Professor Sergey Piletsky

A leading expert on Molecular Imprinting and Biosensors Sergey Piletsky is a Professor of Bioanalytical Chemistry and Research Director for School of Chemistry. Sergey has graduated from Kiev University in 1985 with a M.Sc. in Bioorganic Chemistry. In 1991 he received Ph.D. from Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry. Since 1992 he worked with world leading experts in biosensors such as Prof. Karube in Tokyo University Prof. Wolfbeis in Regensburg University and Prof. Turner in Cranfield University. In 2002 Sergey became Professor of Polymer Chemistry and Head of Cranfield Biotechnology Centre. For his scientific achievements Sergey received number of awards such as JSPS DFG and Leverhulme Fellowships the award of the President of Ukraine Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award and DSc from Cranfield University. Sergey has published more than 380 papers and patent applications (H-index-77). In 2013 Sergey has moved his group to the University of Leicester where he is working as a Head of Leicester Biotechnology Group. Professional interests: (i) Molecularly imprinted polymers; (ii) Computational design and molecular modelling; (iv) Diagnostics; (v) Nanotechnology.

The focus of my last ten years of research has been on molecularly imprinted polymers. This focus was driven by a practical need to find stable and generic alternatives to antibodies and natural receptors as well as reducing the use of animals in antibody production. My work in molecular imprinting focuses on: (i) the fundamental study of the recognition properties of MIPs; (ii) the development of sensors and assays for environmental and clinical analysis; and (iii) the development of MIP nanoparticles for theranostic applications. This work has been supported by research grants from EU UK Government and private companies. I was a recipient of 9 EU projects grants from MRC and EPSRC (JREI) grants from HPA FSA and Home Office Department of Health Wellcome Trust (UK) NOAA (USA) and numerous grants from industry. The total income secured personally during the last ten years exceeded £4 million.

1. García-Con L. M., Whitcombe M. J., Piletska E. V., Piletsky S. A. (2010). A sulfur-sulfur cross-linked polymer synthesized from a polymerizable dithiocarbamate as a source of dormant radicals. Angew. Chemie, Int. Ed., 49, 4075-4078.
2. Ivanova-Mitseva P. K., Guerreiro A., Piletska E. V., Whitcombe M. J., Zhou Z., Mitsev P. A., Davis F., Piletsky S. A. (2012). Cubic MIP nanoparticles with fluorescent core. Angew. Chemie, Int. Ed., 124, 5286-5289.
3. Poma A., Guerreiro A., Whitcombe M. J., Piletska E., Turner A. P. F., Piletsky S. (2013). Solid-phase synthesis of molecularly imprinted polymer nanoparticles with a reusable template (“plastic antibodies""). Adv. Functional. Mater., 23, 2821-2827.
4. Chianella I., Guerreiro A., Moczko E., Caygill J. S., Piletska E. V., Perez De Vargas Sansalvador I. M., Whitcombe M. J., Piletsky S. A. (2013). Direct replacement of antibodies with molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) nanoparticles in ELISA - development of a novel assay for vancomycin. Anal. Chem., 85, 8462-8468.
5. Canfarotta F., Poma A., Guerreiro A., Piletsky S. (2016). Solid-phase synthesis of molecularly imprinted nanoparticles (MIP NPs) for diagnostic applications. Nature Protocols, 11, 443-455.
6. Cecchini A., Raffa V., Canfarotta F., Signore G., Piletsky S., MacDonald M., Cuschieri A. (2017). In vivo recognition of human vascular endothelial growth factor by molecularly imprinted polymers. NanoLetters, 17, 2307-2312.
7. Motib A., Guerreiro A., Al-Bayati F., Piletska E., Manzoor I., Shafeeq S., Kadam A., Kuipers O., Hiller L., Cowen T., Piletsky S., Andrew P. W., Yesilkaya H. (2017). Modulation of quorum sensing in a gram positive pathogen by linear imprinted copolymers with anti-infective properties. Angew. Chemie, Int. Ed., 56, 6555-16558.
8. Canfarotta F., Lezina L., Guerreiro A., Czulak J., Petukhov A., Daks A., Smolinska-Kempisty K., Poma A., Piletsky S., Barlev N. (2018) Specific drug delivery to cancer cells with double-imprinted nanoparticles against EGFR membrane receptor. Nano Letters, 18, 4641-4646.
9. Mahajan R., Rouhi M., Shinde S., Bedwell T., Incel A., Mavliutova L., Piletsky S., Nicholls I., Sellergren B. K. E. (2019). Highly efficient synthesis and assay of protein imprinted nanogels using magnetic templates. Angew. Chemie, Int. Ed., 58, 727-730.
10. Ekpenyong-Akiba A., Canfarotta F., Hatem B. A., Poblocka M., Casulleras M., Castilla-Vallmanya L., Kocsis-Fodor G., Kelly M. E., Janus J., Althubiti M., Piletska E., Piletsky S., Macip S. (2019). Detecting and targeting senescent cells using molecularly imprinted nanoparticles. Nanoscale Horizons, 4, 757-768.

