Sir Alan Roy Fersht is a British world-renowned scientist and former professor of organic chemistry at the University of Cambridge, whose work has built an important bridge between biology and chemistry. He pioneered “protein engineering” and pioneered the study of protein folding (3D structure) and interaction between proteins. His research contributes to developing cures to various diseases (cancer, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s).
Fersht co-founded very successful biotechnology companies in the UK and France.In 1989 he founded the biotechnology company “Cambridge Antibody Technology (CAT)” with Sir Gregory Winter to commercialize protein technology (acquired by Astra Zeneca in 2006). In 1997, he co-founded “Cambridge Drug Discovery” (acquired by Millenium Pharmaceuticals in 2000). In 2000, he co-founded “Avidis” with Sir John Walker (1997 Nobel Prize in Chemistry) to commercialize protein expression research.