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Department of Chemistry

Biological Chemistry

Coordinator: Dr AnnMarie C. O'Donoghue

Members of the Biological Chemistry section are addressing a range of exciting issues at the interface between chemistry and biology. An interdisciplinary approach to research has been adopted and current projects utilise a range of scientific skills and expertise from different disciplines. This approach has proven to be highly successful and several grants from a variety of sources (e.g. EPSRC, BBSRC, Wellcome Trust) have been awarded to fund this research. Research in the area of biological chemistry is extremely well supported by state-of-the-art facilities located within the Department.

Examples of current projects

  • Neil Cameron and Stefan Przyborski - "3-D scaffolds for skin cell differentiation"
  • Corinna Hess, Nigel Robinson and Ehmke Pohl - "Intracellular distribution of copper: De-regulation for antifungals."
  • Corinna Hess and Nigel Robinson -"Nickel sensing and supply to hydrogenase"
  • Steven Cobb and Paul Denny - "The design and development of new peptide based anti-parasitic agents"
  • Steven Cobb and Ehmke Pohl - "Synthesis and rational inhibitor design of the human Chemokine CCl2"
  • David Hodgson and Martin Cann - "Cyclic ADP ribose in plants"
  • Martin Cann , Ehmke Pohl , Mark Wilson and Tom McLeish "Computational, Coarse Grained, and Experimental Tools for investigating protein allostery"
  • Patrick Steel and Robert Edwards - "Understanding the molecular basis of multiple herbicide resistance"
  • Martin Cann, Gary Sharples, Marc Knight "Exploiting plant resistance proteins for crop protection"
  • John Sanderson and Paul Yeo - "The study of viral membrane proteins"
  • Patrick Steel, Paul Denny and Ehmke Pohl - "Investigating sphingolipid biosynthesis and catabolism"

Recent publications

Topal, H., Fulcher, N.B, Salazar, E., Buck, J., Levin, L.R., Cann, M.J., Wolfgang, M.C., Steegborn, C. "Crystal Structure and Regulation Mechanisms of the CyaB Adenylyl Cyclase from the Human Pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa." Journal of Molecular Biology, 2012, 416, 271-286.

R. J. Delley, S. Bandyopadhyay, M. A. Fox, C. Schliehe, D. R. W. Hodgson, F. Hollfelder, A. J. Kirby and A. C. O’Donoghue, “peri-Dimethylamino
Substituent Effects on Proton Transfer at Carbon in α-Naphthylacetate Esters: A Model for Mandelate Racemase”, Org. Biomol. Chem., 2012, 10, 590.

Tottey, S., Patterson, C.J., Banci, L., Bertini, I., Felli, I.C., Pavelkova, A., Dainty, S.J., Pernil, R., Waldron, K.J., Foster, A.W., Robinson, N.J. "Cyanobacterial metallochaperone inhibits deleterious side reactions of copper". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences U.S.A. 2012 109: 95-100

F.L. Chadbourne, C. Raleigh, H.Z. Ali, P.W. Denny and S.L. Cobb "Studies on the antileishmanial properties of the antimicrobial peptides Temporin A, B and 1Sa" J. Pept. Sci. 2011, 17, 751-755

X. Xue, G. Pasparakis, N. Halliday, K. Winzer, S.M. Howdle, C.J. Cramphorn, N.R. Cameron, P. Gardner, B.G. Davis, F. Fernández-Trillo, C. Alexander, “Synthetic Polymers for Simultaneous Bacterial Sequestration and Quorum Sense Interference”, Angew. Chem., Int. Ed., 2011, 50, 9852-9856

S.G. Spain, N.R. Cameron, "The binding of polyvalent galactosides to the lectin Ricinus communis agglutinin 120 (RCA120): an ITC and SPR study", Polym. Chem., 2011, 2, 1552-1560

J.A. Mosely, M.J.P. Smith, A.S. Prakash, M. Sims, A.T.W. Bristow, "Electron-induced dissociation of singly charged organic cations as a tool for structural characterisation of pharmaceutical type molecules" Anal. Chem., 2011, 83, 4068.

N. Colgin, T. Flinn and S.L. Cobb "Synthesis and properties of MIDA boronate containing aromatic amino acids: New peptide building blocks" Org. Biomol. Chem., 2011, 9, 1864

J. G. Mina, J. A. Mosely, H. Z. Ali, P. W. Denny and P. G. Steel, “Exploring Leishmania major inositol phosphorylceramide synthase (LmjIPCS): Insights into the ceramide binding domain.” Org. Biomol. Chem. 2011, 9, 1823

PhD positions/ Research positions/ Fellowship applications

Please contact individual members of the biological chemistry research group for more details about available PhD positions to start in October 2013.

The Department encourages early-career researchers (ECRs) to apply for Fellowships in the Department. ECRs will be expected to align their research proposals with one of the six research groupings in the Department, to ensure they work in a sustainable environment.

Fellowship Application Process: individual candidates interested in working within the area of Biological Chemistry should first approach a potential host/mentor. Information for some relevant schemes are given below:

Royal Society URF Fellowships: http://royalsociety.org/grants/schemes/university-research/

Marie Curie incoming fellowships: http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal/page/people?callIdentifier=FP7-PEOPLE-2012-IIF

EPSRC fellowships: http://www.epsrc.ac.uk/funding/fellows/Pages/peerreviewprocess.aspx

Biological Chemistry