---

CSO and Co-Founder, Curve Therapeutics; Professor of Chemical Biology, University of Southampton, UK

Ali developed the technology behind Curve’s microcycle discovery platform. His research focuses on developing screening platforms to discover protein-protein interaction inhibitors and converting cyclic peptide hits into new therapeutics. In 2024, Ali co-authored the first report of a dual HIF-1 and HIF-2 inhibitor. The microcycles discovered and identified using his SICLOPPS screening platform show a promising therapeutic potential of dual HIF inhibition for the treatment of a variety of cancers.

He was also President of the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Chemistry and Biology Interface Division (2020-2023) and previously served as the Chair of the RSC’s Chemical Biology and Bioorganic Group (2012-2015). He has won a number of awards, including the European Association for Chemical and Molecular Sciences’ medal for European Young Chemist (2008), the RSC’s Protein and Peptide Science Award (2017), and the European Peptide Society’s Leonidas Zervas Award (2020).

“I look forward to speaking to members of the team, and seeing the latest data from an experiment that we are working on. The wonder of gaining new knowledge was instilled in me from a young age by my parents, and I am grateful to be in a role where I can satisfy my scientific curiosities daily.”