Dr David Beal

David is lecturer in Chemical Biology within the School of Natural Sciences (Biosciences) at the University of Kent.
David’s scientific background is diverse, ranging from Chemistry to Biochemistry and Biophysics. He began his career at Pfizer Global Research and Development, where he was employed for 14 years as a Synthetic Chemist. During this time, he obtained a degree in Chemistry at the University of Greenwich and was awarded chartered chemist status (CChem) by the Royal Society of Chemistry. David then went on to complete a PhD in Biochemistry, studying the stability of amyloid fibrils toward mechanical stress, at the University of Kent under the supervision of Dr Wei-Feng Xue. Following post-doctoral research with Professors Tuite, Freedman and von der Haar at the University of Kent, investigating the process of oxidative protein folding in the yeast endoplasmic reticulum, David was awarded a Sir Henry Wellcome post-doctoral fellowship. During this fellowship David developed trifunctional linker technologies for the production of multi-drug antibody drug conjugates (ADC).
David was appointed lecturer in September 2022. 

David’s current research interests focus on the utilisation of Chemistry to understand Biology and alter the properties of biomolecules. This research focuses in several key areas
1. The development of technologies for the polyfunctionalization of biomolecules (Protein Hydras).
2. Development of protein modification technologies.
3. Targeted therapeutics – anti-microbial, anti-fungal and anti-cancer treatments.
4. Diagnostics development – both human health and wildlife/conservation. 

David currently teaches on the Foundation Chemistry module (NATS002).    

David currently supervises a mixture of research technicians, PhD and MSc-R students.
If you are interested in undertaking postgraduate research at the interface of chemistry and biology please contact Dave (d.m.beal@kent.ac.uk) to discuss project and opportunities. Alternatively, please see the Biosciences research opportunities page (https://blogs.kent.ac.uk/biosciences/research-opportunities/). 

CCHEM