Tom Simpson (chemist)

Tom Simpson (born February 23, 1947 in Dollar , Clackmannanshire , Scotland) is a British chemist.

Simpson studied chemistry at the University of Edinburgh with a bachelor's degree in 1969 and received his PhD from the University of Bristol in 1973 . As a post-doctoral student he was at the University of Liverpool (1973/74 and 1977/78) and the Australian National University . In 1978 he became a lecturer at the University of Edinburgh and in 1988 Professor of Organic Chemistry at the University of Leicester . In 1990 he became Professor at Bristol University and Head of the Department of Organic and Biological Chemistry. In 2006 he received the Alfred Capper Pass Chair.

He deals with antibiotics (for example mupirocin and a number of antibiotics for polyketides), mycotoxins and metabolic products of plants and microbes, especially biosynthesis via the polyketide pathway and terpenoids . For example, he studied biosynthesis with polyketide synthase in mushrooms. Originally the aim was to obtain a potential cholesterol-lowering agent (squalestatin), but they are also associated with the synthesis of lovastatin , for example .

He uses genetic and enzymatic methods and labeling with stable isotopes. He also deals with the synthesis of biologically active molecules and the structural and biochemical characterization of biosynthetic enzymes.

In 2018 he received the Robert Robinson Award . In 2001 he became a Fellow of the Royal Society and in 2006 of the Royal Society of Edinburgh . He received the Natural Products Chemistry Medal of the Royal Society of Chemistry in 2008 and its Corday-Morgan Medal in 1984 and was their Tilden, Simonsen and Hugo Muller Lecturer. In 2001 he was visiting professor at the University of Göttingen, 2007 Erskine Fellow at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand and 2003 Willsmore Fellow at the University of Melbourne.

In 1986 he received an honorary doctorate (D.Sc.) from the University of Edinburgh.

Web links

• CV from Bristol University