Dr Omar Rifaie Graham

Omar Rifaie Graham

Lecturer in Chemistry

School of Physical and Chemical Sciences
Queen Mary University of London
www.qmul.ac.uk/spcs/staff/academics/profiles/orifaiegraham.html
Centre for Chemical Research
ORCID Google Scholar X

Research

Artificial Cell, Polymersome, Polymer Chemistry, Synthetic Biology, Nanotechnology

Interests

I work at the interface of “blue skies” research and technology development in the biomimetic construction of artificial cells. Artificial cells are finding increasing importance in biotechnology, therapy, and diagnostics. Hence, methods to expand or improve the function of living cells by artificial systems are urgently needed. My group is currently finding mechanisms that can modulate the biophysical properties of membranes such as their rigidity, elastic moduli, and their ability to respond to stimuli to a) understand and exploit membrane-associated processes and b) to produce membrane materials with novel functionality (responsiveness to light, hydromechanical stress, pH, magnetism, gasses, enzymes, redox potentials, etc.). My approach involves the introduction of polymers that present enhanced biomolecular versatility compared to state-of-the-art building blocks in artificial cell research. The control of their architecture and composition can generate combinations that resemble protein and nucleic acid versatility.