Contact details

Ord Fellow, Tutor and Professor of Computational Biochemistry. Director of the DPhil in Computational Discovery Programme

Email: philip.biggin@bioch.ox.ac.uk

Telephone number: 01865 274389

Twitter: @philbiggin
 

Prof Philip Biggin headshot in 2018

Biography

I was appointed to a lecturership at LMH and then became an RCUK Fellow in October 2007.  

I became a Fellow and Tutor in Biochemistry at LMH in 2012 and was promoted to a full Professor in 2016.

 

Research interests

Work in my group is broadly centred on protein dynamics and drug design. We use and develop a variety of computational tools to improve our understanding of how ligand-binding controls conformational change in proteins. A better understanding of this should enable more rational design of drugs and treatments. Thus much of our work is in collaboration with pharmaceutical companies. We have good local computational resources, but we also make extensive use of ARCHER via the HECBioSim Consortium. We are also founder members of the CCPBioSim - a collaborative computational project for Biomolecular simulation.

Teaching

In 2011 I was given a University Excellence in Teaching Award for development of novel teaching methods in undergraduate teaching and the development of graduate courses in Computational Biochemistry and Bioinformatics.

Courses

Biochemistry, Molecular and Cellular

Publications

You can find a comprehensive list of Philip Biggin's publications on the Biggin Lab website.

