Matthew Holland

Matthew Holland is a postdoctoral research scientist at the Centre for Medicines Discovery in the University of Oxford. His research is centred on using chemical tools to address the growing global issue of antimicrobial resistance, including developing novel antibiotics against WHO priority pathogens. The chemical reactions within the body that bacteria use to turn their food into energy are largely essential for survival, meaning that disrupting them with medicines leads to bacterial death. A key area of Matthew’s research is characterising and evaluating these pathways in bacteria which are harmful to humans, and developing antibiotic drugs against the key enzymes in these pathways. Bacteria are constantly under attack from viruses, and have evolved cunning methods of resisting viral infection. Matthew’s work also looks at exploiting these bacterial immunity mechanisms for developing antimicrobial medicines. He studied Natural Sciences at Gonville & Caius College in the University of Cambridge before taking a DPhil in medicinal chemistry at the University of Oxford under the supervision of Professor Paul Brennan and Dr Fernanda Duarte.