Chris Abell

Christopher Abell FRS FRSC FMedSci[3] (11 November 1957[4] – 26 October 2020[5]) was a British biological chemist. He was Professor of Biological Chemistry at the Department of Chemistry of the University of Cambridge and Todd-Hamied Fellow of Christ's College, Cambridge.[6] On his 2016 election to the Royal Society, the society described his research as having "changed the face of drug discovery."[7]

Chris Abell

FRS FRSC FMedSci
Chris Abell at the Royal Society admissions day in London, July 2016
Born
Christopher Abell

(1957-11-11)11 November 1957
Died26 October 2020(2020-10-26) (aged 62)
NationalityBritish
EducationUniversity of Cambridge (BA, MA, PhD)
Known forAstex[1]
biosynthesis as targets for the rational design of antimicrobials; fragment-based approaches to enzyme inhibition; and biological nanotechnology
AwardsHickinbottom Award (1991)
Scientific career
FieldsBiological chemistry
InstitutionsUniversity of Cambridge
Brown University
ThesisPolyketide biosynthesis (1982)
Doctoral advisorJames Staunton
Doctoral studentsShankar Balasubramanian[2]
Matthew H. Todd
Websitewww.ch.cam.ac.uk/person/ca26

Education

Abell was educated at St John's College, Cambridge,[4] gaining an Bachelor of Arts degree in Natural Sciences in 1979 followed by PhD[8] on the topic of polyketide biosynthesis for research supervised by James Staunton in 1982.[9]

Career and research

Abell held a research fellowship in the laboratory of David E. Cane at Brown University, Providence, USA, studying terpene biosynthesis (1982–83).[4][9] 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.[4][9] He held visiting professorships at the Australian National University in Canberra, University of Santiago de Compostela, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, and the Paul Sabatier University, Toulouse.[4][9][10] He was a fellow of Christ's College, Cambridge from 1986;[11] and was the college's Todd-Hamied Fellow.[12] In 2013 he was appointed the first Director of Postdoctoral Affairs at the University of Cambridge,[13] and in 2016 was appointed Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research.

Abell published over 200 papers.[4] His research interests include vitamin and amino acid biosynthesis as targets for the rational design of antimicrobials; fragment-based approaches to enzyme inhibition; bacterial and plant riboswitches; reactions in microdroplets;[14] and biological nanotechnology.[15] His former doctoral students include Shankar Balasubramanian.[2]

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.[4][10] In 2001, he co-founded Akubio, which developed biosensors for detecting bacteria and viruses; it was acquired by Inverness Medical Innovations in 2008.[16] In 2010, he co-founded Sphere Fluidics to develop microdroplet technology.[17] In 2012 he co-founded Aqdot, a company developing a new microencapsulation technology.[18]

Personal life

In 1981, he married Dr Katherine Abell, who worked with him at the Department of Chemistry in Cambridge; they had a son.[5][9][19] He died suddenly on 26 October 2020.[5]

Awards and honours

His awards include the Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) Prize in Organic Chemistry in 1992,[9] the Hickinbottom Award of the Royal Society of Chemistry,[20] and a Yamada Science Foundation Award.[4][9] In 2008 he was the MIT Novartis Lecturer, and in 2011 was a BIC International Fellow at the University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand.[21] He was elected a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences (FMedSci) in 2012[22] and a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 2016.[23]

Selected publications
  • Ciulli, Alessio; Abell, Chris (2007). "Fragment-based approaches to enzyme inhibition". Current Opinion in Biotechnology. 18 (6): 489–496. doi:10.1016/j.copbio.2007.09.003. ISSN 0958-1669. PMC 4441723. PMID 17959370.
  • Blundell, Tom L.; Jhoti, Harren; Abell, Chris (2002). "High-throughput crystallography for lead discovery in drug design". Nature Reviews Drug Discovery. 1 (1): 45–54. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.538.3976. doi:10.1038/nrd706. ISSN 1474-1784. PMID 12119609. S2CID 3145020.
  • From Microdroplets to Microfluidics: Selective Emulsion Separation in Microfluidic Devices[14]
  • Huebner, A.; Srisa-Art, M.; Holt, D.; Abell, C.; Hollfelder, F.; deMello, A. J.; Edel, J. B. (2007). "Quantitative detection of protein expression in single cells using droplet microfluidics". Chemical Communications (12): 1218–20. doi:10.1039/b618570c. ISSN 1359-7345. PMID 17356761.
  • Kerbarh, Olivier; Ciulli, Alessio; Chirgadze, Dimitri Y.; Blundell, Tom L.; Abell, Chris (2007). "Nucleophile Selectivity of Chorismate-Utilizing Enzymes". ChemBioChem. 8 (6): 622–624. doi:10.1002/cbic.200700019. ISSN 1439-4227. PMID 17335098. S2CID 37100903.
  • Howard, Nigel; Abell, Chris; Blakemore, Wendy; Chessari, Gianni; Congreve, Miles; Howard, Steven; Jhoti, Harren; Murray, Christopher W.; Seavers, Lisa C. A.; van Montfort, Rob L. M. (2006). "Application of Fragment Screening and Fragment Linking to the Discovery of Novel Thrombin Inhibitors†". Journal of Medicinal Chemistry. 49 (4): 1346–1355. doi:10.1021/jm050850v. ISSN 0022-2623. PMID 16480269.
  • Bruckbauer, Andreas; Zhou, Dejian; Kang, Dae-Joon; Korchev, Yuri E.; Abell, Chris; Klenerman, David (2004). "An Addressable Antibody Nanoarray Produced on a Nanostructured Surface". Journal of the American Chemical Society. 126 (21): 6508–6509. doi:10.1021/ja0317426. ISSN 0002-7863. PMID 15161251.
  • Bulloch, Esther M. M.; Jones, Michelle A.; Parker, Emily J.; Osborne, Andrew P.; Stephens, Elaine; Davies, Gareth M.; Coggins, John R.; Abell, Chris (2004). "Identification of 4-Amino-4-deoxychorismate Synthase as the Molecular Target for the Antimicrobial Action of (6S)-6-Fluoroshikimate". Journal of the American Chemical Society. 126 (32): 9912–9913. doi:10.1021/ja048312f. ISSN 0002-7863. PMID 15303852.
  • Webb, Michael E.; Stephens, Elaine; Smith, Alison G.; Abell, Chris (2003). "Rapid screening by MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry to probe binding specificity at enzyme active sites". Chemical Communications (19): 2416–7. doi:10.1039/b308182f. ISSN 1359-7345. PMID 14587709.
  • Cooper, Matthew A.; Dultsev, Fedor N.; Minson, Tony; Ostanin, Victor P.; Abell, Chris; Klenerman, David (2001). "Direct and sensitive detection of a human virus by rupture event scanning". Nature Biotechnology. 19 (9): 833–837. doi:10.1038/nbt0901-833. ISSN 1087-0156. PMID 11533641. S2CID 7307876.
  • Albert, Armando; Dhanaraj, Venugopal; Genschel, Ulrich; Khan, Ghalib; Ramjee, Manoj K.; Pulido, Rosaline; Sibanda, B. Lynn; Delft, Frank von; Witty, Michael; Blundell, Tom L.; Smith, Alison G.; Abell, Chris (1998). "Crystal structure of aspartate decarboxylase at 2.2 Å resolution provides evidence for an ester in protein self–processing". Nature Structural Biology. 5 (4): 289–293. doi:10.1038/nsb0498-289. ISSN 1072-8368. PMID 9546220. S2CID 7569959.
  • Mahapatro, Mrinal; Gibson, Christopher; Abell, Chris; Rayment, Trevor (2003). "Chiral discrimination of basic and hydrophobic molecules by chemical force spectroscopy". Ultramicroscopy. 97 (1–4): 297–301. doi:10.1016/S0304-3991(03)00055-X. ISSN 0304-3991. PMID 12801683.

