We focus on the fundamental bases for biological and biochemical processes, the use of small molecules to probe cellular biology, software and methods development, and the exploitation of enzymes in biocatalysis.

Specific research areas include

  • Analysis of the molecular structure of biological macromolecules (most notably proteins)
  • Study of the fundamental structural and chemical bases for biological and biochemical processes
  • Development of methods (crystallographic and computational) to support and enable structural biology research
  • The use of small molecules to probe and exploit cellular biology
  • The exploitation of enzymes in biocatalysis.
Our work is underpinned by facilities for cryo-electron microscopy protein characterisation, crystallisation, X-Ray diffraction, biomolecular NMR and mass spectrometry.

Staff

NameExpertise
Jon Agirre
  •  New approaches to carbohydrate model building, refinement, validation and visualisation
Fred Antson
  • Protein-nucleic acid interactions
Jamie Blaza
  • Cryo-electron microscopy
Marek Brzozowski
  • Structural endocrinology
  • Membrane proteins
  • Development of methods for protein crystallisation
Kevin Cowtan
  • Automated protein structure solution
Gideon Davies
  • Structural enzymology and carbohydrate chemistry
Caroline Dessent
  • Physical chemistry of gas-phase biological ions
  • Gas-phase inorganic chemistry
  • Mass spectrometry
Simon Duckett
  • Organometallic chemistry and reaction mechanisms
Martin Fascione
  • Chemical glycobiology
  • Synthetic carbohydrate chemistry
  • Chemical/enzymatic modification of proteins
Gideon Grogan
  • Structure, function and application of novel biocatalysts
Roderick Hubbard
  • Structure-based drug discovery
Avtar Matharu
  • Green and sustainable chemistry
  • Biobased chemicals, processes and materials
Peter O'Brien
  • Development of new methods in synthesis and medicinal chemistry
Alison Parkin
  • Electrochemical insights into redox-active metalloproteins, bacterial metabolism and catalysis
Seishi Shimizu
  • Solvents, solvation, and solubility
  • Statistical thermodynamics of biomolecules, drugs and food
Jane Thomas-Oates
  • Analytical science
  • Biological mass spectrometry
Paul Walton
  • Bioinorganic chemistry
Tony Wilkinson
  • Structure and function of proteins involved in regulation
Lianne Willems
  • Chemical biology of carbohydrates and carbohydrate-processing enzymes
Keith Wilson
  • Structure-function relationships of biological macromolecules using protein crystallographic techniques