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Professor Judy Simons

Job: Professor Emeritus

Faculty: Arts, Design and Humanities

School/department: School of Humanities

Research group(s): Centre for Textual Studies

Address: ÃÛÌÒÖ±²¥, The Gateway, Leicester, UK, LE1 9BH

T: n/a

E: jsimons@dmu.ac.uk

W: /humanities

 

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Research group affiliations

Publications and outputs


  • dc.title: Novel 4-[4-(4-methylpiperazin-1-yl)phenyl]-6-arylpyrimidine derivatives and their antitrypanosomal activities against T.brucei dc.contributor.author: Bhambra, Avninder S.; Taylor, Annie; Hering, Moritz; Elsegood, Mark R. J.; Teat, Simon J.; Weaver, George W.; Arroo, R. R. J.; Kaiser, Marcel; Maeser, Pascal dc.description.abstract: Human African trypanosomiasis, or sleeping sickness, is a neglected tropical disease caused by Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense and Trypanosoma brucei gambiense and is invariably fatal unless treated. Current therapies present limitations in their application, parasite resistance, or require further clinical investigation for wider use. Our work, informed by previous findings, presents novel 4-[4-(4-methylpiperazin-1-yl)phenyl]-6-arylpyrimidine derivatives with promising antitrypanosomal activity. In particular, 32 exhibits an in vitro EC50 value of 0.5 µM against Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense, and analogues 29, 30 and 33 show antitrypanosomal activities in the <1 µM range. We have demonstrated that substituted 4-[4-(4-methylpiperazin-1-yl)phenyl]-6-arylpyrimidines present promising antitrypanosomal hit molecules with potential for further preclinical development. dc.description: open access article

  • dc.title: Close communications: Hedge funds, brokers and the emergence of herding dc.contributor.author: Kellard, N.; Millo, Y.; Simon, J.; Engel, Ofer dc.description.abstract: We examine how communication, evaluation and decision-making practices among competing market actors contribute to the establishment of herding and whether this has impact on market wide phenomena such as prices and risk. Data is collected from interviews and observations with hedge fund industry participants in Europe, the United States and Asia. We examine both contemporaneous and biographical data, finding that decision making relies on an elaborate two-tiered structure of connections among hedge fund managers and between them and brokers. This structure is underpinned by idea sharing and development between competing hedge funds leading to ‘expertisebased’ herding and an increased probability of over-embeddedness. We subsequently present a case study demonstrating the role that communication between competing hedge funds plays in the creation of herding and show that such trades affect prices by introducing an additional risk: the disregarding of information from sources outside the trusted connections.

  • dc.title: Prescription hypnotics in the news: A study of UK audiences dc.contributor.author: Gabe, Jonathan; Williams, Simon J.; Coveney, C. M. dc.description.abstract: In 2012 the UK media reported the results of a paper in the British Medical Journal Open, including the finding that hypnotics increase the risk of ‘premature death’. Taking this media coverage as a case study, the paper explores UK people's responses and assesses the implications for the debate about the (de)pharmaceuticalisation of sleep. Two hundred and fifty one posts to the websites of 6 UK newspapers were analysed thematically, along with 12 focus group discussions (n = 51) of newspaper coverage from one UK newspaper. Four thematic responses were identified: bad science/journalism, Hobson's choice, risk assessment and challenging pharmaceuticalisation. We found that most people claimed that the story did not worry them, even if they stated that they were using sleeping pills, and that focus group members generally appeared to respond in terms of their pre-existing views of hypnotics. The way in which lay expertise was drawn on in responding to the coverage was one of the most striking findings of the study. People referred to their own or others' experience of taking hypnotics to recognise the legitimacy of taking them or to weigh up the risks and benefits, as reflexive users. Overall, our case study cautions against making strong claims about the power of the media to legitimate de-pharmaceuticalisation. While the media may have such a role, this is in the main only for those who are receptive to such a message already.

  • dc.title: Novel Fluorinated Benzimidazole-Based Scaffolds and their Anticancer Activity in vitro dc.contributor.author: Bhambra, Avninder S.; Edgar, Mark; Elsegood, Mark R. J.; Horsburgh, Lynne; KryÅ¡tof, Vladimir; Lucas, Paul D.; Mojally, Mariam; Teat, Simon J.; Warwick, Thomas G.; Weaver, George W.; Zeinali, Fatemeh dc.description.abstract: A small library of twelve, structurally diverse, fluoroaryl benzimidazoles was prepared using a simple synthetic strategy employing SNAr reactions. This allowed rapid assembly of heterocyclic structures containing linked and tethered fluoroaryl benzimidazoles. X-ray crystal structures of seven compounds were obtained including those of two macrocyclic compounds containing 21- and 24-membered rings. Three tethered fluoroaryl benzimidazole derivatives demonstrated micromolar inhibition against K-562 and MCF-7 cell lines. These compounds, in addition to 1-tetrafluoropyrid-4-yl-2-tetrafluoropyrid-4-ylsulfanyl-1H-benzimidazole, also demonstrated micromolar inhibition against G361 and HOS cell lines. Two of the compounds were found to activate caspases leading to apoptosis. dc.description: The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version. The Publisher's final version can be found by following the DOI link.

