Within this theme, new biological mechanisms relevant to unmet medical needs will be studied. For example, Cohort 1 (2019-2023) (Durham) is focusing on the therapeutic potential of inhibiting histidinol dehydrogenase in the bacterial pathogen Clostridium difficile; Alex Hallatt (Newcastle) is using a chemical approach to modulate glucokinase enzyme towards the understanding and treatment of Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease; and Laura Filipe (Durham) is working with GSK towards developing new drugs for the Neglected Tropical Disease leishmaniasis.

These and other funded projects will facilitate the identification and validation of new therapeutic targets, and develop new frameworks for the development of drugs, diagnostic agents and biomarkers.

Photo: Paul Denny, working in Brazil

Theme leader - Associate Professor Paul W. Denny (Durham University)

Within this theme, research focuses on the identification of molecules for selected medical applications arising from the Biology of Disease theme. For example, Ruth Walker (she/her) (Newcastle) is developing new assays for screening using high-throughput mass spectrometry; Matthew Smith (Durham) is designing and synthesising new molecules for anti-cancer pro-drugs; and Jessica Graham (Newcastle) is producing a DNA-encoded library.

Image: Drug pipeline

Furthermore, design, synthesis, and testing represent critical bottlenecks in the process of molecular discovery.  

Theme leader - Prof. Matthias Trost (Newcastle University)

‌Within this theme, new approaches to predict, identify, and characterise protein-ligand interactions relevant to the Molecule and Assay Design theme are being developed. Also, research in this theme focuses on the solution of new biological structures relevant to the topics identified in the Biology of Disease theme. For example, Rachel Pirie (Newcastle) is working on on novel data science and mathematical approaches to drug discovery, and Olivia Gittins (Newcastle) is developing protein aptamers to enable structure-based drug discovery.

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Image: Visualisation of “druggable” allosteric binding sites reported by Cosolvent Analysis Toolkit developed in the group of Dr. Agnieszka Bronowska.

Theme leader - Dr. Agnieszka Bronowska (Newcastle University)