welcome

Welcome to the webpages of the Jamieson Lab, based in the Chemical Biology Laboratory of the School of Chemistry at the University of Glasgow.

Research in the Jamieson Lab is focused on developing novel peptides and peptidomimetics as tools to elucidate the mechanisms of disease and develop new therapeutics.

Please use the menu on the front page to navigate around the website and find out about our research, group members and publications. If you are interested in joining the research group, please see the vacancies page and contact page to get in touch.

Research

Research in the Jamieson Group focuses on the design and synthesis of peptides and peptidomimetics as tool compounds to probe the biological mechanisms underpinning disease. The information obtained from these studies is then used to inform the development of precision medicines. Our research can be grouped into the three main areas described below:

Asymmetric Synthesis of Non-native Amino Acids

The asymmetric synthesis of enantiomerically pure unnatural α-amino acids is an important area of bio-organic chemistry. Such synthetic methods provide extremely valuable new building blocks to construct complex peptide secondary structures and enzyme inhibitors. We have developed a new method with which to synthesise Fmoc protected α-methyl, α-disubstituted amino acids with excellent stereocontrol at the α-carbon. The group is incorporating these Fmoc-amino acids into peptides with applications in chemical biology, structural biology and materials chemistry.


Regulation of Protein-Protein/Peptide Interactions

Protein-protein interactions are key to all biological processes in the cell. However the design of molecules that target PPIs remains one of the major challenges in chemical biology due to the relatively large (typically ∼1600 Å2) and dynamic nature of PPI interfaces. Our approach to this problem is to design peptidomimetics (molecules that mimic the structure and function of a peptide) and proteomimetics (mimics of protein structure and function) that overcome the undesirable physiochemical properties of the corresponding peptide or protein.

Recent work involved the design and chemical synthesis of a TPX2 proteomimetic incorporating a hydrocarbon stable that acts as a conformational constraint and binds to Aurora-A kinase with higher affinity than the native TPX2 protein.

We have also designed peptidomimetics that incorporate a structural surrogate for a disulfide bond and used these molecules to probe the nature of the urotensin-II peptide-urotensin receptor GPCR interaction.

Protease degradation of peptides is one of the limiting physicochemical properties that limits their development as therapeutics. In collaboration with the Shipman Group (University of Warwick) we have developed oxetane modified enkephalin peptides with increased protease stability. Together with the Adams Group (University of Glasgow) we also found that the Fmoc-oxetane dipeptide building block forms a hydrogel.

Zinc-Dependent Enzyme Inhibitors

Zinc containing metalloenzymes are key to a number if different biological processes including epigenetic regulation of gene expression and protein degradation. Our research in this area focuses on developing substrate peptidomimetic inhibitors (SPIs) that target histone deacetylase (HDAC) and deubiquitinase (DUB) enzymes. These molecules are being used to understand the biochemistry of HDAC corepressor complexes and as probes of the COP9 signalosome (CSN), a key regulator of the ubiquitin system.

Group Members

Dr. Andrew Jamieson

Andrew Jamieson was born in Glasgow and raised in Strathaven, Scotland.

In 2003, he completed a BSc Honours degree (1st Class) in Chemistry with Medicinal Chemistry at the University of Glasgow. He subsequently studied for a Ph.D. at the University of Glasgow under the supervision of Dr Andrew Sutherland. The aim of his Ph.D. was to investigate a new substrate directed, palladium-catalysed aza-Claisen rearrangement, and utilise this novel reaction for the synthesis of natural products.

In 2007, he took up a postdoctoral research fellowship with Professor William Lubell at the University of Montreal, Canada. During this time he developed a novel synthetic method with which to systematically scan peptides for secondary structure. His research emphasis was determining the bioactive conformation of the growth hormone secretagogue, GHRP-6, as well as the allosteric modulator of the IL-1 receptor, 101.10 (rytvela).

In 2008, he took up a postdoctoral position with Professor Andrew Hamilton FRS at Yale University, USA. While there he worked on the design and synthesis of a novel peptide beta-strand mimetic, before moving with Professor Hamilton in 2009 to the University of Oxford, UK.

