Professor Katherine Thompson

Positions held:

Head of School - School of Natural Sciences, Science Central

Address

Room 362, Malet Street

Email

Birkbeck: k.thompson@bbk.ac.uk

Supervision and teaching
Supervision and teaching

Supervision

Supervisions within Birkbeck:

6

Current doctoral researchers
- HESSA ALI ALSHEHRI
  
  Nature of supervision:
  Principal Supervisor, Aug 2023 onwards
- NAAIL KASHIF-KHAN
  
  Nature of supervision:
  Principal Supervisor, Apr 2023 onwards
- TINA WRIGHT
  
  Nature of supervision:
  Principal Supervisor, Oct 2020 onwards
  
  Title of thesis:
  The interaction of surfactant systems with oxidants
  
  Description:
  Ozone is ubiquitous and found in the troposphere as a pollutant, and when inhaled in the air by mammals during respiration, may interact with the lipids and proteins found in lung surfactant, present at the interface of alveoli of the lungs. Saturated phospholipids, such as, DPPC are known to be the most prevalent in lung surfactant and it does not react with ozone, however, monounsaturated POPC breaks down at the C=C double bond site via oxidation by ozone, conducive to potentially forming intermediate products of oxidation that could be detrimental to lung function, via alterations of surface pressure at the Air-Water interface. I will be observing the changes in surface pressure of a number of different lipids, with varied parameters in terms of concentration and duration of exposure to ozone.
  I will also be using bioinformatic techniques to look at the lung surfactant proteins SP-A and SP-B, of mammals and compare primary sequences with humans to analyse what has been conserved and their importance to structure and therefore potential susceptibility to oxidation by ozone.
Doctoral alumni since 2013-14
- VIVIAN WANG
  
  Nature of supervision:
  Principal Supervisor, Jan 2020
  
  Title of thesis:
  The Effects of Oxidative Damage on Peptide-Lipid Interactions in Human Lung Surfactant and Model Lipid Membranes
  
