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Chris Abell
Abell in 2016
Born
Christopher Abell

(1957-11-11)11 November 1957
Died26 October 2020(2020-10-26) (aged 62)
NationalityBritish
Education University of Cambridge (BA, MA, PhD)
Known for Astex [3]
biosynthesis as targets for the rational design of antimicrobials; fragment-based approaches to enzyme inhibition; and biological nanotechnology
Awards Hickinbottom Award (1991)
Scientific career
Fields Biological chemistry
Institutions University of Cambridge
Brown University
Thesis Polyketide biosynthesis (1982)
Doctoral advisorJames Staunton
Doctoral students Shankar Balasubramanian [1]
Alessio Ciulli [2]
Website www.ch.cam.ac.uk/person/ca26

Christopher Abell FRS FRSC FMedSci [4] (11 November 1957 [5] – 26 October 2020 [6]) was a British biological chemist who was a professor of biological chemistry at the Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry and Todd-Hamied Fellow of Christ's College, Cambridge. [7] On his 2016 election to the Royal Society, Abell's research was described as having "changed the face of drug discovery." [8]

Education

Abell was educated at St John's College, Cambridge, [5] gaining an Bachelor of Arts degree in Natural Sciences in 1979 followed by PhD [9] on the topic of polyketide biosynthesis for research supervised by James Staunton in 1982. [10]

Career and research

Abell held a research fellowship in the laboratory of David E. Cane at Brown University, Providence, USA, studying terpene biosynthesis (1982–83). [5] [10] 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. [5] [10] He held visiting professorships at the Australian National University in Canberra, University of Santiago de Compostela, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, and the Paul Sabatier University, Toulouse. [5] [10] [11] He was a fellow of Christ's College, Cambridge, from 1986; [12] and was the college's Todd-Hamied Fellow. [13] In 2013 he was appointed the first director of postdoctoral affairs at the University of Cambridge, [14] and in 2016 was appointed pro-vice-chancellor for research.

Abell published over 200 papers. [5] His research interests include vitamin and amino acid biosynthesis as targets for the rational design of antimicrobials; fragment-based approaches to enzyme inhibition; bacterial and plant riboswitches; reactions in microdroplets; [15] and biological nanotechnology. [16] His former doctoral students include Shankar Balasubramanian. [1]

Commercial ventures

Abell was the co-founder of several companies. In 1999, he co-founded Astex Technology Ltd, which uses fragment-based drug discovery technology to discover cancer therapeutics. [5] [11] In 2001, he co-founded Akubio, which developed biosensors for detecting bacteria and viruses; it was acquired by Inverness Medical Innovations in 2008. [17] In 2010, he co-founded Sphere Fluidics to develop microdroplet technology. [18] In 2012 he co-founded Aqdot, a company developing a new microencapsulation technology. [19]

Personal life

In 1981, he married Katherine Abell, who worked with him at the department of chemistry in Cambridge; they had a son. [6] [10] [20] He died suddenly on 26 October 2020. [6]

Awards and honours

His awards include the Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) Prize in Organic Chemistry in 1992, [10] the Hickinbottom Award of the Royal Society of Chemistry, [21] and a Yamada Science Foundation Award. [5] [10] In 2008 he was the MIT Novartis Lecturer, and in 2011 was a BIC International Fellow at the University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand. [22] He was elected a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences (FMedSci) in 2012 [23] and a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 2016. [24]

