Professor 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, and promoted to Reader in 2019 and Professor in August 2022.
In 2022 he co-founded with colleagues at the University of Glasgow the biotechnology company Keltic Pharma Therapeutics Ltd. The primary aim of the company is to deliver within 5 years a clinical candidate as a curative treatment and transmission blocking agent of the human malaria parasite, P. falciparum. Keltic are also developing a transformative discovery platform called PEPSMOL to drug previously “hard to target” GPCRs.
In 2023, he was awarded the RSC’s Chemical Biology and Bioorganic Group’s lectureship award to recognise the excellent contributions of mid-career scientists to both research and the UK community in chemical biology and bioorganic chemistry!
Andrew and his wife, Sarah, have three children (James, Finlay and Laura). Outside of chemical biology, Andrew spends his time coaching rugby and leading his local Explorer Scouts group.
Email: Andrew.Jamieson.2@glasgow.ac.uk LinkedIn: Andrew Jamieson
Postdocs
Dr Nicola Wade
Nicola joined the Jamieson lab as a postdoc in March 2023.
She obtained her PhD in the field of biological chemistry working under the supervision of Professor Nathaniel Martin in Universiteit Leiden. Her research centred around developing a solution to perpetual problem of antibiotic resistance by designing and synthesising small molecules, followed by testing her compounds in microbiological and biophysical assays.
Nicola’s work in the Jamieson lab involves the use of the mRNA cyclic peptide display platform to develop and synthesise inhibitors against novel targets.
In her free time, Nicola enjoys reading and baking, and will often bring in some baked goods for her colleagues to enjoy!
Email: Nicola.Wade@glasgow.ac.uk LinkedIn: Nicola Wade
Dr Rochelle McGrory
Rochelle is undertaking a PDRA position in the Jamieson group, working on the generation of a novel peptidomimetic library.
She completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Glasgow in Chemistry with Medicinal Chemistry (MSci). During her fourth year, Rochelle carried out a work placement at Charles River Laboratories in Edinburgh, working in the environmental fate and metabolism department. Her masters project focused on the synthesis of bromodomain inhibitors utilising one-pot iron and copper catalysis in the Sutherland research group.
Rochelle continued her studies in the Sutherland group undertaking her PhD which focused on the synthesis of novel fluorescent amino acids. This included both methodology projects as well as target-based synthesis and generated fluorescent heterocyclic amino acids which were used to synthesise cell-penetrating peptides.
She continued her research in the field of peptide chemistry by undertaking a position as senior scientist at Keltic pharma where she led the development and synthesis of peptide libraries for the drug discovery platform.
Email: Rochelle.McGrory@glasgow.ac.uk LinkedIn: Rochelle McGrory
Dr Oscar Shepperson
Oscar is a postdoctoral researcher that joined the Jamieson Group in May 2024 from New Zealand.
He completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Auckland, where he also completed his BSc(Honours) and PhD under the supervision of Distinguished Professor Dame Margaret Brimble, Assoc. Prof. Paul Harris and Dr. Alan Cameron. His previous experience lies in peptide synthesis, specifically with disulfide rich peptides with end-goal medicinal applications. Specific previous work of Oscar’s has focused on the synthesis of competitive inhibitors for Hepatitis B treatments, and the synthetic optimisations of novel antimicrobial peptides, specifically through the incorporation of novel intramolecular linkages.
Since joining the Jamieson Group, Oscar’s focus has been on the synthesis of α-conotoxins, specifically for their use in determining the specific binding mechanism of these conotoxins to the muscle type nicotinic acetylcholine receptor. He has been designing and employing novel on-resin orthogonal strategies to produce high quality compounds in a safe manner. Alongside the synthesis of the native conotoxins, Oscar has been producing tool compounds to develop our biological understanding of the conotoxins and visualise their mechanisms in a better light. Specific tool compounds he has designed and synthesised have included fluorescently labelled analogues, biotinylated analogues, and analogues containing thia-Michael functionalities.
Outside of the conotoxin work, Oscar has been developing on-resin triazole chemistries with model peptides, with the goal of optimising these reactions, and to facilitate further functionalisation of the triazole mimetic.
Outside of the lab, Oscar is an avid cricket and plays locally in Glasgow. He enjoys electronic music and the outdoors, and is relishing the opportunities Scotland has for exploring.
