Abbott - Medicinal chemistry and synthetic organic chemistry

Medicinal chemistry involves the design, synthesis and development of the molecules we need in order to understand, prevent and treat disease. We use synthetic organic chemistry to make novel compounds and then test them in biological assays, which are either undertaken in our lab or by collaborators, in order to study the structure-activity relationships of how the compounds interact with the target.

Developing novel antibacterial agents to inhibit targets that have not previously been studied in bacteria is currently an important focus of our group. Other projects are working towards new treatments for malaria, cardiomyopathy and motor neurone disease.

We are particularly interested in small molecule inhibitors of protein kinases and cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterases, such as PI3-kinase, JAK, PDK1, PKA, PDE2 and PDE3. We have also been involved in the development and application of peptide nucleic acid (PNA) technology in the early detection and treatment of disease.