Drug discovery, design and development
The over-arching Drug Discovery, Design & Development theme encompasses research from across the department with strong links to a number of other research themes. Members of the Drug Discovery, Design & Development theme are actively involved in university wide networks such as Cancer Research at Bath (CR@B) and the Neuroscience Network at University of Bath (NNUB).
NMR refined & optimized structure of the duplex adduct of SJG-136 with DNA
Numerous strategies and techniques are utilised for target identification, lead discovery, development and compound evaluation. These include in silico based computational design, protein crystallography, in vitro and in vivo biological evaluation, in silico prediction of pharmacokinetic parameters and extending into drug delivery and formulation technology (see Drug Delivery & Biopharmaceutical Technology theme). Major therapeutic areas of interest include cancer (see Cancer Therapeutics & Prevention theme), including hormone dependent and independent pathologies, anti-viral agents (see Inflammation, Infections & Immunity theme) and central nervous system disorders such as epilepsy, depression, anxiety and drug abuse (see Pharmaceutical Neuroscience theme). Notable success has been achieved with the development of new chemical entities for the treatment of hormone-dependent breast cancer, with compounds currently in clinical trials.
PET imaging showing accumulation of one of our compounds in the brain.
Members
- Dr Stephen Husbands (Lead) - Medicinal chemistry; CNS; opioids; drug abuse; analgesia; depression; anxiety; itch; psoriasis; PET tracers; cystic fibrosis
- Dr Chris Bailey – Neuropharmacology; drug abuse; drug tolerance; G-protein-coupled receptors; electrophysiology; behavioural pharmacology
- Dr Sarah Bailey – Neuropharmacology; depression; anxiety; behavioural pharmacology; molecular signalling
- Dr Ian Blagbrough - Medicinal chemistry; synthesis; glutamate; CNS; drug abuse; harm reduction; natural products; medicines design for gene therapy
- Dr Albert Bolhuis - Antimicrobials
- Dr Lorenzo Caggiano - Design, synthesis and biological evaluation of novel drugs; synthesis of natural product analogues; medicinal chemistry
- Dr Begoña Delgado-Charro - Transdermal and topical drug delivery; nail drug delivery; non-invasive sampling
- Dr Ian Eggleston - Peptide synthesis; medicinal chemistry; chitinase inhibitors; peptide natural products; cell penetrating peptides; bioorthogonal ligation
- Dr Nikoletta Fotaki - Predictive models of absorption and bioavailability (in vitro and in silico); PBPK modelling
- Dr Julie Letchford – Novel antimicrobials.
- Dr Matthew Lloyd - Recombinant protein expression and purification; protein chemistry; enzyme assays; enzyme kinetics; enzyme inhibitors
- Dr Paul Mitchell
- Prof Barry Potter - Synthesis; anticancer/anti-endocrine drug design and discovery; steroid sulfatase; 11-β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase; 17- β-dehydrogenases; endometriosis; chemistry of cellular signalling; chemistry of signal transduction involving second messengers; nucleoside/nucleotide chemistry; carbohydrate chemistry; phosphorus chemistry
- Dr Charareh Pourzand - Drug design and delivery; skin photoprotection; therapy of iron-related disorders; multifunctional antioxidants; iron chelators; light-activated caged chelators
- Dr Sergey Smirnov – Arteries; smooth muscle biology; ion channels; mitochondria; vascular cell signalling
- Dr Andrew Thompson - DNA drug interactions; DNA structure; high-field NMR; molecular modelling; drug design
- Prof Michael Threadgill - Enzyme inhibitors in cancer treatment; BNCT; tuberculosis; drug design; heterocyclic chemistry; synthetic methods
- Dr Andrew Watts
