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The diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer (PCa) is a major health-care concern worldwide. This cancer can manifest itself in many distinct forms and the transition from clinically indolent PCa to the more invasive aggressive form remains poorly understood. It is now universally accepted that glycan expression patterns change with the cellular modifications that accompany the onset of tumorigenesis. The aim of this study was to investigate if differential glycosylation patterns could distinguish between indolent, significant, and aggressive PCa. Whole serum N-glycan profiling was carried out on 117 prostate cancer patients’ serum using our automated, high-throughput analysis platform for glycan-profiling which utilizes ultra-performance liquid chromatography (UPLC) to obtain high resolution separation of N-linked glycans released from the serum glycoproteins. We observed increases in hybrid, oligomannose, and biantennary digalactosylated monosialylated glycans (M5A1G1S1, M8, and A2G2S1), bisecting glycans (A2B, A2(6)BG1) and monoantennary glycans (A1), and decreases in triantennary trigalactosylated trisialylated glycans with and without core fucose (A3G3S3 and FA3G3S3) with PCa progression from indolent through significant and aggressive disease. These changes give us an insight into the disease pathogenesis and identify potential biomarkers for monitoring the PCa progression, however these need further confirmation studies.

Mycotoxins are toxic secondary fungal metabolites which contaminate a variety of food and feed products and pose serious health risks to humans and animals. Exposure to even low concentrations of these toxins can result in chronic diseases, with immunosuppressive and carcinogenic effects being of greatest concern. They are estimated to be found in 25% of the world’s food supply and have huge economic consequences globally. There is a lack of understanding of how mycotoxins interact with the immune system. The purpose of this research was to increase this understanding by examining the cytotoxic and immunomodulatory effects of the mycotoxins patulin, DON, ZEN and T-2 toxin in vitro, using the murine macrophage cell line, J774A.1. The results clearly demonstrated that T-2 toxin and ZEN significantly affect cell viability at high concentrations while sub-lethal concentrations of patulin, DON, ZEN and T-2 toxin, alone and in combinations, had a significant effect on host defence functions, through deregulation of IL-6, IL-10, IL-27, IL-12p40, IL-1β and TNF-α cytokine production, phagocytosis, and the cell surface expression of CD80, CD86, TLR4 and MHCII. The effects of these toxins are dependent on concentrations and combinations. This knowledge should be taken into consideration in the implementation of detection limits, aimed at minimising risks to human and animal health from mycotoxin exposure. A possible solution to this was explored through the use of a novel microfluidic technology, Lab-in-a-Trench, which demonstrated the ability to measure the immunomodulatory effects of mycotoxin combinations in ‘real-time’. Increased awareness of the hazards presented by mycotoxins has also led to the need for rapid detection systems. Recombinant antibodies incorporated into sensitive immunoassays offers the ability to satisfy this need. This thesis describes optimisation of immune library production for the mycotoxins patulin, ochratoxin A and aflatoxin M1 using an avian host

Point-of-care diagnostics devices require user friendly automation of multi-step / multi-reagent bioanalytical protocols. We demonstrate, for the first time, Laser-actuated, Centrifugo-Pneumatic Valves (LCPVs) which open on-demand by ablating a remotely connected polymeric membrane with an instrument-based laser. Due to its small footprint, isolation of radiation-induced heating from the biological fluids and independence of radial position & contact-angle, the novel LCPV technology enables large–scale integration of flexibly customizable and operationally robust centrifugal microfluidic “Lab-on-a-Disc” (LoaD) systems. As a pilot application, we demonstrate the detection of Fatty Acid Binding Protein and Myeloperoxidase, both potential biomarkers used for cardiovascular disease (CVD) determination.

—With the ubiquitous use of smartphones and other connected pieces of equipment, the number of devices connected to the internet is exponentially growing. This will test the efficiency of the envisioned 5G network architectures for data acquisition and its storage. It is a common observation that the communication between smart devices is typically influenced by their social relationship. This suggests that the theory of social networks can be leveraged to improve the quality of service for such communication links. In fact, the social networking concepts of centrality and community have been investigated for an efficient realization of novel wireless network architectures. This work provides a comprehensive introduction to social networks and reviews the recent literature on the application of social networks in wireless communications. The potential challenges in communication network design are also highlighted, for a successful implementation of social networking strategies. Finally, some future directions are discussed for the application of social networking strategies to emerging wireless technologies such as non-orthogonal multiple access and visible light communications.