References
  1. "Christopher ABELL - Personal Appointments (free information from Companies House)". beta.companieshouse.gov.uk.
  2. Balasubramanian, Shankar (1991). Studies on the reaction mechanism of chorismate synthase. lib.cam.ac.uk (PhD thesis). University of Cambridge. OCLC 60112382. EThOS uk.bl.ethos.386780.
  3. "Fellows (FRSC)". The Times. 27 October 2015. p. 57.
  4. Abell, Prof Christopher. In Debrett's People of Today 2012 (accessed 15 January 2012) (subscription required)
  5. Professor Chris Abell FRS, FMedSci (1957 - 2020), Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge, 27 October 2020, retrieved 15 November 2020
  6. "Scientific Advisory Board". 7 April 2013. Archived from the original on 7 April 2013.
  7. 50 leading scientists elected as Fellows of Royal Society, 29 April 2016, retrieved 2 September 2016
  8. Abell, Christopher (1982). Polyketide biosynthesis. lib.cam.ac.uk (PhD thesis). University of Cambridge. OCLC 59312458. EThOS uk.bl.ethos.350039.
  9. Abell Group Home Page: Curriculum vitae: Professor Christopher Abell, archived from the original on 25 September 2006, retrieved 15 January 2013CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) (accessed 15 January 2013)
  10. Astex Therapeutics: Scientific Advisors and Clinical Consultants Archived 14 August 2011 at the Wayback Machine (accessed 5 January 2009)
  11. "Christ's College Magazine 2019". Issuu. Retrieved 1 January 2020.
  12. Christ's College, University of Cambridge: The Fellows of Christ's College Archived 5 March 2013 at the Wayback Machine (accessed 7 January 2013)
  13. University of Cambridge: New senior post to support post-doc community (accessed 28 November 2013)
  14. Theberge, Ashleigh B.; Courtois, Fabienne; Schaerli, Yolanda; Fischlechner, Martin; Abell, Chris; Hollfelder, Florian; Huck, Wilhelm T. S. (2010). "Microdroplets in Microfluidics: An Evolving Platform for Discoveries in Chemistry and Biology" (PDF). Angewandte Chemie International Edition. 49 (34): 5846–5868. doi:10.1002/anie.200906653. ISSN 1433-7851. PMID 20572214.
  15. University of Cambridge: Department of Chemistry: Professor Chris Abell (accessed 5 January 2009)
  16. Vargas L. Recycled Cambridge biosensor technology attracts millions in investment Business Weekly (27 August 2008) (accessed 5 January 2009)
  17. Sphere Fluidics: 2010 News Archived 18 November 2012 at the Wayback Machine (accessed 7 January 2013)
  18. Quested, Tony. "From farm to fame, Cambridge's 'cereal' life science entrepreneur | Business Weekly | Technology News | Business news | Cambridge and the East of England". www.businessweekly.co.uk. Retrieved 1 January 2020.
  19. The Abell Group: Group Members, Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge, retrieved 15 November 2020
  20. "RSC Hickinbottom Award Previous Winners". www.rsc.org. Retrieved 1 January 2020.
  21. International Fellows Archived 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine, University of Canterbury – Christchurch. Retrieved 3 December 2013
  22. The Academy of Medical Sciences: Fellows: Newly elected fellows Archived 27 September 2013 at the Wayback Machine (accessed 7 January 2013)
  23. "Professor Christopher Abell Biography". Royal Society. Retrieved 1 May 2016.
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