Office: CAP 0.02/3 E-mail: m.searcey@uea.ac.uk Tel: +44 (0)1603 592026 School Position: Head of School, Professor in Medicinal Chemistry & Pharmacy

STUDENTSHIPS AVAILABLE: Targeting the transcription factor Nrf2
Medicinal chemistry of the antitumour agent quinaldopeptin
 
Mark Searcey is Chair of Medicinal Chemistry and Head of the School of Pharmacy at UEA. His previous positions were as Reader (2006) then Chair of Medicinal Chemistry (2010) and Director of Research in Pharmacy at UEA, Senior Lecturer at the School of Pharmacy, University of London (2000-2006), Assistant Professor and Research Associate at the Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, California (1997-1999) and as a Research Scientist with the St Luke’s Institute of Cancer Research at University College Dublin, Ireland (1991-1996). His post-doctoral research position was with Gerry Gallacher and Keith Brocklehurst at the Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences, Queen Mary College, University of London on polyclonal catalytic antibodies (1989-1991). He obtained a BSc(Hons) in chemistry from Loughborough University (1985) and PhD with Barry Lee at the Hatfield Polytechnic (now the University of Hertfordshire, 1989).

Research is focussed on interesting targets for the development of new therapeutics with a particular interest in targeting DNA and protein-proteins interactions. The group uses both solution and solid phase synthesis to make compounds based upon natural products or purely from synthetic sources. Some highlights include: in 2007, in collaboration with Christine Cardin, we described a new mode of binding to DNA that targeted a four way junction called a Holliday Junction (HJ). In 2010, we showed that we could induce the formation of a HJ at room temperature, another first with potential applications in nanotechnology as well as therapeutics. In 2003, we carried out the first solid phase synthesis of the chlorofusin peptide, part of a natural product targeted at the p53/MDM2 interaction and followed it with the solid phase synthesis of a triostin A analogue that represented the most efficient synthesis of this DNA binding molecule to date. We are currently focussed on targeting protein-protein interactions and DNA targets in cancer and inflammation, alongside the synthesis of natural products targets such as simocyclinone.

Current Group
 
Richard Steel (joint with Maria O’Connell)
Jonathan Cowan (joint with Maria O’Connell)
Ben Rackham (joint with Andy Round)
Michael Stephenson (joint with Steve Collingwood, Novartis)
Sarah Goffin (joint with Lesley Howell)
Michael Austin (joint with Lesley Howell)

Selected Publications