In August 2010, he was appointed to a lectureship in the Centre for Chemical Biology in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Leicester, UK. He was then appointed as a senior lecturer in Chemical Biology at the University of Glasgow School of Chemistry in July 2016.

Andrew is the Chair of the RSC Chemical Biology and Bio-Organic Chemistry Group (CBBG) and organizing chair (with Prof Dominic Campopiano, University of Edinburgh) of the CBBG Chemical Biology Firbush Meeting (a biannual event for the UK Chemical Biology Community).

Andrew and his wife, Sarah, have two children (James and Finlay). His main hobbies outside of chemical biology are running, rugby and snowboarding.

andrew.jamieson.2@glasgow.ac.uk


Dr. Amit Mahindra

Dr Amit Mahindra (PhD in Medicinal Chemistry) joined the Jamieson Lab in December 2016.

He obtained his Ph.D. from the National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research in India. He then joined Newcastle University as a postdoctoral research associate with Dr Mike Carroll where his research focused on the synthesis and radiolabelling of oligonucleotides to treat Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

In the Jamieson group, his research is focused on development of substrate peptidomimetic inhibitors (SPIs) of various zinc dependent metalloproteinases. This research, conducted on the interface of chemistry and biology, combines rational compound design and solid-phase synthesis.

amit.mahindra@glasgow.ac.uk


Dr. Caroline Morris

Caroline joined the Jamieson Lab as a postdoc in March 2020.

Her PhD was awarded by UCL, which she completed under the supervision of Dr John Offer at the MRC National Institute for Medical Research. She then joined the lab of Prof Dek Woolfson at the University of Bristol as a postdoctoral research associate, where she explored the ability of a synthetic peptide scaffold to act as a vaccine delivery platform.

Her work in the Jamieson Lab involves the design, synthesis and characterisation of novel peptidomimetics with therapeutic potential.

Outside of the lab Caroline enjoys baking and running, endeavouring to break even. She also loves to travel and is looking forward to exploring Scotland in her spare time.

Caroline.Morris.2@glasgow.ac.uk


Laura McDougall

Laura started her PhD in the Jamieson Lab in October 2016 following a MSc in Chemistry with Drug Discovery at the University of Strathclyde.

During her degree she spent a year in Northern Ireland at Norbrook Laboratories carrying out analysis of drug precursors. Her MSc project was in the group of Dr Glenn Burley working on "Exploration of new backbones for the preparation of phosphorodiamidate morpholino oligonucleotides".

Her PhD project in the Jamieson Lab involves development of a novel peptide constraint for the stabilisation of α-helical peptides that can be used to target protein-protein interactions.

In her spare time Laura enjoys dancing and anything involving musicals!

l.mcdougall.1@research.gla.ac.uk


Lewis Archibald

Lewis is currently in the final year of his PhD research in the Jamieson Lab, having joined in October 2017.

He completed a MSc undergraduate degree at the University of Glasgow in Chemistry with Medicinal Chemistry. As part of that degree, he spent a year on placement in the group of Prof. Anna Grandas in the University of Barcelona working on alternatives to the thiol-maleimide 'click' reaction. This work resulted in a publication in Organic Letters.

In his final year as an undergraduate at Glasgow, he completed a MSc project under the tutelage of Prof. Dave Adams, working on supramolecular perylene-bisimide films as organic optical electronics. This work was recently published in Chemistry a European Journal.

Lewis’ work in the Jamieson group focuses on developing novel substrate proteomimetic inhibitors (SPIs) as chemical probes to investigate histone deacetylase (HDAC) enzyme corepressor complexes.

In his spare time, Lewis is a season ticket holder at Hamilton Academical football club. When the grind of being an Accies fan becomes too much he enjoys swimming, good whisky and cooking.

l.archibald.1@research.gla.ac.uk


Kopano Mapesa

Kopano was born in Zambia and raised in Sheffield, England.

He completed his MChem at the University of Huddersfield where he did his final year project in green chemistry under the supervision of Dr. Jason Camp. This work can be found here.

He joined the Jamieson Lab (co-supervised with Prof Andrew Tobin, MVLS) in 2017. His PhD is focused on the development of bitopic kinase inhibitors of P. falciparum.

Outside of the lab he enjoys cooking and running.

k.mapesa.1@research.gla.ac.uk

Linkedin

Danielle Morgan

Danielle is in the second year of her PhD research in the Jamieson Lab.

She completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Glasgow in Chemistry with Medicinal Chemistry (hons). As an undergraduate she worked in the Hartley Research Group; working on a project to synthesise small molecular probes that detect and quantify hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) in mitochondria. The main reasoning of the project was to elucidate the role H2O2in mitochondria, in particular within the mitochondrial matrix, which is a major contributor to oxidative damage in cells and leads to many age-related diseases.

Danielle’s PhD project in the Jamieson Lab is the development of diyne-bridged peptides that form a conformational constraint, enabling the peptides to adopt their bioactive form. Hypothetically, the constraint should provide the peptides with high degrees of α-helical structure, improving their binding affinity and physicochemical properties. The overall aim of her research is to elucidate how mitochondria in peril of irreversible loss of function due to oxidative stress can be safeguarded by targeting antioxidant proteins to their intermembrane space.

In her spare time Danielle enjoys keeping fit and outdoor pursuits such as snowboarding and wakeboarding, (when it isn’t too chilly). She is an animal lover and enjoys learning about other cultures, especially their wines!

d.morgan.1@research.gla.ac.uk


Siddique Amin

Siddique joined the Jamieson lab as an MRes Chemistry student in October 2019. He completed his undergraduate degree in Biomedical Sciences at The University of Dundee.

During his undergraduate studies, Siddique undertook internships in the chemical biology labs of Dr Satpal Virdee and Professor Alessio Ciulli where he worked on the interface between chemistry and biology to study and manipulate the process of ubiquitylation.

By utilising his background in biology and his newly acquired skills in organic chemistry, Siddique is working in the Jamieson group to produce peptidomimetic inhibitors of deubiquitinases.

Outside of the lab, Siddique enjoys photography and Muay Thai.

2500320A@student.gla.ac.uk


Alumni

Ross Gillespie
Dr. Fergus McWhinnie (PDRA University of Strathclyde)
Amy Dodds
Dr. Caitlin Mooney
Valentina Albanese
Iona Black
Dr. Astrid Knuhtsen (Novo Nordisk)
Dr. Andrew Fallows (Pharmaron-UK)
Dr. Georgina Girt (Leicester Drug Discovery and Diagnostics)
Dr. Naomi Robertson (PDRA University of Cambridge)
Dr. Boris Aillard (Vertex Pharmaceuticals)

Publications

2020

Development of potent PfCLK3 inhibitors based on TCMDC-135051 as a new class of antimalarials

Amit Mahindra, Omar Janha, Kopano Mapesa, Ana Sanchez Azqueta, Mahmood M Alam, Alfred Amambua-Ngwa, Davies C Nwakanma, Andrew B Tobin, and Andrew G. Jamieson
J. Med. Chem. 2020
DOI: 10.1021/acs.jmedchem.0c00451


2019

Validation of the protein kinase PfCLK3 as a multistage cross-species malarial drug target

Mahmood M. Alam, Ana Sanchez-Azqueta, Omar Janha, Erika L. Flannery, Amit Mahindra, Kopano Mapesa, Aditya B. Char, Dev Sriranganadane, Nicolas M. B. Brancucci, Yevgeniya Antonova-Koch, Kathryn Crouch, Nelson Victor Simwela, Scott B. Millar, Jude Akinwale, Deborah Mitcheson, Lev Solyakov, Kate Dudek, Carolyn Jones, Cleofé Zapatero, Christian Doerig, Davis C. Nwakanma, Maria Jesús Vázquez, Gonzalo Colmenarejo, Maria Jose Lafuente-Monasterio, Maria Luisa Leon, Paulo H. C. Godoi, Jon M. Elkins, Andrew P. Waters, Andrew G. Jamieson, Elena Fernández Álvaro, Lisa C. Ranford-Cartwright, Matthias Marti, Elizabeth A. Winzeler, Francisco Javier Gamo and Andrew B. Tobin
Science, 2019, 365, 6456, eaau1682
DOI: 10.1126/science.aau1682


Synthesis of HDAC Substrate Peptidomimetic Inhibitors Using Fmoc Amino Acids Incorporating Zinc-Binding Groups

Amit Mahindra, Christopher J. Millard, Iona Black, Lewis J. Archibald, John W. R. Schwabe and Andrew G. Jamieson
Organic Letters, 2019, 21, 9, 3178-3182
DOI: 10.1021/acs.orglett.9b00885


Synthesis and fluorescent properties of beta-pyridyl alpha-amino acids.

