Our People

We have key expertise in the following areas:

Synthetic Medicinal Chemistry
Protein crystallography/structural biology
Pharmacology and imaging
Cancer cell biology
Epigenetics and pharmocodynamics
Clinical development

CD³ work closely with the DDC in all aspects of their work. Dr Dr Cathy Tralau-Stewart and Dr Albert Jaxa-Chamiec also sit on the management board of the group.

Synthetic Medicinal Chemistry

Professor Anthony G. M. Barrett FRS FMedSci

Professor Anthony G. M. Barrett

Anthony Barrett obtained his B.Sc. degree with 1st class honors (1973) and his Ph.D. (1975) with Professor Sir Derek H.R. Barton (Nobel Laureate) at Imperial College (IC). He was appointed lecturer in organic chemistry (1975) at IC and senior lecturer (1982). In 1983, he was appointed full professor of Chemistry at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, and in 1990 moved to Colorado State University. After ten years research in the USA, he returned to IC as Glaxo Professor of Organic Chemistry, Director of the Wolfson Centre for Organic Chemistry in Medical Science and Head of the Organic Section. He was appointed the Sir Derek Barton Professor of Synthetic Chemistry in 1999. He has co-authored over 360 publications and over 20 patents on natural product, heterocyclic, organometallic and porphyrazine chemistry, catalysis and parallel synthesis. He has received numerous awards for his contributions to research from the Royal Society of Chemistry, the American Chemical Society, the Royal Society, the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation, the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Glaxo Wellcome and the Specialised Organic Sector Association. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (1999) and the Academy of Medical Sciences (2003). He is the co-Founder and Director of Science for Argenta Discovery and iThemba Pharmaceuticals and is a consultant to major international pharmaceutical and chemical companies globally. For more information see here.

Dr Matthew Fuchter

Dr Matt Fuchter

Matt Fuchter is a Lecturer in Synthetic and Medicinal Chemistry. He carried out his Ph.D. studies (2002-2005) and nine-months postdoctoral work with Professor A.G.M. Barrett at IC on porphyrazine chemistry and their biomedical applications, particularly as optical imaging and photodynamic therapeutic agents. Despite his recent lectureship appointment (2008), he has already attracted significant research funding: More than £750K as a Principle Investigator (PI), and a further £1.5M as Co-Investigator (CI). His burgeoning reputation has been enhanced by appointments as a RCUK Fellow (2007) and Distinguished Visiting Fellow (Univ. of Melbourne), and invitations to lecture at several prestigious international symposia. He is the Senior Investigator in Cancer Medicinal Chemistry within CD3. The Fuchter Group is focused on synthetic organic and medicinal chemistry, particularly epigenetic anti-cancer therapeutics. For more information see here.

Professor Alan Armstrong

Alan Armstrong is a Professor of Organic Chemistry. He has an international reputation for his work in synthesis and catalysis, and his group’s recent activities include applications of synthesis to chemical biology and anti-cancer therapeutics. His work has been recognised by numerous major awards: the Royal Society of Chemistry Meldola Medal and Prize for 1995 (1996); a GlaxoWellcome Award for Innovative Organic Chemistry (1996); a Pfizer Academic Award (1999); an AstraZeneca Research Award (1999); the Novartis Young Investigator Award (1999); a Bristol-Myers Squibb Young Investigator Award (2000-2003); the Royal Society of Chemistry Corday-Morgan Medal and Prize for 2002 (2003); and a Novartis Lectureship (2009). He has delivered invited lectures at numerous international symposia and has acted as consultant to GSK and Pfizer in recent years. For more information see here.

Professor Alan Spivey

Alan Spivey obtained his B.Sc. (1st class, Nottingham) in 1988 and D. Phil. (Jack Baldwin, Oxford) in 1991 prior to postdoctoral appointments in Geneva (Wolfgang Oppolzer) and Cambridge (Sir Alan R. Battersby). In 1996 he was appointed to a lectureship at the University of Sheffield and was promoted to reader in 2001. He moved to Imperial College London as a reader in 2003 and became Professor of synthetic Chemistry in 2008. He is a fellow of the RSC and HEA and is scientific consultant and co-founder of AFChemPharm Ltd. He was recipient of the 2007 AstraZeneca Research Award in Organic Chemistry. His research encompasses the development of new catalysts for asymmetric acylation, new linkers for solid phase organic synthesis, chemical aspects of signal transduction, total synthesis and medicinal chemistry relating to asthma and cancer targets. The work is/has been funded by EPSRC, BBSRC, The Wellcome Trust, The Leverhulme Trust, CRUK, Pfizer, GlazoSmithKline, AstraZeneca, Syngenta, Avecia, Sanofi-Synthelabo, Roche, and Amersham Health. For more information see here.

