Chris Serpell
@cjserpell.bsky.social
Assoc. Prof. of Drug Discovery at UCL School of Pharmacy. Weird-y nucleic acids, chem. bio. of natural products. Catholic. https://blogs.ucl.ac.uk/serpell/
So infuriating having Word making predictions of what I want to type and derailing my train of thought! And then wasting time working out to turn it off, and venting here...
November 18, 2025 at 10:55 AM
So infuriating having Word making predictions of what I want to type and derailing my train of thought! And then wasting time working out to turn it off, and venting here...
Our newest paper is on agriculture! Liver cancer is a big problem in Vietnam, in part due to agrochemicals. Madecassic acid might be the basis for a medicine for it, and it can be extracted from Centella plants - but can you grow them without the agrochemicals? www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
A comparative study of organic and conventional production methods on biomass accumulation and bioactive compounds content in Centella asiatica (L.) Urban in Vietnam
Centella asiatica is a widely cultivated herb in South and Southeast Asia, recognized for its considerable nutritional value in these regions. In trad…
www.sciencedirect.com
November 18, 2025 at 9:14 AM
Our newest paper is on agriculture! Liver cancer is a big problem in Vietnam, in part due to agrochemicals. Madecassic acid might be the basis for a medicine for it, and it can be extracted from Centella plants - but can you grow them without the agrochemicals? www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Are you a cell biologist interested in developing a potential new modality for targeting oncogenic protein-protein interactions?
Michelle Garret and I have a postdoc position at Kent - it's for 3yr, and a really exciting collaboration to be part of!
jobs.kent.ac.uk/Vacancy.aspx...
Michelle Garret and I have a postdoc position at Kent - it's for 3yr, and a really exciting collaboration to be part of!
jobs.kent.ac.uk/Vacancy.aspx...
Job Opportunity at the University of Kent: Research Associate in Cell biology
Do you have experience in cell biology? Are you passionate about research and interested in drug discovery? If so, we’d welcome an application from you.Prof Michelle Garrett is looking for a Research ...
jobs.kent.ac.uk
October 16, 2025 at 8:28 AM
Are you a cell biologist interested in developing a potential new modality for targeting oncogenic protein-protein interactions?
Michelle Garret and I have a postdoc position at Kent - it's for 3yr, and a really exciting collaboration to be part of!
jobs.kent.ac.uk/Vacancy.aspx...
Michelle Garret and I have a postdoc position at Kent - it's for 3yr, and a really exciting collaboration to be part of!
jobs.kent.ac.uk/Vacancy.aspx...
Reposted by Chris Serpell
We're now recruiting early career group leaders at the Crick to lead ambitious research programmes and explore bold scientific questions.
Hear our Director, Edith Heard, explain why the Crick is a unique place for curiosity-driven research.
Apply now ➡️ www.crick.ac.uk/careers-stud...
Hear our Director, Edith Heard, explain why the Crick is a unique place for curiosity-driven research.
Apply now ➡️ www.crick.ac.uk/careers-stud...
October 9, 2025 at 2:06 PM
We're now recruiting early career group leaders at the Crick to lead ambitious research programmes and explore bold scientific questions.
Hear our Director, Edith Heard, explain why the Crick is a unique place for curiosity-driven research.
Apply now ➡️ www.crick.ac.uk/careers-stud...
Hear our Director, Edith Heard, explain why the Crick is a unique place for curiosity-driven research.
Apply now ➡️ www.crick.ac.uk/careers-stud...
I need to check - does the Funding Service website work in China?
October 9, 2025 at 7:56 PM
I need to check - does the Funding Service website work in China?
Thanks to @jesspanch.bsky.social at Trends in Chemistry for handling this review article on DNA-peptide self-assembly which is just out. This outlook is going to frame some more papers you'll see coming out my lab over the next year or so.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Self-assembly of (poly)peptide-oligonucleotide conjugates: from orthogonality to emergence
Peptides and DNA both display characteristic self-assembly motifs which underpin the spectacularly varied and functional nanostructures of biology. Ea…
www.sciencedirect.com
October 3, 2025 at 8:08 AM
Thanks to @jesspanch.bsky.social at Trends in Chemistry for handling this review article on DNA-peptide self-assembly which is just out. This outlook is going to frame some more papers you'll see coming out my lab over the next year or so.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Postdoc position open for applications until 8th Sept! www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/...
August 26, 2025 at 12:38 PM
Postdoc position open for applications until 8th Sept! www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/...
Reposted by Chris Serpell
📣 Call for Abstracts - vMASC 📣
We are currently inviting abstracts from all early-career researchers (Master’s, PhD, PDRA) for oral presentations in 2025/2026 as part of our monthly vMASC seminar series.