Harkiss, A. H., Bell, J. D., Knuhtsen, A., Jamieson, A. G. and Sutherland, A.
Journal of Organic Chemistry, 2019, 84, 5, 2879-2890
DOI: 10.1021/acs.joc.9b00036


Friends or foes? Emerging impacts of biological toxins.

Clark, G. C., Casewell, N. R., Elliott, C. T., Harvey, A. L., Jamieson, A. G. , Strong, P. N. and Turner, A. D.
Trends in Biochemical Sciences, 2019, 44, 4, 365-379
DOI: 10.1016/j.tibs.2018.12.004


2018

alpha-conotoxin GI triazole-peptidomimetics: potent and stable blockers of a human acetylcholine receptor

Astrid Knuhtsen, Charlotte Whitmore, Fergus S. McWhinnie, Laura McDougall, Rachel Whiting, Brian O. Smith, Christopher M. Timperley, A. Christopher Green, Kenneth I. Kinnear and Andrew G. Jamieson*
Chemical Science, 2019, 10, 1671-1676
DOI: 10.1039/C8SC04198A


Histone deacetylase (HDAC) 1 and 2 complexes regulate both histone acetylation and crotonylation in vivo.

Kelly, R.D.W., Chandru, A., Watson, P.J., Song, Y., Blades, M., Robertson, N.S., Jamieson, A.G. , Schwabe, J.W.R. and Cowley, S.M.
Scientific Reports, 2018, 8(1), 14690.
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-018-32927-9



Lipopeptidomimetics derived from teixobactin have potent antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus

Georgina C. Girt, Amit Mahindra, Zaaima J. H. Al Jabri, Megan De Ste Croix, Marco R. Oggionic and Andrew G. Jamieson*
Chem. Commun., 2018, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C7CC06093A


Enzymatically-stable oxetane-based dipeptide hydrogels.

Laura McDougall, Emily R. Draper, Jonathan D. Beadle, Michael Shipman, Piotr Raubo, Andrew G. Jamieson* and Dave J. Adams*
Chem. Commun., 2018, 54 , 1793-1796
DOI: 10.1039/C7CC09701H


2017

Solid-phase synthesis of oxetane modified peptides.

Jonathan D. Beadle, Astrid Knuhtsen, Alex Hoose, Piotr Raubo, Andrew G. Jamieson*, and Michael Shipman*
Org. Lett., 2017, 19 (12), pp 3303–3306
DOI: 10.1021/acs.orglett.7b01466.


Urotensin-II peptidomimetic incorporating a non-reducible 1,5-triazole disulfide bond reveals a pseudo-irreversible covalent binding mechanism to the urotensin G-protein coupled receptor.

Pacifico S, Kerckhoffs A, Fallow AJ, Foreman RE, Guerrini R, McDonald J, Lambert DG, Jamieson AG.
Org Biomol Chem. 2017;15(21):4704-4710.
DOI: 10.1039/c7ob00959c.


2016

Insights into the activation mechanism of class I HDAC complexes by inositol phosphates

Peter J. Watson, Christopher J. Millard, Andrew M. Riley, Naomi S. Robertson, Lyndsey C. Wright, Himali Y. Godage, Shaun M. Cowley, Andrew G. Jamieson, Barry V. L. Potter & John W. R. Schwabe
Nat. Comm., 2016, 7 ,11262
DOI: 10.1038/ncomms11262.


A TPX2 proteomimetic has enhanced affinity for Aurora-A due to hydrocarbon stapling of a helix.

Yana K. Rennie†, Patrick J. McIntyre, Tito Akindele, Richard Bayliss*, and Andrew G. Jamieson*
ACS Chem. Biol., 2016, 11 (12), pp 3383–3390
DOI: 10.1021/acschembio.6b00727.


