Application Scientific Image Competition

First and Last Name: Viswanath Vittaladevaram
Student/PhD/Postdoc: PhD Researcher
Institute: University of Galway
Department: Biological & Chemical Sciences
Group leader: David Cheung


lood-Brain Barrier: Gateway to the mysteries
Viswanath Vittaladevaram, PhD Researcher at the Biological & Chemical Sciences Department at the University of Galway (group leader: David Cheung), send us a picture of the "Blood-Brain Barrier: Gateway to the mysteries": "Due to the complexity of investigating the blood-brain barrier in vivo, it is desirable to create synthetic models of it. Such models will enable the study of disorders of the central nervous system, for example allowing for the study of transport of drugs or other molecules through this and how disruption to this can affect its function. Using molecular simulation, the adsorption of single proteins is investigated, focusing on changes to protein conformation and exposure of binding sites.Model blood-brain barriers can also be used for investigation of drug uptake and screening of candidate drug molecules.