STURROCK, Prof Ed - Positions held
Prof Medical Biochemistry, Head of Department of Integrative Biomedical Sciences, University of Cape Town;
Fellow and Vice President, Royal Society of South Africa.

Main areas of research/expertise
Protein biochemistry, protease inhibitor design, enzyme structure-function relationships, ectodomain shedding of angiotensin-converting enzyme.

Biosketch
PhD, 1994, on the synthesis and metabolism of bilirubin. Went on to do a postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard Medical School where he started his research on angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE), a protein that plays a key role in blood pressure regulation. In 2003 he was awarded a Wellcome Trust International Senior Research Fellowship for his work on ACE. His research interests include: structure-function aspects of ACE; design and synthesis of novel domain-selective ACE inhibitors; and the processing of the membrane-anchored proteins. He has published over 70 peer-reviewed papers and 4 patents, and has trained more than 25 students at PhD and MSc levels. Together with colleagues in the US and UK, he founded a spin-off company AngioDesign Inc in 2003.

PhD; Professor Sturrock is a Wellcome Trust International Research Fellow in the IDM at the University of Cape Town. He received his PhD in 1993 working on the synthesis and metabolism of bilirubin, and went on to do a postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard Medical School. At Harvard he investigated the glycosylation and disulfide requirements of angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE), a protein that plays a key role in blood pressure regulation. This work paved the way for studies on the three-dimensional crystal structure of the enzyme and the structure-based design and synthesis of novel domain-selective inhibitors. His research interests include: structure-function aspects of ACE; design and synthesis of ACE inhibitors; the processing of the membrane-anchored proteins; and the role of urinary proteins in the formation of kidney stones. Together with colleagues in the US and UK, he founded a spin-off company AngioDesign Inc in 2003.