News
2018
Exciting interim data from Summit's PhaseOut DMD clinical trial
Released today (25th January 2018), Summit Therapeutics plc has revealed that the PhaseOut DMD Phase 2 clinical trial has generated exciting 24-week interim data showing that Ezutromid significantly reduced muscle damage in patients with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy.
Congratulations Aini!
Many congratulations to Aini who passed her DPhil viva yesterday on 16th January - go Dr Vuorinen!
Presentation: AJR at Aptorum Group and University of Oxford Life Sciences Conference 2018
AJR was invited to present her talk at the Aptorum Group and University of Oxford Life Sciences Conference 2018 in Hong Kong on 11th January 2018.
No news items this month
Prizes for Sophie Trott and Libby Brown
Sophie and Libby, both Part II students in the AJR group, have been awarded undergraduate prizes for their performance in Part IB exams. Sophie won the GSK 3rd year prize in practical organic chemistry and Libby won the Gibbs prize for outstanding performance in organic chemistry. Many congratulations to you both!
No news items this month
Running for success - team 'Russell's Muscles'
Well done to the 'Russell's Muscles' team who successfully ran the Oxford 10-km road race on Sunday 13th May. The event, held annually, is organised by the Muscular Dystrophy UK charity; the team ran to raise awareness of the research in the Russell and Davies labs towards the discovery and development of treatments for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy.
Paton prize for Chris Lindsay; Purnima Kumar highly commended
Many congratulations to Chris Lindsay, a BHF CRE funded DPhil student jointly supervised by Angela Russell and Rebecca Sitsapesan, who was jointly awarded the Paton Prize with Alexander Von Klemperer (Akerman group) at the Department of Pharmacology. The prize is awarded annually to the best DPhil student presentation in honour of the late Sir William Paton, former Professor of Pharmacology and the Head of the Pharmacology Department.
This year's prize was judged by Professor Helen Christian (DPAG), Associate Professor Catherine Pears (Department of Biochemistry), and Dr Tommas Ellender. Chris’ presentation outlined his research to study the effect of statin drugs on skeletal muscle ryanodine receptors. In his project Chris uses electrophysiological techniques towards designing a new generation of statin drugs, with lower side effects for patients.
Purnima Kumar, also from the Russell group, was highly commended by the judges for her presentation on her work to study the role of HDACi and novel analogues inducing differentiation in AML cell lines. In her research Purnima uses a small molecule screen to obtain the subset of HDACi and novel analogues and further validated the mechanism of action using western blot and activity assays.
Presentation: AJR at the Joint BHF Regenerative Medicine Centres Symposium 2018
AJR was delighted to have been invited to speak at the BHF Regenerative Medicine Centres symposium (18th and 19th June) with her presentation 'Medicinal chemistry for cardiovascular regenerative medicine'.
Congratulations
Congratulations to Eleanor Atkinson, William Henshall, Bridget Reeve and Gabriella van der Valk for handing in their Part II theses.
Poster prize for Chris Lindsay
Chris Lindsay, a BHF CRE funded DPhil student (AJR group and Rebecca Sitsapesan's group, Pharmacology), has been awarded the poster prize at the British Pharmacological Society meeting in Edinburgh - Pharmacology Futures. The conference focused on exploring the technologies that will drive drug development over the next 10 to 15 years, with speakers sharing their visions of the future.
Chris presented his work on using electrophysiology to elucidate the mechanism of statin side effects, towards the development of next generation HMG-CoA inhibitors.
Recognition of Distinction - Professor Angela J. Russell
Many congratulations to AJR following her success in the University's Recognition of Distinction Exercise conferring her with the title of Professor of Medicinal Chemistry. The committee recognised outstanding contributions made through her research, teaching and good citizenship roles within the University, nationally and internationally.
Presentation: AJR at the 256th ACS National Meeting, Boston, MA
AJR is speaking on Monday 20th August at the 256th ACS National Meeting in Boston with her presentation entitled 'Small molecule utrophin modulators for the therapy of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD)'.
Welcome to our Part IIs
We are very pleased to welcome our Part IIs this year: Libby Brown, Hannah Lawrence, Jacob Locke-Gotel and Sophie Trott.
