Drug Discovery and Development

drug-diagram The Drug Discovery and Development Research Cluster sits within CSTM and brings together researchers from across Keele University, spanning both the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences and the Faculty of Natural Sciences. The Cluster encompasses expertise from the Schools of Engineering and Physical Sciences, Life Sciences and Allied Health Professions and Pharmacy, as well as researchers based within the Guy Hilton Research Centre.

The Cluster brings together researchers working across the drug discovery pipeline, creating a multidisciplinary environment that spans disease biology, target identification, hit identification and validation, lead optimisation, and the development of drug candidates. By connecting expertise across chemistry, biology, pharmaceutical sciences and related disciplines, the Cluster aims to facilitate collaborative research and accelerate the translation of innovative discoveries towards new therapeutics.

Cluster members

Dr Rebecca Ruscoe
Lecturer in Organic and Medicinal Chemistry

Expertise - Protein production/purification, biocatalysis, drug fragment synthesis, organic chemistry

LJ 1.03
r.ruscoe@keele.ac.uk

Dr Wesley Moran
Lecturer in Organic & Medicinal Chemistry

Expertise - organic chemistry; organic synthesis; electrochemistry; photochemistry

Room 1.10 Hornbeam building
w.j.moran@keele.ac.uk

Dr David Mottershead
Lecturer in Biochemistry & Cell Biology

Expertise - recombinant proteins, mammalian cell expression, bacterial expression, TGFbeta family

Jack Ashley JA0.01
+44 (0)1782 734764
d.mottershead@keele.ac.uk

Dr Jóhannes Reynisson
Lecturer in Drug Discovery

Expertise - Computer aided drug design; Molecular modelling; Virtual screening; Anti-cancer; Anti-dementia; thermochemistry

Hornbeam 0.56
+44 (0)1782 733985
j.reynisson@keele.ac.uk

Ryan Brown
Lecturer in Pharmacology

Expertise - Sphingolipid Signalling, Metabolic Disease, Adipocyte Biology, Inter-Organ Signalling, Translational Pharmacology

Huxley027/Haldane155
01782 731772
r.d.r.brown@keele.ac.uk

Dr Wen-Wu Li
Senior Lecturer in Analytical Biochemistry

Expertise - Natural products, cyclic peptides, metabolomics, antibody drug conjugates, biotransformation

Guy Hilton Research Centre
+44 (0)1782 674382
w.li@keele.ac.uk

Dr Sebastian Cosgrove
Lecturer in Organic Chemistry

Expertise - Flow Biocatalysis, flow chemistry

Lennard-Jones: 1.45
+44 (0)1782 734215
s.cosgrove@keele.ac.uk

Dr Tess Phillips
Senior Lecturer, Programme Director for Chemistry and Medicinal Chemistry

Expertise - Organic synthesis, fragment based drug discovery, medicinal chemistry, drug design

Lennard-Jones: 1.46
+44 (0)1782 733038
t.r.phillips@keele.ac.uk

Dr Charlie Softley
Lecturer in Pharmacology

Expertise - Ciliopathies, cilia, alstrom syndrome, disease models, rare diseases

Huxley building: 027
+44 1782732050
c.a.softley@keele.ac.uk

Dr Anja Winter
Lecturer in Biophysics/Biochemistry

Expertise - molecular docking, fragment-based drug discovery, hit identification, protein biochemistry (hit validation); structural biology (crystallography, SAXS, CD etc)