  Awarded:
  2024
- ALAN SHERIDAN
  
  Nature of supervision:
  Principal Supervisor
  
  Title of thesis:
  The Interaction of Nanoparticles with Lipid Model Membranes
  
  Awarded:
  2019
Teaching

Teaching modules
- Chemistry: Part 1 of 3 (FFSC012H4)
- Methods in Natural Sciences I (SC11001H4)
- Specialist Laboratory Research Project (SCBS036D6)
- Advanced Topics in Human Disease (SCBS081H6)
- Advanced and Applied Analytical Techniques (SCBS094S7)
- Molecular Biology for Discovery Life Sciences (SCBS096S7)
- Spectroscopy (SCBS098S7)
Publications
Publications
Article
- Woods, Ben and Thompson, Katherine and Szita, N. and Chen, Shu and Milanesi, L. and Tomas, S. (2023) Confinement effect on hydrolysis in small lipid vesicles. Chemical Science 14 (10), pp. 2616-2623. ISSN 2041-6520.
- Sheridan, Alan J. and Thompson, Katherine C. and Slater, Jonathan M. (2022) Interaction of negatively and positively capped gold nanoparticle with different lipid model membranes. Biophysical Chemistry 290, pp. 106896. ISSN 0301-4622.
- Hemming, Joanna M. and Szyroka, Justyna and Shokano, Gracia and Arnold, T. and Skoda, M.W.A. and Rennie, A.R. and Thompson, Katherine C. (2022) Changes to lung surfactant monolayers upon exposure to gas phase ozone observed using X-ray and neutron reflectivity. Environmental Science: Atmospheres 2022 (2), pp. 753-760. ISSN 2634-3606.
- Ahmadi, D. and Thompson, Katherine and Garcia Sakai, V. and Schweins, R. and Moulin, M. and Haertlein, M. and Strohmeier, G. and Pichler, H. and Forsyth, V.T. and Barlow, D. and Lawrence, M.J. and Foglia, F. (2022) Nanoscale structure and dynamics of model membrane lipid raft systems, studied by neutron scattering methods. Frontiers in Physics 10, ISSN 2296-424X.
- Bull, G. and Thompson, Katherine (2021) The oxidation of guanine by photoionized 2‑aminopurine. Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology 6 (100025), ISSN 2666-4690.
- King, M.D. and Jones, S.H. and Lucas, C.O.M. and Thompson, Katherine and Rennie, A.R. and Ward, A.D. and Marks, A.A. and Fisher, F.N. and Pfrang, C. and Hughes, A.V. and Campbell, R.A. (2020) The reaction of oleic acid monolayers with gas-phase ozone at the air water interface: the effect of sub-phase viscosity, and inert secondary components. Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics 22 (48), pp. 28032-28044. ISSN 1463-9076.
- Bull, Graham D. and Thompson, Katherine C. (2018) Proton transfer and tautomerism in 2-aminopurine–thymine and pyrrolocytosine–guanine base pairs. Biochemistry ISSN 0006-2960.
- Moulin, M. and Strohmeier, G.A. and Hirz, M. and Thompson, Katherine C. and Rennie, A.R. and Campbell, R.A. and Pichler, H. and Maric, S. and Forsyth, V.T. and Haertlein, M. (2018) Perdeuteration of cholesterol for neutron scattering applications using recombinant Pichia pastoris. Chemistry and Physics of Lipids 212, pp. 80-87. ISSN 0009-3084.
- Sheridan, Alan J. and Slater, Jonathan M. and Arnold, T. and Campbell, R.A. and Thompson, Katherine C. (2017) Changes to DPPC domain structure in the presence of carbon nanoparticles. Langmuir 33 (39), pp. 10374-10384. ISSN 0743-7463.
- Hemming, Joanna M. and Hughes, Brian R. and Rennie, A. and Tomas, Salvador and Campbell, R. and Hughes, A. and Arnold, T. and Botchway, S. and Thompson, Katherine C. (2016) Environmental pollutant ozone causes damage to lung surfactant protein B, SP-B. Biochemistry 54 (33), pp. 5185-5197. ISSN 0006-2960.
- Thompson, Katherine C. and Jones, S.H. and Rennie, A.R. and King, M.D. and Ward, A.D. and Hughes, Brian R. and Lucas, C.O.M. and Campbell, R.A. and Hughes, A.V. (2013) Degradation and rearrangement of a lung surfactant lipid at the air–water interface during exposure to the pollutant gas ozone. Langmuir 29 (14), pp. 4594-4602. ISSN 0743-7463.
- King, M.D. and Rennie, A.R. and Pfrang, C. and Hughes, A.V. and Thompson, Katherine C. (2010) Interaction of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) with a monolayer of oleic acid at the air-water interface - A simple proxy for atmospheric aerosol. Atmospheric Environment 44 (14), pp. 1822 - 1825. ISSN 1352-2310.
- Thompson, Katherine C. and Rennie, A.R. and King, M.D. and Hardman, S.J.O. and Lucas, C.O.M. and Pfrang, C. and Hughes, Brian R. and Hughes, A.V. (2010) Reaction of a phospholipid monolayer with gas-phase ozone at the air-water interface: measurement of surface excess and surface pressure in real time. Langmuir 26 (22), pp. 17295-17303. ISSN 0743-7463.
- King, M.D. and Rennie, A.R. and Thompson, Katherine C. and Fisher, F.N. and Dong, C.C. and Thomas, R.K. and Pfrang, C. and Hughes, A.V. (2009) Oxidation of oleic acid at the air-water interface and its potential effects on cloud critical supersaturations. Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics 11 (35), pp. 7699-7707. ISSN 1463-9076.
- Hardman, S.J.O. and Botchway, S.W. and Thompson, Katherine C. (2008) Evidence for a nonbase stacking effect for the environment-sensitive fluorescent base Pyrrolocytosine-comparison with 2-Aminopurine. Photochemistry & Photobiology 84 (6), pp. 1473-1479. ISSN 0031-8655.
- Iqbal, A. and Wang, L. and Thompson, Katherine C. and Lilley, D.M.J. and Norman, D.G. (2008) The structure of cyanine 5 terminally attached to double-stranded DNA: implications for FRET studies. Biochemistry 40 (30), pp. 7857-7862. ISSN 0006-2960.
- King, M.D. and Thompson, Katherine C. and Ward, A.D. and Pfrang, C. and Hughes, Brian R. (2008) Oxidation of biogenic and water-soluble compounds in aqueous and organic aerosol droplets by ozone: a kinetic and product analysis approach using laser Raman tweezers. Faraday Discussions 137, pp. 173-192. ISSN 1359-6640.
- Hardman, S.J.O. and Thompson, Katherine C. (2006) Influence ofbase stacking and hydrogen bonding on the fluorescence of 2-aminopurine and pyrrolocytosine in nucleic acids. Biochemistry 45 (30), pp. 9145-9155. ISSN 0006-2960.
- King, M.D. and Thompson, Katherine C. (2003) Rate constants for the reaction of NO and HO2 with peroxy radicals formed from the reaction of OH, Cl or NO3 with alkenes, dienes and α,β-unsaturated carbonyls. Atmospheric Environment 37 (32), pp. 4517-4527. ISSN 1352-2310.
- Thompson, Katherine C. and Margey, Paula (2003) Hydrogen bonded complexes between nitrogen dioxide, nitric acid, nitrous acid and water with SiH3OH and Si(OH)4. Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics 5 (14), pp. 2970-2975. ISSN 1463-9076.
- Thompson, Katherine C. and Canosa Mas, Carlos E. and Wayne, Richard P. (2002) Kinetics and mechanism of the reaction between atomic chlorine and dimethyl selenide; comparison with the reaction between atomic chlorine and dimethyl sulfide. Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics 4 (17), pp. 4133-4139. ISSN 1463-9076.

Professor Katherine Thompson

Supervision and teaching

Supervision

Current doctoral researchers

HESSA ALI ALSHEHRI

NAAIL KASHIF-KHAN

TINA WRIGHT

Doctoral alumni since 2013-14

VIVIAN WANG

ALAN SHERIDAN

Teaching

Teaching modules

Publications

Article