Advisors and Founders

I am a pharmacist interested in understanding how cells maintain genomic integrity. I use interdisciplinary approach fusing genetics, cell biology, biochemistry and spectroscopy with clinical expertise. To further strengthen our translational agenda, I recently took up a joint appointment between the University of Sheffield and the University of Bradford to head the Institute of Cancer Therapeutics. My contributions led to discovery of novel genetic pathways, influenced healthcare practice and developed new technologies. My early work demonstrated a role for PARP1 and CK2 during chromosomal single-strand break (SSB) repair (NAR 2003, Cell 2004). I then moved into more translational aspects, which led to the identification, for the first time, of a defect in SSB repair in two human disorders (Nature 2005 and 2006). Following training at St Jude Hospital in the US, I employed mice to demonstrate the importance of SSB repair for organismal function (EMBO J 2007 and Nature Neuroscience 2009). My interest in this area led to a search for novel activities that repair topoisomerase-linked DNA breaks and resulted in the discovery of the enzyme that repairs topoisomerase 2 - mediated DNA damage, TDP2 (Nature 2009). This seminal finding is critical for a broad range of human disease including cancer. I demonstrated that topoisomerase-induced DNA breaks are pathogenic in other disorders (Hum Mol Gent 2010, Nature Genetics 2014, Nature Neuroscience 2017) and identified key posttranslational modifications and functions (Nature Communications 2012, NAR 2012 & 2016 and Cell Reports 2018). I reviewed the importance of topoisomerase-mediated DNA repair (Nature Rev Cancer 2015, Brain 2018) and described how it maintains mitochondrial gene transcription (Science Advances 2017). We uncovered a novel mechanism by which typhoid toxin exhausts the DNA repair machinery (Nature Communications 2019) and identified TEX264 as a novel component of the topoisomerase-mediated DNA repair pathway (Nature Communications 2020).

Alan obtained his BSc (Hons) in chemistry from the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne and his PhD in the area of radiation induced redox reactions of cytochrome-C. He then spent several years in anticancer drug discovery research institutes including Paterson Institute for Cancer Research, Manchester as a Head of Drug Development and Imaging. Later he was appointed as an Honorary Lecturer at University of Manchester in the Department of Experimental Oncology, School of Medicine. In 2002 he become Chair of Molecular Drug Design Centre at University of Salford. Alan is a laureate of many prestige awards including Society of Chemical Industry Prize and Levin Prize for Physical Chemistry. He is also member of following professional bodies: European Organisation for Research in the Treatment of Cancer, Pharmacokinetics, Metabolism and Mechanism Group, a member of joint European-United States (EORTC/NCI) Drug Review Committee and Children’s Cancer and Leukaemia Group (formerly United Kingdom Children’s Cancer Study Group) – New Agents Group. His research interest focused on the VDA and bioreductive anticancer agents with particular interest in the childhood cancers. Alan is an named co-inventor of many patents including RH1, Es5 and Stilebenes.

Paul is Professor of Medicinal Chemistry, Deputy Director, Institute of Cancer Therapeutics, University of Bradford. Paul obtained his PhD from the University of Bradford, UK, studying the pharmacokinetics and metabolism of anti-cancer drugs. He is an expert in the bioanalysis of drugs and has studied a wide range of clinically available and novel small molecules including antimetabolites, platinating and alkylating agents, peptides and antivascular compounds. Paul is actively involved in the design, analysis and reporting of pre-clinical and clinical pharmacokinetic studies and acts as a pharmacokinetic and drug metabolism consultant for numerous US and European pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies.

John obtained his BSc (Hons) in chemistry from the University of Nottingham and a PhD in the field of Organic Chemistry from Trent Polytechnic, Nottingham. He then spent several years in academia, including the University of Warwick where he investigated biogenesis of the o-xylene unit of riboflavin. Later he moved to the Paterson Institute, Christie Hospital in Manchester where his research focus was on new drug targets. He was instrumental in the development of the anti-vascular agents at the Patterson Institute where he was a team leader. His latest post is as Group Leader for Molecular Bioscience Programmes at the University of Salford. John is co-inventor of many anticancer agents including Es5, Combretastatin A-4 and Stilbenes. His research expertise focuses on the anticancer drug chemistry especially bioreductive and vascular disrupting agents.

Robert is a medicinal chemist and registered pharmacist having obtained his BPharm degree at The School of Pharmacy, University of London. Following a brief period as a hospital pharmacist, he returned to London to undertake a PhD in pharmaceutical chemistry. He then became Research and Teaching Fellow, and was subsequently appointed Lecturer in Pharmaceutical Sciences. His early research was focused on chemical approaches to drug delivery, with a specific interest in carbohydrates, peptides and lipids. He was then appointed to his current position of Lecturer then Reader, in Medicinal Chemistry at the  Institute of Cancer  Therapeutics,  University  of Bradford.  Robert  is a member  of several  professional organisations, including the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain and the Royal Society of Chemistry. He is an elected member of the EPSRC peer review college and honorary treasurer for the RSC Central Yorkshire Section. His research focuses on the design, synthesis and biological evaluation of cancer therapeutics. Specifically he is interested in developing molecules that target the glycocalyx, the carbohydrate layer that decorates the cancer cell, and in the development of protease-activated anti- cancer agents. He has published numerous peer-reviewed research articles and meeting abstracts, and is an inventor on four patents. He is the lead medicinal chemist at the Institute of Cancer Therapeutics for ICT2588 and the protease-activated cancer drug discovery opportunity.

Jason is a Reader in Molecular Therapeutics within the School of Pharmacy at Newcastle University.

He gained his PhD in the field of Molecular Toxicology from the University of Manchester, a MRC-case studentship with Zeneca Central Toxicology Laboratories in Macclesfield (subsequently Astrazeneca). After a postdoctoral fellowship at the Cancer Research UK Clinical Centre in Leeds he joined the University of Bradford as a lecturer in Molecular Pathology and was later promoted to a Senior Lectureship in Molecular Pharmacology. Jason moved to Durham University and then to his current location at Newcastle University as an Associate Professor/Reader in Molecular Therapeutics.

Jason’s research interests lie in the areas of preclinical safety assessment of cancer therapeutics and anticancer drug discovery and development, particularly identification and development of tumour-selective cancer therapeutics with reduced systemic toxicity.