The progress of modern biology demands an interdisciplinary approach to research, bridging the gap between previously disparate fields. This thesis presents a study of the elasticity and microstructure of neurofilaments, which are the primary constituents of neurons, providing the essential mechanical support to resist external stresses. To probe the underlying mechanical properties of neurofil...

The concept of solid phase synthesis began as a new approach to the preparation of peptides, but has been extended to the synthesis of polynucleotides, polysaccharides, polyamides and a variety of other classes of compounds. The solid support simplifies and accelerates the synthetic process, aids the separation of reagents and by-products, and reduces problems of insolubility of intermediates. ...

Biopolymers are polymer structures produced by living organisms. These molecules, like synthetic polymers, are built from monomers. There are three main classes of biopolymers based on the chemical nature of themonomeric units and the structure of the biopolymer formed. Polypeptides are chains of amino acids linked together by peptide bonds. Proteins consist of one ormore polypeptide chains fol...

The performance of ion exchange (IX) resin for organics removal from wastewater was assessed using advanced characterisation techniques for varying doses of IX. Organic characterisation using liquid chromatography with a photodiode array (PDA) and fluorescence spectroscopy (Method A), and UV254, organic carbon and organic nitrogen detectors (Method B), was undertaken on wastewater before and af...

Nano-sized materials possess uniqueness in their properties and designs as compared to their bulk counterparts. For this reason, they have attracted a great deal of attention from the scientific community. Nanocomposite is a composition having a dispersed material that has one or more dimensions, such as length, width and thickness, in the nanometer size range. The nano-sized materials have eme...