Catalysis Applications

Dr Elnaggar is deeply passionate about drug discovery from natural products. Her initial research involved exploring small molecules derived from plants, delving into methods for their isolation, structural elucidation, and assessment of their biological activities. Subsequently, she has developed a great interest in combining diverse research sets at the interface of chemistry and biology. This allowed Dr. Elnaggar to explore the biosynthesis of natural molecules, and the engineering of the enzymes involved in their production to enhance their biosynthetic capabilities. Her research then progressed to studying plant-derived cyclic peptides, focusing on modifying their structures to serve as potent and selective enzyme inhibitors. At present, her research focuses on peptide chemistry, with a deeper exploration of the enzymes involved in their biosynthesis and evaluating their potential to address significant unmet medical needs.

Dr Kaur is a dedicated and research-oriented Assistant Professor with over 14 years of experience in teaching and advanced research in chemistry. Expertise in nanomaterials, environmental remediation, and analytical techniques. Proven track record in publications, patents, and academic contributions with strong interest in innovative materials and foldamer-based systems.

Abigail Knight is an Associate Professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her research group works at the interface of chemical biology and polymer science, developing protein-mimetic synthetic macromolecules with biomimetic hierarchical structure. Abby completed her PhD at UC Berkeley with Prof. Matthew Francis and her postdoctoral training at UC Santa Barbara with Prof. Craig Hawker. Her group's research aims to engineer synthetic nanomaterials that rival the binding capabilities of proteins, with applications in global health and sustainability. She is a 2024 Sloan Research Fellow and recipient of the NSF CAREER Award.

The Luk Group, based at the University of Cardiff, aims to empower protein science and its applications, through (a) Protein labelling via biocatalysts, (b) Discovery of Peptide Binders, and (c) Enzyme catalysed bifunctional ligand synthesis.

Professor Ian Hamley is Diamond Professor of Physical Chemistry in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Reading.

Dr Cristina Trujillo is the Lecturer and Deputy Head of Computational & Theoretical Chemistry at the University of Manchester.

Edina Rosta is a Professor of Molecular Modelling in the Condensed Matter & Materials Physics group of the Department of Physics and Astronomy at University College London.

Professor Craig Butts is the Head of the School of Chemistry and Professor of Structural and Mechanistic Chemistry at the University of Bristol. The Butts Research Group tackles challenges based around organic molecular structure and reaction mechanism, principally using NMR spectroscopy - the most information-rich analytical technique available to chemists.

Varinder K. Aggarwal studied chemistry at Cambridge University and received his Ph.D. in 1986 under the guidance of Dr. Stuart Warren. After postdoctoral studies (1986-1988) under Prof. Gilbert Stork, Columbia University, he returned to the UK as a Lecturer at Bath University. In 1991 he moved to Sheffield University, where he was promoted to Professor in in 1997. In 2000 he moved to Bristol University where he holds the Chair in Synthetic Chemistry. He was elected Fellow of the Royal Society in 2012.

The Lusby group has established itself as pioneers in the field of application-led supramolecular chemistry, developing methods in catalysis, biomedicine and magnetism. Professor Paul Lusby started his independent academic career as a Royal Society URF at the University of Edinburgh, where he now holds a personal chair in supramolecular chemistry.