Dr Alice Pyne

MSci, MRes, EngD

Department of Materials Science and Engineering

UKRI/MRC Rutherford Innovation Fellow & Lecturer in Soft Matter/Polymers

a.l.pyne@sheffield.ac.uk
+44 114 222 5969

Sir Robert Hadfield Building

Full contact details

Dr Alice Pyne
Department of Materials Science and Engineering
Sir Robert Hadfield Building
Mappin Street
Sheffield
S1 3JD

Profile: Alice is an MRC/UKRI Innovation Fellow and Lecturer in Soft Matter/Polymers. Prior to this, she was an independent research fellow at the London Centre for Nanotechnology, UCL working closely with industry to develop high-resolution atomic force microscopy (AFM) technologies, able to resolve variations in the DNA double helix on a single molecule.

Research interests

Alice’s expertise is in high-resolution single-molecule studies of DNA. She has achieved unprecedented resolution for single biomolecules in solution through the development of new AFM methods in collaboration with Bruker (CA, USA).

Her research has resulted in both the highest-quality AFM images of the DNA double helix achieved to date, and the first visualisation of variations in the DNA double helix structure on a single molecule.

Alice has exploited these techniques to interrogate DNA interactions, characterising evaluating quadruplex stabilising molecules: a possible class of anticancer therapeutics through single-molecule visualisation of quadruplex formation.

Publications

Journal articles

Benn G, Pyne ALB, Ryadnov MG & Hoogenboom BW (2019) Imaging live bacteria at the nanoscale: comparison of immobilisation strategies. The Analyst, 144(23), 6944-6952. View this article in WRRO
Parsons ES, Stanley GJ, Pyne ALB, Hodel AW, Nievergelt AP, Menny A, Yon AR, Rowley A, Richter RP, Fantner GE , Bubeck D et al (2019) Single-molecule kinetics of pore assembly by the membrane attack complex. Nature Communications, 10(1). View this article in WRRO
Akpinar B, Haynes PJ, Bell NAW, Brunner K, Pyne ALB & Hoogenboom BW (2019) PEGylated surfaces for the study of DNA–protein interactions by atomic force microscopy. Nanoscale, 11(42), 20072-20080. View this article in WRRO
Heesterbeek DAC, Bardoel BW, Parsons ES, Bennett I, Ruyken M, Doorduijn DJ, Gorham RD, Berends ETM, Pyne ALB, Hoogenboom BW & Rooijakkers SHM (2019) Bacterial killing by complement requires membrane attack complex formation via surface‐bound C5 convertases. The EMBO Journal, 38(4).
Pfeil M-P, Pyne ALB, Losasso V, Ravi J, Lamarre B, Faruqui N, Alkassem H, Hammond K, Judge PJ, Winn M , Martyna GJ et al (2018) Tuneable poration : host defense peptides as sequence probes for antimicrobial mechanisms. Scientific Reports, 8(1). View this article in WRRO
Pfeil M-P, Pyne ALB, Losasso V, Ravi J, Lamarre B, Faruqui N, Alkassem H, Hammond K, Judge PJ, Winn M , Martyna GJ et al (2018) Author Correction: Tuneable poration: host defense peptides as sequence probes for antimicrobial mechanisms. Scientific Reports, 8(1).
Burns JR, Lamarre B, Pyne ALB, Noble JE & Ryadnov MG (2018) DNA Origami Inside-Out Viruses. ACS Synthetic Biology, 7(3), 767-773.
Heesterbeek DAC, Bardoel BW, Bennett I, Pyne A, Berends ETM, Ruyken M, Hoogenboom B & Rooijakkers SHM (2017) The role of C5 convertases in membrane attack complex dependent killing of Gram-negative bacteria. Molecular Immunology, 89, 154-154.
Pyne A, Pfeil M-P, Bennett I, Ravi J, Iavicoli P, Lamarre B, Roethke A, Ray S, Jiang H, Bella A , Reisinger B et al (2017) Engineering monolayer poration for rapid exfoliation of microbial membranes. Chemical Science, 8(2), 1105-1115.
Messager L, Burns JR, Kim J, Cecchin D, Hindley J, Pyne ALB, Gaitzsch J, Battaglia G & Howorka S (2016) Biomimetic Hybrid Nanocontainers with Selective Permeability. Angewandte Chemie, 128(37), 11272-11275.
Messager L, Burns JR, Kim J, Cecchin D, Hindley J, Pyne ALB, Gaitzsch J, Battaglia G & Howorka S (2016) Biomimetic Hybrid Nanocontainers with Selective Permeability. Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 55(37), 11106-11109.
Pyne A, Thompson R, Leung C, Roy D & Hoogenboom BW (2014) Single-Molecule Reconstruction of Oligonucleotide Secondary Structure by Atomic Force Microscopy. Small, 10(16), 3257-3261. View this article in WRRO
Rakowska PD, Jiang H, Ray S, Pyne A, Lamarre B, Carr M, Judge PJ, Ravi J, M. Gerling UI, Koksch B , Martyna GJ et al (2013) Nanoscale imaging reveals laterally expanding antimicrobial pores in lipid bilayers. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 110(22), 8918-8923.
Leung C, Bestembayeva A, Thorogate R, Stinson J, Pyne A, Marcovich C, Yang J, Drechsler U, Despont M, Jankowski T , Tschöpe M et al (2012) Atomic Force Microscopy with Nanoscale Cantilevers Resolves Different Structural Conformations of the DNA Double Helix. Nano Letters, 12(7), 3846-3850.
Pyne A, Marks W, M. Picco L, G. Dunton P, Ulcinas A, E. Barbour M, B. Jones S, Gimzewski J & J. Miles M (2009) High-speed atomic force microscopy of dental enamel dissolution in citric acid. Archives of Histology and Cytology, 72(4/5), 209-215.
Bennett I, Pyne A & McKendry R () Cantilever Sensors for Rapid Optical Antimicrobial Sensitivity Testing.
Klejevskaja B, Pyne ALB, Reynolds M, Shivalingam A, Thorogate R, Hoogenboom BW, Ying L & Vilar R () Studies of G-quadruplexes formed within self-assembled DNA mini-circles. Chemical Communications, 52(84), 12454-12457.

