Dr Richard Hopkinson

I did my DPhil in Chris Schofield’s group in Oxford chemistry working on the biochemistry of histone methyllysine demethylase enzymes. I then did a postdoc in Oxford Chemistry and the Structural Genomics Consortium working on demethylase inhibition.

In 2013, I was awarded the William R Miller Junior Research Fellowship in Molecular Aspects of Biology at St Edmund Hall, Oxford, to work on formaldehyde biochemistry and biology.

I arrived in Leicester as a lecturer in chemical biology in November 2017, where our work has focused on defining the biology of biological aldehydes.

Understanding the functional role and therapeutic potential of biological aldehydes

My research is focused on understanding, and ultimately manipulating for therapeutic benefit, the reactions between biomolecules and reactive small molecules in living organisms. In particular, my work is interested in (i) defining how highly-reactive and toxic electrophiles such as aldehydes, which are common environmental pollutants and metabolites, influence complex dynamic biological processes, and (ii) using chemical biology methods to develop diagnostic tests for aldehydes and to generate aldehyde-modulatory and aldehyde-inspired bioactive molecules that can prevent and/or treat disease. My research therefore uses chemical/synthetic, biochemical and cellular methods (i.e. chemical biology) to identify and characterise aldehyde reactions, to understand the complex mechanisms underpinning their metabolism (important for controlling their concentrations in healthy and diseased cells), and to develop bioactive molecules such as aldehyde releasers, aldehyde scavengers and other aldehyde-sensitive molecules that can be used to prevent/treat aldehyde-mediated diseases and improve/activate existing medicines. Ultimately, the work will lead to new approaches to prevent and treat human disease.

Further details can be found on my group website: Hopkinson Group.

• Formaldehyde regulates tetrahydrofolate stability and thymidylate synthase catalysis, X. Chen, S.Y. Chothia, J. Basran, R.J. Hopkinson, Chemical Communications 2021, 57, 5778.
• Metampicillin is a cyclic aminal produced by reaction of ampicillin with formaldehyde, R. Reinbold, T. John, P. Spingardi, A. Kawamura, C.J. Schofield, R.J. Hopkinson, Scientific Reports 2020, 10, 17955.
• Formaldehyde quantification using ampicillin is not selective, R. Reinbold R, T. John, P. Spingardi, A. Kawamura, A.L. Thompson, C.J. Schofield, R.J. Hopkinson, Scientific Reports 2019, 9, 18289.
• NMR Analyses on N-Hydroxymethylated Nucleobases – Implications for Formaldehyde Toxicity and Nucleic Acid Demethylases, S. Shishodia, D. Zhang, A. El-Sagheer, T. Brown, T.D.W. Claridge, C.J. Schofield, R.J. Hopkinson, Organic & Biomolecular Chemistry 2018, 16, 4021-4032.

• Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
• Member of the Royal Society of Chemistry
• Committee member for the Royal Society of Chemistry Chemical Biology and Bioorganic Group
• EPSRC Peer Review College member

Winner of the Inorganic Biochemistry Discussion Group Young Investigator's Award, 2018.

• MChem (Oxford)
• DPhil (Oxford)