Biological Chemistry and Drug Discovery (BCDD)
a multi-disciplinary and highly collaborative research division, encompassing both fundamental research and translational research.
We have a large team working on the kinetoplastid parasites, where we are working to unravel their basic biology, understand phenomena such as antigenic variation, validate new drug targets, establish the mode of action of new and experimental drugs and elucidate mechanisms of drug resistance.
We have strengths in bioinformatics and chemoinformatics, where we are seeking to mine the ever-increasing amounts of data to understand basic biology and design potential new therapeutic agents.
We utilise a variety of biophysical methods to discover new ligands for proteins and to characterise their interactions. Structural biology techniques are also used to characterize proteins and understand the molecular basis of protein-protein and protein-ligand interactions.
To facilitate translational research, we have established the Drug Discovery Unit (DDU), which is an integrated multidisciplinary team that works to translate basic science into drug leads and drug candidates. The DDU has expertise in high throughput screening, molecular pharmacology, medicinal chemistry, drug metabolism & pharmacokinetics, computational chemistry and biophysical methods, much of it gained within the BioPharma industry. The focus of the DDU’s work is in two main areas. For diseases of the developing world, we are seeking to develop safe and affordable medicines for diseases such as malaria, tuberculosis and the kinetoplastid diseases. Secondly, our innovative targets programme seeks to translate emerging high impact biology into potential drug discovery programmes for diseases such as cancer, Parkinson’s disease.
Head of Division

Deputy Head of Division

Academic staff












Associates




Key contacts
Name | Role | |
---|---|---|
Shona McInroy | Lab Manager | bcdd-chemlabmgt@dundee.ac.uk |
Jamie Curran | Lab Manager | bcdd-biollabmgt@dundee.ac.uk |
Susan Ross | Senior Technical Support | bcdd-chemlabmgt@dundee.ac.uk |
Kirstie Hughes | PA to Prof Ian Gilbert | k.y.hughes@dundee.ac.uk |
Diane Purves | PA to Prof Alessio Ciulli | d.purves@dundee.ac.uk |
Debbie Tarver | PA to Prof Sir Mike Ferguson & DDU Director | d.tarver@dundee.ac.uk |
Deborah Moorjani | Secretary | BCDD-Admin@dundee.ac.uk |
Professor David Gray | Public Engagement Champion | d.w.gray@dundee.ac.uk |
Scott Hendry | Senior Technical Support | bcdd-biollabmgt@dundee.ac.uk |
Cavan Short | Lab Management Support Technician | bcdd-bioltech@dundee.ac.uk |
Euan Waugh | Lab Management Support Technician | bcdd-bioltech@dundee.ac.uk |
Margo Petrie | Senior Division Secretary | BCDD-Admin@dundee.ac.uk |
Publications
News

News
We have a bumper crop of promotions this year as part of the 2022 Annual Review process for academic staff.

News
Dr Michele Tinti recently participated in a biomedicine crowdsourced challenge instigated by DREAM Challenges. Michele was placed 10th out of almost 300 registered participants and 26 finalist teams.

News
UK Biobank recently announced the appointment of Professor Sir Michael Ferguson to its Board.