Skip to content
University of Bradford logo

Computational Research

Computational Chemistry and Bioinformatics

The School of Chemistry and Biosciences has built a strong team of dynamic and ambitious researchers using high-power and large-scale computational methods. Together, these researchers provide an impressive range of computational expertise across both chemistry and the biosciences.

Thermotoga maritime is a bacterium found in hot springs and hydrothermal vents. This is the structure of an aminotransferase protein (Histidinol-phosphate aminotransferase (HisC) from Thermotoga maritima (apo-form)) extracted from the bacteria

A protein structure modelled by our computational chemists.

Truly multidisciplinary

The Computational Chemistry and Bioinformatics collective brings together scientists from each of the other clusters within the School of Chemistry and Bioscisnce, which not only presents a team with incredibly diverse backgrounds, but also a significant amount of expertise in using computational and mathematical methods to investigate complex chemical and biological systems.

This research supergroup is interested in multidisciplinary projects spanning the other research areas within the school, where experimental colleagues need deeper insight into reaction mechanisms and properties of chemical and biological systems. Each member of the group has substantial experience using supercomputers to perform large-scale calculations and we have received many awards to access national and international high performance computer (HPC) clusters.

Interested in studying Computational Chemistry or Bioinformatics?

The research teams within our computational Chemistry and Bioinformatics cluster have developed an exciting, unique computational Masters programme specifically for those students looking for postgraduate courses that will teach them cutting edge techniques in computational chemistry and biology.

MSc Bioinformatics Bioinformatics MSc

Postgraduate opportunities in Computational Chemistry or Bioinformatics

If you are interested in postgraduate (PG) study, be that a place on one of our taught courses or a PhD position within the faculty, and would like to discuss elelments of the course or project please don't hesitate to contact us. At PG level, research projects are very important, and we are keen that students get involved with designing their projects.

Computational Chemistry lab in Analytical Centre

Researchers within Computational Chemistry and Bioinformatics

Dr Clare-Louise Peyton

Associate Professor in Biophysical Chemistry

Clare Towse

Dr. Peyton joined the University of Bradford in Sept 2016 as a Lecturer in Biophysical Chemistry within the Department of Chemistry and Biosciences. Her background has spanned formulation and analytical chemistry in the pharmaceutical and FMCG industries, NMR method development, protein and peptide synthesis, and computational biophysics. Her main focus of research is post-translational modifications that trigger deleterious conformations in peptides and proteins and the use of novel and non-natural amino acids in peptide drug design.

Contact

Email
[email protected]
Phone
01274 232355
Clare Towse

Associate Professor in Biophysical Chemistry

Dr Andrew Tedder

Associate Professor in Computational Biology

Andrew Tedder

Name: Dr. Andrew Tedder

Research Interests:

Evolutionary ecology; Life-history evolution; Population genomics; Ancient DNA; Bioinformatics.

Biography:

Andrew completed his PhD at the University of Glasgow under the supervision of Prof. Barbara Mable on the consequences of mating system shifts in the Brassicaceae. This work was in collaboration with Dr Stephen Ansell at the Natural History Museum, London.

He then moved on to work with Prof. Kentaro Shimizu at the University of Zurich, where his work focused on adaptation to heterogenious environments (primarily adaptation to alpine environments) and the evolution of androdioecy. This was followed by a move to Stockholm University, where Andrew worked with Dr Tanja Slotte on population genomics.

Andrews current work focuses on mating-system evolution in the Brassicaceae and ancient DNA techniques using a variety of sample materials.

Orchid ID: 0000-0002-7378-4673

Contact

Email
[email protected]
Andrew Tedder

Associate Professor in Computational Biology

Dr Zak Hughes

Assistant Professor in Theoretical and Computational Chemistry

Dr Zak Hughes

I predict the structure and interactions of molecular systems using computational methods. Computational chemistry is able to complement experimental work by providing information at the molecular level, helping elucidate behaviour and providing evidence for or against hypotheses.

My research focuses on using simulations to help us understand molecules, especially biomolecules interacting with non-biological materials. For example, the potential environmental effects of nanomaterials such as graphene can be investigated by modelling their interaction with organic molecules found in water

Contact

Email
[email protected]
Dr Zak Hughes

Assistant Professor in Theoretical and Computational Chemistry

Prof. Krzysztof Poterlowicz

Professor in Bioinformatics

Dr Krzysztof Poterlowicz

Dr Poterlowicz teaches computational biology, medical genetics and statistics and acts as a personal tutor to first year students on the biomedical science undergraduate programme. He is a research active academic with interest in the identification of novel genomics biomarkers that influence tissue development and disease. He is involved in international scientific collaborations (MRC UK-China Stem Cell Partnership Initiative grant) and his research is regulatory published in peer-review journals. Dr Poterlowicz actively involved with international focus groups that aim to develop and provide bioinformatics and medical informatics training for biomedical science students and staff. He is an Associate Member of the EpiGenSys and a Member of the Royal Society of Biology.

Contact

Email
[email protected]
Phone
(01274) 234732
Dr Krzysztof Poterlowicz

Professor in Bioinformatics

Dr Beverly Stewart

Lecturer in Theoretical and Computational Chemistry

Dr Beverly Stewart

Name: Dr. Beverly Stewart

Research Interests:

Simulation of polymeric systems with application in sensing technologies; Simulation of electron/energy transfer systems based on functionalised polymers; Simulation of polymers as organic cores for nanoparticles.

Characterisation Expertise:

Application of molecular dynamic and quantum mechanical methods to the study of functionalised polymeric systems using computational chemical software; molecular     orbital/surface visualization for electron/energy transfer at both ground and excited states both in the bulk and at the single molecule level.

Orcid iD.: 0000-0003-1455-8462

 

Contact

Email
[email protected]
Phone
+44 (0) 1274 23 4734
Dr Beverly Stewart

Lecturer in Theoretical and Computational Chemistry

Dr Colin Seaton

Associate Professor in Crystal Engineering

Dr Colin Seaton

Name: Dr. Colin Seaton

Research Interests:

Crystal Engineering: Crystallisation, Polymorphism, Multi-component crystals (co-crystals, salts, solid solutions); Chiral Resolution; Crystal Morphology; Phase Diagrams for Crystallisation Design; Development of Computational Methods to Model Crystalline Materials

Characterisation Expertise:

Crystal Structure Determination by X-ray diffraction (single crystal and powder); Thermal Analysis; Optical Microscopy; Crystallisation Studies (Nucleation, Polymorph/Co-crystal/Salt screening); Computational Chemistry - optimisation through evolutionary algorithms, lattice energy calculations, crystal structure prediction, intermolecular interactions

Orcid iD.: 0000-0003-4094-720X

Contact

Email
[email protected]
Phone
+44 (0) 1274 23 6155
Dr Colin Seaton

Associate Professor in Crystal Engineering