  • Molecular determinants of binding of non-oxime bispyridinium nerve agent antidote compounds to the adult muscle nAChR. Epstein, M, Bali, K, Piggot, TJ, Green, AC, Timperley, CM, Bird, M, Tattersall, JEH, Bermudez, I, Biggin, PC. January 2021 - Journal article - Toxicol Lett.
  • Binding and activation of serotonergic G-protein coupled receptors by the multimodal antidepressant vortioxetine. Ladefoged, LK, Koch, R, Biggin, P, Schiøtt, B. January 2021 - Journal article.
  • Identification of compounds that bind the centriolar protein SAS-6 and inhibit its oligomerization. Busch, JMC, Matsoukas, M-T, Musgaard, M, Spyroulias, GA, Biggin, PC, Vakonakis, I. December 2020 - Journal article - The Journal of biological chemistry.
  • Fragment-Based Identification of Ligands for Bromodomain-Containing Factor 3 of Trypanosoma cruzi. Laurin, CMC, Bluck, JP, Chan, AKN, Keller, M, Boczek, A, Scorah, AR, See, KFL, Jennings, LE, Hewings, DS, Woodhouse, F, Reynolds, JK, Schiedel, M et al. November 2020 - Journal article - ACS Infect Dis.
  • The KDEL trafficking receptor exploits pH to tune the strength of an unusual short hydrogen bond. Wu, Z, Newstead, S, Biggin, PC. October 2020 - Journal article - Sci Rep
  • spyrmsd: symmetry-corrected RMSD calculations in Python. Meli, R, Biggin, PC. August 2020 - Journal article - Journal of Cheminformatics.
  • Structure of the Inhibited State of the Sec Translocon. Gérard, SF, Hall, BS, Zaki, AM, Corfield, KA, Mayerhofer, PU, Costa, C, Whelligan, DK, Biggin, PC, Simmonds, RE, Higgins, MK. August 2020 - Journal article - Molecular cell.
  • The KDEL Trafficking Receptor Exploits pH to Tune the Strength of an Unusual Short Hydrogen Bond. Wu, Z, Newstead, S, Biggin, PC. July 2020 - Journal article - BioRxiv.
  • Structural correlates of human muscle nicotinic acetylcholine receptor subunit assembly mediated by δ(+) interface residues. Epstein, M, Maxwell, S, Piggot, T, Beeson, D, Bermudez, I, Biggin, P. June 2020 - Journal article - BioRxiv.
  • Comment on "On the Functional Annotation of Open-Channel Structures in the Glycine Receptor". Dämgen, MA, Zaki, AM, Biggin, PC. June 2020 - Journal article - Structure.
  • State-dependent protein-lipid interactions of a pentameric ligand-gated ion channel in a neuronal membrane. Dämgen, M, Biggin, P. April 2020 - Journal article - BioRxiv.
  • A Refined Open State of the Glycine Receptor Obtained via Molecular Dynamics Simulations. Dämgen, MA, Biggin, PC. January 2020 - Journal article - Structure (London, England : 1993).
  • Computational Investigation of Voltage-Gated Sodium Channel β3 Subunit Dynamics. Glass, WG, Duncan, AL, Biggin, PC. January 2020 - Journal article - Front Mol Biosci.
  • Mutational Analysis and Modeling of Negative Allosteric Modulator Binding Sites in AMPA Receptors. Stenum-Berg, C, Musgaard, M, Chavez-Abiega, S, Thisted, CL, Barrella, L, Biggin, PC, Kristensen, AS. December 2019 - Journal article - Molecular pharmacology.
  • Substrate conformational dynamics facilitate structure-specific recognition of gapped DNA by DNA polymerase. Craggs, TD, Sustarsic, M, Plochowietz, A, Mosayebi, M, Kaju, H, Cuthbert, A, Hohlbein, J, Domicevica, L, Biggin, PC, Doye, JPK, Kapanidis, AN. November 2019 - Journal article - Nucleic acids research.
  • Muscle acetylcholine receptor conversion into chloride conductance at positive potentials by a single mutation. Cetin, H, Epstein, M, Liu, WW, Maxwell, S, Rodriguez Cruz, PM, Cossins, J, Vincent, A, Webster, R, Biggin, PC, Beeson, D. October 2019 - Journal article - Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A.
  • Plastic wrap: journals, practise what you preach. Biggin, P. September 2019 - Journal article - Nature.
  • Substrate conformational dynamics drive structure-specific recognition of gapped DNA by DNA polymerase. Craggs, TD, Sustarsic, M, Plochowietz, A, Mosayebi, M, Kaju, H, Cuthbert, A, Hohlbein, J, Domicevica, L, Biggin, PHILIP, Doye, J, Kapanidis, A. September 2019 - Journal article - Nucleic Acids Research
  • Proton-control of transitions in an amino-acid transporter. Wu, Z, Alibay, I, Newstead, S, Biggin, PC. August 2019 - Journal article - Biophysical Journal.
  • A Refined Open State of the Glycine Receptor Obtained Via Molecular Dynamics Simulations. Dämgen, M, Biggin, P. June 2019 - Journal article.
  • Computational methods to examine conformational changes and ligand-binding properties: Examples in neurobiology. Dämgen, MA, Biggin, PC. May 2019 - Journal article - Neuroscience letters.
  • Proton-control of transitions in an amino-acid transporter. Wu, Z, Alibay, I, Newstead, S, Biggin, PC. April 2019 - Journal article.
  • A dynamically interacting flexible loop assists oligomerisation of the Caenorhabditis elegans centriolar protein SAS-6. Busch, JMC, Erat, MC, Blank, ID, Musgaard, M, Biggin, PC, Vakonakis, I. March 2019 - Journal article - Scientific reports.
  • Oxidation Resistance 1 Modulates Glycolytic Pathways in the Cerebellum via an Interaction with Glucose-6-Phosphate Isomerase. Finelli, MJ, Paramo, T, Pires, E, Ryan, BJ, Wade-Martins, R, Biggin, PC, McCullagh, J, Oliver, PL. March 2019 - Journal article - Molecular neurobiology.
  • Biomolecular simulations: From dynamics and mechanisms to computational assays of biological activity. Huggins, DJ, Biggin, PC, Dämgen, MA, Essex, JW, Harris, SA, Henchman, RH, Khalid, S, Kuzmanic, A, Laughton, CA, Michel, J, Mulholland, AJ, Rosta, E et al. January 2019 - Journal article - Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Computational Molecular Science.
  • BET bromodomain ligands: Probing the WPF shelf to improve BRD4 bromodomain affinity and metabolic stability. Jennings, LE, Schiedel, M, Hewings, DS, Picaud, S, Laurin, CMC, Bruno, PA, Bluck, JP, Scorah, AR, See, L, Reynolds, JK, Moroglu, M, Mistry, IN et al. July 2018 - Journal article - Bioorganic & medicinal chemistry.
  • Insights into channel dysfunction from modelling and molecular dynamics simulations. Musgaard, M, Paramo, T, Domicevica, L, Andersen, OJ, Biggin, PC. April 2018 - Journal article - Neuropharmacology.
  • Large-scale analysis of water stability in bromodomain binding pockets with grand canonical Monte Carlo. Aldeghi, M, Ross, GA, Bodkin, MJ, Essex, JW, Knapp, S, Biggin, PC. April 2018 - Journal article - Communications chemistry.
  • Multiscale molecular dynamics simulations of lipid interactions with P-glycoprotein in a complex membrane. Domicevica, L, Koldsø, H, Biggin, PC. March 2018 - Journal article - Journal of molecular graphics & modelling
  • Crystal structures of a GABA<sub>A</sub>-receptor chimera reveal new endogenous neurosteroid-binding sites. Laverty, D, Thomas, P, Field, M, Andersen, OJ, Gold, MG, Biggin, PC, Gielen, M, Smart, TG. November 2017 - Journal article - Nature structural & molecular biology.
  • Functional Validation of Heteromeric Kainate Receptor Models. Paramo, T, Brown, PMGE, Musgaard, M, Bowie, D, Biggin, PC. November 2017 - Journal article - Biophysical journal.
  • Multiscale molecular dynamics simulations of lipid interactions with P-glycoprotein in a complex membrane. Domicevica, L, Koldsø, H, Biggin, PC. October 2017 - Journal article - Journal of molecular graphics & modelling.
  • Statistical Analysis on the Performance of Molecular Mechanics Poisson-Boltzmann Surface Area versus Absolute Binding Free Energy Calculations: Bromodomains as a Case Study. Aldeghi, M, Bodkin, MJ, Knapp, S, Biggin, PC. September 2017 - Journal article - Journal of chemical information and modeling.
  • The Startle Disease Mutation E103K Impairs Activation of Human Homomeric α1 Glycine Receptors by Disrupting an Intersubunit Salt Bridge across the Agonist Binding Site. Safar, F, Hurdiss, E, Erotocritou, M, Greiner, T, Lape, R, Irvine, MW, Fang, G, Jane, D, Yu, R, Dämgen, MA, Biggin, PC, Sivilotti, LG. March 2017 - Journal article - The Journal of biological chemistry.
  • Role of the Cys Loop and Transmembrane Domain in the Allosteric Modulation of α4β2 Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptors. Alcaino, C, Musgaard, M, Minguez, T, Mazzaferro, S, Faundez, M, Iturriaga-Vasquez, P, Biggin, PC, Bermudez, I. January 2017 - Journal article - The Journal of biological chemistry.
  • Waterdock 2.0: Water placement prediction for Holo-structures with a pymol plugin. Sridhar, A, Ross, GA, Biggin, PC. January 2017 - Journal article - PloS one.
  • Predictions of ligand selectivity from absolute binding free energy calculations. Aldeghi, M, Heifetz, A, Bodkin, MJ, Knapp, S, Biggin, PC. December 2016 - Journal article - J Am Chem Soc.
  • Steered Molecular Dynamics Simulations Predict Conformational Stability of Glutamate Receptors. Musgaard, M, Biggin, PC. August 2016 - Journal article - Journal of chemical information and modeling.