Project one: Ligand binding and structural studies on Mycobacterium tuberculosis DprE1, a novel drug target for tuberculosis therapy and Project two: The usefulness of alginates in the treatment of colorectal cancer

This following thesis is a combination of two individual research projects which were carried out by the author at the University of Birmingham as part of the requirement for the degree of Master of Research in Molecular and Cellular Biology. The first part of this thesis focused on the ligand binding and structural properties of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis protein DprE1 which has recently been identified as a novel drug target for tuberculosis therapy. Project One aimed to investigate the mode of action and binding affinity of two promising DprE1 inhibitors, C12 and RKH06. Single ligand, competition and mutant DprE1 ligand binding experiments were performed to gain insight into the binding behaviour of the protein.

The second part of this thesis was a study into the usefulness of alginates in the prevention and treatment of colorectal cancer. Project Two aimed to investigate the in vitro effects of alginate-bound iron on cellular phenotype in comparison to iron only and to study a range of alginates for their iron binding potential and physiochemical properties. Results from this study identified several characteristics which seem to be important for a potential colonic iron chelator.