Submission deadline 📆 18th Aug 2025
Find out more on mascgroup.co.uk/vmasc-4/vmas...
We are currently inviting abstracts from all early-career researchers (Master’s, PhD, PDRA) for oral presentations in 2025/2026 as part of our monthly vMASC seminar series.
Submission deadline 📆 18th Aug 2025
Find out more on mascgroup.co.uk/vmasc-4/vmas...
vMASC Call For Abstracts (for 2025/26)
vMASC Early-Career Seminars: Call for Abstracts The organising committee of the virtual Macrocyclic and Supramolecular Chemistry (vMASC) seminar series are inviting abstracts from all early-career …
mascgroup.co.uk
August 3, 2025 at 1:24 PM
📣 Call for Abstracts - vMASC 📣
We are currently inviting abstracts from all early-career researchers (Master’s, PhD, PDRA) for oral presentations in 2025/2026 as part of our monthly vMASC seminar series.
Submission deadline 📆 18th Aug 2025
Find out more on mascgroup.co.uk/vmasc-4/vmas...
We are currently inviting abstracts from all early-career researchers (Master’s, PhD, PDRA) for oral presentations in 2025/2026 as part of our monthly vMASC seminar series.
Submission deadline 📆 18th Aug 2025
Find out more on mascgroup.co.uk/vmasc-4/vmas...
I've got a postdoc position open @ucl.ac.uk - using phosphoestamers to block oncogenic protein-protein interactions. Large collaboration, translational outlook, cool chemistry underneath! www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/...
UCL – University College London
UCL is consistently ranked as one of the top ten universities in the world (QS World University Rankings 2010-2022) and is No.2 in the UK for research power (Research Excellence Framework 2021).
www.ucl.ac.uk
July 16, 2025 at 3:17 PM
I've got a postdoc position open @ucl.ac.uk - using phosphoestamers to block oncogenic protein-protein interactions. Large collaboration, translational outlook, cool chemistry underneath! www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/...
PharmAlliance creates all kinds of opportunities for collaboration between UCL, UNC, and Monash
June 24, 2025 at 12:15 PM
PharmAlliance creates all kinds of opportunities for collaboration between UCL, UNC, and Monash
A great group outing to Bloomsbury Lanes!
June 23, 2025 at 3:56 PM
A great group outing to Bloomsbury Lanes!
Reposted by Chris Serpell
Hating on “Big Pharma”? Cool, it’s a $1.6 trillion regulated industry. But hang on…the $6.3 trillion wellness industry sells you mushroom tea, dewormers, crash diets, and alkaline water—no regulations, no oversight. But hey, it’s ‘natural,’ right?
April 30, 2025 at 1:36 AM
Hating on “Big Pharma”? Cool, it’s a $1.6 trillion regulated industry. But hang on…the $6.3 trillion wellness industry sells you mushroom tea, dewormers, crash diets, and alkaline water—no regulations, no oversight. But hey, it’s ‘natural,’ right?
Reposted by Chris Serpell
Want to take on a new protein-protein interaction but don't know where to start? Have a look at our latest review in @chemsocrev.bsky.social on designing peptides to control protein interactions.
doi.org/10.1039/D4CS...
doi.org/10.1039/D4CS...
Peptide design to control protein–protein interactions
Targeting of protein–protein interactions has become of huge interest in every aspect of medicinal and biological sciences. The control of protein interactions selectively offers the opportunity to co...
doi.org
February 14, 2025 at 12:56 PM
Want to take on a new protein-protein interaction but don't know where to start? Have a look at our latest review in @chemsocrev.bsky.social on designing peptides to control protein interactions.
doi.org/10.1039/D4CS...
doi.org/10.1039/D4CS...
Reposted by Chris Serpell
Come join our lab @crick.ac.uk and KCL - looking for a Chemical Biologist, ideally with experience of assay design, to lead our chemical biology work, collaborating across my group, and driving forward basic and translational projects tinyurl.com/4h732e22 closes 23/2! 24-month post initially
tinyurl.com
February 6, 2025 at 11:47 AM
Come join our lab @crick.ac.uk and KCL - looking for a Chemical Biologist, ideally with experience of assay design, to lead our chemical biology work, collaborating across my group, and driving forward basic and translational projects tinyurl.com/4h732e22 closes 23/2! 24-month post initially
We're looking for a postdoc to join the group at @ucl.ac.uk School of Pharmacy to use sequence to tie polymers in knots. Come and combine supramolecular chemistry with precision synthetic macromolecules!
www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/...
www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/...
