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Simon Ward

Professor Simon Ward

Director, Medicines Discovery Institute

School of Medicine

cymraeg
Welsh speaking
Users
Available for postgraduate supervision

Overview

Professor Simon Ward is Sêr Cymru Professor of Translational Drug Discovery, and Director of the Medicines Discovery Institute at Cardiff University. The institute, an important investment in the science of drug discovery, aims to translate new understanding of disease mechanisms at Cardiff, Wales and internationally level to develop new therapeutic approaches for patients requiring better treatment options.  

Professor Ward has led multidisciplinary project teams and medicinal chemistry groups from the inception of drug discovery projects through to the clinical studies, introducing multiple molecules for clinical development for a wide range of diseases. He has considerable experience in and out successful licensing, due diligence, patent litigation and the creation of commercial agreements.

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Articles

Book sections

Books

Conferences

Patents

Research

Professor Ward is Principal Investigator on the following live grant awards:

  • LIMK1 inhibitors - A novel, disease-modifying approach for the treatment of fragile X syndrome (Medical Research Council £2.5M)
  • Transforming the treatment of schizophrenia: Design and development of AMPA receptor modulators with a much improved safety profile as novel drugs for treating the cognitive dysfunction associated with schizophrenia and other CNS disorders (Wellcome Trust £4M)
  • Oncology drug discover portfolio (Wellcome Trust £600k)

Professor Ward is co-Investigator on the following live grant awards:

  • MICA - Valium without the sedation: Anxioselective GABAA receptor modulators for the treatment of anxiety disorders (Medical Research Council £3M)
  • Alpha-GABAa receptor modulators for the treatment of cognitive impairment associated with Huntington's disease (Wellcome Trust £2M)
  • Proof-of-Concept for a5-GABAAR PAMs in the treatment of psychosis (Wellcome Trust £500k)
  • Developing small molecules as a neurosteroid replacement strategy for treating postpartum psychosis' (Wellcome Trust £500k)
  • Allosteric modulators of extrasynaptic GABAA receptors for the treatment of postpartum depression (MRC – DPFS £650k)
  • Inhibitors of serine racemase as novel therapeutic for treatment-resistant depression (Medical Research Council £18k)
  • Prodrugs of Protein Targeting Chimeras (PROTACs) With Improved Oral Bioavailability (MRC – CIC £60k)
  • Inhibition of acid ceramidase to treat multiple lysosomal storage disorders   (Harrington UK Rare Disease  £100k)
  • MSH3: a disease modifying approach to Huntington's disease (LoQus23 Therapeutics Ltd £500k)
  • Transforming Cardiff Translation (Wellcome Trust £320k)

Biography

Professor Ward holds an MA in Natural Sciences and a PhD in synthetic organic chemistry from the University of Cambridge, United Kingdom. He has broad drug discovery experience in major pharmaceutical, biotech and academia companies (GlaxoSmithKline, BioCrea GmbH, Knoll Pharmaceuticals, Vernalis, Chiroscience, University of Sussex, Cardiff University) and specialist experience in drug discovery and development for patients with neurological and psychiatric illness and against cancer.   In 2010, after a research career in industry, Professor Ward joined the University of Sussex to start a translational drug discovery group, which managed to grow into a centre with more than 60 staff and students by raising over £35M for a portfolio of neuroscience and oncology targets.

Among his current and recent external roles, Professor Ward is:

Simon is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, a Chartered Chemist, and a Chartered Scientist (FRSC CChem CSci).