Dr. Ali Tavassoli

Photograph of Dr. TavassoliContact Details

Telephone: +44 (0)23 8059 2395 | Internal: 22395
Email: A.Tavassoli@soton.ac.uk

Biography

Ali joined The University of Southampton as a lecturer in chemical biology in 2006. His research interests involve using the tools of chemistry and biochemistry to uncover compounds that tackle disease through inhibition of protein-protein interactions. He is the recipient of the 2007 Annual Research Award, a Career Establishment Award from Cancer Research UK and the European Association for Chemical and Molecular Sciences medal for European Young Chemists in 2008.

Prior to this, he was a postdoctoral fellow in Prof. Stephen Benkovic’s laboratory at Penn State University. Whilst in the States he worked on a variety of projects, developing several new technologies and methodologies.

Ali started his scientific career studying Chemistry at the University of Bristol. For his Ph.D. he joined Prof. Joe Sweeney’s group at Reading University to develop new methodologies for the synthesis of kainic acid analogues via [2,3]-sigmatropic rearrangements. After obtaining his Ph.D. he joined Prof. Douglas Young’s group at the University of Sussex as a postdoctoral fellow, studying the mechanism of Homocitrate Synthase.

Ali is a member of the American Chemical Society and the Royal Society of Chemistry. He is also on the Bio-Organic Committee of the RSC.

News

Feb 10
You can also watch members of the Tavassoli lab talking about their research projects (as part of our public engagement acitvity) on YouTube. Ian discusses his efforts towards developing new HIV therapies and Elena outlines her work uncovering the mechanism of influenza.
Oct 09
We welcome Nola Adeosun and Sara Benrabaa to the group.
July 09
Congratulations to Karin for winning the runner up prize for her poster (on her research into inhibiting tumour hypoxia) at the QMUL Symposium on Chemical Biology.
July 09
We welcome Dr. Ian Spurr and Siew Lee Koh to the group.
April 09
We thank AstraZeneca for supporting our research.
January 09
Ali is featured in this month's ACS Chemical biology podcast. Listen online (from 10 minutes onward) here.
December 08
Our paper detailing the uncovering of a cyclic peptide inhibitor of HIV budding is published in ACS Chemical Biology.
September 08
Ali is the recipient of the European Association for Chemical and Molecular Sciences' Medal for the 2008 Young European Chemist Award.
September 08
Karin wins first prize for her research into inhibiting tumour hypoxia at Chemistry of the Cell meeting in London.
September 08
Applications are now being accepted for two postdoctoral fellowship positions. Apply online via Naturejobs or jobs.ac.uk. Closing date for applications is October 16th.
August 08
Ali is shortlisted for the 2008 European Young Chemist Award.
August 08
Ali is the recipient of a Career Establishment Award from Cancer Research UK.

Research Interests

The Tavassoli group's research is subdivided into three areas:

Cancer Research

HIV Research

Synthetic Biology

Research Keywords

Cancer Research, HIV Research, Molecular Biology, Chemical Biology.