Professor Andrew Baldwin

Winner: 2020 Norman Heatley Award

University of Oxford

For the development and application of chemical methods for understanding the biology of membraneless organelles.

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By standing on a platform made possible by the best ideas in multiple disciplines, it becomes easier to see past the current scientific frontiers.
Professor Andrew Baldwin

Professor Baldwin’s work includes the study of different types of large protein assemblies, or ‘aggregates’. One of these aggregates is ‘bad’ in the sense that it is linked to disease and the other is ‘good’ as it dictates normal cellular function. Protein aggregation involves studying systems that start off as individuals that stick together and end up with clusters of indefinite size. Both systems are immensely challenging targets for experimental and theoretical analyses. Neurodegenerative disorders and dementias are associated with proteins aggregating and forming ‘amyloid fibrils’ in the brain.

The research team is focused on membraneless organelles – protein aggregates that form in all of our cells at different times to do a wide range of biochemical duties. Their work tells us that the mechanisms by which both of these processes occur follows straightforward principles of physical chemistry and shows membraneless cells can create small patches of organic solvent inside cells. This has allowed the team to discover that organisms, whenever they need to, can behave a little bit like organic chemists and create patches of solvent suspended inside cells with carefully designed properties.

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Professor Andrew Baldwin studied Natural Sciences at the University of Cambridge, as a member of Trinity College. He completed his PhD in the laboratory of Chris Dobson in the department of Chemistry studying amyloid fibrils and then moved to Toronto to study techniques for analysing protein structure and dynamics using NMR under Professor Lewis Kay, with EMBO and CIHR postdoctoral fellowships.

Since 2012, Professor Baldwin has been a PI at Oxford Chemistry, starting with a BBSRC David Phillips fellowship. He is currently an Associate Professor in Physical and Theoretical Chemistry and a fellow of Pembroke College.

Q+A

What motivates you?

I am very driven by the desire to understand things. When confronted by complex systems that appear baffling in the first instance, I have a strong need to drill in deeply to try and understand what their governing principles are. So far in my scientific career, I’ve found that things that initially appear challenging can be distilled down into very simple principles. I very much enjoy this process.

What has been a highlight for you?

Working with such great people, from members of my past and present research team through to collaborators and mentors. Everything in science gets better when you do it with exciting and motivated people.

What advice would you give to a young person considering a career in chemistry?

Study writing! I was delighted when I could drop English after my GCSEs. But being able to write concisely and persuasively is a vital tool for the modern scientist. This is especially true if you are interested in areas that are inter-disciplinary; if you are spanning two fields you need to simplify the concepts of both so that members of both can understand them. This is actually very challenging when both fields rely on, but don’t realise that they rely on, much jargon.

Why do you think interdisciplinary research and collaboration is important in science?

When it’s done well, it’s total is greater than the sum of its parts. By standing on a platform made possible by the best ideas in multiple disciplines, it becomes easier to see past the current frontiers.

What is your favourite element?

Hydrogen, because of its most naturally abundant form, and both of its commonly encountered isotopes are excellent tools for magnetic resonance. We can look at the hydrogens of water inside people using MRI, and the structure dynamics of molecules, biological and otherwise, using NMR and many other things besides that teach about chemistry and biochemistry. Plus, all organisms have more hydrogen nuclei than any other, and its most commonly encountered gaseous form is wonderfully explosive. It has to be hydrogen.

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