De novo ligand design
The SPROUT software suite has been developed at Leeds for the de novo design of ligands for macromolecules. The software is able to build ligands in, for example, the context of the active site a protein. The approach has been used to design ligands for the NK2 receptor for the first time, and to design new antibiotics which target D-Ala-D-Ala ligase.

Synthetic chemistry laboratories
The discovery of small molecule modulators of macromolecule function is a key focus of the Astbury Centre. Each synthetic chemistry researcher has a 2m fume cupboard (right of picture) in state-of-the-art laboratories close to dedicated office space (left of picture) for the analysis of experimental data. Synthesis contributes to a wide range of projects in the Centre: from the preparation of fluorescently-labelled proteins for protein folding studies, to the synthesis of screening substrates for the directed evolution of novel proteins.

Small molecule high-throughput synthesis and purification - (manager: James Titchmarsh)

We have excellent faciltities for high-throughput small molecule synthesis and purification. Robots for automated synthesis may be used for the preparation of focused libraries of small molecules. Molecules are then routinely purified by mass-directed liquid chromatography: here, compounds are automatically separated on the cases of their expected molecular weight.