Research

Allosteric Disulphide Group
Disulphide bonds are covalent links between pairs of cysteine amino acids. All life forms make this bond. They have been generally considered to be either structural or catalytic. We have identified a third type of disulphide bond we call the ‘allosteric disulphide’. These bonds control protein function by breaking and/or forming in a precise way. We have predicted that about one in fifteen disulphides is a potential allosteric bond, implying a significant role for these bonds in controlling protein function.

Click here to download our analysis of the disulfide bonds in the PDB or to analysis your own PDB files using our online software


Apoptosis and Survival Signaling Group
Sphingosine 1-phosphate (S1P) is a potent and essential signaling metabolite that promotes cell proliferation, migration, and survival, amongst other higher physiological roles. We use biochemistry and molecular biology techniques to investigate the molecular basis for cell proliferation and survival mediated by S1P, and to study the known contribution that this molecule makes to the dysregulated survival of cancer cells. We are also investigating how the immediate biosynthetic precursors to S1P, ceramide and sphingosine, promote cell death (in direct contrast to S1P). In this regard we are interested in the design and synthesis of sphingosine analogues as a new class of anti-cancer agents.


Bioinformatics and Protein Mass Spectrometry Group
With the proliferation of biological data over the past decade, bioinformatics has become an indispensable tool in understanding biological processes. Our research involves the application of methods in data mining and machine learning to a broad range of problems in proteomics, genomics and molecular evolution of proteins. We are also interested in the use of mass spectrometry for the analysis of proteins and are developing novel analytical methods that will enable the study of sub-proteomes.


Cancer Drug Development Group
We have designed and developed a novel class of small, synthetic, anti-mitochondrial cancer drugs. The first compound, GSAO, is currently being tested in a Phase I/IIa clinical trial in the UK. We have also invented a novel imaging agent that can non-invasively detect dying and dead tumour cells. The agent may be used to assess the efficacy of chemotherapy or radiotherapy by measuring within a few hours the extent of tumour cell death triggered by the treatments. This compound has been licensed to Covidien for clinical development.


Stem Cell Group
This group integrates bio-informatics, array-based technologies and mouse transgenics to study the transcriptional regulation of genes that control the specification and subsequent development of blood, endothelial and mesenchymal stem/progenitor cells. Their goal is to determine how the disruption of normal gene regulatory networks contributes to the pathogenesis of blood stem cell disorders such as leukaemia and the myelodysplastic and myeloproliferative syndromes.