Professor Simon MacKay

Strathclyde Institute of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences

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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.

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Publications

IL-1β stimulates a novel axis within the NFκB pathway in endothelial cells regulated by IKKα and TAK-1
Craig Rachel, McIntosh Kathryn, Ho Ka Ho, McCulloch Ashley, Riley Christopher, Lawson Christopher, MacKay Simon P, Paul Andrew, Coats Paul, Plevin Robin
Biochemical Pharmacology Vol 232 (2025)
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bcp.2024.116736
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
Journal of Investigative Dermatology Vol 144, pp. S268 (2024)
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jid.2024.10.241
Design and synthesis of novel aminoindazole-pyrrolo[2,3-b]pyridine inhibitors of IKKα that selectively perturb cellular non-canonical NF-κB signalling
Riley Christopher, Ammar Usama, Alsfouk Aisha, Anthony Nahoum G, Baiget Jessica, Berretta Giacomo, Breen David, Huggan Judith, Lawson Christopher, McIntosh Kathryn, Plevin Robin, Suckling Colin J, Young Louise C, Paul Andrew, Mackay Simon P
Molecules Vol 29 (2024)
https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules29153515
IL-1β stimulates a novel, IKKα -dependent, NIK -independent activation of non-canonical NFκB signalling
McIntosh Kathryn, Khalaf Yousif H, Craig Rachel, West Christopher, McCulloch Ashley, Waghmare Ajay, Lawson Christopher, Chan Edmond YW, MacKay Simon, Paul Andrew, Plevin Robin
Cellular Signalling Vol 107 (2023)
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cellsig.2023.110684
JAK–STAT signalling shapes the NF‐κB response in CLL towards venetoclax sensitivity or resistance via Bcl‐XL
Haselager Marco V, Thijssen Rachel, Bax Danique, Both Demi, De Boer Francien, Mackay Simon, Dubois Julie, Mellink Clemens, Kater Arnon P, Eldering Eric
Molecular Oncology Vol 17, pp. 1112-1128 (2023)
https://doi.org/10.1002/1878-0261.13364
Interleukin-1b stimulates a novel early activation of non-canonical NF Kappa B signalling pathway linked to CXCL12 production.
McIntosh Kathryn, Craig Rachel Georgina, McCulloch Ashley, MacKay Simon, Paul Andrew, Plevin Robin
British Pharmacology annual conference (2022)

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Professional Activities

Prostate Cancer UK (External organisation)
Member
1/10/2015
REF (External organisation)
Member
1/1/2014
Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science
Invited speaker
6/9/2013
Academy of Pharmaceutical Sciences
Chair
3/9/2013
Academy of Pharmaceutical Sciences
Invited speaker
3/9/2013
Finland Academy of Science (External organisation)
Member
29/1/2013

More professional activities

Projects

MRC-DPFS Full Application 2023 - Targeting Inhibitory kappa B kinase alpha (IKKalpha): a new treatment paradigm for inflammatory-driven cancers
MacKay, Simon (Principal Investigator) Paul, Andrew (Co-investigator)
01-Jan-2024 - 31-Jan-2027
TargoPep: a cell selective delivery platform for therapeutic payloads (Follow on Fund)
Burley, Glenn (Principal Investigator) MacKay, Simon (Co-investigator) Perrie, Yvonne (Co-investigator) McWhinnie, Fergus (Research Co-investigator)
01-Jan-2023 - 30-Jan-2024
Development of a first-in-class IKKalpha inhibitor for the treatment of castrate resistant p
MacKay, Simon (Principal Investigator) Halbert, Gavin (Co-investigator) Paul, Andrew (Co-investigator) Suckling, Colin (Co-investigator) Watson, David (Co-investigator)
01-Jan-2020 - 31-Jan-2024
CRUK evaluation of IKK inhibitors
MacKay, Simon (Principal Investigator)
01-Jan-2018 - 31-Jan-2018
David Begg / NSF Studentship | Webb, Cameron
Perrie, Yvonne (Principal Investigator) MacKay, Simon (Co-investigator) Webb, Cameron (Research Co-investigator)
01-Jan-2018 - 16-Jan-2022
Prevention of CXCL12 production in cells of the cardiovascular system by IKK alpha inhibition (BHF PhD Studentship)
Plevin, Robin (Principal Investigator) Coats, Paul (Co-investigator) MacKay, Simon (Co-investigator) Paul, Andrew (Co-investigator)
01-Jan-2018 - 30-Jan-2022

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Contact

Professor Simon MacKay
Strathclyde Institute of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences

Email: simon.mackay@strath.ac.uk
Tel: 548 2866