XClose

Chemistry

Menu

Professor Alethea B. Tabor

Summary
  Alethea Tabor is Professor of Chemical Biology, and has been at UCL since 1995 (Senior Lecturer 2001 - 2004, Reader 2004 – 2012). Her research is interdisciplinary and spans the interfaces between organic chemistry, biochemistry and in vivo imaging. He group has a particular focus on the design and synthesis of novel and complex peptides to investigate biological problems and as building blocks for the development of self-assembling, multifunctional nanoparticles: often this involves the development of new synthetic methodology. 
Summary of research group
 

My research in the field of Chemical Biology is been driven by the insights that can be gained by applying synthetic organic chemistry to the solution of biological problems. We develop novel synthetic methods to solve the challenges posed by the synthesis of unusual molecules, and use a range of biophysical techniques to study the interactions between the tools we develop and their biological counterparts. Much of this research, in addition, is directed towards solving biological problems of therapeutic relevance.

My group is currently focused in three areas; the synthesis, mode of action and development of novel antibiotic peptides, with a particular interest in the lantibiotics, the targeted delivery of genes and small molecules using liposome-based strategies, and the design and synthesis of targeted theragnostic, multifunctional nanoparticles for simultaneous imaging and delivery of cancer therapeutics.
Research highlights
   
Research Facilities
   
Awards
   
Memberships
 
  • Member of Royal Society of Chemistry 
  • Member of American Chemical Society
  • Committee member of the RSC Peptide and Protein Subject Group
Research interests
 
  • Chemical Biology
  • Synthesis and mode of action of antimicrobial peptides, particularly the lantibiotics
  • Conformationally constrained peptides
  • Targeted liposome-based nanoparticles for simultaneous imaging and delivery of cancer therapeutics
Teaching
 
  • Course organise and lecturer on core 2nd year Organic Chemistry course (CHEM2201 - enolate chemistry and retrosynthetic analysis)
  • Lecturer on 3rd year Biological Chemistry course (peptides and proteins)
  • Lecturer on 2nd year Chemistry of Biologically Important Molecules (for biochemistry students: carbohydrate chemistry)
Prof Alethea B. Tabor


Professor Alethea B. Tabor

Organic Chemistry and Chemical Biology Section

Room 337, 3rd Floor, Christopher Ingold Building

Tel: 020 7679 4695

Email: a.b.tabor@ucl.ac.uk

All publications

Highlighted publications

  • Sayer, J., Walldén, K., Pesnot, T., Campbell, F., Gane, P. F., Simone, M., Koss, H., Buelens, F., Boyle, T. P., Selwood, D. L., Waksman, G., Tabor, A. B. (2014) 2- and 3-substituted imidazo[1,2-a]pyrazines as inhibitors of bacterial type IV secretion.Bioorg Med Chem, 22, 6459-6470.
  • Mitchell, N., Kalber, T. L., Cooper, M. S., Sunassee, K., Chalker, S. L., Shaw, K. P., Ordidge, K. L., Badar, A., Janes, S. M., Blower, P. J., Lythgoe, M. F., Hailes, H. C., Tabor, A. B. (2013). Incorporation of paramagnetic, fluorescent and PET/SPECT contrast agents into liposomes for multimodal imaging. Biomaterials 34, 1179-1192.
  • Welser, K., Campbell, F., Kudsiova, L., Mohammadi, A., Dawson, N., Hart, S. L., Barlow, D. J., Hailes, H. C., Lawrence, M. J., Tabor, A. B. (2013). Gene delivery using ternary lipopolyplexes incorporating branched cationic peptides: The role of peptide sequence and branching. Mol Pharm 10, 127-141.
  • Mothia, B., Appleyard, A. N., Wadman, S., Tabor, A. B. (2011). Synthesis of peptides containing overlapping lanthionine bridges on the solid phase: an analogue of rings D and E of the lantibiotic nisin. Org Lett 13, 4216-4219.
  • Tabor, A. B. (2011). The challenge of the lantibiotics: synthetic approaches to thioether-bridged peptides. Org Biomol Chem 9, 7606-7628.