Andrew Nicholls's Biography

Andrew Nicholls, Director & Secretary, Metabolic Profiling Forum

Andy obtained his PhD from the University of London for the analytical and computational chemical analyses of the metabolic consequences of deacetylation/acetylation in N-acetylated anilines and the study of acyl migration in drug glucuronides. He then worked as a postdoctoral research assistant at Imperial College London on a project with GlaxoWellcome to develop a proof of principal model for the assessment of hepatotoxicity in 7-day studies in preclinical models, the successful conclusion of which laid the groundwork for the Consortium on Metabonomic Toxicology (COMET). He then took a Senior Fellowship investigating the use of magic-angle spinning (MAS) NMR spectroscopy as a means of assessing neuronal tissues for disease, disease model and drug toxicity markers. After this role, he became an associate director for Metabometrix Ltd, a biotechnology spin-out company from Imperial College London, before eventually taking a senior research position at GlaxoSmithKline. His principal areas of research involve the application of high-resolution analytical instrumentation for the study of metabolic alterations in complex, multicellular organisms and the determination of the root-cause mechanisms of drug-induced toxicity. He is the secretary of the Metabolic Profiling Forum, a charitable organisation set up to run the Metabomeeting conference series, of which he is also a co-founder. He sits on the organising committee of the SMASH NMR conference and was co-chair of the 2007 meeting.