Chris Abell
Encyclopedia
Christopher Abell, MA, PhD (born 11 November 1957) is a British
biological chemist
. As of 2009, he is a professor of biological chemistry at the Department of Chemistry of the University of Cambridge
and Todd-Hamied Fellow of Christ's College
.
of the University of Cambridge
, gaining an MA in Natural Science (1979) and a PhD on the topic of polyketide
biosynthesis under the supervision of James Staunton, FRS (1982). He held a research fellowship in the laboratory of David E. Cane
at Brown University
, Providence
, USA, studying terpene
biosynthesis (1982–3).
In 1984, Abell joined the Department of Chemistry of the University of Cambridge, successively holding the positions of demonstrator, lecturer and reader in chemical biology, and becoming professor in biological chemistry in 2002. He has held visiting professorships at the Australian National University
in Canberra
, University of Santiago de Compostela
and University of Canterbury
, Christchurch
.
He has been a fellow of Christ's College
since 1986; as of 2009, he is the college's Todd-Hamied Fellow. He serves on the steering committee of the multidisciplinary Cambridge Infectious Disease group.
and amino acid
biosynthesis
as targets for the rational design
of antimicrobial
s and antiparasitics; fragment-based approaches to enzyme inhibition; bacterial and plant riboswitch
es; reactions in microdroplets; and biological nanotechnology
.
Prize in Organic Chemistry in 1992.
uses fragment-based drug discovery technology to discover cancer
therapeutics. Akubio developed biosensor
s for detecting bacteria and viruses; it was acquired by Inverness Medical Innovations in 2008.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
biological chemist
Chemical biology
Chemical biology is a scientific discipline spanning the fields of chemistry and biology that involves the application of chemical techniques and tools, often compounds produced through synthetic chemistry, to the study and manipulation of biological systems. This is a subtle difference from...
. As of 2009, he is a professor of biological chemistry at the Department of Chemistry of the University of Cambridge
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
and Todd-Hamied Fellow of Christ's College
Christ's College, Cambridge
Christ's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge.With a reputation for high academic standards, Christ's College averaged top place in the Tompkins Table from 1980-2000 . In 2011, Christ's was placed sixth.-College history:...
.
Education and career
Abell attended St John's CollegeSt John's College, Cambridge
St John's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college's alumni include nine Nobel Prize winners, six Prime Ministers, three archbishops, at least two princes, and three Saints....
of the University of Cambridge
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
, gaining an MA in Natural Science (1979) and a PhD on the topic of polyketide
Polyketide
Polyketides are secondary metabolites from bacteria, fungi, plants, and animals. Polyketides are usually biosynthesized through the decarboxylative condensation of malonyl-CoA derived extender units in a similar process to fatty acid synthesis...
biosynthesis under the supervision of James Staunton, FRS (1982). He held a research fellowship in the laboratory of David E. Cane
David E. Cane
David E. Cane is an American biological chemist. He is Vernon K. Krieble Professor of Chemistry and Professor of Biochemistry at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. He is recognized for his work on the biosynthesis of natural products, particularly terpenoids and polyketides...
at Brown University
Brown University
Brown University is a private, Ivy League university located in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1764 prior to American independence from the British Empire as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations early in the reign of King George III ,...
, Providence
Providence, Rhode Island
Providence is the capital and most populous city of Rhode Island and was one of the first cities established in the United States. Located in Providence County, it is the third largest city in the New England region...
, USA, studying terpene
Terpene
Terpenes are a large and diverse class of organic compounds, produced by a variety of plants, particularly conifers, though also by some insects such as termites or swallowtail butterflies, which emit terpenes from their osmeterium. They are often strong smelling and thus may have had a protective...
biosynthesis (1982–3).
In 1984, Abell joined the Department of Chemistry of the University of Cambridge, successively holding the positions of demonstrator, lecturer and reader in chemical biology, and becoming professor in biological chemistry in 2002. He has held visiting professorships at the Australian National University
Australian National University
The Australian National University is a teaching and research university located in the Australian capital, Canberra.As of 2009, the ANU employs 3,945 administrative staff who teach approximately 10,000 undergraduates, and 7,500 postgraduate students...
in Canberra
Canberra
Canberra is the capital city of Australia. With a population of over 345,000, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory , south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Melbourne...
