Schofield Group

The research of our group is driven by a desire to apply chemical principles and techniques to address important biological questions.

A particular focus of our recent research has been the ubiquitous family of ferrous iron and 2-oxoglutarate (2OG) dependent oxygenases. In humans, these enzymes have important roles in oxygen sensing, collagen biosynthesis, fatty acid metabolism and in the epigenetic regulation of gene expression. We aim to define functions for all human '2OG oxygenases' at biochemical, cellular, and physiological level. As part of this, we endeavour to obtain crystal structures and identify small-molecule inhibitors of 2OG oxygenases, many of which are of major biomedicinal interest. We are also interested in metallo-proteases and the variety of unusual enzymes involved in antibiotic biosynthesis; the carbapenems and clavam families of β-lactams are of particular interest.

A variety of techniques are used in the group, including synthetic chemistry, enzyme purification and characterisation, cloning/mutagenesis and biophysical techniques, including X-ray crystallography, NMR, and mass spectrometry (in collaboration with Prof James McCullagh).