Chapters

Pyne ALB & Hoogenboom BW (2016) Imaging DNA Structure by Atomic Force Microscopy, Methods in Molecular Biology (pp. 47-60). Springer New York

Conference proceedings papers

Ravi J, Pfeil MP & Pyne AL (2019) Probing antimicrobial mechanisms for effective strategies to overcome resistance. EUROPEAN BIOPHYSICS JOURNAL WITH BIOPHYSICS LETTERS, Vol. 48 (pp S223-S223)
Pyne ALB, Hoogenboom BW, Vilar R & Maxwell A (2017) Visualisation of DNA conformational changes in situ at nanometre resolution. EUROPEAN BIOPHYSICS JOURNAL WITH BIOPHYSICS LETTERS, Vol. 46 (pp S369-S369)
Yon AR, Pyne ALB, Kwakwa K, Lowe AR, Williams WA & Hoogenboom BW (2017) A combinatorial single-molecule study of ligand-gated ion channels and monoclonal antibodies. EUROPEAN BIOPHYSICS JOURNAL WITH BIOPHYSICS LETTERS, Vol. 46 (pp S371-S371)
Pyne ALB, Pfeil M-P, Bennett I, Ravi J, Lamarre B, Hoogenboom BW & Ryadnov MG (2017) Investigating the mechanism of action of a novel antimicrobial peptide on live E. coli cells. EUROPEAN BIOPHYSICS JOURNAL WITH BIOPHYSICS LETTERS, Vol. 46 (pp S389-S389)

Research group

PhD Students (London Centre for Nanotechnology):

Isabel Bennett

Isabel’s research looks to determine the action of novel antimicrobial compounds on live bacterial cells using AFM. During her PhD she has also developed an AFM-based diagnostic tool to detect drug resistance in bacteria.

Kavit Main

Kavit’s research uses AFM to gain single-molecule insights into supercoiled DNA-topoisomerase interactions. These insights will facilitate the further development of topoisomerase inhibitors which are currently employed as anti-cancer therapeutic agents.

Grants: Our research is facilitated by the atomic force microscopy (AFM) methods capable of resolving the double-helical structure of single DNA molecules. In addition, we develop quantitative, open-source analysis tools that allow us to exploit our large datasets in order to acquire a unique perspective on biomolecular structure and function. Through close interdisciplinary collaboration with computational scientists, molecular biologists, mathematicians, and biophysicists, this methodology converges to determine how the complexity of DNA structure relates to its biological function.

Teaching activities: MAT360 - Mini guided projects

Professional activities

Specialist lecture at the London International Youth Science Forum (LIYSF) 2019, Imperial College London
Sold out talk at Pint of Science ‘Atoms to Galaxies’ 2019