Protein crystallography/structural biology

Professor Paul Freemont

Professor Paul Freemont

Professor Paul Freemont holds the Chair of Protein Crystallography at Imperial College London and is currently the Head of the Division of Molecular Biosciences and Co-director of the new EPSRC Centre for Synthetic Biology and Innovation at Imperial. Previous to this he was Head of the Imperial College Centre for Structural Biology having joined the College from the Cancer Research UK London where he was a Principal Scientist. His research interests over the last twenty years have focused on understanding the molecular basis and mechanisms of a number of human diseases including cancer and he is the author of over 130 peer-reviewed scientific publications. His group continues to work on molecular mechanisms using an interdisciplinary structural biology approach involving protein crystallography, NMR and cryo-EM. His current rsearch is focused is on understanding the global regulation of protein turnover in mammalian cells, the spatial organisation of interphase nuclei, DNA repair pathways in pathogenic bacteria and structure-based ligand design for potential cancer therapeutic targets. He is also a co-founder of the spinout company Equinox Pharma Ltd which specialises in in silico drug discovery. Externally, Professor Freemont has held a number of positions including membership of Royal Academy of Engineering enquiry into Synthetic Biology (2006- 2008); member of Cancer Research UK Biological Sciences funding panel (since 2006); member of Wellcome Trust Genes Molecules and Cells funding panel (2002-2005); member of Wellcome Trust fellowships panel (2002-2005); chair of London Structural Biology Consortium (comprises all London research groups in Structural Biology; since 2004). In recognition of Professor Freemont’s research contributions, he was elected to the European Molecular Biology Organisation in 2008. For more information see here.

Pharmacology and imaging

Professor Eric Aboagye

Professor Eric Aboagye

Eric Aboagye holds the position of Professor of Cancer Pharmacology and Molecular Imaging at Imperial College London, where he is Director of the Comprehensive Cancer Imaging Centre with core funding from Cancer Research UK, Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, Department of Health (England) and Medical Research Council. He completed his Pharmacy degree in Ghana in 1989 and his Masters degree Pharmaceutical Analysis in 1991 from Strathclyde University, Glasgow. In 1995 he obtained a PhD in Cancer Pharmacology and Imaging from the Beatson Laboratories at the University of Glasgow. After post-doctorial training at the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore he moved to Imperial College London as a senior research fellow in 1998 and was appointed Professor in 2006.

His current research interests include experimental and clinical imaging of tumour biochemistry and novel therapies. His group is involved in the discovery, development and validation of target- and pathway-specific probes for positron emission tomography imaging of proliferation, angiogenesis, apoptosis, hypoxia, thymidylate synthase, choline metabolism, growth factor receptor activity, gene expression, and MAP/PI3 kinase activity. He has particular interests in the application of imaging methodologies for anti-cancer drug development and in vivo functional genomics. He has received a number of awards including the British Association for Cancer Research Translational Research Award and the British Institute of Radiology Sir Mackenzie Davidson award. He is author of over 80 publications and patents on cancer drug development and imaging. Professor Aboagye has acted as an Advisor to international pharmaceutical & Imaging companies including GE Healthcare, Attenuon, GSK, Roche and Novartis Pharmaceuticals. For more information see here.

Cancer cell biology

Professor Simak Ali

Simak Ali is Professor of Molecular Endocrine Oncology at Imperial College London, UK. The purpose of his research is to better understand the molecular mechanisms by which endocrine resistance arises, through the study of the ER and thereby identify and develop new strategies for the treatment of resistant disease. For more information see here.

Professor Eric Lam

Professor Eric Lam

Eric W-F Lam is the Professor of Molecular Oncology at Imperial College London, UK. He obtained his Ph.D. from the University of Liverpool, UK, and performed his postdoctoral training at Imperial Cancer Research Fund, Medical Research Council National Institute for Medical Research, and Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, London. His present research focuses on the signalling mechanisms and molecules that have a role in cancer development, progression and drug resistance. Eric W-F Lam is also a member of the research board of the Chemical Biology Centre (CBC), a consortium of three of London’s most prestigious research centres, Imperial College London, the London Research Institute of Cancer Research UK and The Institute of Cancer Research.

