Scientist Snapshot | Bernard Golding, Science Director at Newcastle Biosphere

Bernard Golding and Bob Tyson established NewChem Technologies, now Sterling’s Newcastle Biosphere site, as a spin out from Newcastle University in 2002. As Science Director at the site, Bernard has a range of experience within academia and the pharmaceutical industry and is involved in all aspects of the chemistry, especially the design of synthetic routes and structure analysis.

Can you tell me about your background?

I always had an interest in chemistry and maths, so when I left school at 16, I got a job as a Laboratory Technician for Pfizer working in their

medicinal chemistry laboratories. I worked here for two years before I was encouraged by the team to study for my bachelor’s degree. I began studying chemistry at The University of Manchester, being the first person in my family to go to university, and then went on to do a PhD in natural products chemistry.

After Manchester, I completed my postdoctoral studies working on vitamin B12 synthesis with Albert Eschenmoser at the ETH Zurich, before becoming a lecturer in organic chemistry at Warwick University.

In 1983, I moved to Newcastle University as professor of organic chemistry and established a research group with broad remit including natural products synthesis and enzyme mechanisms. Newcastle University has a very long standing, established medical school, so was a good move to develop my research in drug discovery. Here, I pioneered the UK’s first Chemistry with Medicinal Chemistry bachelor’s course, and subsequently a master’s course in drug chemistry. Alongside these developments, in 1990 I co-founded an anticancer drug discovery group, which led to the discovery of the drug rucaparib (Rubraca), a treatment for ovarian cancer available on the NHS.

What does your role as Science Director involve?

I support the team at Sterling’s Newcastle site with new ideas and problem solving for our customers’ molecules. Once we’re awarded a project, I’m involved in the day to day development of the project alongside our Site Director, Alistair Henderson, and senior chemists. I like to make sure I’m always available to the team for any support or guidance that they may need.

I support with report generation at the site, whether this is writing them or reviewing them for the team. I’ve published around 500 papers over the course of my career, so I have a lot of experience in scientific writing.

Could you tell us about how NewChem Technologies was founded?

In the early 2000s, Newcastle University was encouraging academics to form spin out companies based on their research. That’s when Bob Tyson and I, who I’d met when I was a consultant for a company called Phoenix Chemicals, decided to form NewChem Technologies.

In 2017, we had outgrown our lab space at the university, and they required it for their expansion in research and teaching, so we moved across to our current site based at the Newcastle Helix, setting up new labs within the Biosphere building.

What are some of the things that sets the Newcastle Biosphere site apart?

We have a very experienced team, several of whom came from Newcastle University after their PhD studies, so they already have a breadth of experience when they join us. This includes students from a range of areas including medicinal chemistry and organic chemistry. It’s vital to us and our customers that our team have this expertise and experience.

What are some of your goals for the site?

Our goal is to show our value within the Sterling network and to demonstrate how we can further support Sterling’s customers. We’ve already worked alongside the team on previous projects, so we have a number of pre-existing relationships which has helped to make the transition to a Sterling site very smooth.

We’d like to expand the facility in the future enabling us to take on more projects and grow the team even further.