Caroline Murphy

• PhD in Immunology and Biochemistry
• PostDoc Position at Dublin City University

Microcystins are a major group of cyanobacterial heptapeptide toxins found in freshwater and brackish environments. There is currently an urgent requirement for highly-sensitive, rapid and in-expensive detection methodologies for these toxins. A novel single chain fragment variable (scFv) fragment was generated and is the first known report of a re...

Recently there have been numerous very thought-provoking reports describing many issues relating to the overall quality of antibodies that are currently available. It appears that multiple major clinical and other analytical studies suffer from lack of reproducibility and this has been associated, to a significant degree, with the lack of specifici...

This book provides a detailed and practical overview of the development and use of immunoassays in many different areas. Immunoassays are analytical tests that utilise antibodies to measure the amount, activity or identity of an analyte. The book is designed to provide a critical and helpful insight into the subject and to give the user practical i...

Antibody-based sensors are now widely used in therapeutics, diagnostics, and in environmental monitoring. Recombinant antibodies are becoming integral parts of such devices due to their reported high affinities, their capacity for engineering to achieve highly defined performance characteristics and the fact that their production can be optimized t...

There are significant challenges in food analysis, problems with food contamination and authentication, and a worldwide need to ensure food safety. This book provides a description of antibody-based technologies used in food analysis. It focuses on key applications, outlining the approaches used, their advantages and limitations, and describes futu...

Introduction: Globally, the need for measuring exposure to algal toxins has become urgent due to ever-increasing reports of contamination in sea and freshwater, in shellfish and fish stocks and in aerosols. Methods: To address this issue, we evaluated the potential of determining autoantibodies to a panel of biomarkers known to be elevated followin...

Antibody-based detection systems have long been chosen to facilitate on-site monitoring of environmental markers such as marine toxins. Antibodies were the first detection molecules to be seen as effective replacements to mouse bioassays, high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and mass-spectrometry (MS)-based systems in the detection of harm...

Autoantibodies are well known as potentially highly harmful antibodies which attack the host via binding to self-antigens, thus causing severe associated diseases and symptoms (e.g. autoimmune diseases). However, detection of autoantibodies to a range of disease-associated antigens has enabled their successful usage as important tools in disease di...

Microcystins (MCs) are a group of highly potent cyanotoxins that are becoming more widely distributed due to increased global temperatures and climate change. Microcystin-leucine-arginine (MC-LR) is the most potent and most common variant, with a guideline limit of 1 μg/l in drinking water. We previously developed a novel avian single-chain fragmen...

Harmful algal blooms in freshwater systems are increasingly common and present threats to drinking water systems, recreational waters, and ecosystems. A highly innovative simple to use, portable biosensor system (MBio) for the rapid and simultaneous detection of multiple cyanobacterial toxins in freshwater is demonstrated. The system utilizes a nov...

Cancer is the cause of death for one in seven individuals worldwide. It is widely acknowledged that screening and early diagnosis are of vital importance for improving the likelihood of recovery. However, given the costly, time-consuming, and invasive nature of the many methods currently in use, patients often do not take advantage of the services...

The image cover conceptualizes a point-of-care diagnostic for the detection of pancreatic cancer using recombinant antibodies. The ‘multi-marker multi-panel’ scheme would identify pancreatic cancer associated biomarkers in a sample, and provide crucial prognostic and treatment information. This paper highlights the transition from expensive and lab...

An introduction to the havoc being caused by harmful algal blooms worldwide and an overview of the progress of our project.

Globally, fresh and brackish water sources are constantly under treat of exposure to toxins. Two of the most prevalent toxins from fresh and brackish water blooms are the cyclic peptide toxins of the microcystin family, formed from cyanobacterial, and the kainic acid analog neurotoxin known as domoic acid. There is therefore a significant need for...

Harmful algal blooms (HABs) are a major global concern due to their propensity to cause environmental damage, healthcare issues and economic losses. In particular, the presence of toxic phytoplankton is a cause for concern. Current HAB monitoring programs often involve laborious laboratory-based analysis at a high cost and with long turnaround time...

Abstract: The separation of antibodies from complex mixtures can be achieved using chromatographic or non-chromatographic techniques. The purification of antibodies using chromatography involves the separation of antibodies or antibody-derived molecules present in complex mixtures by passing them through a solid phase (eg, silica resin or beads, mo...

Cyclic peptide cyanobacterial toxins, in particular Microcystis aeruginosa, pose a serious health risk to humans and animals alike [1], [2]. Occurring mostly in fresh and brackish water, they have been identified to cause cancer promotion and liver damage [3]. Herein, we describe a portable, microfluidic-based system for in-situ detection of algal...

Globally, the most prevalent cyanobacterial toxins, in blooms from fresh and brackish waters, are the cyclic peptide toxins of the microcystin family. The need for on-site algal-toxin monitoring has become increasingly urgent due to the amplified demand for fresh-water and for safe, ‘toxin-free’ shellfish and fish stocks. Along with routine test...

The transcription factor NF-κB and type I interferon (IFN) are both important modulators of the innate immune system. NF-κB plays a key role in the up-regulation of pro-inflammatory cytokines, adhesion molecules and chemokines (Oncogene 25:6758–6780, 2006), whereas type I IFN is essential for the initiation of an antiviral state in cells, and for t...

The global antibody market has grown exponentially due to increasing applications in research, diagnostics and therapy. Antibodies are present in complex matrices (e.g. serum, milk, egg yolk, fermentation broth or plant-derived extracts). This has led to the need for development of novel platforms for purification of large quantities of antibody wi...

The mucosal surfaces of the gastrointestinal tract are continually exposed to an enormous antigenic load of microbial and dietary origin, yet homeostasis is maintained. Pattern recognition molecules (PRMs) have a key role in maintaining the integrity of the epithelial barrier and in promoting maturation of the mucosal immune system. Commensal bacte...

TLR4 is the primary sensor of LPS. In this study, we describe for the first time TLR4 interactor with leucine-rich repeats (TRIL), which is a novel component of the TLR4 complex. TRIL is expressed in a number of tissues, most prominently in the brain but also in the spinal cord, lung, kidney, and ovary. TRIL is composed of a signal sequence, 13 leu...

Toll-like receptors (TLRs) and members of their signaling pathway are important in the initiation of the innate immune response to a wide variety of pathogens. The adaptor protein Mal (also known as TIRAP), encoded by TIRAP (MIM 606252), mediates downstream signaling of TLR2 and TLR4 (refs. 4-6). We report a case-control study of 6,106 individuals...

Toll-like receptors (TLRs)-2 and -4 are important proteins in innate immunity, recognizing microbial products and eliciting host defense responses. Both use the adapter proteins MyD88 and MyD88 adapter-like (Mal) to activate signaling pathways. Here we report that Mal but not MyD88 interacts with caspase-1, the enzyme that processes the precursors...