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Emma Wadforth Completes Her PhD Viva

We are delighted to celebrate a remarkable milestone in Emma Wadforth’s academic journey: she has successfully defended her PhD viva!  This achievement represents years of dedication, curiosity, and resilience. Emma’s PhD research, funded by ERC, focused on developing cyclic peptides against human neuraminidases.  We would also like to extend our thanks to Emma’s examiners, Prof Steven Cobb (Durham University) and Dr Céline Cano (Newcastle University), for their valuable time and engagement.   Wishing her every success in her new role at the Francis Crick Institute.   

Tim Bell Completes His PhD Viva

We’re delighted that Dr Tim Bell has successfully passed his PhD viva! An incredible milestone that reflects years of perseverance and hard work.    Tim worked on developing peptide-based tools to understand the chemokine network using high throughput peptide screening and biophysical methods, as part of his PhD funded by the BBSRC Doctoral Training Partnership. Tim’s highly interdisciplinary project benefited from several collaborations, including learning cell-based assays with Prof. Shoumo Bhattacharya (University of Oxford), crystallography with Prof Ehmke Pohl (Durham University) and bioinformatics with Dr Simon Cockell (Newcastle University).  A heartfelt thank you to Tim’s examiners, Prof Simi Ali (Newcastle University) and Dr Michael Plevin (University of York), for their time and expertise during the examination.  Congratulations, Tim, on this incredible achievement!

Tom Smith Completes His PhD Viva

We’re thrilled to share the fantastic news that Dr Tom Smith has successfully completed his PhD viva! This achievement marks the culmination of years of dedication, perseverance, and hard work in the field of Chemical Biology.  Tom’s PhD involved a collaboration with Novo Nordisk, a global healthcare company based in Denmark, which resulted in a published paper in RSC Chemical Biology.  A huge thank you to Tom’s examiners, Dr Tom McAllister (Newcastle University) and Dr Scott Lovell (University of Bath) for their time.   Congratulations Tom! 

Celebrating the Start of Faye’s PhD Journey

We’re thrilled that Faye Turnbull has officially begun her PhD journey as part of the Kawamura Research Group and the North-East England Doctoral Landscape (NEEDL) – a new Centre for Doctoral Training supported by UKRI’s Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC).  Faye joins us after completing her Master’s in Chemistry at Newcastle University, bringing a strong foundation in chemical biology to her doctoral studies. We look forward to following Faye’s journey in protein hotspot mapping for protein–protein interaction studies – here’s to a new chapter in her research! 

Farewell to Emma & Kallie

This September, we said goodbye to two fantastic researchers. Dr. Emma Wadforth also completed her PhD in Chemical Biology, sponsored by the European Research Council (ERC), and is now heading to an exciting new role at The Francis Crick Institute.   Dr. Kallie Friston joined us as a Post-Doctoral Research Associate after completing her PhD at Newcastle University, aligned with the MoSMed CDT. Now Kallie is starting a new role in Medicinal Chemistry at Newcastle University.  Both Emma and Kallie were valued members of our team, and we wish them every success in their future endeavours and look forward to following their journeys! 

Emma’s Research Wins Award at EPSC 2025

We’re thrilled to share that our PhD student Emma Wadworth presented her research at the European Peptide Synthesis Conference (EPSC) 2025, held in August 25–27 in Porto, Portugal.   This prestigious event brings together leading scientists and innovators from across Europe to explore the latest advancements in peptide synthesis, including high-throughput strategies, protein production, and cGMP applications.  As well as showcasing her PhD research to conference delegates, Emma won an award for her poster on developing and optimising cyclic peptide inhibitors against human neuraminidases. Congratulations Emma!    

Celebrating Our 2025 Summer Graduates

At the end of July, we proudly celebrated the achievements of four students in the Chemical Biology department at Newcastle University.   Huge congratulations to Dr Filomena Saulino and Dr Siddique Amin on the successful completion of their PhDs – the first Kawamura group Newcastle PhD students ! – and to Faye Turnbull and Ellie Bentley on earning their Master’s degrees!  We’re excited to share that Siddique has since joined AstraZeneca, where he continues to apply his expertise as a Senior Scientist. Filomena remains with us as a Postdoctoral Research Associate, continuing her impactful work in the Kawamura Research Group.   We’re proud of you all and wish you every success in… Read More »Celebrating Our 2025 Summer Graduates

Showcasing Research at PPSG 2025 Conference

In July, members of our team—Dr Robert Dawber, Tim Bell, and Keir Pebody—attended the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Protein and Peptide Science Group (PPSG) 2025 Early Stage Researcher Meeting in Birmingham.   The conference provided a platform for early career researchers to present their work, exchange ideas, and build connections within the scientific community. We’re proud to share that both Rob and Tim presented their research findings, contributing to the discussions that make PPSG a valuable experience for young researchers.  Tim’s talk presented his PhD work involving peptide arrays for informing chemokine PPIs and Probe Development. Meanwhile, Rob’s poster described his work to develop new methods to study how post-translational modifications… Read More »Showcasing Research at PPSG 2025 Conference

Emma Presents at the RSC CBBG Symposium

This June, Emma Wadforth had the exciting opportunity to present her PhD research at the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Chemical Biology and Bioorganic Group (CBBG) Postgraduate Symposium in Aberdeen, UK.  As she nears the completion of her PhD journey—funded by the European Research Council (ERC)—Emma’s oral presentation marked a proud moment of sharing her work with the wider scientific community. The CBBG symposium provided a great opportunity for connecting with fellow researchers in chemical biology, exchanging ideas, and celebrating the progress of early-career scientists. Emma’s PhD project synthesised and characterised a selection of novel cyclic peptides from mRNA display against NEU2. This work led to the discovery of some of… Read More »Emma Presents at the RSC CBBG Symposium

MoSMed CDT Conference 2025

In April, our team members attended the annual MoSMed CDT Conference at Durham University, an event funded by EPSRC that brings together doctoral students to discuss and explore molecular science for medicine.  The conference was a vibrant showcase of cutting-edge research, featuring project presentations, flash talks from PhD students, and keynote sessions from leading experts. We’re especially proud of Keir Pebody,  who earned Runner-up Best Flash Talk – a fantastic recognition of his work and presentation skills.   It was also a great opportunity to see Siddique Amin, a former PhD student from the Kawamura Research Group, now mentoring Keir as his supervisor at AstraZeneca.   Looking forward to what MoSMed 2026… Read More »MoSMed CDT Conference 2025