Davis Group | Chemistry of Carbohydrates and Protein
Our research comes under the broad heading of the chemistry of Carbohydrates and Proteins. The reactions and manipulation of sugars and proteins have fascinated organic chemists for over a century and this work is culminating today in a host of new drugs for treating diseases.
It is becoming increasingly clear that oligosaccharides (carbohydrates in small clusters) and alterations in proteins (modifications) are examples of chemically complex biological markers that act critically in important extracellular and organismal processes such as immune response, microbial infection, cancer metastasis and cellular adhesion, inflammation, in addition to vital intracellular communication events such as epigenetics and signalling cascades. Their remarkable structural diversity means that they can often mediate highly specific and therefore complex processes. The application of an understanding of such systems on a fundamental level leads to the design, synthesis and modification of potential therapeutic and biotechnologically applicable systems.
In January 2004 we moved from the Dyson Perrins Laboratory to the Chemistry Research Laboratory. From 2021 we have been jointly based at the Rosalind Franklin Institute and moved within the University of Oxford in January 2022 to the Department of Pharmacology.
Our research is supported by the EPSRC, the BBSRC, the MRC, the EU, Novo Nordisk, UCB, Janssen, GlaxoSmithKline, Lab282, Cancer Research UK, the Wellcome Trust and the Royal Society.
For more information about the group, click here
Our team
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Ben Davis
Professor of Chemical Biology
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Adeline Poh
Postdoctoral Research Assistant in Novel Biocatalytic Methods
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Xuejian Yin
Postdoctoral Research Assistant in Novel Carbohydrate, Glycosylation and Glycoconjugate Methods
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Paul Fan
DPhil student
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Marine Guingand
DPhil in Pharmacology
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Mohammad Nazari Montazer
DPhil Student
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Adrian Schembri Wismayer
MSc by Research
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Chaofan Yin
DPhil Student
