Perturbation of Protein-Protein Interactions
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Emily has recently joined the POPPI team as a Postdoctoral Researcher based in Dek Woolfson’s group at the University of Bristol, where she is working on perturbing protein-protein interactions with peptide inhibitors.
In March 2019, David Andrews visited Northgate High School Ipswich (his alma mater) to talk to a group of sixth-form students at a careers enrichment lunchtime meeting. During the session, David talked about his career journey from school to his position as Associate Director of Oncology Chemistry, Research & Development at AstraZeneca. He then explained, at a conceptual level, how molecules are designed, using PoPPI’s 3-D models of proteins to help him. For example, he explained the ‘Lock-and-Key’ theory of drug action. The students really enjoyed playing with the models … read more >
Aisha has recently joined the PoPPI project as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in synthesis and chemical biology. She is working on small molecule inhibitors of protein-protein interactions.
Sergio Celis has recently joined the project as a postdoctoral research associate working on the development of small-molecule and peptide based inhibitors of protein-protein interactions.
Suzanne has joined the programme as a first year PhD student having spent some time in industry after completing her Masters Degree in Chemistry with Drug Discovery at the University of Strathclyde.
Matt has recently joined the project as a postdoctoral research associate, having recently completed his PhD at Sheffield.
Congratulations to Kris on winning a poster prize at the RSC Chemical Biology and Bio-organic Group Postgraduate Symposium on 10 May 2018. The Symposium, hosted at the University of Leeds, was an opportunity for early career scientists from a broad range of chemical biology backgrounds to come together, share their work and discuss the latest research. Kris’s poster on experimental validation of hot residue predictions for β-strand mediated protein-protein interactions made an impression on the judges with its multidisciplinary emphasis. Kris has been with PoPPI since the start of the … read more >
On 3 May Adam Nelson took part in The University of Leeds Priestley Centre’s Festival of Interdisciplinary Science. The event showcased examples of how our researchers work across the disciplines to tackle global grand challenges and provide the chance to make new connections. Using our 3-D protein models, Adam had the opportunity to explain protein-protein interactions and demonstrate the challenges associated with their inhibition to colleagues around the University of Leeds.
On 17 April The PoPPI team took part in The Astbury Conversation Public Engagement Event with an interactive game titled ‘Protein-Matchmaking: How do proteins talk to one another, what happens when they miscommunicate and how do we deal with this through drug discovery?’ In a race against the clock, players ‘matched’ 3-D printed models of proteins to one another. If matched correctly, the proteins clicked together. The team also designed models of small-molecule inhibitors which fitted into pockets in the proteins, preventing them from fitting together. This simple game allowed … read more >
The 4th Young Researchers Symposium on PPIs was held at the University of Leeds on the 19th of September. This symposium provides a platform for early career researchers from a broad range of backgrounds to come together, share their work and discuss the latest research on PPIs and their inhibition. The guest speakers were: Prof. Michelle Arkin – University of California, San Francisco, and Prof. Luc Brunsveld – Eindhoven University of Technology.