Professor Chris Abell 1957–2020
P Nathan Pitt
rofessor Chris Abell FRS, FMedSci, Professor of Biological Chemistry and Pro-ViceChancellor for Research, died suddenly on Monday 26th October 2020, just short of his 63rd birthday. Dr Finian Leeper has provided this account of his research and life.
Chris at his desk
Chris and Katherine
Chris’s research spanned studies into the biosynthesis of natural products, enzymic reaction mechanisms, microfluidic microdroplet reactors, and most notably fragment-based drug design. He co-founded Astex Pharmaceuticals to exploit this technique, which has transformed pharmaceutical research worldwide. As Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research he spearheaded many of the University’s research initiatives, while remaining a loyal supporter of the Chemistry Department.
was the first in his family to go to university. I met him within days of his arrival at St John’s College, Cambridge in 1976 to read Natural Sciences, As a second year PhD I had just started to tutor first year undergrads – Chris and his supervision partner Tim were my first supervisees and I was their first supervisor. I was very inexperienced but fortunately Chris and Tom were my first group each week, and taught me what I needed to teach my other groups. Forty-four years later I was still learning from Chris, as so many of us were.
Chris was the son of a farmer in the village of Gateforth in Yorkshire. He studied at Selby Grammar School and
Chris specialised in Chemistry (despite my inept supervisions ) and graduated with a first in 1979. I
12
