Laurence Harris Pearl

Laurence Harris Pearl is a Professor of Structural Biology and Head of the School of Life Sciences at the University of Sussex. Previously, he held academic positions at the Institute of Cancer Research (1999-2009) and University College London (1982-1999), where he advanced from Lecturer to Professor of Structural Biology. His research focuses on DNA damage repair, molecular chaperones, signal transduction, and structural biology, particularly in understanding the structural basis for specificity and mechanism in cellular systems.

His work has led to significant contributions in structural biology, combining biochemical, molecular biology, and crystallography techniques. He established a leading structural biology section at the Institute of Cancer Research and relocated his lab to the Genome Damage and Stability Centre at Sussex in 2010. His research drives translational applications in structure-based drug discovery.

Scientific awards include election to the European Molecular Biology Organisation (EMBO, 2005), Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences (FMedSci, 2007), Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS, 2008), Wellcome Trust Senior Investigator Award (2010), and the Cancer Research UK Translational Cancer Research Prize (2013). He co-founded Domainex Ltd., a biotech company recognized in 2007 for innovation in enabling biotechnology.