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Biography

Professor Stephen Cochrane FRSC originally hails from County Derry in Northern Ireland. In 2010 he obtained an MChem degree in ÉîÒ¹¸£Àû¹ú²ú¾«Æ· from Queen’s University Belfast, before moving to the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada, to complete a PhD in organic chemistry. Under the supervision of Professor John Vederas, his research focused on structural and mechanistic studies on antimicrobial lipopeptides, namely the tridecaptins, which show strong activity against multidrug resistant Gram-negative bacteria. His PhD was awarded in 2016.
 
Upon completion of his PhD he took up a Sir Henry Wellcome Postdoctoral Fellowship to study the transport of lipid-linked carbohydrates across bacterial cell membranes at Oxford University with Professor Benjamin Davis. In 2017 he then returned to Queen's University Belfast to begin his independent career as a lecturer in medicinal chemistry and chemical biology, where he leads a diverse research team focused on the identification and study of novel antibacterial compounds and targets. 
 
Outside of work Stephen has many hobbies and interests. He enjoys travelling with his wife and children, playing bass guitar in his church's worship band, reading LitRPG and fantasy novels, and long-distance running. In 2024 he set Guinness World Record for the fastest marathon, and the fastest half-marathon, dressed as a scientist.

I'm deeply honoured to receive this prize and incredibly grateful to my family, and colleagues and collaborators past and present, for all their support, which has made this prize possible.

Stephen Cochrane

Q&A

Can you tell us more about your work?

Polyprenyl-containing biomolecules are found on the surface of bacterial cell membranes and are of vital importance to their growth and defence. These biomolecules, and the enzymes that process them, are validated antibiotic targets. My team work on the synthesis of chemically labelled polyprenyl-containing biomolecules, which we use to probe the mechanism of action of antibiotics, and to develop high-throughput assays for finding new antibiotics. In an era of increasing antimicrobial resistance, we hope to develop new antibiotics that can treat multidrug-resistant infections.

Who or what first sparked your interest in chemistry, and how has that interest evolved over time? 

I had an amazing chemistry teacher, Mrs Crown, for my GCSEs and A-levels at Limavady Grammar School. She made the subject fun and interesting, and was ultimately the reason that I chose to study chemistry at university. I soon developed a love for molecular problem solving through questions like ‘what's the mechanism of this reaction?’ and ‘based on this analytical data, what is the structure of this compound?’ I then learned that as chemists, we can synthesize analogues of natural products and use these to investigate biological processes, a bit like a molecular Sherlock Holmes. That's ultimately what led me down the path I'm treading today.

What has been the most rewarding or memorable highlight of your career so far? 

The most rewarding parts of my academic career are being able to work with my group members on exciting projects and to collaborate with academic groups from all over the world on big scientific questions.

An obvious answer would be the times that I've had a big grant funded or a new paper accepted, but for me the most exciting highlights are when I or someone from my team were able to answer a question that was previously unknown. One of these highlights was during my PhD when I was elucidating the structure of an antimicrobial peptide called tridecaptin B1. It had a chiral lipid tail, but the configuration of its chiral methyl group was unknown. I found an old chemical-derivatisation method called the Ohrui-Akasaka method and applied this to answer the question. I still remember my excitement when I was able to chemically modify 0.1 mg of lipid isolated from the degraded peptide and get a beautiful ¹H-NMR spectrum that unambiguously answered the stereochemistry question!

What have been the biggest challenges that you have faced over the course of your time in science, and what have you learned from those experiences? 

One of the biggest challenges that I've encountered during my scientific career is people. I spent my PhD and postdoc focused on working with molecules and then all of a sudden I became a lecturer and needed to manage a team of people. Molecules behave in predictable ways but people do not! Every person is different, with different motivations, strengths and weaknesses, and responses to challenges. Throughout my independent career I've learned that you need to meet people where they're at, that every person learns and thrives in different ways, and that the most important role I have as an academic is to mentor others to succeed. I'm still on a growth journey in this area and am incredibly indebted to my wonderful wife who is amazing with people and has supported me every step of the way.

Thinking back to earlier in your career, are there any words of wisdom that you wish someone had told you? 

"Every farmer knows how to deal with a kicking cow except the farmer that owns her." When I started my independent career, I found everyone had an opinion about what I should prioritise my time on, with those opinions often completely conflicting. I've learned the importance of finding a good mentor that is a senior academic within your own field of research, and that when you're getting conflicting advice on something, go with your own intuition.

What impact would you say that your work is having on your field and/or the wider world? 

Our ability to make chemically labelled analogues of quite complex polyprenyl-containing biomolecules has led to many new collaborations over the past several years. These chemical probes are being used to understand how bacteria elongate their cell wall, how antimicrobial peptides bind to these biomolecules as the first step in killing bacteria, and most excitingly are now being used in high-throughput screening to identify potentially new antibiotics!

What future directions or opportunities do you see for your work? 

My team’s overall goal is to find new antimicrobial compounds that kill bacteria through new mechanisms of action. In antibiotic development this is what we call the ‘initial hit’ and just the start of the journey to a clinically approved antibiotic. As we find new antimicrobial compounds, we'll need to assess their spectrum of activity, stability and toxicity, before embarking on structure-activity relationship studies to hopefully develop an antibiotic candidate with favourable properties for further progression along the pipeline.

What do you wish more people understood about your field or the chemical sciences in general? 

One of my previous roles in the School of ÉîÒ¹¸£Àû¹ú²ú¾«Æ· and Chemical Engineering at Queen's was head of outreach. As part of this role I went to different schools and events to promote studying these subjects at university. Far too often I found chemistry being presented in secondary schools simply as an enabling subject for entry into medicine or pharmacy. I wish more people understood that without the chemical sciences, none of those fields would be possible!

What does good research culture mean to you, and why does it matter? 

"Love your neighbour as yourself." It doesn't need to be any more complicated than that. Treat others the way you would want to be treated.

How important would you say collaboration is for producing high quality science? How has collaboration influenced your work? 

Good science is not done in isolation. Our most impactful work has always been the result of research collaborations with different labs around the world. It's simply not possible for someone to good at everything. Collaborating with experts in different fields allows an interdisciplinary approach to answer fundamental questions, especially at the chemistry-biology interface. It's also really enjoyable getting to meet and work with new people!

What is your favourite element and why? 

As a child I watched a lot of TV and therefore was partly raised by The Simpsons. That's why it's tungsten for me. If you know, you know.