Claire Adcock

Claire Adcock serves as a Senior Research Fellow in Biochemistry within the School of Life Sciences at the University of Sussex, where she is a key member of the Sussex Drug Discovery Centre (SDDC). Since joining in August 2021, she has leveraged her 17 years of industrial experience from Novartis and ChemOVation to drive collaborative drug discovery research across oncology, inflammation, and respiratory disease areas.

Her formal education comprises:

• Master of Chemistry (MCHEM) in Chemistry from Durham University (1999-2003)

Dr. Adcock specializes in the full drug discovery pipeline from HTS triaging to lead optimization, with technical expertise spanning small molecules (LMW), peptides, proteins, and antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs). Her research emphasizes targeted protein degradation, molecular glues, and pharmacokinetic modulation to achieve optimal drug profiles. She applies innovative technologies to address challenging molecular targets while maintaining strong industry-academia collaborations.

Her publication record demonstrates consistent contributions to oncology (PARP inhibitors, duocarmycins) and inflammatory disease research (CRTh2 antagonists), with recent work (2025) pioneering novel linker chemistry for bioconjugation. The evolution of her research shows increasing sophistication in tackling complex targets through rational design and technology-enabled approaches, particularly in targeted protein degradation and synthetic methodology development.

No major scientific awards are publicly documented for Dr. Adcock at this time.

While specific grant details and student supervision are not disclosed in available sources, Dr. Adcock's role at the SDDC involves active participation in externally funded collaborative projects and likely includes mentorship of junior scientists within the drug discovery pipeline, reflecting her described "highly collaborative" approach.

At the Sussex Drug Discovery Centre, Dr. Adcock operates within interdisciplinary teams comprising biologists, pharmacologists, and computational chemists to advance projects from target validation through preclinical candidate nomination, utilizing state-of-the-art facilities for accelerating therapeutic development.