Alex’s multidisciplinary work focusses largely on the chalcogens and related mediators (e.g. oxygen, sulfides, selenides, nitric oxide), broadly divided into three overlapping themes:

Theme 1 – Fundamental biology of chalcogens and their interactions

Theme 2 – The role of chalcogens in disease

Theme 3 – Development of novel therapeutics for treatment of oxidative and age-related pathologies

Alex graduated with a BSc in Biology and MSc in Pharmacology from Hull and Herts, UK, respectively, and joined Novartis’ Chronic Pain Unit as a Research Associate in 2001. In 2005 he undertook a capacity-building PhD studentship in in vivo physiology/pharmacology at University College London, where he partnered with industry to work on novel oxygen sensors as early indicators of organ hypoperfusion. A post-doc at UCL in 2010 followed, with discovery of a novel agent for ischaemia/reperfusion injury, and a subsequent spin-out opportunity with Magnus Life Science. From 2014, Alex directed a subsidiary, Magnus Oxygen, before continuing the programme back at UCL with Apollo Therapeutics from 2017-present. He has joined the Institute of Pharmaceutical Science, King’s College London, to establish his research group and will continue to focus on the chalcogens (oxygen, sulfides, selenides plus other related mediators) in a broad, multidisciplinary research programme. Alex will also continue to operate on the academia/industry interface and establish a translational arm to develop novel therapeutics.