A key feature of our research is interdisciplinarity, based on the synergies of physical, biological and medical sciences reflecting both the collaborative nature of our research and considerable diversity in the health-focussed research goals.
Research in School of Pharmacy is focussed on three grand challenges:
- Age-related diseases
- Next generation therapeutics
- Frontier bioscience for health
These grand challenges cut across several research priorities of UKRI and Global research objectives. These reflect our bench to bedside research strength in pre-clinical therapeutic areas (i.e. nutrition, cancer and inflammation, rehabilitation physiology), patient-facing research and in developing of novel experimental and computational methodologies facilitating understanding of complex pharmaceutical systems at different length and time scales. The latter is vital in underpinning of our research expertise illustrated by active fruitful collaborations in Biological, Chemical, Clinical and Medical Sciences across NRP, nationally and internationally.
We embrace an integrated and cross-disciplinary approach towards Age-Related Diseases and our research spans from the identification and validation of new targets, nutrition, medicinal chemistry and drug discovery through to innovative formulations and improvements in patient welfare. Through our multidisciplinary research, we have extensive collaborations with industrial and academic collaborators across the Norwich Research Park, the UK and the world. We have considerable research expertise in studying Cancer, Neurodegenerative Diseases, Inflammation, Protein-protein and protein-nucleic acid interactions, Biologically active natural products, Epigenetics as well as Patient adherence and medicines management.
Responding to the interdisciplinary challenge of developing Next Generation Therapeutics, our research is focused on the design and development of new molecules, new materials and new delivery systems for the treatment of complex diseases: from discovery of novel pharmaceutical agents and understanding of mechanisms of their action to application of future generation of pharmaceutical materials and formulation approaches for advanced drug delivery. The key areas of expertise are as follows: novel pharmaceutical materials: polymers, porous solids and soft colloids; Peptide based pharmaceutics: novel anticancer, antimalarial and antimicrobial agents; Gene delivery and DNA-based therapeutics; advanced in 3D printing methods for novel pharmaceutical materials; Gene delivery and DNA-based therapeutics.
The breadth of research in the School is underpinned by the combination of fundamental understanding of structure and mechanisms of action of pharmaceuticals at different length scales: from molecular and supramolecular organisation up to interactions with cells and tissues, reflecting considerable methodological advances as part of the Grand Challenge Frontier Bioscience for Health. Significant advances in this area include novel characterisation approaches based on the combination of thermal and imaging methods, a plethora of NMR based methods for soft matter and understanding protein-ligand interactions, novel computational methods for predicting structure and properties of novel pharmaceutics as well as modelling approaches targeting drug-receptor interactions.
The research in School of Pharmacy is structured within five research clusters, reflecting subject specialisms and different aspects of pharmaceutical sciences;