A heme-binding domain controls regulation of ATP-dependent potassium channels

Mark J. Burton, Sofia M. Kapetanaki, Tatyana Chernova, Andrew G. Jamieson, Pierre Dorlet, Jérôme Santolini, Peter C. E. Moody, John S. Mitcheson, Noel W. Davies, Ralf Schmid, Emma L. Raven and Nina M. Storey
PNAS 2016, 113 (14) 3785-3790.
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1600211113.


2015

Regulation of protein–protein interactions using stapled peptides.

Robertson N, Jamieson A
Reports in Organic Chemistry, 2015(5), pp. 65-74.
DOI: 10.2147/ROC.S68161.


Insights into the recruitment of class IIa Histone Deacetylases (HDACs) to the SMRT/NCoR transcriptional repression complex.

Hudson GM, Watson PJ, Fairall L, Jamieson AG, Schwabe JW.
J Biol Chem. 2015 Jul 17;290(29):18237-44.
DOI: 10.1074/jbc.M115.661058.


2014

Robust asymmetric synthesis of unnatural alkenyl amino acids for conformationally constrained alpha-helix peptides.

Boris Aillard, Naomi S. Robertson, Adam R. Baldwin, Siobhan Robins and Andrew G. Jamieson
Org. Biomol. Chem., 2014, 12, 8775-8782
DOI: 10.1039/C4OB01832J.


The ansamycin antibiotic, Rifamycin SV, inhibits BCL6 transcriptional repression and forms a complex with the BCL6-BTB/POZ domain.

Sian E. Evans, Benjamin T. Goult, Louise Fairall, Andrew G. Jamieson, Paul Ko Ferrigno, Robert Ford, John W. R. Schwabe, Simon D. Wagner
PLoS ONE, 9(3), e90889
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0090889.


2013

Peptide scanning for studying structure-activity relationships in drug discovery.

Jamieson AG, Boutard N, Sabatino D, Lubell WD
Chem Biol Drug Des. 2013;81(1):148-65.
DOI: 10.1111/cbdd.12042..


2012

A novel dihydro-pyrazolo(3,4d)(1,2,4)triazolo(1,5a)pyrimidin-4-one (AJ23) is an antagonist at adenosine A1 receptors and enhances consolidation of step-down avoidance.

Harvey, A. L., Young, L. C., Kornisiuk, E., Snitcofsky, M., Colettis, N., Blanco, C., Jerusalinsky, D., Jamieson, A. G. , Hartley, R. C. and Stone, T. W.

Behavioural Brain Research, 234(2), pp. 184-191.
DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2012.06.023.


A 1,3-phenyl-linked hydantoin oligomer scaffold as a β-strand mimetic.

Andrew G. Jamieson,* David Russell and Andrew D. Hamilton*
Chem. Commun., 2012,48, 3709-3711
DOI: 10.1039/C2CC30295K.


2010

Insertion of multiple α-amino γ-lactam (Agl) residues into a peptide sequence by solid-phase synthesis on synphase lanterns.

Luisa Ronga, Andrew G. Jamieson, Kim Beauregard, Christiane Quiniou, Sylvain Chemtob, William D. Lubell
Biopolymers, 2010, 94(2), pp. 183-191.
DOI: 10.1002/bip.21288.


Structure-activity analysis of the growth hormone Secretagogue GHRP-6 by α- and β-amino γ-lactam positional scanning.

Nicolas Boutard, Andrew G. Jamieson, Huy Ong, William D. Lubell
Chemical Biology and Drug Design, 75(1), pp. 40-50.
DOI: 10.1111/j.1747-0285.2009.00913.x.


α-Amino-β-hydroxy-γ-lactam for constraining peptide Ser and Thr residue conformation.

Daniel J. St-Cyr, Andrew G. Jamieson and William D. Lubell*
Org. Lett., 2010, 12 (8), pp 1652–1655
DOI: 10.1021/ol1000582.


2009

Positional scanning for peptide secondary structure by systematic solid-phase synthesis of amino lactam peptides.

Andrew G. Jamieson, Nicolas Boutard, Kim Beauregard, Mandar S. Bodas, Huy Ong, Christiane Quiniou, Sylvain Chemtob and William D. Lubell
J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2009, 131 (22), pp 7917–7927
DOI: 10.1021/ja9010628.