UCL – University College London
UCL is consistently ranked as one of the top ten universities in the world (QS World University Rankings 2010-2022) and is No.2 in the UK for research power (Research Excellence Framework 2021).
www.ucl.ac.uk
January 30, 2025 at 1:36 PM
We're looking for a postdoc to join the group at @ucl.ac.uk School of Pharmacy to use sequence to tie polymers in knots. Come and combine supramolecular chemistry with precision synthetic macromolecules!
www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/...
www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/...
I finally made a new group website for UCL! Basic for now, but has the key info: blogs.ucl.ac.uk/serpell/
UCL The Serpell Group
UCL Homepage
blogs.ucl.ac.uk
January 22, 2025 at 3:53 PM
I finally made a new group website for UCL! Basic for now, but has the key info: blogs.ucl.ac.uk/serpell/
Going to use this method to find out which reviewers to put on my 'please exclude' list
Not you bud
December 11, 2024 at 2:25 PM
Going to use this method to find out which reviewers to put on my 'please exclude' list
Having a discussion with collaborators. I would much rather see a figure above the text discussing it, others would prefer the text first. Who's right?
December 11, 2024 at 11:43 AM
Having a discussion with collaborators. I would much rather see a figure above the text discussing it, others would prefer the text first. Who's right?
Batch vs flow
www.youtube.com/watch?v=re1R...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=re1R...
How Animals Got Butts
YouTube video by PBS Eons
www.youtube.com
November 30, 2024 at 10:37 PM
Batch vs flow
www.youtube.com/watch?v=re1R...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=re1R...
There's so much more we can do with phosphoestamers - I will be soon advertising for a postdoc who'll be working on tying them in knots - get in touch if you're interested.
Really pleased to see this out now in Chem. Sci.! We can selectively block the interaction between mutant #KRAS protein (25% of tumours) and its partner RAF using the tools of supramolecular chemistry, DNA synthesis, cell sorting, and mass spec. pubs.rsc.org/en/content/a...
Sequence-defined phosphoestamers for selective inhibition of the KRASG12D/RAF1 interaction
RAS proteins are the most frequently mutated in cancer, yet they have proved extremely difficult to target in drug discovery, largely because interfering with the interaction of RAS with its downstrea...
pubs.rsc.org
November 27, 2024 at 3:41 PM
There's so much more we can do with phosphoestamers - I will be soon advertising for a postdoc who'll be working on tying them in knots - get in touch if you're interested.
Reposted by Chris Serpell
Really pleased to see this out now in Chem. Sci.! We can selectively block the interaction between mutant #KRAS protein (25% of tumours) and its partner RAF using the tools of supramolecular chemistry, DNA synthesis, cell sorting, and mass spec. pubs.rsc.org/en/content/a...
Sequence-defined phosphoestamers for selective inhibition of the KRASG12D/RAF1 interaction
RAS proteins are the most frequently mutated in cancer, yet they have proved extremely difficult to target in drug discovery, largely because interfering with the interaction of RAS with its downstrea...
pubs.rsc.org
November 26, 2024 at 5:37 PM
Really pleased to see this out now in Chem. Sci.! We can selectively block the interaction between mutant #KRAS protein (25% of tumours) and its partner RAF using the tools of supramolecular chemistry, DNA synthesis, cell sorting, and mass spec. pubs.rsc.org/en/content/a...
Sequence-defined phosphoestamers for selective inhibition of the KRASG12D/RAF1 interaction
RAS proteins are the most frequently mutated in cancer, yet they have proved extremely difficult to target in drug discovery, largely because interfering with the interaction of RAS with its downstrea...
pubs.rsc.org
November 26, 2024 at 9:37 AM
Really pleased to see this out now in Chem. Sci.! We can selectively block the interaction between mutant #KRAS protein (25% of tumours) and its partner RAF using the tools of supramolecular chemistry, DNA synthesis, cell sorting, and mass spec. pubs.rsc.org/en/content/a...
Has anyone taken apart an Expedite 8909? We've got a small part to replace, and I'm sure there must be a clever way to get there... #DNA
November 22, 2024 at 10:56 AM
Has anyone taken apart an Expedite 8909? We've got a small part to replace, and I'm sure there must be a clever way to get there... #DNA
Reposted by Chris Serpell
Fully funded PhD in biomaterials and polymer chemistry. Come join us at UCL 😊 rhoresearchgroup.uk www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
Biomaterials/Polymer Self-assembly at University College London on FindAPhD.com
PhD Project - Biomaterials/Polymer Self-assembly at University College London, listed on FindAPhD.com
www.findaphd.com
November 19, 2024 at 11:17 AM
Fully funded PhD in biomaterials and polymer chemistry. Come join us at UCL 😊 rhoresearchgroup.uk www.findaphd.com/phds/project...