Email: Oscar.Shepperson@glasgow.ac.uk LinkedIn: Oscar Shepperson
Dr Michael Capper
Mike is senior postdoc in the Jamieson group and focusses on using structural biology to better understand the binding of therapeutics and toxins to their target.
He completed his PhD in the Molecular Biophysics Group at the University of Liverpool under the supervision of Dr. Svetlana Antonyuk and Professor Samar Hasnain focussed on overcoming antimalarial resistance to atovaquone.
He subsequently undertook a postdoc at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai with Dr Daniel Wacker focussed on structural pharmacology on both GPCR and SLC targets. He uses both cryo-EM and pharmacology to produce atomic models of the interactions present and better understand the effects of rational modifications.
He is hoping to augment his foundation in structural biology with the latest developments in peptide chemistry within the Jamieson group with the aim of establishing his own academic group in the near future.
Email: Michael.Capper@glasgow.ac.uk LinkedIn: Michael Capper
PhD Students
Skye Brettell
Skye is a final year PhD student in the Jamieson Lab working in the small molecule drug discovery team. She designs and synthesizes malarial kinase inhibitors, using molecular modelling software to guide this.
Skye obtained her MSci in Chemistry with Medicinal Chemistry from The University of Glasgow. During her 4th year, she worked in the lab of Professor William Lubell in Montréal, Canada, synthesizing unnatural amino acids and β-turn peptidomimetics.
When not in the lab, Skye spends most of her time outdoors and enjoys camping, surfing and snowboarding. Those that know her would say the only indoor spaces she frequents are the lab and the pub.
Email: 2196732b@student.gla.ac.uk LinkedIn: Skye Brettell
Kirsty Arnott
Kirsty started her PhD working in the Jamieson group in October 2021 after completing an MSci in Chemistry with Medicinal Chemistry at the University of Glasgow.
As part of her undergraduate degree she spent a year working with Professor Nathaniel Martin at Leiden University in the Netherlands, focusing on synthesising modified cysteine amino acids for incorporation into Globomycin, an antibiotic peptide.
Her brief introduction to peptides sparked an interest which carried her into the peptides team in the Jamieson group, where she works on developing stabilised analogues of the hormone Oxytocin.
Kirsty spends most of her spare time upside down, testing her nerves in aerial acrobatics or relaxing in yoga. She also enjoys live music and musical theatre, taking as many opportunities as she can to dance the night away.
Email: 2234454A@student.gla.ac.uk LinkedIn: Kirsty Arnott
Michael Malone
Michael is in the second year of his PhD in the Jamieson group, having started in October 2022. He finished his undergraduate degree at the University of Glasgow in Chemistry with Medicinal Chemistry (MSci).
As an undergraduate he completed his final year research project in the Miras group, working on the self-assembly of molybdenum selenoxide clusters. Michael also spent a year working in the Jamieson Lab as part of his integrated Master’s degree. His project focused on the solid phase synthesis of natural product Bottromycin A2 and it’s analogues.
Michael’s project for his PhD currently involves developing potential small molecule antagonists for GPR84.
Outside of the Lab Michael mainly spends his time at the football, running or testing out Glasgow's restaurants.
Email: 2318883m@student.gla.ac.uk LinkedIn: Michael Malone
Alumni
Dr David Morgan - University of Cambridge
Dr Danielle Morgan - Princeton University, Macmillan group
Dr Amit Mahindra - Sygnature Discovery
Dr Sudha Shankur - Blavatnik Centre for Drug Discovery
Dr Caroline Morris- University of Edinburgh, Coxon group
Dr Kopano Mapesa - Concept Life Sciences
Dr Lewis Archibald - SolastaBio
Dr Laura McDougall - Almac
Siddique Amin - University of Newcastle, Kawamura group
Ross Gillespie - University of Glasgow, Peveler group
Dr Fergus McWhinnie - TargoPep
Dr Amy Dodds - BP
Dr Caitlin Mooney - CPI
Dr Valentina Albanese - University of Ferrara
Dr Iona Black - ICR, London
Dr Astrid Knuhtsen - Novo Nordisk
Dr Andrew Fallows - Pharmaron
Dr Georgina Girt - University of Oxford, Naismith group
Dr Naomi Robertson - Sandy Secondary School
Dr Boris Aillard - Evotec