2007

Ether-directed palladium(II)-catalysed aza-Claisen rearrangements: studies on the origin of the directing effect.

Jamieson, A. G. and Sutherland, A.
Tetrahedron, 2007, 63, pp. 2123-2131.
DOI: 10.1016/j.tet.2006.12.067


Ether-directed, stereoselective aza-Claisen rearrangements: Synthesis of the piperidine alkaloid, alpha-conhydrine.

Jamieson, A. G. and Sutherland, A.
Organic Letters, 2007, 9, pp. 1609-1611.
DOI: 10.1021/ol070424z


2006

Palladium(II)-catalysed rearrangement reactions.

Fanning, K. N., Jamieson, A. G. and Sutherland, A.
Current Organic Chemistry, 10(9), pp. 1007-1020.
DOI: 10.2174/138527206777435490


Scope and limitations of ether-directed, metal-catalysed aza-Claisen rearrangements; improved stereoselectivity using non-coordinating solvents.

Jamieson, A. G. and Sutherland, A.
Organic and Biomolecular Chemistry, 2006, 4, pp. 2932-2937.
DOI: 10.1039/B607014K


2005

Stereoselective beta-hydroxy-alpha-amino acid synthesis via an ether-directed, palladium-catalysed aza-Claisen rearrangement.

Fanning, K. N., Jamieson, A. G. and Sutherland, A.
Organic and Biomolecular Chemistry, 3, pp. 3749-3756.
DOI: 10.1039/B510808J


A highly stereoselective ether directed palladium catalysed aza-Claisen rearrangement.

Jamieson, A. G. and Sutherland, A.
Organic and Biomolecular Chemistry, 3, pp. 735-736.
DOI: 10.1039/B501346C


2004

The first enantioselective synthesis of the amino acid, (2S,3S,4R)-gamma-hydroxyisoleucine using a palladium(II) catalysed 3,3-sigmatropic rearrangement.

Jamieson, A. G. , Sutherland, A. and Willis, C. L.
Organic and Biomolecular Chemistry, 2, pp. 808-809.
DOI: 10.1039/B401076K

news


August 2020

Conic Hill Climb


The group managed to make another (very wet and windy) but enjoyable climb, this time tackling Conic Hill!
The conquering of the summit was then celebrated with a few refreshments in Scotland's oldest (probably) pub - The Clachan Inn, Drymen.
Thanks to new post-doc Caroline for organising!



August 2018

35th European Peptide Symposium, Dublin

Andrew, Amit and Laura travelled to Dublin City University toward the end of August to attend the 35th European Peptide Symposium.
Andrew was delighted to deliver a talk highlighting some of the group's work on rationally designed peptidomimetics and both Laura and Amit presented posters.


June 2018

Ben Lomond Climb

The group recently made the climb up Ben Lomond!
A short drive away from the lab in Glasgow, at 974m the Munro is certainly a challenge not for the faint of heart. Luckily, being a group of research chemists, it was not the first uphill struggle we had faced. Of course, the climb was made all the more enjoyable by the beautiful Stirlingshire sunshine.
We hope the Ben will be the first of many Munros to be bagged by the group!


May 2018

DSTL Visit

Andrew and the stapled peptide team (Fergus, Laura and Caitlin) visited our collaborators at DSTL Porton Down last week to discuss the latest results from our medicinal chemistry project.
The meeting room had a display of the history of respirators including this intimidating chap!


April 2018

Visit to Biotage HQ

Andrew was recently hosted by Dr Amit Mehrotra (Global Product Manager) for a visit to the Biotage HQ in Uppsala, Sweden to present a research talk and discuss all things peptides.
During the talk, titled 'Rationally designed peptidomimetics: How easy is it to exceed Mother Nature?’ Andrew discussed the groups work on stapled peptides targeting sodium channels and Aurora A kinase, as well as our work developing a new disulfide bond surrogate and it’s application to understanding the mechanism of binding of urotensin-II peptide to the urotensin GPCR.
The Jamieson Group use a Biotage Alstra automated peptide synthesiser for the production of these peptidomimetics and a Biotage Isolera for the purification of peptides and non-native amino acids.