(i) Molecularly imprinted polymers; (ii) Computational design and molecular modelling; (iv) Diagnostics; (v) Nanotechnology; (vi) Development of drugs for targeting cancer and antimicrobials.

2017-2019 Postgraduate Tutor School of Chemistry University of Leicester UK 2013 - 2022 Lecturer in Polymer Chemistry and Analytical Chemistry 2009-2013 Lecturer in Nanomedicine Cranfield Biotechnology Centre Cranfield University 2015- Fellow of Higher Education Academy

Diagnostics polymers biomimetics alternative to animal testing

2008 - Consultant for Government organisations of Croatia Hong Kong Sweden Ukraine UK and USA Academy of Finland and several multi-national companies 2013- Member of MOD Independent Scientific and Technical Advice (ISTA) 2013- Member of ESF College of Experts. 2013 Evaluator for Department of Chemistry University of Vienna Austria. 2014- Member of Editorial Board for Sensors 2005-2008 Member of Editorial Board for Biosensors & Bioelectronics 2013 - Fellow of the Society of Biology 2013 - General Secretary of International Union of Advanced Materials 2008-2019 Board Member of Society of Molecular Imprinting 2010 Member of Society of Chemical Industry

2002-2007 Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award Cranfield Biotechnology Centre Cranfield University UK 1998-1999 Leverhulme Trust Fellowship Cranfield Biotechnology Centre Cranfield University UK 1997 DFG Fellowship Institute of Analytical Chemistry Regensburg University Germany 1996-1997 Award of President of Ukraine Institute of Molecular Biology and Genetics Kiev Ukraine 1995-1996 Japan Society for Promotion of Science and Technology Fellowship RCAST Tokyo University Japan 2014 Visiting Professor at Toulon University 2013-2015 Visiting Professor at Jinan University 2013-2015 Visiting Professor at Huazhong University

2003 Chair of First World Congresses on Synthetic Receptors (Lisbon Portugal) 2005 Chair of Second World Congresses on Synthetic Receptors (Salzburg Austria) 2013 Chair of Second International Congress on Advanced Materials (Zhenjiang China) 2014 Chair of 8-th International Conference on Molecular Imprinting (Zhenjiang China) I have acted as a member of Scientific Boards (Committees) at numerous international meetings. Overall I have given over 100 presentations at a range of international and national meetings including EUROSENSORS EUROMEMBRANE NATO MIP2000-2018 BIOSENSORS Gordon Conference on mycotoxins 2006 Gordon Conference on Bioanalytical Sensors (2008) International Symposium on Sensor Science (2019 and 2021) Cell Culture & Downstream World Congress (2017-2019) etc.

Reading cooking travelling (in France and UK)

2014 DSc - Cranfield University UK (“Molecularly Imprinted Polymers for Diagnostic Applications”) 1991 PhD - Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry Kiev Ukraine (“Synthesis and investigation of molecularly imprinted polymers for nucleic acids” - Supervisor Prof. V. Kukhar)