to the University of Limerick). US PTO Application 20080227178; Virginia; granted 18/09/2008.

Research Funding

• EU Marie Curie Industry-Academia Partnerships and Pathways (Project Coordinator); April 2013-March 2017
• Enterprise Ireland, Commercialisation Fund (Technology Development, Proof of Concept)
• Science Foundation Ireland, Strategic Research Cluster ("Network of Excellence for Functional Biomaterials", NFB)
• EU, FP7 ("BioElectricSurface")
• IRCSET, Postdoctoral Fellowship
• National Nature Science Foundation of China
• NUI Galway College of Science studentship

Vacancies

Vacanices are usually advertised widely and highlighted here - but may be quickly filled from recently arrived CVs. To check for current vacancies in the group, mail gerard. wallnuigalway.ie with CV, including contact details for at least 2 referees.

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