Selected publications

  • Ciulli, Alessio; Abell, Chris (2007). "Fragment-based approaches to enzyme inhibition". Current Opinion in Biotechnology. 18 (6): 489–496. doi: 10.1016/j.copbio.2007.09.003. ISSN  0958-1669. PMC  4441723. PMID  17959370.
  • Blundell, Tom L.; Jhoti, Harren; Abell, Chris (2002). "High-throughput crystallography for lead discovery in drug design". Nature Reviews Drug Discovery. 1 (1): 45–54. CiteSeerX  10.1.1.538.3976. doi: 10.1038/nrd706. ISSN  1474-1784. PMID  12119609. S2CID  3145020.
  • From Microdroplets to Microfluidics: Selective Emulsion Separation in Microfluidic Devices [15]
  • Huebner, A.; Srisa-Art, M.; Holt, D.; Abell, C.; Hollfelder, F.; deMello, A. J.; Edel, J. B. (2007). "Quantitative detection of protein expression in single cells using droplet microfluidics". Chemical Communications (12): 1218–20. doi: 10.1039/b618570c. ISSN  1359-7345. PMID  17356761.
  • Kerbarh, Olivier; Ciulli, Alessio; Chirgadze, Dimitri Y.; Blundell, Tom L.; Abell, Chris (2007). "Nucleophile Selectivity of Chorismate-Utilizing Enzymes". ChemBioChem. 8 (6): 622–624. doi: 10.1002/cbic.200700019. ISSN  1439-4227. PMID  17335098. S2CID  37100903.
  • Howard, Nigel; Abell, Chris; Blakemore, Wendy; Chessari, Gianni; Congreve, Miles; Howard, Steven; Jhoti, Harren; Murray, Christopher W.; Seavers, Lisa C. A.; van Montfort, Rob L. M. (2006). "Application of Fragment Screening and Fragment Linking to the Discovery of Novel Thrombin Inhibitors†". Journal of Medicinal Chemistry. 49 (4): 1346–1355. doi: 10.1021/jm050850v. ISSN  0022-2623. PMID  16480269.
  • Bruckbauer, Andreas; Zhou, Dejian; Kang, Dae-Joon; Korchev, Yuri E.; Abell, Chris; Klenerman, David (2004). "An Addressable Antibody Nanoarray Produced on a Nanostructured Surface". Journal of the American Chemical Society. 126 (21): 6508–6509. doi: 10.1021/ja0317426. ISSN  0002-7863. PMID  15161251.
  • Bulloch, Esther M. M.; Jones, Michelle A.; Parker, Emily J.; Osborne, Andrew P.; Stephens, Elaine; Davies, Gareth M.; Coggins, John R.; Abell, Chris (2004). "Identification of 4-Amino-4-deoxychorismate Synthase as the Molecular Target for the Antimicrobial Action of (6S)-6-Fluoroshikimate". Journal of the American Chemical Society. 126 (32): 9912–9913. doi: 10.1021/ja048312f. ISSN  0002-7863. PMID  15303852.
  • Webb, Michael E.; Stephens, Elaine; Smith, Alison G.; Abell, Chris (2003). "Rapid screening by MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry to probe binding specificity at enzyme active sites". Chemical Communications (19): 2416–7. doi: 10.1039/b308182f. ISSN  1359-7345. PMID  14587709.
  • Cooper, Matthew A.; Dultsev, Fedor N.; Minson, Tony; Ostanin, Victor P.; Abell, Chris; Klenerman, David (2001). "Direct and sensitive detection of a human virus by rupture event scanning". Nature Biotechnology. 19 (9): 833–837. doi: 10.1038/nbt0901-833. ISSN  1087-0156. PMID  11533641. S2CID  7307876.
  • Albert, Armando; Dhanaraj, Venugopal; Genschel, Ulrich; Khan, Ghalib; Ramjee, Manoj K.; Pulido, Rosaline; Sibanda, B. Lynn; Delft, Frank von; Witty, Michael; Blundell, Tom L.; Smith, Alison G.; Abell, Chris (1998). "Crystal structure of aspartate decarboxylase at 2.2 Å resolution provides evidence for an ester in protein self–processing". Nature Structural Biology. 5 (4): 289–293. doi: 10.1038/nsb0498-289. ISSN  1072-8368. PMID  9546220. S2CID  7569959.
  • Mahapatro, Mrinal; Gibson, Christopher; Abell, Chris; Rayment, Trevor (2003). "Chiral discrimination of basic and hydrophobic molecules by chemical force spectroscopy". Ultramicroscopy. 97 (1–4): 297–301. doi: 10.1016/S0304-3991(03)00055-X. ISSN  0304-3991. PMID  12801683.

