Bioscience for health research

Bioscience for health

�鶹��Ƶ scientists seek a better understanding of human and animal health through work in areas such as immunology, biochemistry, chemistry cardiovascular biology, regenerative medicine, infectious disease and cancer biology.

Collaborations exist across disciplines, research groups and institutions, often led by the School of Biosciences or the School of Veterinary Medicine within the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences.

Research projects

Probe Inhibitors of DNA Base Excision Repair Glycosylases | Organic/Medicinal Chemistry

Beginning with Alkyladenine Glycosylase (AAG), the project, led by Dr Daniel Whelligan, intends to design and synthesise small molecule inhibitors of DNA base excision repair glycosylases - enzymes that catalyse the removal of damaged DNA bases. A toolkit of soluble, membrane-permeable, selective inhibitors will be invaluable for study of repair pathways and their involvement in human diseases such as organ failure, stroke and cancer.

Novel Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 not to scale Credit NIAID

Immunity to SARS-CoV-2 and other challenges

Professor Deborah Dunn-Walters and her team are studying how to assess immunity after COVID-19, or the COVID-19 vaccine, using molecular methods of high throughput immunoglobulin repertoire sequencing and electrophysical methods of assessing the cellular immune response. Proper assessment of immunity is important for vaccine development and deployment.

Mycolactone-based probe molecules to investigate the mechanism and treatment of Buruli ulcer | Organic/Medicinal Chemistry

The neglected tropical disease Buruli ulcer is caused by Mycobacterium ulcerans which secretes the toxin mycolactone. Through the synthesis of tagged analogues of mycolactone a team, led by Dr Daniel Whelligan, will investigate this mechanism and intend to discover improved treatments more applicable to rural communities.

Person wrapping tape measure around their stomach

Genetic factors influencing adult obesity take effect in early childhood | Bioinformatics

Dr Alexessander Da Silva Couto Alves analysed measures such as BMI and growth rates from 2 weeks to 13 years of age of more than 22,000 children and compared these to variations in their genetic make-up. This enabled the researchers to identify common genetic variants associated with the peaks and troughs in BMI and their timings in childhood.

The role of central carbon metabolism in tuberculosis bacillus in the human host and the translation of this knowledge into anti-tuberculosis compounds | Microbial Metabolism

The team at Surrey, Kings College London, University of Birmingham and the Indian Institute of Science are exploring how central metabolism protects the TB bacillus from reductive and oxidative stresses provided by the human host. This project, led by Dr Dany Beste, will use cutting edge techniques of 13C based metabolomics approaches to identify novel drug targets and medicinal chemistry to modify and improve the antiTBiotic properties of our compounds.

Immunity in chickens | Immunology

Professor Dunn-Walters and colleagues at Pirbright are investigating chicken antibodies and how they change with vaccination. Chickens are a vital food source and a possible source of zoonotic disease so understanding more about how they fight infections is critical to inform agricultural practice.

Characterising the transcriptional response that mediates the protective effects of the mitochondrial unfolded protein response (UPRmt) in the stressed heart | Molecular and Cellular Sciences

Dr Smyrnias’ research group recently described the protective effects of the mitochondrial unfolded protein response (UPRmt) in the stressed heart. This project is designed to determine the functional links between the UPRmt and the Integrated Stress Response (ISR) aiming to identify novel targets against cardiovascular diseases, as well as other conditions that affect human health.