  • dc.title: Enhancing the catalytic repertoire of nucleic acids: a systematic study of linker length and rigidity. dc.contributor.author: Lee, Sarah E.; Sidorov, Alexander; Gourlain, Thierry; Mignet, Nathalie; Thorpe, Simon J.; Brazier, John A.; Dickman, Mark J.; Hornby, David P.; Grasby, Jane A.; Williams, David M. dc.description.abstract: The incorporation of potentially catalytic groups in DNA is of interest for the in vitro selection of novel deoxyribozymes. A series of 10 C5-modified analogues of 2′-deoxyuridine triphosphate have been synthesised that possess side chains of differing flexibility and bearing a primary amino or imidazole functionality. For each series of nucleotide analogues differing degrees of flexibility of the C5 side chain was achieved through the use of alkynyl, alkenyl and alkyl moieties. The imidazole function was conjugated to these C5-amino-modified nucleotides using either imidazole 4-acetic acid or imidazole 4-acrylic acid (urocanic acid). The substrate properties of the nucleotides (fully replacing dTTP) with Taq polymerase during PCR have been investigated in order to evaluate their potential applications for in vitro selection experiments. 5-(3-Aminopropynyl)dUTP and 5-(E-3-aminopropenyl)dUTP and their imidazole 4-acetic acid- and urocanic acid-modified conjugates were found to be substrates. In contrast, C5-amino-modified dUTPs with alkane or Z-alkene linkers and their corresponding conjugates were not substrates. The incorporation of these analogues during PCR has been confirmed by inhibition of restriction enzyme digestion using XbaI and by mass spectrometry of the PCR products.

  • dc.title: Enhancing the catalytic repertoire of nucleic acids. II. Simultaneous incorporation of amino and imidazolyl functionalities by two modified triphosphates during PCR. dc.contributor.author: Gourlain, Thierry; Sidorov, Alexander; Mignet, Nathalie; Thorpe, Simon J.; Lee, Sarah E.; Grasby, Jane A.; Williams, David M. dc.description.abstract: The incorporation of potentially catalytic groups into DNA is of interest for the in vitro selection of novel deoxyribozymes. We have devised synthetic routes to a series of three C7 modified 7-deaza-dATP derivatives with pendant aminopropyl, Z-aminopropenyl and aminopropynyl side chains. These modified triphosphates have been tested as substrates for Taq polymerase during PCR. All the modifications are tolerated by this enzyme, with the aminopropynyl side chain giving the best result. Most protein enzymes have more than one type of catalytic group located in their active site. By using C5-imidazolyl-modified dUTPs together with 3-(aminopropynyl)-7-deaza-dATP in place of the natural nucleotides dTTP and dATP, we have demonstrated the simultaneous incorporation of both amino and imidazolyl moieties into a DNA molecule during PCR. The PCR product containing the four natural bases was fully digested by XbaI, while PCR products containing the modified 7-deaza-dATP analogues were not cleaved. Direct evidence for the simultaneous incorporation during PCR of an imidazole-modified dUTP and an amino-modified 7-deaza-dATP has been obtained using mass spectrometry.

  • dc.title: Angela Brazil and the Making of the Girls’ School Story dc.contributor.author: Simons, J.

  • dc.title: Jane Austen and Popular Culture dc.contributor.author: Simons, J.

  • dc.title: Gender roles in children's fiction dc.contributor.author: Simons, J.

  • dc.title: Women, War and the University: Rosamond Lehmann's Dusty Answer dc.contributor.author: Simons, J.