References

  1. ^ a b Balasubramanian, Shankar (1991). Studies on the reaction mechanism of chorismate synthase. lib.cam.ac.uk (PhD thesis). University of Cambridge. OCLC  60112382. EThOS  uk.bl.ethos.386780.
  2. ^ Ciulli, Alessio (2006). Biophysical studies of protein-ligand interactions. lib.cam.ac.uk (PhD thesis). University of Cambridge. EThOS  uk.bl.ethos.613799.
  3. ^ "Christopher ABELL - Personal Appointments (free information from Companies House)". beta.companieshouse.gov.uk.
  4. ^ "Fellows (FRSC)". The Times. 27 October 2015. p. 57.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h Abell, Prof Christopher. In Debrett's People of Today 2012 (accessed 15 January 2012) (subscription required)
  6. ^ a b c Professor Chris Abell FRS, FMedSci (1957 - 2020), Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge, 27 October 2020, retrieved 15 November 2020
  7. ^ "Scientific Advisory Board". 7 April 2013. Archived from the original on 7 April 2013.
  8. ^ 50 leading scientists elected as Fellows of Royal Society, 29 April 2016, retrieved 2 September 2016
  9. ^ Abell, Christopher (1982). Polyketide biosynthesis. lib.cam.ac.uk (PhD thesis). University of Cambridge. OCLC  59312458. EThOS  uk.bl.ethos.350039.
  10. ^ a b c d e f g Abell Group Home Page: Curriculum vitae: Professor Christopher Abell, archived from the original on 25 September 2006, retrieved 15 January 2013{{ citation}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown ( link) (accessed 15 January 2013)
  11. ^ a b Astex Therapeutics: Scientific Advisors and Clinical Consultants Archived 14 August 2011 at the Wayback Machine (accessed 5 January 2009)
  12. ^ "Christ's College Magazine 2019". Issuu. Archived from the original on 18 May 2021. Retrieved 1 January 2020.
  13. ^ Christ's College, University of Cambridge: The Fellows of Christ's College Archived 5 March 2013 at the Wayback Machine (accessed 7 January 2013)
  14. ^ University of Cambridge: new senior post to support post-doc community (accessed 28 November 2013)
  15. ^ a b Theberge, Ashleigh B.; Courtois, Fabienne; Schaerli, Yolanda; Fischlechner, Martin; Abell, Chris; Hollfelder, Florian; Huck, Wilhelm T. S. (2010). "Microdroplets in Microfluidics: An Evolving Platform for Discoveries in Chemistry and Biology" (PDF). Angewandte Chemie International Edition. 49 (34): 5846–5868. doi: 10.1002/anie.200906653. ISSN  1433-7851. PMID  20572214. S2CID  18609389.
  16. ^ University of Cambridge: Department of Chemistry: Professor Chris Abell (accessed 5 January 2009)
  17. ^ Vargas L. Recycled Cambridge biosensor technology attracts millions in investment Business Weekly (27 August 2008) (accessed 5 January 2009)
  18. ^ Sphere Fluidics: 2010 News Archived 18 November 2012 at the Wayback Machine (accessed 7 January 2013)
  19. ^ Quested, Tony. "From farm to fame, Cambridge's 'cereal' life science entrepreneur | Business Weekly | Technology News | Business news | Cambridge and the East of England". www.businessweekly.co.uk. Retrieved 1 January 2020.
  20. ^ The Abell Group: Group Members, Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge, retrieved 15 November 2020
  21. ^ "RSC Hickinbottom Award Previous Winners". www.rsc.org. Retrieved 1 January 2020.
  22. ^ International Fellows Archived 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine, University of Canterbury – Christchurch. Retrieved 3 December 2013
  23. ^ The Academy of Medical Sciences: Fellows: Newly elected fellows Archived 27 September 2013 at the Wayback Machine (accessed 7 January 2013)
  24. ^ "Professor Christopher Abell Biography". Royal Society. Retrieved 1 May 2016.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Chris Abell
Abell in 2016
Born
Christopher Abell

