What is the mechanism of formation of hydroxyaluminosilicates?

The formation of hydroxyaluminosilicates is integral to the biogeochemical cycles of aluminium and silicon. The unique inorganic chemistry which underlies their formation explains the non-essentiality in biota of both of these elements. However, the first steps in the formation of hydroxyaluminosilicates were hitherto only theoretical and plausibly only accessible in silico.

Towards a model of non-equilibrium binding of metal ions in biological systems.

We have used a systems biology approach to address the hitherto insoluble problem of the quantitative analysis of non-equilibrium binding of aqueous metal ions by competitive ligands in heterogeneous media. To-date, the relative proportions of different metal complexes in aqueous media has only been modelled at chemical equilibrium and there are no quantitative analyses of the approach to equilibrium. While these models have improved our understanding of how metals are used in biological systems they cannot account for the influence of kinetic factors in metal binding, transport and fate.

A systems biology approach to the blood-aluminium problem: the application and testing of a computational model.

Transport and distribution of systemic aluminium are influenced by its interaction with blood. Current understanding is centred upon the role played by the iron transport protein transferrin which has been shown to bind up to 90% of serum total aluminium. We have coined what we have called the blood-aluminium problem which states that the proportion of serum aluminium which, at any one moment in time, is bound by transferrin is more heavily influenced by kinetic constraints than thermodynamic equilibria with the result that the role played by transferrin in the transport and distribution of aluminium is likely to have been over estimated.