Dr Neil Pickles

Lecturer

A former student of the department, Neil studied for a BSc in Biology and was awarded the Institute of Biology Bioscience student of the year award. This was followed by a PhD in Biochemistry, also in the department under the supervision of Professor John Williams. During the PhD research, Neil won the IFST research student of the year award.

Qualifications

BSc, PhD, PGCAP

Overview

Following a postgraduate scholarship at the University of California, Riverside (USA) investigating the biochemistry of arabinogalactans, Neil returning to the UK to take up a post as lecturer in Biochemistry and nutrition at Manchester Metropolitan University.

Neil rejoined this department, this time as a Lecturer in Biomedical Sciences, in 2010 and has recently become programme leader for BSc Biology. He is also a fellow of the higher education academy (HEA). Neil has a postgraduate teaching qualification (PGCAP) and is a fellow of the Higher Education Academy (HEA).

Teaching

Neil's teaching involves mainly biochemistry, data handling and research methods, across all levels of undergraduate and postgraduate study. He is module leader for research methods at level 5 (BI5110 and BI5910) and a number of foundation modules. Neil is also module leader for analytical techniques in biomedical sciences (BI7104) and clinical immunology and microbial pathogenesis (BI7107) on the MSc Biomedical sciences programme.

Research

Neil is research active and supervises undergraduate and postgraduate research projects. His research interests involve the biochemistry of complex carbohydrates, immunostimulation and bio-molecular interactions using immunological techniques such as ELISA and surface plasmon resonance. Neil has published a number of research papers in these areas.

Published work

1. Hurley, I. P., Pickles, N. A. et al (2010) Detection of Konjac glucomannan by immunoassay. International journal of food science and technology, 45, 1410-1416 LINK

2. Hurley, I. P., Pickles, N. A. et al (2009) Detection of human blood by immunoassay for applications in forensic analysis. Forensic Science International, 190, 191-197LINK

3. Pickles, N. A., et al (2007). Characterisation and properties of Acacia senegal (L.) Willd. var, senegal with enhanced properties (Acacia (sen) SUPER GUM(TM)): Part 3 Immunological characterisation of Acacia (sen) SUPER GUM(TM). Food Hydrocolloids, 21(3), 338-346. LINK

4. Pickles, N. A., et al (2006). Immunological approaches to gum arabic characterisation. Food and Food Ingredients Journal of Japan 211(1): 48-54.

5. Pickles, N. A. (2006). Know your food additives: characterisation of hydrocolloids. Journal of the Institute of Food Science and Technology 20(1): 10-11.