(1957-11-11)11 November 1957
Died26 October 2020(2020-10-26) (aged 62)
NationalityBritish
Education University of Cambridge (BA, MA, PhD)
Known for Astex [3]
biosynthesis as targets for the rational design of antimicrobials; fragment-based approaches to enzyme inhibition; and biological nanotechnology
Awards Hickinbottom Award (1991)
Scientific career
Fields Biological chemistry
Institutions University of Cambridge
Brown University
Thesis Polyketide biosynthesis (1982)
Doctoral advisorJames Staunton
Doctoral students Shankar Balasubramanian [1]
Alessio Ciulli [2]
Website www.ch.cam.ac.uk/person/ca26

Christopher Abell FRS FRSC FMedSci [4] (11 November 1957 [5] – 26 October 2020 [6]) was a British biological chemist who was a professor of biological chemistry at the Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry and Todd-Hamied Fellow of Christ's College, Cambridge. [7] On his 2016 election to the Royal Society, Abell's research was described as having "changed the face of drug discovery." [8]

Education

Abell was educated at St John's College, Cambridge, [5] gaining an Bachelor of Arts degree in Natural Sciences in 1979 followed by PhD [9] on the topic of polyketide biosynthesis for research supervised by James Staunton in 1982. [10]

Career and research

Abell held a research fellowship in the laboratory of David E. Cane at Brown University, Providence, USA, studying terpene biosynthesis (1982–83). [5] [10] 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. [5] [10] He held visiting professorships at the Australian National University in Canberra, University of Santiago de Compostela, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, and the Paul Sabatier University, Toulouse. [5] [10] [11] He was a fellow of Christ's College, Cambridge, from 1986; [12] and was the college's Todd-Hamied Fellow. [13] In 2013 he was appointed the first director of postdoctoral affairs at the University of Cambridge, [14] and in 2016 was appointed pro-vice-chancellor for research.

Abell published over 200 papers. [5] His research interests include vitamin and amino acid biosynthesis as targets for the rational design of antimicrobials; fragment-based approaches to enzyme inhibition; bacterial and plant riboswitches; reactions in microdroplets; [15] and biological nanotechnology. [16] His former doctoral students include Shankar Balasubramanian. [1]

Commercial ventures

Abell was the co-founder of several companies. In 1999, he co-founded Astex Technology Ltd, which uses fragment-based drug discovery technology to discover cancer therapeutics. [5] [11] In 2001, he co-founded Akubio, which developed biosensors for detecting bacteria and viruses; it was acquired by Inverness Medical Innovations in 2008. [17] In 2010, he co-founded Sphere Fluidics to develop microdroplet technology. [18] In 2012 he co-founded Aqdot, a company developing a new microencapsulation technology. [19]

Personal life

In 1981, he married Katherine Abell, who worked with him at the department of chemistry in Cambridge; they had a son. [6] [10] [20] He died suddenly on 26 October 2020. [6]

Awards and honours

His awards include the Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) Prize in Organic Chemistry in 1992, [10] the Hickinbottom Award of the Royal Society of Chemistry, [21] and a Yamada Science Foundation Award. [5] [10] In 2008 he was the MIT Novartis Lecturer, and in 2011 was a BIC International Fellow at the University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand. [22] He was elected a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences (FMedSci) in 2012 [23] and a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 2016. [24]

