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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    

Brief Biography

Research Interests

• Functional biomaterials / drug delivery: use of phage and peptide libraries to direct biodegradable nanospheres to specific cell types for targeted gene delivery; current application in regeneration of degraded invertebral disc regions (within the SFI-funded Network of Excellence in Functional Biomaterials)
• 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) and approaches for improved (covalent, correctly oriented) protein immobilisation to provide functionalised coronary and urinary stents with reduced immunoreactivity or encrustation (as part of EU FP7 BioElectricSurface consortium)
• Production of recombinant proteins (including membrane proteins and glyco- and glycoengineered proteins) in E. coli, P. pastoris and cell-free systems; optimisation of expression of therapeutic and biotechnologically important proteins through the use of, e.g., metabolic and protein engineering, co-production of molecular chaperones (with Prof Anthony Moran)
• Antibody-directed tumour therapy: use of molecular evolution and modelling/directed mutagenesis techniques to generate novel variants of mammalian enzymes in E. coli for use in ADEPT; production in E. coli, P. pastoris and cell-free systems

Recent Publications

• Power KA, Grad S, Rutges J, Creemers LB, van Rijen MHP, Ó Gaora P, Wall JG, Alini M, Pandit A, Gallagher WM (in press) Identification of cell surface markers to target human nucleus pulposus cells: expression of carbonic anhydrase 12 varies with age and degeneration. Arthritis Rheum.
• Hu X, O'Connor IB, Wall JG (in press, 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.
• Hu X, White S, Spada S, Hudson S, Magner E, Wall JG. (2006) Adsorption and activity of a domoic acid-binding antibody fragment on mesoporous silicates. J. Phys. Chem. B 110: 18703-9.
• Boyd D, Li H, Tanner DA, Towler M, Wall JG. (2006) The antibacterial effects of zinc ion migration from zinc based glass polyalkenoate cements. J. Mater. Sci. Mater. Med. 17: 489-94.
• Hu X, O'Dwyer R, Wall JG. (2005) Cloning, expression and characterisation of a single-chain Fv antibody fragment against domoic acid in Escherichia coli. J. Biotechnol. 120: 38-45.
• Moriarty T, O'Sullivan M, Wall JG. (2005) An epidemiological study of systemic lupus erythematosus in Portugal, 1970-2001. Acta Reum. Port. 30: 49-60.
• Deere J, Serantoni M, Edler K, Hodnett BK, Wall JG, Magner E. (2004) Measurement of the adsorption of cytochrome c onto the external surface of a thin film mesoporous silicate by ellipsometry. Langmuir 20: 532-6.
• Guida A, Towler MR, Wall JG, Hill RG, Eramo S. (2003) Preliminary work on the antibacterial behaviour of strontium-containing glass ionomer cements. J. Mater. Sci. Lett. 22: 1401-3.
• Moriarty T, O'Sullivan M, Tam A, Gonçalves RM, Wall JG. (2003) Systemic lupus erythematosus in Portugal: Diagnosis and disease awareness from 1970-2001. Eur. J. Epidemiol. 18: 995-9.
• Deere J, Magner E, Wall JG, Hodnett BK. (2003) Oxidation of ABTS by silicate immobilized cytochrome c in nonaqueous solutions. Biotechnol. Prog. 19: 1238-43.
• Deere J, Magner E, Wall JG, Hodnett BK. (2003) Adsorption and activity of proteins onto mesoporous silica. Catal. Lett. 85: 19-23.
• Smyth TP, Wall JG, Nitanai Y. (2003) A substrate variant as a high-affinity, reversible inhibitor: insight from the X-ray structure of cilastatin bound to membrane dipeptidase. Bioorg. Med. Chem. 11: 991-8.

Patents

Research Funding

• 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 here - but may be quickly filled from recently arrived CVs. To check for current vacancies in the group, mail gerard.wallnuigalway.ie with a copy of your CV, including contact details for at least 2 referees.

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