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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/

800 Followers  |  389 Following  |  74 Posts  |  Joined: 06.09.2023  |  1.7454

Latest posts by cjserpell.bsky.social on Bluesky

The online version was doing it, probably the offline one has a way to turn it on somewhere. Old programmes on CD are the best. I'm getting a lot out of Worms Armageddon dug out of my parents' loft.

18.11.2025 15:47 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

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...

18.11.2025 10:55 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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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…

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...

18.11.2025 09:14 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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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 ...

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...

16.10.2025 08:28 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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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 ➑️ www.crick.ac.uk/careers-stud...

09.10.2025 14:06 β€” πŸ‘ 135    πŸ” 112    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 18

I need to check - does the Funding Service website work in China?

09.10.2025 19:56 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

We've got a DNA-amyloid protein one in the works...

03.10.2025 13:24 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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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…

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...

03.10.2025 08:08 β€” πŸ‘ 9    πŸ” 5    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 0

Postdoc position open for applications until 8th Sept! www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/...

26.08.2025 12:38 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 4    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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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 …

πŸ“£ Call for Abstracts - vMASC πŸ“£

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 πŸ“† 18th Aug 2025

Find out more on mascgroup.co.uk/vmasc-4/vmas...

03.08.2025 13:24 β€” πŸ‘ 7    πŸ” 8    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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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...

Underpinning science here: pubs.rsc.org/en/content/a...

16.07.2025 15:17 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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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).

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/...

16.07.2025 15:17 β€” πŸ‘ 6    πŸ” 4    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 1

It can Hoogsteen plenty, and it can do cool things with other molecules (like cyanuric acid), and nature thinks it's cool enough to stick a pile of them on the end of every RNA, as well as the whole ATP thing...

10.07.2025 15:20 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

I like G because it has a guanidine in it. But A's my favourite, because it's manages without oxygen.

10.07.2025 13:14 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

...and "no safe dose" is a stupid thing to say when apparently there's even a safe dose of botulinum toxin

03.07.2025 12:12 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Pretty much in agreement here. This may be chemist bias, but in the end, the only question I have about food is what stuff is actually in it.
Is UPF status a state function?

03.07.2025 12:09 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

It's true once you get above a certain temperature

01.07.2025 10:31 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Perhaps the problem is not with the UK...

30.06.2025 14:51 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

You take that back about beer. Nowhere in the world is there anything as good as British ale.

27.06.2025 08:49 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

PharmAlliance creates all kinds of opportunities for collaboration between UCL, UNC, and Monash

24.06.2025 12:15 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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A great group outing to Bloomsbury Lanes!

23.06.2025 15:56 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

I feel for you.

20.06.2025 09:00 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

You should see people's faces when I tell them I'm an Associate Professor of Drug Discovery

18.06.2025 10:15 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

This is the best

18.06.2025 10:14 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Hating on β€œBig 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 waterβ€”no regulations, no oversight. But hey, it’s β€˜natural,’ right?

30.04.2025 01:36 β€” πŸ‘ 692    πŸ” 265    πŸ’¬ 24    πŸ“Œ 31
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Thanks, AI

25.02.2025 09:15 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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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...

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...

14.02.2025 12:56 β€” πŸ‘ 13    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

I will be referencing this paper in nearly every manuscript and grant application until someone beats its record.

14.02.2025 09:15 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

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

06.02.2025 11:47 β€” πŸ‘ 7    πŸ” 10    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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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).

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/...

30.01.2025 13:36 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

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