The Lam laboratory is focused on investigating the functions of signalling and transcription factors, which play a role in cancer and drug resistance. We are a group of 15-20 researchers, who use a combination of genetic, molecular, biochemical, and physical chemistry approaches to address these research questions. We have expertise in analyzing changes in signalling molecules and transcription factors under different cellular conditions or in different cell types. In particular, we have an interest in studying the PI3K signalling pathway as well as the forkhead (FOX) transcription factors. For more information see here.

Dr Laki Buluwela

Following graduation with a BSc and PhD in Biochemistry from the University of London, Dr Laki Buluwela went to the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge as a Research Fellow and member of staff. In 1993 he joined Professor Charles Coombes in the Department of Oncology at Charing Cross and Westmisnter Medial School, which is now part of Imperial College London. Dr Buluwela has been interested in developing in vitro models for the study of mammary gland morphogenesis and growth, using primary human mammary epithelial cells. As part of this work, he has developed a particular expertise in isolating and purifying both normal and malignant mammary epithelial cells, which have been used in studies of gene expression comparing normal and tumour cell types. His most recent work has centred on developing new techniques for manipulating key genes in cell models and has been carried out in collaboration with Professor Simak Ali and Professor Charles Coombes. This has included the use of viral vectors to over-express genes, such as the oestrogen receptor in primary, normal mammary epithelial cells and the development of a new technology to silence genes, based on chromatin engineering. The later approach is known as "Gene Inactivation by Chromatin Engineering", or "Gene ICE" and has been successfully used to obtain long term gene silencing of oestrogen regulated gene expression in breast cancer cell lines. More recently, this system has been used to identify genes implicated in cell growth in response to estrogen. These genes are potential new targets for breast cancer therapy and include LRH-1, a target being developed by CD3. Further commercial exploitation of Gene ICE has led to the formation of an Imperial College spin-out company, Gene Expression Technologies, and the formation of a new alliance with Cronos Therapeutics Ltd. For more information see here.

Epigenetics and pharmocodynamics

Professor Robert Brown

Professor Robert Brown is Chair in Translational Oncology in the Department of Surgery and Oncology within the Faculty of Medicine at Imperial College, where he heads the Epigenetics Unit. His post is a joint appointment between Imperial College London and Institute of Cancer Research where he is Professor of Translational Oncology in the Section of Medicine. Robert is Principal Investigator of a Cancer Research UK research programme, Pharmacodynamics and Drug Resistance and is a joint Principle Investigator of the Ovarian Cancer Action Centre research programme.

Professor Brown’s work focuses on epigenetics and drug resistance research, with a particular focus on ovarian cancer. He examines how tumours acquire resistance to chemotherapy and approaches to improving treatment by overcoming drug resistance. He and his team have shown that aberrant DNA methylation and epigenetic silencing of genes in tumours can predict response to chemotherapy and patient survival. As part of his work, Robert is also facilitating development of compounds which can reverse epigenetic silencing and is using molecular biomarker assays to aid the clinical use of these compounds. Further, he is identifying cancer specific epigenetic changes and developing novel compounds which target these changes. Recently, he has initiated studies on identifying such targets in ovarian tumour stem cells. For more information see here.

Clinical development

Professor Charles Coombes FMedSci

Professor Charles Coombes

Qualified in 1971 from St George’s Hospital and subsequently awarded an MRC Research Fellowship in 1974. He studied for a PhD at The Institute of Cancer Research and became a Senior Lecturer/Honorary Consultant at The Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research at The Royal Marsden Hospital in 1979. Subsequently became Consultant Medical Oncologist to St George’s Hospital in 1985 and then Professor of Medical Oncology, Director of CRC Laboratories Charing Cross and Westminster Medical School in 1990. Became Director of The West London Cancer Centre and Head of Department of Cancer Medicine at Imperial College in 1998. Main interests are molecular mechanisms of endocrine response and resistance in breast cancer and developing novel therapies for breast cancer.

Charles Coombes runs a laboratory of approximately 160 staff in which he is engaged in the development of new forms of treatment for breast cancer, particularly endocrine therapy. Over the past 20 years, his group has completed the clinical development of steroidal aromatase inhibitors. His laboratory is currently engaged in studies aimed at understanding the role of estrogen receptor α and forkhead in human breast cancer.

His team is engaged in developing novel methods for prediction of response to endocrine therapy and also doing research aimed at understanding the mechanisms of resistance to endocrine therapy, particularly the role of gamme secretase and the notch pathway. He works closely with Profs Simak Ali, Eric Lam, Drs Ernesto Yague and Justin Stebbing. For more information see here.