Alfred E ThumserUniversity of Surrey · Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences
Alfred E Thumser
PhD Biochemistry
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125
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Introduction
Skills and Expertise
Additional affiliations
February 2000 - present
Publications
Publications (125)
The School of Biosciences & Medicine teaches a wide range of BSc programmes with module cohort sizes of up to 450 students. In this study we explored the student perspective of teaching excellence by surveying FHEQ-level 4, 5 and 6 Bioscience students. Our findings reveal that students prefer enthusiastic and engaging teachers in a traditional lect...
This paper uses an autoethnographic case study to analyse the difficulties inherent in the professional journey from bioscience researcher to research-informed, reflective bioscience teacher. This is viewed through a philosophy of becoming. The major demand placed upon the academic to achieve this transition is seen as the conscious adoption of a p...
When developing meaningful curricula, institutions must engage with the desired disciplinary attributes of their graduates. Successfully employed in several areas, including psychology and chemistry, disciplinary literacies provide structure for the development of core competencies‐ pursuing progressive education. To this end, we have sought to dev...
Purpose
Concept maps have been described as a valuable tool for exploring curriculum knowledge. However, less attention has been given to the use of them to visualise contested and tacit knowledge, i.e. the values and perceptions of teachers that underpin their practice. This paper aims to explore the use of concept mapping to uncover academics’ v...
Background
Estrogen is a vital hormone that regulates many biological functions within the body. These include roles in the development of the secondary sexual organs in both sexes, plus uterine angiogenesis and proliferation during the menstrual cycle and pregnancy in women. The varied biological roles of estrogens in human health also make them a...
Phytochemical analyses of the bulbs of Eucomis vandermerwei and E. zambesiaca yielded homoisoflavonoids and triterpenoid derivatives. A new (17S*,23S*)-epoxy-3β,15β,29-trihydroxy-27-norlanost-8-en-24-one) was isolated from E. zambesiaca. Resnova humifusa yielded homoisoflavonoids, and a tetrahydropyran derivative, 2-methyl-3-(4S*,5R*,7S*-trihydroxy...
Significance
Sleep restriction and circadian clock disruption are associated with metabolic disorders including obesity and diabetes; this association can be studied by using the powerful tool of metabolomics. By using liquid chromatography/MS metabolomics, we have characterized plasma metabolites that were significantly affected by acute sleep dep...
Glucose oxidase (GOx) is commonly incorporated into glucose-oxidising/oxygen-reducing enzymatic biological fuel cells (EBFCs), as the anodic biocatalyst. The flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD) cofactor of GOx is tightly bound, and possesses an associated favourable low redox potential allowing the use of a wide range of electron mediators, which in...
The purpose of this study is to review recent evidence for the role of the cytosolic fatty acid binding proteins (FABPs) as central regulators of whole-body metabolic control.
Dysregulated FABPs have been associated with a number of diseases, including obesity and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (FABP1, FABP2, FABP4), cardiovascular risk (FABP3) a...
Mediator-less, direct electro-catalytic reduction of oxygen to water by bilirubin oxidase (Myrothecium sp.) was obtained on anthracene-modified, multi-walled carbon nanotubes. H2O2 was found to significantly and irreversibly affect the electro-catalytic activity of bilirubin oxidase, whereas similar electrodes comprised of laccase (Trametes versico...
Hydrogen peroxide production by glucose oxidase (GOx) and its negative effect on laccase performance have been studied. Simultaneously, FAD-dependent glucose dehydrogenase (FAD-GDH), an O2-insensitive enzyme, has been evaluated as a substitute. Experiments focused on determining the effect of the side reaction of GOx between its natural electron ac...
The performance and dynamics of the bacterial communities in the biofilm and suspended culture in the anode chamber of sucrose-fed microbial fuel cells (MFCs) were studied by using denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) of PCR-amplified partial 16S rRNA genes followed by species identification by sequencing. The power density of MFCs was co...
