Professor Nick Brindle

Professor Brindle’s expertise centres on how proteins work, particularly how proteins interact with each other at the molecular level. These interactions are crucially important in controlling cell activities and play roles in diseases. Using this understanding we seek to develop new drugs.

During the COVID-19 outbreak, Professor Brindle’s team are developing new drugs and approaches to block the virus by using directed evolution and protein engineering techniques to understand how proteins on the COVID-19 virus interact with cells to cause infection and disease.

• How receptors work: mechanistic, functional and structural biology of receptors
• Directed evolution for creating new proteins and understanding protein function and structure
• Cardiovascular protective signalling

Alharbi, A., Thompson, J. P., Brindle, N. P. & Stover, C. M (2019) “Ex vivo modelling of the formation of inflammatory platelet-leucocyte aggregates and their adhesion on endothelial cells, an early event in sepsis” Clin. Exp. Med. 19, 321-337.

Issa, E, Moss, AJ, Fischer, M, Kang, M, Ahmed, S, Farah, H, Bate, N, Giakomidi, D & Brindle NPJ (2018) “Development of an orthogonal Tie2 ligand resistant to inhibition by Ang2” Molecular Pharmaceutics 15, 3962-3968.

Alawo, DOA, Tahir, TA, Fischer,M, Bates, D, Amirova, SR & Brindle, NPJ (2017). "Regulation of Angiopoietin Signalling by Soluble Tie2 Ectodomain and Engineered Ligand Trap." Sci Reports 7(1): 3658.

Fischer, M., M. Kang and N. P. Brindle (2016). "Using experimental evolution to probe molecular mechanisms of protein function." Protein Sci 25(2): 352-359.

Tahir, TA, Singh, H & Brindle NPJ. The RNA binding protein hnRNP-K mediates post –transcriptional regulation of Uncoupling Protein-2 by angiopoietin-1. Cell Signal (2014) 26 1379-1384.

Brindle, NP, Sale, JE, Arakawa, H, Buerstedde, JM, Nuamchit, T, Sharma, S, Steele, KH. Directed evolution of an Angiopoietin-2 ligand trap by somatic hypermutation and cell surface display. J Biol Chem (2013) 288, 33205-33212.

Singh H, Hansen TM, Patel N, Brindle NPJ. The molecular balance between receptor tyrosine kinases Tie1 and Tie2 is dynamically controlled by VEGF and TNFα and regulates angiopoietin signalling. PLoS ONE (2012) 7(1): e29319.

Singh, H, Tahir, TA, Alawo, DOA, Issa, E & Brindle NPJ. Molecular control of angiopoietin signaling. Biochem Soc Trans (2011) 39 1592-1596.

Hansen, TM, Singh, H, Tahir, TA & Brindle NPJ (2010) “Effects of Angiopoietin-1 and -2 on the receptor tyrosine kinase Tie2 are differentially regulated at the endothelial cell surface” Cellular Signalling 22 527-532.

Kopp, PM, Bate, N, Hansen, TM, Brindle, NP, Praekelt, U, Debrand, E, Coleman, S, Mazzeo, D, Goult, BT, Gingras, AR, Pritchard, CA, Critchley, DR, Monkley, SJ (2010) “Studies on the morphology and spreading of human endothelial cells define key inter- and intramolecular interactions for talin1” European Journal of Cell Biology 89 661-673.

BSc (Hons) University of Leeds

PhD University of Manchester

FHEA