Dr David Palmer

Reader

Pure and Applied Chemistry

Personal statement

I am a Reader in Chemistry at the University of Stratchlyde. I was born in London, but grew up in Cumbria in north west England. After obtaining a Masters degree in Chemistry from the University of Sheffield, I worked as a synthesis chemist for Norbrook Laboratories before reading my PhD in Chemistry at the University of Cambridge. Between 2008 and 2011, I was a postdoctoral researcher at Aarhus University in Denmark and then at the Max Planck Institute for Mathematics in the Sciences in Leipzig, Germany. In 2012 I was awarded a Marie Curie Research Fellowship and returned to the UK to join the Department of Physics at the University of Strathclyde. I started as a Lecturer in the Department of Pure and Applied Chemistry in 2014. I was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2019, and to Reader in 2022.

Expertise

Has expertise in:

Theoretical and computational chemistry
Solvation Thermodynamics
Molecular Simulation
Cheminformatics/Bioinformatics
Drug Discovery
Biochemistry
Machine Learning

Prizes and awards

Trustee: Recipient; 1/1/2016
Chemical Structures Association Trust Grant: Recipient; 2/6/2014
Marie Curie Intra-European Fellowship (FP7-PEOPLE-2010-IEF - 272391 - IETSOL): Recipient; 1/2/2012

More prizes and awards

Publications

Liquid biopsy for pancreatic cancer detection using infrared spectroscopy: Sala Alexandra, Cameron James M, Jenkins Cerys A, Barr Hugh, Christie Loren, Conn Justin J A, Evans Thomas R Jeffry, Harris Dean A, Palmer David S, Rinaldi Christopher, Theakstone Ashton G, Baker Matthew J; Cancers Vol 14 (2022); https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers14133048
Clinical validation of a spectroscopic liquid biopsy for earlier detection of brain cancer: Cameron James M, Brennan Paul M, Antoniou Georgios, Butler Holly J, Christie Loren, Conn Justin JA, Curran Tom, Gray Ewan, Hegarty Mark G, Jenkinson Michael D, Orringer Daniel, Palmer David S, Sala Alexandra, Smith Benjamin R; Neuro-Oncology Advances Vol 4 (2022); https://doi.org/10.1093/noajnl/vdac024
Infra-red Spectroscopy System: Baker Matthew J, Hegarty Mark, Butler Holly, Palmer David; (2022)
Rapid spectroscopic liquid biopsy for the universal detection of brain tumours: Theakstone Ashton G, Brennan Paul M, Jenkinson Michael D, Mills Samantha J, Syed Khaja, Rinaldi Christopher, Xu Yun, Goodacre Royston, Butler Holly J, Palmer David S, Smith Benjamin R, Baker Matthew J; Cancers Vol 13 (2021); https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers13153851
Towards physics-based solubility computation for pharmaceuticals to rival informatics: Fowles Daniel J, Palmer David S, Guo Rui, Price Sarah L, Mitchell John B O; Journal of Chemical Theory and Computation Vol 17, pp. 3700-3709 (2021); https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jctc.1c00130
Early diagnosis of brain tumours using a novel spectroscopic liquid biopsy: Brennan Paul M, Butler Holly J, Christie Loren, Hegarty Mark G, Jenkinson Michael D, Keerie Catriona, Norrie John, O'Brien Rachel, Palmer David S, Smith Benjamin R, Baker Matthew J; Brain Communications Vol 3 (2021); https://doi.org/10.1093/braincomms/fcab056

More publications

Research interests

The main focus of my research is the development and application of molecular simulation and molecular informatics methods to solve industrially relevant problems at the interface between biochemistry and chemical physics. Recent examples have included the development of new methods for computational drug discovery (in collaboration with AstraZeneca, GSK, and Pfizer) and the design of an enzyme for use in food manufacturing (in collaboration with Chr. Hansen A/S). I am Founding Director of the cancer diagnostics company, Dxcover (formerly ClinSpec Diagnostics Ltd)

Professional activities

AI for Drug Discovery: Speaker; 8/11/2022
Machine learning from continuous functions: applications to solvation thermodynamics and cancer diagnostics: Speaker; 5/9/2022
Solvation Descriptors for Modelling Chromatographic Retention Times: Speaker; 22/2/2022
Engage with Strathclyde 2021: Invited speaker; 20/5/2021
Engage with Strathclyde 2021: Invited speaker; 20/5/2021
2020 ScotChem Computational Chemistry Virtual Symposium: Participant; 26/8/2020

More professional activities

Projects

Doctoral Training Partnership 2020-2021 University of Strathclyde | Taylor, Madeleine: Palmer, David (Principal Investigator) Reid, Marc (Co-investigator) Taylor, Madeleine (Research Co-investigator); 01-Jan-2021 - 01-Jan-2025
Development of molecular-solvent interaction descriptors to improve accuracy of Quantitative Structure Retention Relationship model: Palmer, David (Principal Investigator); 01-Jan-2021 - 31-Jan-2025
Solvation thermodynamics of non-aqueous solvent in the 3D Reference Interaction Site Model (3D-RISM).: Palmer, David (Principal Investigator); 256000 CPU hours awarded on Cirrus (EPSRC Tier-2 National HPC Facility at University of Edinburgh); 27-Jan-2021 - 27-Jan-2022
Understanding the Reliability and Transferability of Machine Learning | Russell, Hayley: Nelson, David (Principal Investigator) Palmer, David (Co-investigator) Russell, Hayley (Research Co-investigator); 01-Jan-2021 - 01-Jan-2025
Understanding the Reliability and Transferability of Machine Learning: Nelson, David (Principal Investigator) Palmer, David (Co-investigator) Reid, Marc (Co-investigator); 01-Jan-2021 - 31-Jan-2024
Industrial Case Account - University of Strathclyde 2020 | Russell, Hayley: Nelson, David (Principal Investigator) Palmer, David (Co-investigator) Russell, Hayley (Research Co-investigator); 01-Jan-2021 - 01-Jan-2025

More projects

Address

Pure and Applied Chemistry
Thomas Graham Building

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