Prof. Neil R. Cameron

Personal web page

(email at n.r.cameron@durham.ac.uk)

Biography

Neil Cameron undertook his B.Sc. (1987-1991) and Ph.D. (1991-1994) at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow. Following two post-doctoral periods, first in Eindhoven then at Heriot Watt University, he was appointed as a Lecturer in the Department of Chemistry at Durham University in October 1997. In 2005 he was promoted to Reader and in October 2008 to Professor. His research is focused on the preparation of bioactive and bio-inspired macromolecules. His research to date has led to the publication of >100 articles, reviews and book chapters and he has given >100 invited colloquia and lectures at conferences. He was awarded the 2003 Young Researchers' Medal from the Macro Group U.K. (a joint subject group of the Royal Society of Chemistry and the Society of Chemical Industry) and he was a Durham University Christopherson/Knott Fellow for 2008-09. He is currently a member of the EPSRC college, an Honorary Reader in the Faculty of Medical Sciences at the University of Newcastle and is a Committee Member of the Royal Society of Chemistry's Biomaterials Special Interest Group. He was Durham University's representative for the 2008 EPSRC International Review of Materials."

Research Interests

In our group, we use modern synthetic chemistry to prepare bioactive and bio-inspired macromolecules and macromolecular materials. Much of our work therefore involves collaborating with life scientists, both in the UK and abroad. Topics currently of interest include

• The synthesis and characterisation of well-defined, highly porous polymers and their application as substrates for 3D cell culture and tissue engineering, as supports for organo- and biocatalysts and as the basis for electrochemical sensors that incorporate separation with detection
• The preparation of controlled structure carbohydrate-functional polymers, their attachment to a variety of surfaces and their application as glycoprotein mimics and in therapeutics
• The development of polypeptides and peptide hybrid polymers and studies of their self-assembly behaviour, both in solution and on surfaces.

For further details, see my personal web pages

Left: preparation of glycopolymer-stabilised gold nanoparticles; right: false-coloured, high resolution SEM image showing hepatocytic (HepG2) cells growing on a highly porous polystyrene-based scaffold.

References

• M.I. Gibson, N.R. Cameron, Angew. Chem., Int. Ed., 47, 5160-5162 (2008).
• F. Fernández-Trillo, J.C.M. van Hest, J.C. Thies, T. Michon, R. Weberskirch, N.R. Cameron, Adv. Mater., 21, 55-59 (2009).
• S.C. Baker, G. Rohman, J. Southgate, N.R. Cameron, Biomaterials, 30, 1321-1328 (2009).
• I. Pulko, J. Wall, P. Krajnc, N. R. Cameron, Chem. Eur. J., 16, 2350-2354 (2010).
• E. Lovelady, S.D. Kimmins, J. Wu, N.R. Cameron, Polym. Chem., 2, 559-562 (2011).
• S.G. Spain, N.R. Cameron, Polym. Chem., 2, 1552-1560 (2011).