Alexander L. Breeze

I am a structural biologist interested in basic mechanisms as well as applications to disease modification and drug discovery – interests reflected in a research career spanning 30 years in both academia and industry. A biochemistry graduate from Imperial College London (1983), I stayed on at Imperial to do a PhD in molecular neurobiology, using snake venom neurotoxins as tools to dissect mechanisms of neurotransmitter release. In 1988, seeking a change of field, I moved to the University of Oxford to work with Prof Iain D Campbell FRS in the rapidly emerging area of NMR structural biology. In 1991 the opportunity to establish from scratch an NMR structural biology group at ICI Pharmaceuticals (now AstraZeneca) presented itself, and I made the transition to industry, where my group initiated or collaborated in drug discovery programmes against a wide range (>80) of protein targets, chiefly in the oncology and anti-infectives areas. I led the adoption of fragment-based drug discovery approaches via NMR screening within AZ, yielding patented clinical candidates in a completely novel class of potential antibacterial drugs, and promising lead series against hitherto ‘undruggable’ oncology targets. From 2002 I was a Principal Scientist and Associate Director at AZ, and a member of the Structural Biology and Biophysics leadership teams from 1999-2014. In 2014 I made the decision to move back to academia as Chair of Biomolecular NMR at the University of Leeds, where my major interests are, inter alia, in fibroblast growth factor receptor signalling and Ras pathway inhibition; my group currently comprises 3 PDRAs, 2 PhD students and the NMR Facility Manager. I am Director of the Faculty of Biological Sciences NMR Facility and Director of BioNMR in the Astbury BioStructure Laboratory in Leeds. I have published in high-impact journals including Nature, Angewandte Chemie, EMBO Journal and Nature Communications, and have authored numerous review articles and book chapters on NMR methods in drug discovery; fragment-based lead discovery and druggability screening; drug discovery against protein-protein interactions; and fibroblast growth factor receptor structure and dynamics (H-index=23). I have served on a number of peer review and advisory committees, including for BBSRC and MRC. During my career to date (AZ and Leeds) I have supervised over 12 PhD students and 9 PDRAs.