... understanding life in molecular detail

The DirectorAbout us

The Astbury Centre for Structural Molecular Biology (ACSMB) at the University of Leeds brings together over seventy academic staff from three faculties - biological sciences, physical sciences and medicine - who share the common goal of using experiment and simulation, developing new methods and approaches, and combining different techniques that span the disciplines to "understand life in molecular detail".

The Centre is a major hub for research and training in structural molecular biology in its broadest sense. We host a Wellcome Trust-funded 4-year PhD programme (The Molecular Basis of Biological Mechanisms) and are centrally involved in a BBSRC-funded PhD programme (Mechanistic Biology and its Strategic Application). A thriving community of independently funded research fellows also add to our outstanding research team.

New discoveries in the complexities of life can only be made with access to the latest equipment and with excellent supporting experimental officers to run it. The equipment base in the Astbury Centre is second-to-none: we have superb research infrastructure including all of the major techniques for structural molecular biology: X-ray diffraction, 600-950 MHz NMR, two Titan Krios EMs and 10 mass spectrometers that span native MS to proteomics. This is complemented by expertise in chemical biology, molecular biophysics and cell biology. Together these approaches are combined with analyses of biological function with the ultimate aim of understanding the molecular basis of biological mechanisms health and disease.