Although daily rhythms regulate multiple aspects of human physiology, rhythmic control of the metabolome remains poorly understood. The primary objective of this proof-of-concept study was identification of metabolites in human plasma that exhibit significant 24-h variation. This was assessed via an untargeted metabolomic approach using liquid chro...
A glucose oxidase (GOd) bioelectrode exhibiting high performance, direct electron transfer (DET) has been prepared. Unprecedented redox peak current densities of 1 mA cm(-2) were observed alongside a clear electrochemical response to glucose. This system shows potential as a low cost, high performance enzymatic bioelectrode.
Fluorescent tracer dyes represent an important class of sub-cellular probes and allow the examination of cellular processes in real-time with minimal impact upon these processes. Such tracer dyes are becoming increasingly used for the examination of membrane transport processes, as they are easy-to-use, cost effective probe substrates for a number...
The therapeutic class of HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors, the statins are central agents in the treatment of hypercholesterolaemia and the associated conditions of cardiovascular disease, obesity and metabolic syndrome. Although statin therapy is generally considered safe, a number of known adverse effects do occur, most commonly treatment-associated...
The spatiotemporal development of a bacterial community in an exoelectrogenic biofilm was investigated in sucrose-fed longitudinal tubular microbial fuel cell reactors, consisting of two serially connected modules. The proportional changes in the microbial community composition were assessed by polymerase chain reaction-denaturing gradient gel elec...
The effects of two halogenated compounds (sodium hypochlorite and N-halamine polymers) on the Escherichia coli metabolome were investigated. Changes in the intracellular metabolite pools of bacterial cells treated with different formulations of these compounds were analysed using FTIR (Fourier Transform Infra Red) spectroscopy and LC-MS (Liquid Chr...
Precious bacterium: Biologically produced palladium nanoparticles bound to a cell membrane participated in electron-transport pathways as well as electrocatalysis on an electrode surface (see picture). Periplasmic hydrogenases ([FeFe]) and cytochromes (Cyt) may be involved in the processes.
It has been well documented that ascorbate enhances iron uptake, with a proposed mechanism based on reduction to the more absorbable ferrous form. We have performed a study on the effects of ascorbate on ferric iron uptake in the human epithelial Caco-2 cell-line. Ascorbate increased uptake in a concentration-dependent manner with a significant dif...
The intracellular fatty acid-binding proteins (FABPs) are abundantly expressed in almost all tissues. They exhibit high affinity
binding of a single long-chain fatty acid, with the exception of liver FABP, which binds two fatty acids or other hydrophobic
molecules. FABPs have highly similar tertiary structures consisting of a 10-stranded antiparall...
The P19CL6 cell-line, a clone of the P19 mouse embryonal carcinoma cell-line, has been extensively used as a model for cardiomyocytes as these cells can be differentiated into a cardiomyocyte phenotype upon incubation with di-methyl sulfoxide. Uniquely, these cells can be observed to "beat" when monitored by microscopy. We started investigating the...
The construction and characterization of a one-compartment fructose/air biological fuel cell (BFC) based on direct electron transfer is reported. The BFC employs bilirubin oxidase and d-fructose dehydrogenase adsorbed on a cellulose-multiwall carbon nanotube (MWCNT) matrix, reconstituted with an ionic liquid, as the biocathode and the bioanode for...
Conductive cellulose-multiwalled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) matrix with a porous structure and good biocompatibility has been prepared using a room temperature ionic liquid (1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium acetate) as solvent. Glucose oxidase (GOx) was encapsulated in this matrix and thereby immobilized on a glassy carbon surface. The direct electron tran...
A microbial fuel cell (MFC) has been developed for removal of sulfur-based pollutants and can be used for simultaneous wastewater treatment and electricity generation. This fuel cell uses an activated carbon cloth + carbon fibre veil composite anode, air-breathing dual cathodes and the sulfate-reducing species Desulfovibrio desulfuricans. 1.16 g dm...
Recently published X-ray structures of three common forms, A, B and C, of oligomycin, including absolute configurations, are investigated to examine their binding to ATP Synthase. The X-ray studies reveal regions with differences in three-dimensional structure and hydrogen bonding prope