Nature Comms paper highlights a new strategy for targeting protein-protein interactions (PPIs) for the development of new small molecule therapeutics
Results from a collaboration between the Rabbitts Group (MRC Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, WIMM) and the Russell group (Depts Chemistry and Pharmacology) has recently been published in Nature Communications. The paper entitled ‘Small molecule inhibitors of RAS-effector protein interactions derived using an intracellular antibody fragment’ describes a new approach using intracellular antibody fragments to block Protein-Protein Interactions (PPIs), use the fragments for target validation in disease models, and develop new small molecules against the PPI epitope. The work by the Rabbitts and Russells Groups used the approach to identify RAS-binding compounds with the aim of developing potential treatments for RAS-dependent cancers. Link to paper…
Oxford Stem Cell Institute Symposium 2018
Registration is now open for the Oxford Stem Cell Institute Symposium entitled: Stem Cells: From Mechanism to Therapy. The Symposium will highlight areas of stem cell research with trajectories towards treatments of diseases including retinopathies, metabolic and genetic skin disorders, neurodegeneration, musculoskeletal disease, heart failure and cancer. Registration.
Nature Comms paper highlights a new strategy for targeting protein-protein interactions (PPIs) for the development of new small molecule therapeutics
Results from a collaboration between the Rabbitts Group (MRC Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, WIMM) and the Russell group (Depts Chemistry and Pharmacology) has recently been published in Nature Communications. The paper entitled ‘Small molecule inhibitors of RAS-effector protein interactions derived using an intracellular antibody fragment’ describes a new approach using intracellular antibody fragments to block Protein-Protein Interactions (PPIs), use the fragments for target validation in disease models, and develop new small molecules against the PPI epitope. The work by the Rabbitts and Russells Groups used the approach to identify RAS-binding compounds with the aim of developing potential treatments for RAS-dependent cancers. Link to paper.
Enterprising WISE
AJR has been invited to speak about her research, spin-outs and experience at the Enterprising WISE lunchtime talk in the Department of Chemistry. The organisation encourages more women to build careers across the science and technology sector.
Outreach: Laurence Silpa represents the AJR group at the Oxford Science and Ideas Festival
Laurence Silpa represented the Russell group at the Oxford Science and Ideas Festival (IF) event held in the Weston Library on 12th October. The group, composed of Pharmacology staff and students, showcased an activity entitled “How Medicines Work” with the aim to introduce participants to the basic mechanism of how painkillers work in our bodies. Visitors to the stand created their own model of painkillers such as aspirin, paracetamol and/or ibuprofen. The IF Oxford event continues until 22 October - for more information see: https://if-oxford.com/
AJR interview with RxNet
Following her presentation at the 256th ACS National Meeting, Boston, MA this summer, AJR was interviewed for an article and short film for RxNet (previously MedChemNet) a network for Pharma R&D. To access the interview: Link
AJR at the BBC Academy's Expert Women World Service Day
AJR was selected to attend the BBC Academy's Expert Women World Service Day on 22nd November to learn more about the World Service English, receive media training for future opportunities to share the group's research, towards the development of regenerative medicines, on topical radio and television programmes.
New publication
Chatzopoulou et al: The Dimroth rearrangement as a probable cause for structural misassignments in imidazo[1,2-a]pyrimidines: A 15N-labelling study and an easy method for the determination of regiochemistry. Tetrahedron, 74, Issue 38, 2018, 5280-5288.
AJR at the CRUK Technology Showcase 2018
AJR was invited to present her research at the Therapeutics, Small Molecules and Biologics Technology Showcase on 19th November 2018.
Poster prize for Dan Lucy
Daniel Lucy, a BHF CRE funded DPhil student in the Russell group, has won a prize for best poster presentation at Pharmacology 2018, in London. The conference is the flagship meeting of the British Pharmacological Society and attracts over 1100 researchers from around the world. Daniel's research titled "Biased GPR84 agonists cause distinct functional effects in macrophages" was performed in collaboration with Prof. David Greaves at the Sir William Dunn School of Pathology in Oxford.