There is an increased demand for better therapeutics against diseases, including cancer, neurodegenerative and autoimmune disorders, antibiotic-resistant infections, and viral outbreaks. Opportunities for academic innovation exist at all stages of drug discovery.

We address this ongoing demand for therapeutics using two synergistic approaches.

Firstly, using state-of-the-art techniques and combining multidisciplinary expertise in disease biology, protein and peptide science, synthetic and medicinal chemistry, drug design, discovery and delivery, and pharmacology we (A) discover new drug targets for diseases and (B) develop new drugs and the medicines by which they are delivered to the patient.

Secondly, complementary research into vaccine development, pathogen surveillance, epidemiology, biomarker identification, probiotics, and harm reduction strategies, all aim to decrease the percentage of the population that ultimately requires pharmaceutical treatment.

Focus areas

Our research within this domain focusses on:

• Clinical research
• Drug delivery
• Drug modalities (Covalent inhibitors, PROTACS, ADCs)
• Epidemiology
• Target identification and validation
• Modelling of biological systems
• Phenotypic screening
• Protein and peptide science
• Regulatory science
• Structural biology
• Synthetic chemistry

Our research links with various partners interested in drug development and precision medicine, including the Centre for Therapeutic Innovation.