Biography

Sub Reddy is Professor of Biomaterials and Analytical Chemistry and has had a long interest in developing smart materials for small molecule speciation using electrochemical biosensors. More recently, he has specialised in large biomolecule (protein) recognition and has developed synthetic antibody technologies using hydrogel-based molecular imprinted polymers (MIPs). Antibodies are used in diagnostics, from pregnancy testing to diagnosing cancer. While offering high specificity, antibodies are unstable and need to be initially laboriously harvested from an animal host. Reddy is developing hydrogel-based molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) as alternative synthetic, stable and economical antibodies. MIPs comprise ghost-sites capable of binding a protein of interest. MIPs therefore have the real potential to replace antibodies in biological tests. His lead unique and original contributions to science to date have been (1) the first publication of protein crystallisation facilitated by molecularly imprinted polymers; (2) physical characterisation of hydrogel-based molecularly imprinted polymers capable of protein recognition and (3) the signal amplification of quartz crystal based biosensor strategies.

His MIP work has resulted in the granting of patents, paper publications and numerous invited and keynote talks at international conferences and workshops. Reddy’s recent work in this field as Principal Investigator has been possible due to funding from the Wellcome Trust, The Royal Society, RSC and The Daiwa-Anglo Japanese Foundation and The Leverhulme Trust. He has very active International collaborations with Canada (University of Guelph), Japan (AIST, Tsukuba), USA (NCSU), Brazil (University of Sao Paulo) and India (SV University).

He has had papers published in PNAS and Biomacromolecules (as a senior corresponding author) and Acta Crystallographica D for his work on using MIPs for the first time as novel and selective nucleants for protein crystallisation and MIP-based protein biosensors. In addition to electrochemical sensing, SMR also has expertise in the microwave synthesis of magnetic particles and the development of optical chip-based and quartz crystal-based biosensors for medicine, food and the environment.

Reddy is also a founding Series co-Editor of a 20 Volume Series on Detection Science commissioned by RSC-publishing. He is the Editor of one book in the Series entitled Advanced Synthetic Materials in Detection Science. His UGPN collaborators have contributed chapters.

Reddy has peer reviewed for both national and international grant awarding bodies and journals (in the fields of analytical chemistry and materials science) and given expert commentary in the New Scientist. His research has also been featured in BBC News on-line, Nature Methods, New Scientist and Trends in Analytical Chemistry. He has also been invited multiple times and currently serves as an expert EPSRC Panel Member, since 2006 covering calls in Chemistry, Materials, Crime Prevention and RC/RSC studentships.
He is also involved in the public communication of science and his research through stand-up comedy (Bright Club; 2012;2013) and has also appeared on BBC4’s ‘Some boffins with jokes’ as well as at the Edinburgh Fringe (2013) and Winchester Science Festival 2014!