Selected publications

  • Ciulli, Alessio; Abell, Chris (2007). "Fragment-based approaches to enzyme inhibition". Current Opinion in Biotechnology. 18 (6): 489–496. doi: 10.1016/j.copbio.2007.09.003. ISSN  0958-1669. PMC  4441723. PMID  17959370.
  • Blundell, Tom L.; Jhoti, Harren; Abell, Chris (2002). "High-throughput crystallography for lead discovery in drug design". Nature Reviews Drug Discovery. 1 (1): 45–54. CiteSeerX  10.1.1.538.3976. doi: 10.1038/nrd706. ISSN  1474-1784. PMID  12119609. S2CID  3145020.
  • From Microdroplets to Microfluidics: Selective Emulsion Separation in Microfluidic Devices [15]
  • Huebner, A.; Srisa-Art, M.; Holt, D.; Abell, C.; Hollfelder, F.; deMello, A. J.; Edel, J. B. (2007). "Quantitative detection of protein expression in single cells using droplet microfluidics". Chemical Communications (12): 1218–20. doi: 10.1039/b618570c. ISSN  1359-7345. PMID  17356761.
  • Kerbarh, Olivier; Ciulli, Alessio; Chirgadze, Dimitri Y.; Blundell, Tom L.; Abell, Chris (2007). "Nucleophile Selectivity of Chorismate-Utilizing Enzymes". ChemBioChem. 8 (6): 622–624. doi: 10.1002/cbic.200700019. ISSN  1439-4227. PMID  17335098. S2CID  37100903.
  • Howard, Nigel; Abell, Chris; Blakemore, Wendy; Chessari, Gianni; Congreve, Miles; Howard, Steven; Jhoti, Harren; Murray, Christopher W.; Seavers, Lisa C. A.; van Montfort, Rob L. M. (2006). "Application of Fragment Screening and Fragment Linking to the Discovery of Novel Thrombin Inhibitors†". Journal of Medicinal Chemistry. 49 (4): 1346–1355. doi: 10.1021/jm050850v. ISSN  0022-2623. PMID  16480269.
  • Bruckbauer, Andreas; Zhou, Dejian; Kang, Dae-Joon; Korchev, Yuri E.; Abell, Chris; Klenerman, David (2004). "An Addressable Antibody Nanoarray Produced on a Nanostructured Surface". Journal of the American Chemical Society. 126 (21): 6508–6509. doi: 10.1021/ja0317426. ISSN  0002-7863. PMID  15161251.
  • Bulloch, Esther M. M.; Jones, Michelle A.; Parker, Emily J.; Osborne, Andrew P.; Stephens, Elaine; Davies, Gareth M.; Coggins, John R.; Abell, Chris (2004). "Identification of 4-Amino-4-deoxychorismate Synthase as the Molecular Target for the Antimicrobial Action of (6S)-6-Fluoroshikimate". Journal of the American Chemical Society. 126 (32): 9912–9913. doi: 10.1021/ja048312f. ISSN  0002-7863. PMID  15303852.
  • Webb, Michael E.; Stephens, Elaine; Smith, Alison G.; Abell, Chris (2003). "Rapid screening by MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry to probe binding specificity at enzyme active sites". Chemical Communications (19): 2416–7. doi: 10.1039/b308182f. ISSN  1359-7345. PMID  14587709.
  • Cooper, Matthew A.; Dultsev, Fedor N.; Minson, Tony; Ostanin, Victor P.; Abell, Chris; Klenerman, David (2001). "Direct and sensitive detection of a human virus by rupture event scanning". Nature Biotechnology. 19 (9): 833–837. doi: 10.1038/nbt0901-833. ISSN  1087-0156. PMID  11533641. S2CID  7307876.
  • Albert, Armando; Dhanaraj, Venugopal; Genschel, Ulrich; Khan, Ghalib; Ramjee, Manoj K.; Pulido, Rosaline; Sibanda, B. Lynn; Delft, Frank von; Witty, Michael; Blundell, Tom L.; Smith, Alison G.; Abell, Chris (1998). "Crystal structure of aspartate decarboxylase at 2.2 Å resolution provides evidence for an ester in protein self–processing". Nature Structural Biology. 5 (4): 289–293. doi: 10.1038/nsb0498-289. ISSN  1072-8368. PMID  9546220. S2CID  7569959.
  • Mahapatro, Mrinal; Gibson, Christopher; Abell, Chris; Rayment, Trevor (2003). "Chiral discrimination of basic and hydrophobic molecules by chemical force spectroscopy". Ultramicroscopy. 97 (1–4): 297–301. doi: 10.1016/S0304-3991(03)00055-X. ISSN  0304-3991. PMID  12801683.

