ICB CDT Chemical Biology Conference 2026 brings together leading researchers and industry experts

On 13th July, the annual ICB CDT Chemical Biology Conference was held in the Sir Alexander Fleming Building in South Kensington and welcomed attendees from across the UK and abroad.

Organised entirely by students, our goal this year was to put together a lineup of speakers, both academic and industry, that reflected and complemented the breadth of research done by our cohort.

The day was split up into four sessions:

Chemical Control of the Proteome, featuring Prof. Alessio Ciulli (University of Dundee) and Prof. Yimon Aye (University of Oxford);

Nature’s Chemical Repertoire, featuring Prof. Moses Langat (University of Surrey, Kew Botanical Gardens) and Dr Ángela de Manzanos (FA Bio);

Next-Generation Therapeutics, featuring Dr Rebecca Paul (Isomorphic Labs), Dr Aatikah Majid (Johns Hopkins University) and Dr Roger Rubio-Sanchez (University of Cambridge);

And Molecular Mechanisms of Neurodegeneration, featuring Prof. Roslyn Bill (Aston University) and Prof. Annalisa Pastore (King’s College London).

The poster session was held over lunch and featured research from Imperial, the Francis Crick Institute, University College London and even Oxford. The quality of work on display was fantastic and showcased topics across chemical biology. Congratulations to Anna McDonald and Darcy Reynolds, who won the 1^st place and runner-up poster prizes, sponsored by Syngenta, and Tanvi Ranade, who won the people’s choice poster prize, sponsored by the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC).

Alongside a rapid-fire flash talk session, the day’s lectures were thoroughly enjoyed by all, with overwhelmingly positive feedback from attendees on the quality of the presentations, organisation of the day, and general atmosphere (and, of course, the free refreshments didn’t hurt!).

A huge thank you to our sponsors this year: Twist Bioscience, Cytiva, Apollo Scientific, CliniSciences, Novogene, Shimadzu, Thistle Scientific, Merck, Fisher Scientific, Brand, Syngenta, the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and the RSC.