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Key research outputs

2011: Writers and Their Work: Rosamond Lehmann, London: Northcote House

2010: ‘Women, War and the University: Rosamond Lehmann’s Dusty Answer’, Literature as History, London: Continuum International Publishing

2009: ‘Gender Roles in Children’s Literature’, The Cambridge Companion to Children’s Literature (eds. Matthew Grenby and Andrea Immel), Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 

2009: ‘Jane Austen and Popular Culture’, A Companion to Jane Austen (eds. Claudia Johnson and Clara Tuite), Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell

2008: ‘Angela Brazil and the Making of the Girls’ School Story’, Popular Children’s Literature in Britain (eds.Julia Briggs, Denis Butts and Matthew Grenby), London: Ashgate Press

2007: ‘Screening Authorship: Little Women on screen’, Nineteenth-Century American Fiction on Screen (ed. Barton Palmer), Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

2001: Literature In Context, London: Palgrave; New York: Barnes & Noble (co-edited with Rick Rylance)

1998: A Woman’s Business: Women, Writing and the Marketplace, Manchester: Manchester University Press (co-edited with Kate Fullbrook)

1997: Mansfield Park and Persuasion: Contemporary Critical Essays, London: Macmillan; New York: St Martin’s Press 

1995: What Katy Read: Feminist Re-readings of Classic Stories for Girls 1850 –1920, London: Macmillan; USA: University of Iowa Press (co-authored with Shirley Foster)

1990: Diaries and Journals of Literary Women: From Fanny Burney to Virginia Woolf, London: Macmillan Press; USA: University of Iowa Press [2nd edition 1996; translated into Italian and anthologised 2000]

Research interests/expertise

  • English Literature
  • Fiction
  • Women’s Studies
  • Children’s Literature
  • Autobiography

Areas of teaching

  • Ph.D supervision

Qualifications

  • BA (Hons) English Language and Literature (Class 1), University of Manchester; 
  • MA by research.

Honours and awards

Leverhulme Fellowship, Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, Fellow of the English Association, Fellow of the Higher Education Academy

Membership of external committees

  • Chair, Knowledge Exchange Hubs, Arts and Humanities Research Council, 2012-16
  • Chair, Research Excellence Framework Impact Pilot, Higher Education Funding Council for England 2009-10 
  • Higher Education Funding Council for England Strategic Committee for Leadership, Governance & Management, 2005-08
  • Higher Education Academy Board and Chair of Council, 2005-07
  • Chair, National Subject Centre for English, 2000-07
  • Department of Culture, Media and Sport working group: ‘Creating a World Class Arts Education Force’, 2005 
  • Advisory Group on Culture and Creativity, Department of Culture, Media and Sport, 2003
  • Chair, Council of University Deans of Arts and Humanities, 2001-03
  • Chair, Quality Assurance Agency Subject Benchmark Group, 1999-2000
  • Chair, Council for College and University English, 1996-2000
  • Arts and Humanities Research Board: Research Grants Panel 1996-2000

Membership of professional associations and societies

  • Arts and Humanities Research Council, Strategic Reviewer and Member of Peer Review College, 2007-present
  • Associate, the Leadership Foundation for Higher Education, 2010-present
  • Council of University Deans of Arts and Humanities, 2001-03
  • Council for College and University English, 1996-2000

Conference attendance

Over 60 conference presentations, including 20 as invited/plenary speaker

 

Consultancy work

  • Higher Education Consultant currently working with 6 universities 
  • Director, City CV: company advising on career development/coaching

Externally funded research grants information

  • 2002 “Graduate Futures”, Arts and Humanities Research Council, £17,000,
  • 2002  “Rosamond Lehmann”, British Academy, Travel grant to Princeton, £1600 
  • 2000 “Subject Centre for English”, Joint Funding Councils: £1.5 million on behalf of the Council for College and University English and Royal Holloway, University of London
  • 1999 “The Hockliffe Project”, Arts and Humanities Research Council Research visit to Princeton: £140,000
  • 1997 “The English Curriculum: Diversity and Standards”, Higher Education Quality Council £5,000 [jointly with Rick Rylance]
  • 1996 “Students’ Professional Writing Skills”, Higher Education Funding Council: £131,000 
  • 1996 “Assessment Models in English”, Higher Education Funding Council for England:  £30,500
  • 1996 “The Corvey Project”, Humanities Research Board Institutional Fellowship: £240,000               
  • 1995 “Writing, A Womans’ Business” British Academy, Conference grant: £2,000  
  • Project management as external advisor includes: Steering Groups on Teaching & Learning projects: Benchmarking for Disability (2003-04); Assessment and the Expanded Text (1997-2000); Creative Writing (1998-2000).

Professional esteem indicators

Reviewer for: The Review of English Studies, Modern Language Review, Journal of Gender Studies, The British Journal of Eighteenth-Century Studies, Literature and History, Women’s Writing. 

Editorial consultant and referee to academic presses: Blackwell, Palgrave Macmillan, Manchester University Press, Routledge (current).

Editorial Board for 2 electronic journals
Reader for Jeunesse: Young People, Texts, Cultures, 2012.

Judy Simons