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World-leading researchers gathered at Burlington House to present advances spanning programmable chemistry in living cells, AI-enabled antibody discovery and next-generation drug targeting. 

The annual Chemical Biology Symposium once again attracted an international audience eager to examine the latest developments at the interface of chemistry and biology. 

Prize lectures, poster presentations and networking sessions celebrated established scientific achievement while giving early-career researchers a prominent platform to showcase their work. The multidisciplinary meeting created opportunities for researchers at every career stage to exchange ideas across disciplines and institutions. 

Opened by scientific committee chair (Newcastle University) and outgoing President (Queen Mary University of London), the introduction set the tone for a day that encapsulated the diversity of these two interwoven strands of science.

, of the University of Cambridge, was presented with the 2025 Khorana Prize in recognition of his pioneering contributions to nucleic acid chemistry and chemical biology. In an insightful lecture, he explored the structure and function of G-quadruplex DNA and reflected on the growing sophistication of tools used to understand and regulate complex biological systems.

Professor Sir Shankar Subramanian with his 2025 RSC Khorana Prize

Speaking later, he said: 鈥淚t鈥檚 been a wonderful event with a very eclectic range of topics being discussed. What鈥檚 striking really is just the breadth of science that鈥檚 going on at the chemistry-biology interface and every lecture today was a completely different area of science.鈥�

He added: 鈥溞略轮辈�app下载 has no borders and bringing people together from different parts of the world, different influences, different ways of thinking in a melting pot is really the point of symposia and conferences. And we鈥檝e seen that here today and examples of some of the best chemical biology research going on around the world.鈥�

Princeton University researcher was next up with a presentation on biocatalysis for non-canonical amino acids and bio-orthogonal chemistry, before a series of flash presentations. The one-minute talks gave eight early-career poster presenters an opportunity to pitch their research to delegates before engaging in in-depth discussions during the dedicated poster sessions. 

A poster competition gave 31 early-career scientists the chance to show off their research with prizes awarded to the top student poster, as voted for by a judging committee, and a poster participation prize decided by delegates.

The early-afternoon session kicked off with incoming CBIC President , who recently retired after 24 years with AstraZeneca, paid warm tribute to Prof Bradley. The latter was presented with the CBIC President鈥檚 Medal for his contributions to the community during his three years as CBIC President.

Prof Bradley later said: 鈥淏urlington House is really the heart of chemistry in the UK and being presented this medal in a room of 100 people, all of whom do chemical biology, is a great honour. I鈥檓 delighted to be able to do this today.鈥�

Professor Mark Bradley (left) receives his CBIC President's Medal from Dr David Andrews

Meanwhile, was next to speak after receiving the 2025 Norman Heatley Award, also presented by Dr Andrews. The Imperial College London academic delved into his work on antibody discovery using computational design, reflecting the value of ever-evolving technology to boost progress within the field.

鈥淚t's been a great day, packed with science. It was a privilege to be given the opportunity to present at this event and to listen to all the other presentations,鈥� said Dr Sormanni, who was particularly interested on malaria drug advances later in the day as he looks to get more involved in that field.

Dr Pietro Sormanni

鈥淚t was a very broad spectrum of science, from fundamental structural dynamics of DNA all the way to translating drugs for malaria, if I think about the first and the last talks of the day. It was, as expected, very multidisciplinary, and I feel like I've learned a lot and met a lot of great people, including very young people who were there with their posters and managed to squeeze so much information into flash presentations.鈥�

, of AstraZeneca, next brought her work on building structurally designed phage libraries. The topic of drug discovery featured in several of the presentations over the course of the day, and in this instance, Dr Urbach noted that how she and her colleagues have been using these libraries to innovatively power peptide binder discovery.

Delegates were then invited to spend more time networking and speaking with early career members of the audience during a second poster session, which preceded talks from two more celebrated academics during the day鈥檚 final session.

First up was , of University College London, who was honoured with the 2025 Jeremy Knowles Award. Her talk was built around her exceptional research achievements on the stability and function of DNA i-motifs, an apt topic given the presentation from her former PhD supervisor Prof Balasubramanian earlier in the day.

Professor Zoe Waller

鈥淚t's a little bit worrying talking in front of your PhD supervisor who's also won an important prize and you want to make your mentors proud of you, so it's been quite a day,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 was absolutely delighted that I was just there next to Shankar on the website, and it is really just very special for me to be here today with him.鈥�

She added of the symposium itself: 鈥淒ays like this allow you to take that step back from what you鈥檙e doing day to day. It gives you a picture into what other people are doing. They might be using different methods, they might have a completely different point of view.

鈥淚 find it revitalising following a conference because I come back full with ideas. There鈥檚 nothing like talking to a person one-on-one and actually asking, 鈥榳hat were the challenges here? If we want to do something in a similar way, what鈥檚 your learning? What鈥檚 your wisdom?鈥欌��

Antimalarial anticancer kinase inhibitors were the subject of University of Cape Town academic presentation to round off the formal activities. A director of the university鈥檚 , he spelled out how and why target deconvolution has a valuable role to play in tackling malaria in Africa as drug discovery once again came to the fore during the event.

Professor Kelly Chibale

Prof Chibale, who was named as one of our latest Honorary Fellows earlier this year, noted: 鈥淭his is my first time attending the Chemical Biology Symposium and today was a showcase of those very diverse topics in chemical biology beyond what many people would define as chemical biology. To be able to bring people together, to showcase what is happening in Africa, where I am based, is really fantastic and it鈥檚 great to see the world represented at this meeting.

鈥淭o see early career researchers really being given prominence and the opportunity to showcase what they do and mingling very nicely with the more accomplished scientists has been remarkable, to say the least. It鈥檚 just fascinating to see everything from DNA and some amazing applications of technologies in chemical biology all the way through to some of the student posters.鈥�

(Imperial College London) and (University of Oxford) received the student poster prize and poster participation prize respectively, both of which sponsored by the , before Professor Kawamura brought the event to a close.

With around 100 attendees present, the symposium ended not as a conclusion but as the starting point for future collaborations and cross-disciplinary conversations likely to shape the next chapter of chemical biology research well beyond this year鈥檚 event. 

Reflecting on the event, Prof Bradley said: 鈥淐hemical biology has an incredibly broad remit, and meetings of this type 鈥� as well as interest groups 鈥� help to cement that bond between scientists. We had a whole bunch of posters given by students and postdocs, and it shows the breadth of chemical biology all the way from people talking about producing terpenes from plants to almost classical chemical biology in terms of drug discovery, so it鈥檚 good to actually bring the groups together.鈥�

The event garnered praise from many of the attendees, with Prof Chibale one of the most effusive 鈥淭his is just the beginning 鈥� if I get invited again, I'll say like Arnold Schwarzenegger, 鈥業'll be back!鈥�,鈥� he said.

Professor Akane Kawamura

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