Professor Rudolf Allemann
Pro Vice-Chancellor, International and Student Recruitment and Head of the College of Physical Sciences and Engineering
Overview
Professor Rudolf Allemann is Pro Vice-Chancellor, International and Student Recruitment and Head of the College of Physical Sciences and Engineering. He is responsible for:
- the University's international activities and partnerships, student recruitment and admissions
- the overall management and leadership of the College of Physical Sciences and Engineering including setting the overall strategy and direction of the College
- promoting the academic values, including research and education, of the College with overall responsibility for academic performance of the College
- control, allocation and accounting for the financial, human, physical and other resources of the College.
Biography
- Dipl. Chem. ETH (B.Sc.), Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule (ETH), Zürich (1985), PhD Harvard University / ETH Zürich (1986-89).
- Royal Society and Swiss National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Research Fellow, MRC-National Institute for Medical Research, Mill Hill (1989-1990)
- Staff Scientist MRC-National Institute for Medical Research, Mill Hill (1990-1992)
- Research group leader, Department of Chemistry, ETH-Zürich and Lecturer (Lehrbeauftragter) in Biological Chemistry (1992-1998)
- Habilitation, Department of Chemistry, ETH Zürich (1999)
- Senior Lecturer in Chemistry, University of Birmingham (1999-2001)
- Professor of Chemical Biology, University of Birmingham (2001-2004)
- Distinguished Research Professor and Head of Chemical Biology, Cardiff School of Chemistry (2005-2013)
- Head of the School of Chemistry, Cardiff University (2013-2017)
- Pro Vice-Chancellor and Head of the College of Physical Sciences and Engineering (2017-2020)
- Pro Vice-Chancellor, International and Student Recruitment and Head of the College of Physical Sciences and Engineering (2020-to-date)
Honours and awards
Habilitation in Chemical Biology from ETH-Zurich.
Professional memberships
- Member of the Cardiff Institute of Tissue Engineering and Repair.
- Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry.
- Fellow of the Learned Society of Wales.
- Visiting Professor at Manchester University.
Committees and reviewing
Publications
We are currently unable to retrieve the list of publications. Visit our institutional repository.Teaching
CH2317 Chemical Biology III: Biosynthetic Approach to Natural Products
The Allemann laboratory studies the relationship between the structure and function of enzymes and develops and applies chemical tools to probe biological processes in vitro and in live cells. Our work relies on an interdisciplinary approach at the interface of chemistry, physical organic chemistry, biophysics, synthetic biology, biochemistry, molecular and cellular biology and medicinal chemistry and involves a wide range of techniques. Based on an understanding of enzymatic catalysis and mechanism we develop tools that mimic Nature's reagents. The main research themes are:
Physical and chemical basis of enzyme catalysis
The high chemical selectivity and specificity as well as the enormous rate accelerations relative to the uncatalysed reactions are studied in a multi-disciplinary approach.
Synthetic biology
Synthetic biology capitalises on the advances in genomics and proteomics and the new insights into the molecular mechanisms of action brought about by fundamental chemical and physical studies. Our projects aim to redesign existing, natural biological systems for useful purposes and to design de novo new biological components, devices and systems. They include the design and application of miniature enzymes, the photonic control of biomacromolecular structure to regulate cellular events and approaches for an expansion of the pool of secondary metabolites.
Medicinal chemistry
Small molecule chemistry together with mechanistic studies of enzymes for the development of selective inhibitors for a variety of autoimmune diseases such as osteoarthritis.
Organic chemistry
Diversity Oriented Synthesis; synthesis of novel 'terpenoids', carbohydrate derivatives and biophotonic nanoswitches.
Tissue engineering and repair expertise
Physical and chemical basis of enzyme catalysis, synthetic biology, organic synthesis, biophysics, biophotonic nanoswitches.