March 2018

STEM careers - Inspiring the Next Generation of Chemists

Dr Andrew Jamieson recently took part in a Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) careers event at Wester Overton Primary School.
The event was organised by June Moir (Depute Head Teacher) and provided an opportunity for primary 7 pupils to discuss careers with professionals in the STEM subjects. June said ‘it was brilliant to hear the pupils absolutely buzzing about what they’d learned!’.
At the event Andrew gave an overview of his career as a chemist including BSc Honours and PhD degrees in the School of Chemistry at the University of Glasgow. He talked to the students about the excitement of drug discovery. He demonstrated the really fun computer software used by chemists to visuals protein targets in 3D and described the robots used to synthesis potential drug molecules in his laboratory.
Andrew said ‘this was a fantastic event, the students were absolutely fascinated to hear what a chemist does on a day to day basis. I was delighted to share my experiences with them and hopefully have inspired some of the pupils to study STEM subjects at high school. We may even see some come to Glasgow to study medicinal chemistry!'


University of Glasgow SRC Student Teaching Awards

Andrew has been nominated for the Best Teacher in the College of Science and Engineering Award at the University of Glasgow SRC's Student Teaching Awards 2017/18!

He would like to thank all of the students who voted for him.


February 2018

Learning from Nature to Develop New Antibacterials

The latest paper from the Jamieson Lab, titled “Lipopeptidomimetics Derived from Teixobactin have Potent Antibacterial Activity against Staphylococcus aureus” is now published in the Royal Society of Chemistry Journal Chemical Communications

Teixobactin is a recently discovered peptide antibiotic that is potent against MRSA, one of the so called “super bugs”. Teixobactin is a peptide that functions in a way that makes it remarkably difficult for bacterial to develop resistance. It is thus being developed as a new drug to treat drug resistant bacterial infections. However, Teixobactin is extremely difficult to produce. This work by former member Georgina Girt and Amit Mahindra in the Jamieson Lab, focused on using our understanding of the mechanism of action to design analogues of Teixobactin that are easier to prepare synthetically and retain antibacterial activity. The novel peptidomimetics were shown to be active against Staphylococcus aureus in collaboration with Prof. Marco Oggioni’s (Professor of Microbial Genetics) research group at the University of Leicester.

Dr Jamieson added: It is looking increasing likely that antimicrobial resistance is going to be one of the major health challenges of our lifetime. Deaths from currently minor bacterial infections is a terrifying prospect sitting just around the corner and so it is essential that work is done now to develop new antibiotics that kill these resistant strains. Our new strategy for developing such compounds involves learning from nature and then using state of the art chemistries to produce antibacterial peptides easily and relatively cheaply.

vacancies

We are always keen to hear from well qualified people who are interested in joining the Jamieson Lab. See below for more information on vacancies and opportunities available at various career stages.

Postdoctoral positions

We are interested in hearing from intelligent, hard working individuals who would like to join the Lab as a postdoctoral researcher. Fully funded postdoctoral positions are advertised on the Jamieson Lab and Glasgow webpages, and on jobs.ac.uk . Some ideas of where to obtain funding for a fellowship can be found on the University of Glasgow website.

PhD Positions

Interested candidates should contact Dr Jamieson with a CV and cover letter that describes why you would like to join the Lab. Formal applications should be made through the School of Chemistry, University of Glasgow.

MSc and BSc Final Year Project Students

We recruit a number of MSc and BSc project students each October. If you are interested in finding out about the projects on offer and joining the Jamieson Lab then please contact Dr Jamieson for an informal chat.

Summer Placement Students

Funding opportunities are available from the RSC and the University for talented students to undertake a research project over the summer (8-10 weeks). If you are interested in applying for funding for a summer placement in our laboratory, please contact Dr Jamieson.

Commonwealth PhD Scholarships

Suitable candidates are welcome to apply for Commonwealth PhD Scholarships. Please check eligibility criteria before contacting Andrew to discuss suitable projects and his support of your application.

equipment

Research in the Jamieson lab benefits from access to state-of-the-art equipment, some examples of which are given in this section:

Biotage® Initiator+ Alstra™

Automated Microwave Peptide Synthesizer

Biotage® Isolera One™

Advanced Automated Flash Purification

ThermoFisher Dionex UltiMate 3000 LCQ Fleet

State of the Art LC-MS Analysis