Projects per year
Personal profile
Personal Statement
Simon Mackay is the Professor of Medicinal Chemistry in the Strathclyde Institute of Pharmacy and Biomedical Science at the University of Strathclyde and has 25 years’ experience of research and teaching in the application of medicinal chemistry to drug discovery. He is a graduate of the University of Bath (BPharm (Hons); 1984) and the University of Manchester (PhD Medicinal Chemistry; 1990). In terms of research, his primary interest is cancer drug discovery, and he is the Principal Investigator for a £3.0M CRUK-funded programme to identify small molecule inhibitors for the treatment of prostate cancer (http://myprojects.cancerresearchuk.org/projects/prostate-cancer), which involves leading and co-ordinating a multidisciplinary team including medicinal chemists, phytochemists, biochemists, pharmacologists and clinicians. This programme has recently been funded by Prostate Cancer UK and MRC. He is also involved in a kinesin drug discovery project with collaborators at UCL to identify new Eg5 inhibitors. He has led the medicinal chemistry team for a number of industry-funded drug discovery projects, including the identification of non-steroidal neuroprotective compounds for Hunter-Fleming, PTP1B inhibitors for Kyorin Pharmaceutical and the £9.3M drug discovery programme targeting the Ubiquitin Proteasome System, funded by Scottish Enterprise.
He is a co-founder of SMSdrug.net (http://www.smsdrug.net), an EPSRC-BBSRC- MRC initiative to establish an academia-Users Network in Chemical Biology to initiate, establish and nurture collaborative projects for the advancement of the drug discovery process. This links with the Drug Discovery Portal (DDP http://www.ddp.strath.ac.uk/), which is a major strategic initiative in international research and knowledge-exchange at the University of Strathclyde that brings together the rich, but currently isolated resources in drug research in academic institutions worldwide and provides an accessible central resource to allow chemists and biologists to boost their current drug discovery research efforts.
Over the past 5 years, he has attracted over £4.8M of external funding on drug discovery projects.
In addition to being a member of the Royal Society of Chemistry and the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, he is on the Expert Advisory Panel for Pharmaceutical Science and the Translational Biology Directorate of the Scottish Universities Life Sciences Alliance. He is the external examiner for degree programmes in drug discovery and phamacy at the University of Edinburgh and Robert Gordons University. He is a member of the Allied Health Professions, Dentistry, Nursing and Pharmacy Panel for the Research Excellence Framework 2014.
Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals
In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):
Education/Academic qualification
Doctor of Philosophy, Medicinal Chemistry, University of Manchester
Award Date: 1 Jan 1990
Bachelor of Pharmacy, University of Bath
Award Date: 1 Jan 1984
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Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years
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Gene Solutions Extension June-August 2025
Burley, G. (Principal Investigator) & MacKay, S. (Co-investigator)
1/06/25 → 31/08/25
Project: Research
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TargoPep: A cell-selective Therapeutic Oligonucleotide Delivery Platform
Burley, G. (Principal Investigator), MacKay, S. (Co-investigator), Rattray, Z. (Co-investigator) & McWhinnie, F. (Research Co-investigator)
BBSRC (Biotech & Biological Sciences Research Council)
1/01/25 → 31/12/26
Project: Research
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IL-1β stimulates a novel axis within the NFκB pathway in endothelial cells regulated by IKKα and TAK-1
Craig, R., McIntosh, K., Ho, K. H., McCulloch, A., Riley, C., Lawson, C., MacKay, S. P., Paul, A., Coats, P. & Plevin, R., 28 Feb 2025, In: Biochemical Pharmacology. 232, 15 p., 116736.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile6 Downloads (Pure) -
233 Targeting non-canonical NF-κB signalling in CYLD cutaneous syndrome by selective inhibition of IκB kinase alpha
Hodgson, K., Inns, J., Reynolds, G., Stephenson, E., Frey, A., Trost, M., Haniffa, M., Mackay, S., Perkins, N. & Rajan, N., Dec 2024, In: Journal of Investigative Dermatology. 144, 12, p. S268 1 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Conference abstract › peer-review
Prizes
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Fellow of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (FRPS)
MacKay, S. (Recipient), Boyter, A. (Recipient), Watson, M. (Recipient), Halbert, G. (Recipient), Perrie, Y. (Recipient), Akram, G. (Recipient), Bennie, M. (Recipient), Rattray, Z. (Recipient) & Florence, A. (Recipient), 2024
Prize: Fellowship awarded competitively
Activities
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Prostate Cancer UK (External organisation)
MacKay, S. (Member)
1 Oct 2015 → 30 Sept 2018Activity: Membership types › Membership of committee
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REF (External organisation)
MacKay, S. (Member)
1 Jan 2014 → 31 Dec 2014Activity: Membership types › Membership of committee
Impacts
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MGB Biopharma licensed to treat deadly infections
Suckling, C. (Participant), Hunter, I. (Participant), Harvey, A. (Participant), MacKay, S. (Participant) & Gemmell, C. G. (Participant)
Impact: Impact - for External Portal › Economic and commerce, Health and welfare - new products, guidelines and services
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