References

  1. ^ a b Balasubramanian, Shankar (1991). Studies on the reaction mechanism of chorismate synthase. lib.cam.ac.uk (PhD thesis). University of Cambridge. OCLC  60112382. EThOS  uk.bl.ethos.386780.
  2. ^ Ciulli, Alessio (2006). Biophysical studies of protein-ligand interactions. lib.cam.ac.uk (PhD thesis). University of Cambridge. EThOS  uk.bl.ethos.613799.
  3. ^ "Christopher ABELL - Personal Appointments (free information from Companies House)". beta.companieshouse.gov.uk.
  4. ^ "Fellows (FRSC)". The Times. 27 October 2015. p. 57.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h Abell, Prof Christopher. In Debrett's People of Today 2012 (accessed 15 January 2012) (subscription required)
  6. ^ a b c Professor Chris Abell FRS, FMedSci (1957 - 2020), Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge, 27 October 2020, retrieved 15 November 2020
  7. ^ "Scientific Advisory Board". 7 April 2013. Archived from the original on 7 April 2013.
  8. ^ 50 leading scientists elected as Fellows of Royal Society, 29 April 2016, retrieved 2 September 2016
  9. ^ Abell, Christopher (1982). Polyketide biosynthesis. lib.cam.ac.uk (PhD thesis). University of Cambridge. OCLC  59312458. EThOS  uk.bl.ethos.350039.
  10. ^ a b c d e f g Abell Group Home Page: Curriculum vitae: Professor Christopher Abell, archived from the original on 25 September 2006, retrieved 15 January 2013{{ citation}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown ( link) (accessed 15 January 2013)
  11. ^ a b Astex Therapeutics: Scientific Advisors and Clinical Consultants Archived 14 August 2011 at the Wayback Machine (accessed 5 January 2009)
  12. ^ "Christ's College Magazine 2019". Issuu. Archived from the original on 18 May 2021. Retrieved 1 January 2020.
  13. ^ Christ's College, University of Cambridge: The Fellows of Christ's College Archived 5 March 2013 at the Wayback Machine (accessed 7 January 2013)
  14. ^ University of Cambridge: new senior post to support post-doc community (accessed 28 November 2013)
  15. ^ a b Theberge, Ashleigh B.; Courtois, Fabienne; Schaerli, Yolanda; Fischlechner, Martin; Abell, Chris; Hollfelder, Florian; Huck, Wilhelm T. S. (2010). "Microdroplets in Microfluidics: An Evolving Platform for Discoveries in Chemistry and Biology" (PDF). Angewandte Chemie International Edition. 49 (34): 5846–5868. doi: 10.1002/anie.200906653. ISSN  1433-7851. PMID  20572214. S2CID  18609389.
  16. ^ University of Cambridge: Department of Chemistry: Professor Chris Abell (accessed 5 January 2009)
  17. ^ Vargas L. Recycled Cambridge biosensor technology attracts millions in investment Business Weekly (27 August 2008) (accessed 5 January 2009)
  18. ^ Sphere Fluidics: 2010 News Archived 18 November 2012 at the Wayback Machine (accessed 7 January 2013)
  19. ^ Quested, Tony. "From farm to fame, Cambridge's 'cereal' life science entrepreneur | Business Weekly | Technology News | Business news | Cambridge and the East of England". www.businessweekly.co.uk. Retrieved 1 January 2020.
  20. ^ The Abell Group: Group Members, Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge, retrieved 15 November 2020
  21. ^ "RSC Hickinbottom Award Previous Winners". www.rsc.org. Retrieved 1 January 2020.
  22. ^ International Fellows Archived 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine, University of Canterbury – Christchurch. Retrieved 3 December 2013
  23. ^ The Academy of Medical Sciences: Fellows: Newly elected fellows Archived 27 September 2013 at the Wayback Machine (accessed 7 January 2013)
  24. ^ "Professor Christopher Abell Biography". Royal Society. Retrieved 1 May 2016.

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