School of Pharmacy

I began my career at Keele University in 1993 in the then Department of Chemistry, now part of the School of Physical and Geographical Sciences. I then joined the Department of Medicines Management in 2005 when I was appointed to the post of Director of Undergraduate Studies (Pharmaceutical Science) and played a major role, alongside others, in the development of the School of Pharmacy and Keele MPharm programme. My academic position is currently Senior Lecturer in Organic and Medicinal Chemistry and I oversee Stages 1 and 2 of the MPharm programme, as well as holding other administrative roles within the School and University. I have wide and varied interests in teaching and research, and was awarded the Keele University award for Excellence in Learning and Teaching in 2008. I have acted as external examiner for PhD degrees across the various disciplines of chemistry and currently play a leading role in the Synthetic and Medicinal Chemistry research cluster based in the Lennard-Jones Laboratories at Keele.

My research interest lie at the boundaries between the life and physical sciences, with a focus on synthetic and medicinal chemistry directed towards the synthesis of molecules with biological or medical significance. Current research projects include:

Discovery of autophagy inhibitors: Put simply, autophagy is a process by which cells digest their own components. There is currently significant and growing interest in understanding the regulation of autophagy especially since it plays a role in Parkinson's disease, cardiovascular disease and cancer. Our interest has been sparked by the observation that autophagy appears to contribute to resistance to several chemotherapies used in the treatment of cancer, thus drugs which inhibit autophagy may have significant therapeutic potential. Preliminary in silico prospecting with Dr Jóhannes Reynisson, a collaborating molecular modeller from the University of Auckland, using the Keele Active Virtual Environment (KAVE), synthetic studies by Dr  Tony Curtis and cell-based assays by Dr Alan Richardson have identified drug candidates.

Organocatalysis: Catalysis of reactions using small, neutral organic molecular templates has been an interest of ours for a number of years, with an initial publication in 2000. Current work is directed towards the synthesis of axially-chiral atropisomeric biaryl systems which possess two- or three-point binding motifs, and the deployment of these in the preparation of biologically-significant chiral molecules.

Current collaborations also include: The development of novel and adjunct therapies for treatment of ovarian cancer (with Dr Alan Richardson, Keele University); the development of heterocyclic constructs for use as antimalarial agents (with Professor Steve Allin, Nottingham Trent University, and Dr Paul Horrocks, Keele University); the development of novel cytotoxic agents and delivery systems (with Dr Clare Hoskins, Keele University)