Matthew Fuchter

Last updated
Matthew Fuchter
Born
Matthew John Fuchter

NationalityBritish
Alma mater University of Bristol
Imperial College London
Awards Harrison-Meldola Memorial Prize (2014) Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists (2020)
Corday–Morgan Prize (2021)
Scientific career
Institutions University of Melbourne
Imperial College London
University College London
University of Oxford
Thesis Synthetic studies on porphyrazines : biological applications and new preparative methods  (2006)
Doctoral advisor Anthony Barrett
Website www.imperial.ac.uk/people/m.fuchter OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg

Matthew John Fuchter FRSC is a British chemist who is a Professor of Chemistry at the University of Oxford. [1] His research focuses on the development and application of novel functional molecular systems to a broad range of areas; from materials to medicine. He has been awarded both the Harrison-Meldola Memorial Prize (2014) and the Corday–Morgan Prizes (2021) of the Royal Society of Chemistry. [2] In 2020 he was a finalist for the Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists.

Contents

Early life and education

Fuchter earned a master's degree (MSci) in chemistry at the University of Bristol, where he was awarded the Richard Dixon prize. [3] It was during his undergraduate degree that he first became interested in organic synthesis. [4] As a graduate student he moved to Imperial College London, where he worked with Anthony Barrett on the synthesis and applications of porphyrazines, including as therapeutic agents. [5] [6] During his doctoral studies Barrett and Fuchter collaborated with Brian M. Hoffman at Northwestern University. [2]

Research and career

After completing his PhD, Fuchter moved to Australia, for postdoctoral research at CSIRO and the University of Melbourne, where he worked with Andrew Bruce Holmes. [2] [7] In 2007 Fuchter returned to the United Kingdom, where he began his independent academic career at the School of Pharmacy, University of London (now UCL School of Pharmacy). [2] Less than one year later he was appointed a Lecturer at Imperial College London, where he was promoted to Reader (Associate Professor) in 2015 and Professor in 2019. [2] [8] Fuchter develops photoswitchable molecules, chiral materials and new pharmaceuticals.

Fuchter is interested in how considerations of chirality can be applied to the development of novel approaches in chiral optoelectronic materials and devices. [2] In particular, he focusses on the introduction of chiral-optical (so-called chiroptical) properties into optoelectronic materials. [2] Amongst these materials, Fuchter has extensively evaluated the use of chiral small molecule additives (helicenes [7] ) to induce chiroptical properties into light emitting polymers for the realisation of chiral (circularly polarised, CP) OLEDs. [2] [7] He has also investigated the application of such materials in circularly polarised photodetectors, which are devices that are capable of detecting circularly polarised light. [2] As well as using chiral functional materials for light emission and detection, Fuchter has investigated the charge transport properties of enantiopure and racemic chiral functional materials.

Fuchter has also developed novel molecular photoswitches – molecules that can be cleanly and reversibly interconverted between two states using light – with a focus on heteroaromatic versions of azobenzene. The arylazopyrazole switches developed by Fuchter out perform the ubiquitous azobenzene switches, demonstrating complete photoswitching in both directions and thermal half-lives of the Z isomer of up to 46 years. Fuchter continues to apply these switches to a range of photoaddressable applications from photopharmacology to energy storage.

Alongside his work on functional material discovery, Fuchter works in medicinal chemistry and develops small molecule ligands that can either inhibit or stimulate the activity of disease relevant proteins. [2] [9] While he has worked on many drug targets, he has specialised in proteins involved in the transcriptional and epigenetic processes of disease. A particular interest has been the development of inhibitors for the histone-lysine methyltransferase enzymes in the Plasmodium parasite that causes human malaria. [10]

In 2018 one of the cancer drugs developed by Fuchter, together with Anthony Barrett, Simak Ali and Charles Coombes entered a phase 1 clinical trial, and as of 2020, it is in phase 2. [7] [11] The drug, which was designed using computational chemistry, inhibits the cyclin-dependent kinase 7 (CDK7), a transcriptional regulatory protein that also regulates the cell cycle. Certain cancers rely on CDK7, so inhibition of this enzyme has potential to have a significant impact on cancer pathogenesis. [11]

In 2024 Fuchter joined the University of Oxford as a Professor of Chemistry and the Sydney Bailey Fellow in Chemistry at St Peter’s College Oxford. [1]

Academic service

Fuchter serves on the editorial board of MedChemComm . [12] He is an elected council member of the Royal Society of Chemistry organic division. [13] Fuchter is co-Director of the Imperial College London Centre for Drug Discovery Science. [14]

Awards and honours

Selected publications

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Royal Society of Chemistry</span> Learned society in the United Kingdom

The Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) is a learned society and professional association in the United Kingdom with the goal of "advancing the chemical sciences". It was formed in 1980 from the amalgamation of the Chemical Society, the Royal Institute of Chemistry, the Faraday Society, and the Society for Analytical Chemistry with a new Royal Charter and the dual role of learned society and professional body. At its inception, the Society had a combined membership of 34,000 in the UK and a further 8,000 abroad.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leroy Cronin</span> British chemist

Leroy "Lee" CroninFRSE FRSC is the Regius Chair of Chemistry in the School of Chemistry at the University of Glasgow. He was elected to the Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, the Royal Society of Chemistry, and appointed to the Regius Chair of Chemistry in 2013. He was previously the Gardiner Chair, appointed April 2009. His feature Profile in RSC Chemistry World “Searching for Complexity” explains his vision for the future of digital chemistry.

The Corday–Morgan Medal and Prize is awarded by the Royal Society of Chemistry for the most meritorious contributions to experimental chemistry, including computer simulation. The prize was established by chemist Gilbert Morgan, who named it after his father Thomas Morgan and his mother Mary-Louise Corday. From the award's inception in 1949 until 1980 it was awarded by the Chemical Society. Up to three prizes are awarded annually.

The Harrison-Meldola Memorial Prizes are annual prizes awarded by Royal Society of Chemistry to chemists in Britain who are 34 years of age or below. The prize is given to scientist who demonstrate the most meritorious and promising original investigations in chemistry and published results of those investigations. There are 3 prizes given every year, each winning £5000 and a medal. Candidates are not permitted to nominate themselves.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anthony Barrett</span> British chemist

Anthony Gerard Martin Barrett FRS, FMedSci is a British chemist, and Sir Derek Barton Professor of Synthesis, Glaxo Professor of Organic Chemistry at Imperial College London. He is Director of the Wolfson Centre for Organic Chemistry in Medical Science. He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 1999 and Academy of Medical Sciences in 2003. He obtained a BSc as well as PhD from Imperial College London in 1973 and 1975 respectively.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Attfield</span> British academic

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Claire Sandrine Jacqueline Adjiman is a professor of Chemical Engineering at the Department of Chemical Engineering at Imperial College London and a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering.

Charlotte Williams holds the Professorship of Inorganic Chemistry at the University of Oxford. Her research focuses on the synthesis of novel catalysts with an expertise in organometallic chemistry and polymer materials chemistry.

Rachel O'Reilly is a British chemist and Professor at the University of Birmingham. She works at the interface of biology and materials, creating polymers that can mimic natural nanomaterials such as viruses and cells. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and of the Royal Society.

Kim E. Jelfs is a computational chemist based at Imperial College London who was one of the recipients of the Harrison-Meldola Memorial Prizes in 2018. She develops software to predict the structures and properties of molecular systems for renewable energy.

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References

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  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 "Interview with Matthew J. Fuchter - SYNFORM - Thieme Chemistry". Thieme. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
  3. "Prof. A.G.M. Barrett, FRS". ic.ac.uk. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
  4. Zanda, Matteo (2015-10-20). "Synform Issue 2015/11". Synthesis. 47 (21): A150–A166. doi: 10.1055/s-0035-1560202 . ISSN   0039-7881.
  5. Fuchter, Matthew John (2006). Synthetic studies on porphyrazines: biological applications and new preparative methods. london.ac.uk (PhD thesis). University of London. OCLC   500152201. EThOS   423302.
  6. "Chemistry Tree - Anthony GM Barrett". academictree.org. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
  7. 1 2 3 4 Newton, Jennifer (2020-04-29). "Introducing chirality to give organic electronics a twist". chemistryworld.com. Chemistry World . Retrieved 2020-06-24.
  8. "The central science: using molecules to develop materials and medicine". Imperial College London. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
  9. "a collaboration with Dr Holger Auner and Prof Matthew Fuchter, Imperial College London". Apollo Therapeutics. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
  10. Fuchter, Matt. "Novel Antimalarial Drugs Through Epigenetics: Full Interview with Dr Matt Fuchter". Pharma IQ. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
  11. 1 2 "Imperial-developed cancer drug enters phase I clinical trial – NIHR Imperial Biomedical Research Centre". nihr.ac.uk. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
  12. "Introducing MedChemComm Associate Editor Dr Matthew Fuchter – RSC Medicinal Chemistry Blog" . Retrieved 2020-06-24.
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  20. "Professor Matthew Fuchter | 2021 Corday-Morgan Prize winner". Royal Society of Chemistry. Retrieved 2021-06-08.
  21. "The Chiral Materials Team - 2022 Materials Chemistry Division Horizon Prize: Stephanie L Kwolek Award winner". Royal Society of Chemistry. Retrieved 2024-09-07.
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