Chas Bountra, PhD

Chas trained in Biochemistry and Physiology at the University of London. He then studied for a PhD in electrophysiology at the Vet School in Edinburgh. He developed this expertise further, by working on cardiac preparations with Richard Vaughan Jones, Trevor Powell and Denis Noble, at Oxford.

For nearly two decades he has worked in pharma (Glaxo, GlaxoWellcome, GlaxoSmithKline). In this period he has played a major role in progressing more than 30 candidates into the clinic, for a variety of disorders (post-operative pain, migraine, neuropathic pain, osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis, emesis, Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), Alzheimer's Diseases (AD), Multiple Sclerosis, Stroke, Motor Neurone Disease, Epilepsy). Chas was involved in the launch of the first novel treatment for IBS, progressing 3 other assets into Phase III fo AD, IBS and pain. His group were the first to show that neurokinin NK1 recptor antagonists are anti-emetic - there are now such drugs on the market. One of his legacies in GSK is the creation of a pipeline of novel targets for pain, for which there is some early clinical efficacy.

Chas's therapeutic expertise is in Neurological and Gastro-intestinal Diseases listed above. His research focus has been on mechanisms underlying neuronal hyper-reactivity, synaptic plasticity, neuro-inflammation, neuro-degeneration and neuro-regeneration.

He believes that the two biggest challenges in Drug Discovery are Target Validation (which target, on which disease pathway) and Translational issues (which sub-group of patients to initially investigate, what dose, how long to dose for, what clinical readout). He is very excited about the role of SGC in the former. He wants to help the Consortium transform the way Drug Discovery is done, integrate the group more into the University of Oxford and academia, biotech and pharma. Chas is committed to ensuring that the research community leverages maximum value from the SGC output.

Chas has held Visiting Professorships in Imperial College (Neuroscience and Mental Health) and University of Oxford (Translational Medicine).