, University of Santiago de Compostela
University of Santiago de Compostela
The Royal University of Santiago de Compostela - USC is a public university located in the city of Santiago de Compostela, Galicia, Spain. A second campus is located in Lugo, Galicia....
and University of Canterbury
University of Canterbury
The University of Canterbury , New Zealand's second-oldest university, operates its main campus in the suburb of Ilam in the city of Christchurch, New Zealand...
, Christchurch
Christchurch
Christchurch is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand, and the country's second-largest urban area after Auckland. It lies one third of the way down the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula which itself, since 2006, lies within the formal limits of...
.
He has been a fellow of Christ's College
Christ's College, Cambridge
Christ's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge.With a reputation for high academic standards, Christ's College averaged top place in the Tompkins Table from 1980-2000 . In 2011, Christ's was placed sixth.-College history:...
since 1986; as of 2009, he is the college's Todd-Hamied Fellow. He serves on the steering committee of the multidisciplinary Cambridge Infectious Disease group.
Research
His research interests include vitaminVitamin
A vitamin is an organic compound required as a nutrient in tiny amounts by an organism. In other words, an organic chemical compound is called a vitamin when it cannot be synthesized in sufficient quantities by an organism, and must be obtained from the diet. Thus, the term is conditional both on...
and amino acid
Amino acid
Amino acids are molecules containing an amine group, a carboxylic acid group and a side-chain that varies between different amino acids. The key elements of an amino acid are carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen...
biosynthesis
Biosynthesis
Biosynthesis is an enzyme-catalyzed process in cells of living organisms by which substrates are converted to more complex products. The biosynthesis process often consists of several enzymatic steps in which the product of one step is used as substrate in the following step...
as targets for the rational design
Drug design
Drug design, also sometimes referred to as rational drug design or structure-based drug design, is the inventive process of finding new medications based on the knowledge of the biological target...
of antimicrobial
Antimicrobial
An anti-microbial is a substance that kills or inhibits the growth of microorganisms such as bacteria, fungi, or protozoans. Antimicrobial drugs either kill microbes or prevent the growth of microbes...
s and antiparasitics; fragment-based approaches to enzyme inhibition; bacterial and plant riboswitch
Riboswitch
In molecular biology, a riboswitch is a part of an mRNA molecule that can directly bind a small target molecule, and whose binding of the target affects the gene's activity. Thus, an mRNA that contains a riboswitch is directly involved in regulating its own activity, in response to the...
es; reactions in microdroplets; and biological nanotechnology
Nanotechnology
Nanotechnology is the study of manipulating matter on an atomic and molecular scale. Generally, nanotechnology deals with developing materials, devices, or other structures possessing at least one dimension sized from 1 to 100 nanometres...
.
Awards
His awards include an ICIImperial Chemical Industries
Imperial Chemical Industries was a British chemical company, taken over by AkzoNobel, a Dutch conglomerate, one of the largest chemical producers in the world. In its heyday, ICI was the largest manufacturing company in the British Empire, and commonly regarded as a "bellwether of the British...
Prize in Organic Chemistry in 1992.
Companies
Abell is the co-founder of two companies. Astex Technology LtdAstex
Astex Therapeutics is a biotechnology company focused on the discovery and development of drugs in oncology and other areas. Astex was founded in 1999 by Sir Tom Blundell, Chris Abell & Harren Jhoti, and is located in Cambridge, UK....
uses fragment-based drug discovery technology to discover cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
therapeutics. Akubio developed biosensor
Biosensor
A biosensor is an analytical device for the detection of an analyte that combines a biological component with a physicochemical detector component.It consists of 3 parts:* the sensitive biological element A biosensor is an analytical device for the detection of an analyte that combines a biological...
s for detecting bacteria and viruses; it was acquired by Inverness Medical Innovations in 2008.
Reviews
- Ciulli A, Abell C. (2007) Fragment-based approaches to enzyme inhibition. Curr Opin Biotech 18: 489–496
- Blundell TL, Jhoti H, Abell C. (2002) High throughput crystallography for lead discovery in drug design. Nat Rev Drug DiscovNature Reviews Drug DiscoveryNature Reviews Drug Discovery is a review journal with an emphasis on drug discovery and development. With an impact factor of 28.712 in 2010 it is the leading journal in pharmacology/pharmacy and biotechnology/applied microbiology areas....
