Professor Matthew Fuchter FRSC

Winner: 2021 Corday-Morgan Prize

Imperial College London

For the development of chemistry-led approaches to interrogate function in chemistry, materials and medicine.

Celebrate Professor Matthew Fuchter

#RSCPrizes

Our progress against SARS-CoV-2 would simply not be possible without the chemical sciences.

Professor Fuchter’s multidisciplinary approach to chemistry invents and constructs new molecules for use in a wide range of technologies and medicines. His efforts have produced molecular therapeutics that have entered clinical studies for the treatment of cancer, and novel light-emitting materials that could one day appear in commercial organic light emitting diode (OLED) displays. His team’s expertise in molecular design, synthesis and characterisation is key to their ability to work on such diverse research topics.

Read winner biography

Matthew Fuchter is a Professor of Chemistry, an EPSRC Established Career Fellow, co-Director of the Centre for Drug Discovery Science and co-Director of the MRes in Drug Discovery in the Department of Chemistry at Imperial College London (ICL). He is also a Founder, Non-Executive Director and the Head of Chemistry at NK:IO Ltd.

Professor Fuchter leads a diverse research group that aims to develop chemistry-led approaches to interrogate function in molecules, materials and medicines. Much of his research is multidisciplinary, which is reflected by his contributions to many multidisciplinary centres of excellence at Imperial College. For example, he is a Theme Champion for the Emerging Technologies Theme at UCL's Centre for Processable Electronics, and he is a member of over eight multidisciplinary centres/networks including the Institute of Chemical Biology and the London Centre for Nanotechnology.

His awards include the Royal Society of Chemistry's Harrison-Meldola Memorial Prize (2014), the Tetrahedron Young Investigator Award (2018), and the Blavatnik Award for Young Scientists in the United Kingdom (2020), conferred by the Blavatnik Family Foundation and the New York Academy of Sciences.

He is an advocate for the development of chemistry-led approaches in multidisciplinary science and the power of organic chemistry to innovate new solutions. He was formally an Elected Member of the Royal Society of Chemistry's Organic Division Council and is currently the UK representative to the EuCheMS Division of Organic Chemistry. He is also an Editorial Board Member for the journals RSC Medicinal Chemistry (formally MedChemComm) and Chirality.

Q+A

How did you first become interested in chemistry?

My journey in chemistry is testament to the importance of good chemistry teachers and mentors. If I am being honest, it is only really during my undergraduate chemistry degree at the University of Bristol that I developed a love for the chemical sciences. Before that, chemistry was simply a subject that I was good at in school. It was my teachers that recognised my ability and encouraged me to continue to study chemistry. And I’m very glad they did!

Can you tell us about a scientific development on the horizon that you are excited about?

One of my key research areas is the study of molecular chirality within conjugated organic molecules: structures which absorb/emit light and/or carry charge. My group have mostly been studying how such materials generate and respond to circularly polarised (chiral) light. Separate to our studies, there has been fascinating recent work on using chiral materials to control electron spin. I think there is still much that is unclear at the interface of chirality, charge, spin and magnetism and I think there will be very exciting developments in this area in the future.

What has been a challenge for you (either personally or in your career)?

The challenges that I have and continue to face are all about balance. Balance between a busy career and a family (I have two young kids). Balance between research activities and other teaching/admin. Balance between external activities/events and internal priorities etc. Academics wear many hats but we only have one head.

How are the chemical sciences making the world a better place?

Inventing new solutions to societal problems and creating new opportunities. Just take the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. There is spectacular chemistry that underpins some of the recent vaccines and there are bespoke medicines, designed by medicinal chemists, already in clinical trials. Our progress against SARS-CoV-2 would simply not be possible without the chemical sciences.

What is your favourite element?

Carbon! Obviously.