University of Leeds

The University of Leeds has ambitions to tackle global challenges on a grand scale. These aims are exemplified in the work undertaken at the Astbury Centre for Structural Molecular Biology, where Leeds researchers with expertise in physics, biological sciences and chemistry are collaborating to understand life in molecular detail.

The Astbury Centre has more than 400 researchers who are focussed on developing and exploiting methods to interrogate biological mechanisms. Many of these methods harness structural biology, chemistry, physics and mass spectrometry, meaning that there are multiple points where Leeds’s research interests align strongly with the Rosalind Franklin Institute’s themes. As an example, the Leeds Microbubbles Consortium is investigating microbubbles to deliver drugs to tumours, an area that aligns with the institute’s Imaging with Sound and Light theme.

By working with the Rosalind Franklin Institute, Astbury Centre researchers see many new opportunities to accelerate the discovery of bioactive molecules such as drugs and chemical probes. Adam Nelson, Professor of Chemical Biology at the Astbury Centre, has led the establishment of The Franklin’s Next Generation Chemistry for Medicine theme.

“High quality chemical probes can revolutionise our understanding of biology, and international efforts are afoot to secure such a probe for every druggable protein. Crucially, such tools can open up entirely new opportunities for drug discovery. But we’ll need much more efficient approaches if we are to secure probes on such a grand scale!” says Professor Nelson.

Key to the step change will be The Franklin’s high throughput discovery facility. It will enable robotics and AI to be fully integrated to enable molecular discovery.

“The chemistry that underpins drug discovery hasn’t changed all that much in the past 20 years,” says Professor Nelson. “The Rosalind Franklin Institute’s high throughput facility will allow us to maximise the value of the new chemistry that is being developed at Leeds and elsewhere. It will enable us to investigate multiple compound series in parallel, accelerating the discovery of chemical probes and drugs.”

The opportunity to collaborate on a larger and a deeper scale is also a key priority for Leeds. Through its strengths in structural biology and allied areas, the University is already working with the latest Franklin member, Diamond Light Source, and looks forward to building new relationships with both academic and industrial partners.

Professor Lisa Roberts, Leeds’s Deputy Vice Chancellor for Research & Innovation and Member Representative for The Franklin, says: “A key element of our research programme at Leeds is to engage in ambitious collaborations involving both academic and industrial partners, working together to develop new technologies. The Rosalind Franklin Institute will provide many and varied opportunities to do that, drawing on a large and expanding pool of world class expertise.”