Christopher Abell
(11 November 1957
[Abell, Prof Christopher. In ''Debrett's People of Today 2012'' (accessed 15 January 2012) ''(subscription required)''] – 26 October 2020
) was a British
biological chemist. He was Professor of Biological Chemistry at the
Department of Chemistry of the
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world's third oldest surviving university and one of its most pr ...
and Todd-Hamied Fellow of
Christ's College, Cambridge. On his 2016 election to the
Royal Society
The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...
, the society described his research as having "changed the face of drug discovery."
Education
Abell was educated at
St John's College, Cambridge,
gaining an Bachelor of Arts degree in
Natural Sciences
Natural science is one of the branches of science concerned with the description, understanding and prediction of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation. Mechanisms such as peer review and repeatab ...
in 1979 followed by PhD
on the topic of
polyketide
Polyketides are a class of natural products derived from a precursor molecule consisting of a chain of alternating ketone (or reduced forms of a ketone) and methylene groups: (-CO-CH2-). First studied in the early 20th century, discovery, biosynth ...
biosynthesis for research supervised by James Staunton in 1982.
[ (accessed 15 January 2013)]
Career and research
Abell held a research fellowship in the laboratory of
David E. Cane
David E. Cane (born September 22, 1944) is an American biological chemist. He is Vernon K. Krieble Professor of Chemistry Emeritus and Professor of Molecular Biology, Cell Biology, and Biochemistry Emeritus at Brown University in Providence, R ...
at
Brown University,
Providence, USA, studying
terpene
Terpenes () are a class of natural products consisting of compounds with the formula (C5H8)n for n > 1. Comprising more than 30,000 compounds, these unsaturated hydrocarbons are produced predominantly by plants, particularly conifers. Terpenes ...
biosynthesis (1982–83).
In 1984, Abell joined the Department of Chemistry of the University of Cambridge, successively holding the positions of demonstrator, lecturer and reader in chemical biology, and becoming Professor in Biological Chemistry in 2002.
He held visiting professorships at the
Australian National University
The Australian National University (ANU) is a public research university located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton encompasses seven teaching and research colleges, in addition to several national academies an ...
in
Canberra,
University of Santiago de Compostela
, established =
, type = Public
, budget = €228 million (2011)
, rector = Prof. Dr. Antonio López Díaz
, city = Santiago de Compostela
, state = Galicia
, country = Spain
, undergrad = 23,835
, postgrad = 1,716
, doctoral = 2,697
...
,
University of Canterbury,
Christchurch
Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon Rive ...
, and the
Paul Sabatier University
Paul Sabatier University (''Université Paul Sabatier'', UPS, also known as Toulouse III) is a French public university, in the Academy of Toulouse. It is one of the several successor universities of the University of Toulouse.
Toulouse III was ...
,
Toulouse
Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Pa ...
.
[Astex Therapeutics: Scientific Advisors and Clinical Consultants]
(accessed 5 January 2009) He was a fellow of
Christ's College, Cambridge, from 1986; and was the college's Todd-Hamied Fellow.
[Christ's College, University of Cambridge: The Fellows of Christ's College]
(accessed 7 January 2013) In 2013 he was appointed the first Director of
Postdoctoral
A postdoctoral fellow, postdoctoral researcher, or simply postdoc, is a person professionally conducting research after the completion of their doctoral studies (typically a PhD). The ultimate goal of a postdoctoral research position is to pu ...
Affairs at the University of Cambridge, and in 2016 was appointed Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research.
Abell published over 200 papers.
His research interests include
vitamin
A vitamin is an organic molecule (or a set of molecules closely related chemically, i.e. vitamers) that is an essential micronutrient that an organism needs in small quantities for the proper functioning of its metabolism. Essential nutrie ...
and
amino acid
Amino acids are organic compounds that contain both amino and carboxylic acid functional groups. Although hundreds of amino acids exist in nature, by far the most important are the alpha-amino acids, which comprise proteins. Only 22 alpha a ...
biosynthesis as targets for the
rational design
In chemical biology and biomolecular engineering, rational design (RD) is an umbrella term which invites the strategy of creating new molecules with a certain functionality, based upon the ability to predict how the molecule's structure (specific ...
of
antimicrobial
An antimicrobial is an agent that kills microorganisms or stops their growth. Antimicrobial medicines can be grouped according to the microorganisms they act primarily against. For example, antibiotics are used against bacteria, and antifungals ar ...
s;
fragment-based approaches to
enzyme inhibition
An enzyme inhibitor is a molecule that binds to an enzyme and blocks its activity. Enzymes are proteins that speed up chemical reactions necessary for life, in which substrate molecules are converted into products. An enzyme facilitates a sp ...
; bacterial and plant
riboswitch
In molecular biology, a riboswitch is a regulatory segment of a messenger RNA molecule that binds a small molecule, resulting in a change in production of the proteins encoded by the mRNA. Thus, an mRNA that contains a riboswitch is directly in ...
es; reactions in microdroplets;
and biological
nanotechnology. His former doctoral students include
Shankar Balasubramanian
Sir Shankar Balasubramanian (born 30 September 1966) is an Indian-born British chemist and Herchel Smith Professor of Medicinal Chemistry in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Cambridge, ccessed 4 April 2013 Senior Group Leader ...
.
[
]
Commercial ventures
Abell was the co-founder of several companies. In 1999, he co-founded Astex Technology Ltd, which uses fragment-based drug discovery technology to discover cancer therapeutics. In 2001, he co-founded Akubio, which developed biosensor
A biosensor is an analytical device, used for the detection of a chemical substance, that combines a biological component with a physicochemical detector.
The ''sensitive biological element'', e.g. tissue, microorganisms, organelles, cell rece ...
s for detecting bacteria and viruses; it was acquired by Inverness Medical Innovations in 2008. In 2010, he co-founded Sphere Fluidics to develop microdroplet technology. In 2012 he co-founded Aqdot, a company developing a new microencapsulation technology.
Personal life
In 1981, he married Katherine Abell, who worked with him at the Department of Chemistry in Cambridge; they had a son. He died suddenly on 26 October 2020.
Awards and honours
His awards include the Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) Prize in Organic Chemistry in 1992, the Hickinbottom Award
The Hickinbottom Award (also referred to as the Hickinbottom Fellowship) is awarded annually by the Royal Society of Chemistry for contributions in the area of organic chemistry from researchers under the age of 35. The prize winner receives a mon ...
of the Royal Society of Chemistry
The Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) is a learned society (professional association) in the United Kingdom with the goal of "advancing the chemical sciences". It was formed in 1980 from the amalgamation of the Chemical Society, the Royal Instit ...
, and a Yamada Science Foundation Award. In 2008 he was the MIT Novartis Lecturer, and in 2011 was a BIC International Fellow at the University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand. He was elected a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences
Fellowship of the Academy of Medical Sciences (FMedSci) is an award for medical scientists who are judged by the UK Academy of Medical Sciences for the "excellence of their science, their contribution to medicine and society and the range of th ...
(FMedSci) in 2012 and a Fellow of the Royal Society
Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural knowledge, including mathemat ...
(FRS) in 2016.
Selected publications
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* ''From Microdroplets to Microfluidics: Selective Emulsion Separation in Microfluidic Devices''[
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References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Abell, Chris
1957 births
20th-century British chemists
Fellows of the Academy of Medical Sciences (United Kingdom)
Members of the University of Cambridge Department of Chemistry
Fellows of Christ's College, Cambridge
Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge
Fellows of the Royal Society of Chemistry
Fellows of the Royal Society
2020 deaths
Brown University fellows
21st-century British chemists