1: 45–54
Research papers
- Fidalgo LM, Whyte G, Bratton D, Abell C, Huck WTS. (2008) From microdroplets to microfluidics: selective emulsion separation in microfluidic devices. Angew Chimie (Intl Ed)Angewandte ChemieAngewandte Chemie is a weekly peer-reviewed scientific journal that covers all aspects of chemistry. Its impact factor was 12.730 in 2010, the highest value for a chemistry-specific journal that publishes original research...
47: 2042–2045 - Kerbarh O, Ciulli A, Chirgadze DY, Blundell TL, Abell C. (2007) Nucleophile selectivity of chorismate-utilizing enzymes. ChemBioChemChemBioChemChemBioChem is a European Journal of Chemical Biology co-owned by the 14 European chemical society members of ChemPubSoc Europe and is published by Wiley-VCH. ChemBioChem is a peer-reviewed chemical biology journal that has been published since 2000...
8: 622–624 - Howard N, Abell C, Blakemore W, Carr R, Chessari G, Congreve M, Howard S, Jhoti H, Murray CW, Seavers LCA, van Montfort RLM. (2006) The application of fragment screening and fragment linking to the discovery of novel thrombin inhibitors. J Med ChemJournal of Medicinal ChemistryThe Journal of Medicinal Chemistry , is a peer-reviewed scientific journal, published since 1959 by the American Chemical Society...
49: 1346–1355 - Bruckbauer A, Zhou D, Kang DJ, Korchev YE, Abell C, Klenerman D. (2004) An addressable antibody nanoarray produced on a nanofabricated surface. J Am Chem SocJournal of the American Chemical SocietyThe Journal of the American Chemical Society is a weekly peer-reviewed scientific journal that was established in 1879 by the American Chemical Society. The journal has absorbed two other publications in its history, the Journal of Analytical and Applied Chemistry and the American Chemical Journal...
126: 6508–6509 - Bulloch EM, Jones MA, Parker EJ, Osborne AP, Stephens E, Davies GM, Coggins JR, Abell C. (2004) Identification of 4-amino-4-deoxychorismate synthase as the molecular target for the antimicrobial action of (6S)-6-fluoroshikimate. J Am Chem SocJournal of the American Chemical SocietyThe Journal of the American Chemical Society is a weekly peer-reviewed scientific journal that was established in 1879 by the American Chemical Society. The journal has absorbed two other publications in its history, the Journal of Analytical and Applied Chemistry and the American Chemical Journal...
126: 9912–9913 - Webb ME, Stephens E, Smith AG, Abell C. (2003) Rapid screening by MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry to probe binding specificity at enzyme active sites. Chem CommunChemical CommunicationsChemical Communications, known as ChemComm, is a peer-reviewed scientific journal published by the Royal Society of Chemistry . It contains communications of significant work from across the chemical sciences. It also includes feature articles...
Oct 7: 2416–2417 - Cooper MA, Dultsev FN, Minson T, Ostanin VP, Abell C, Klenerman K. (2001) Direct and sensitive detection of a human virus by rupture event scanning. Nat BiotechnolNature BiotechnologyNature Biotechnology is an academic journal covering the science and business of biotechnology.Nature Biotechnology is a continuation of Bio/Technology , which was founded in 1983 and renamed in 1996. It is published monthly by the Nature Publishing Group, a division of Macmillan Publishers Ltd...
19: 833–837 - Albert A, Dhanaraj V, Genschel U, Khan G, Ramjee MK, Pulido R, Sibanda BL, von Delft F, Witty M, Blundell TL, Smith AG, Abell C. (1998) Crystal structure of aspartate decarboxylase at 2.2 Å resolution provides evidence for an ester in protein self-processing. Nat Struct Biol 5: 289–293
- McKendry R, Theoclitou ME, Rayment T, Abell C. (1998) Chiral discrimination by chemical force microscopy. NatureNature (journal)Nature, first published on 4 November 1869, is ranked the world's most cited interdisciplinary scientific journal by the Science Edition of the 2010 Journal Citation Reports...
391: 566–568