Professor Dek Woolfson combines computational and experimental methods to unravel sequence-to-structure/function relationships in proteins, and then applies these to make completely new proteins from scratch through de novo protein design.
His Royal Society citation reads:
“Dek Woolfson has pioneered the field of rational peptide design to deliver completely new (de novo) peptide structures and assemblies. He has done this by developing a thorough understanding for a ubiquitous type of protein-protein interaction; namely, the coiled coils, which assemble proteins in all organisms.
Woolfson's work uses bioinformatics approaches to understand, predict, and model coiled-coil structures, and then applies these to design experimental systems that expand on peptide/protein structures and assemblies observed in nature. He uses his insights and methods to address challenges in fundamental and applied science, including designing polypeptides for chemical and synthetic biology, and biotechnology.”
Professor Jonathan Clayden designs, synthesises and characterises molecules with dynamic three-dimensional shapes that allow them to react in unusual ways or to display functional behaviour. He is particularly interested in making molecules that display functions typically characteristic of biology, and the reactions he has discovered allow access to classes of molecules that complement their natural counterparts.
His Royal Society citation states:
“Jonathan Clayden is a chemist who has explored and exploited the dynamic conformational properties of organic molecules in solution. His research revealed that extended ‘dynamic foldamers’ can communicate structural information over remarkable distances through a range of mechanisms, imitating the responsive functions of more complex biological structures.
He has introduced new classes of atropisomers, exploiting the properties that arise from slow rotation about single bonds, and his work has uncovered several new types of reactivity that emerge from conformationally constrained molecules.”