Skip to content

Newcastle

Exploring Science with Families at the Centre for Life

Written by: Siddique Amin.   Last month, a group of PhD researchers from the MoSMed CDT put together an exciting event called “Marvellous Molecules and Medicine.” Held at the Newcastle Centre for Life, this science outreach event brought together families and individuals eager to explore the wonders of science. Among the team of researchers was Siddique, Tom, and Emma from the Kawamura group, who had a blast being a part of it. The event was all about hands-on learning and interactive experiments. The MoSMed researchers engaged with visitors as they journeyed through the museum. They made science come alive by showing families the fascinating world of bacteria and the importance… Read More »Exploring Science with Families at the Centre for Life

Class of 23 MChems Finish

After months of hard work Maddy Sayers and Maia Evans have successfully completed their MChem thesis and viva in the Kawamura Group. Their work has involved investigating different roles and uses for cyclic peptides as chemical probes working with PhD students Siddique and Emma. Congratulations and well done on all your hard work, it has been a joy to work with you! We are looking forward to seeing where you go next.

Emma Wins RSC CBBG Travel Grant

Emma won an RSC CBBG travel grant which enabled her to visit the lab of our collaborator Professor Frances Platt (Department of Pharmacology) in Oxford for two weeks in January 2023.   The visit enabled Emma to test her cyclic peptide compounds in next stage assay models including against mouse brain homogenates and cell lysates. This enabled cross-screening against different isoenzymes of the disease target for selectivity studies, helping accelerate hit compound progression for lysosomal disorders and neurodegenerative therapy. As well as advancing the PhD, the visit helped strengthen collaborations with a world-leading laboratory in the disease field, with future collaborative work already in place in the coming months. Image Description(… Read More »Emma Wins RSC CBBG Travel Grant

Summer Newcastle University Chemical Biology Workshop

On Friday 1st July 2022 we hosted the second Chemical biology workshop at Newcastle University Groups from across the faculty of medicine science and the school of natural and environment science presented a quick synopsis of their research with the aim to spark ideas for collaboration and more awareness of the diverse Chem Bio research happening at Newcastle University. Ten academics delivered flash presentations on diverse areas of research (see below). The talks were followed by a poster session where our early career researchers showcased their work and networked with colleagues from across the university. Exploring mechanisms of kinase inhibitor resistance in MYC driven lymphoma, Neil Perkins, FMS Understanding protein… Read More »Summer Newcastle University Chemical Biology Workshop

Congratulations Grace!!

  Many congratulations to group member Grace Roper and her husband Cameron Taylor (a medicinal chemist!) on their wedding!  Thanks for inviting us to share your day. We wish these two wonderfully talented scientists all the best!

Chiara selected to attend the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting!

We are delighted to announce that Chiara Maniaci has been selected to attend the prestigious 71st Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting in June. Chiara will join a cohort of 611 of the most qualified young scientists from 91 countries after a rigorous selection process.  She was nominated by the Royal Society and assessed on academic ability, motivation, and extra-curricular activities in a multi-stage process. The meeting will take place in Lindau, Germany from 26 June – 1 July, the participants will be able to meet each other and around 30 Nobel Laureates in person.  The Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings foster the exchange among scientists of different generations, cultures, and disciplines. Chiara… Read More »Chiara selected to attend the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting!

Chemical Biology Workshop

On Tuesday 15th March we hosted a Chemical biology workshop at Newcastle University, involving academics across the faculty of medicine science and the school of natural and environment science.  Ten academics delivered flash presentations on diverse areas of research (see below).  A great way to get the group talking and learning about the chemical biology research going on across the university.   Engineered protein polymers for high performance, multi-functional biomaterials Daniel Peters and David A Fulton Structure guided drug discovery for loss-of-function diseases Wyatt Yue (Cyclic) peptide discovery platform Akane Kawamura In vivo Non-invasive Small Animal Molecular Imaging Services Saimir Luli Mass spectrometry tools in drug discovery Matthias Trost Biocatalysts… Read More »Chemical Biology Workshop

Collaboration with NovoNordisk

Delighted to share the first publication of our collaboration with Martin Munzel and colleagues at NovoNordisk ‘An integrated platform approach enables discovery of potent, selective and ligand-competitive cyclic peptides targeting the GIP receptor‘. Thanks to all involved: Bhaskar Bhushan, Daniele Granata, Christian S. Kaas, Marina A. Kasimova, Qiansheng Ren, Christian N. Cramer,  Mark D. White, Ann Maria K. Hansen,Christian Fledelius, Gaetano Invernizzi,Kristine Deibler, Oliver D. Coleman, Xin Zhao, Xinping Qu, Haimo Liu, Silvana S. Zurmühl,b Janos T. Kodra, Akane Kawamura and Martin Münzel The work was supported by a NovoNordisk STAR postdoc fellowship and the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme. Read… Read More »Collaboration with NovoNordisk

Celebrating International Womens Day

International Women’s Day is an opportunity to celebrate the successes of women in our group and appreciate all the supportive allies we have. The theme for the IWD 2022 campaign is #BreakTheBias and we encourage everyone to celebrate women’s accomplishments, raise awareness about bias, and take action to achieve gender equality.  We can proactively take the steps, however small, to call out bias, even when it comes from people who are close to us, and question the stereotypes that still hold us back.  Unfortunately we still live in a world yet free from inequality, bias, stereotypes and discrimination.  In many places women are still excluded from forms of decision making… Read More »Celebrating International Womens Day

Novo Nordisk Collaborator Visit

This week the Kawamura group was thrilled to host Dr Martin Münzel, scientific director in research chemistry at Novo Nordisk. Martin is a long-time collaborator with the group and gave a fascinating talk on the use of mRNA display in drug discovery workflows as well as engaging in some stimulating conversations about peptide chemistry. Martin is also a MosMed CDT industrial supervisor to group member Tom Smith. We’d love to have you back anytime, Martin!