Pioneering the Future of Therapeutics
Researchers in the School of Biological Sciences are pushing the boundaries of knowledge to uncover the fundamental mechanisms of life that underpin health and disease. These discoveries are driving breakthroughs in how we understand, prevent, and treat disease, and ultimately in how we improve and extend human healthspan.
Read our Vision for the Future of Therapeutics
From molecules to cells, tissues, and whole-body systems, new biological insights enable our scientists to advance towards more precise, more personal, and more powerful therapeutics. With world-leading expertise across biology, and in close collaboration with colleagues in chemistry, engineering, and medicine, our researchers are working to transform the way disease is treated. Our future therapeutics mission focusses on three interconnected pillars:
Our Discover - Design - Deliver framework for the Future of Therapeutics. Discovery spans biological breakthroughs across brain and mental health, molecular and cellular biology, biology of ageing, development and reproduction, the microbiome, environment and exposome, and infection and immunity. These insights inform the design of precision therapeutics, including protein, nucleic acid, immune, and cell therapies. Delivery focusses on nanomedicines, encompassing organic nanocarriers, inorganic and hybrid frameworks, supramolecular nanomaterials, and biological delivery systems.
Discovery Biology for Human Health
Our researchers are working to understand how biological systems develop, function, and fail, from the molecular drivers of cancer and infection, to the processes that guide early development, reproduction, mental health, and govern how our bodies and brains age.
Precision Therapeutics
Precision Therapeutics is a rapidly growing area of innovation at the interface of discovery biology and targeted drug delivery. Our researchers are moving beyond traditional medicines to design smarter drugs that act on the root causes of disease.
Nanomedicine and Targeted Delivery
Nanomedicines and targeted delivery systems are engineered particles that can carry drugs directly to specific cells or tissues, ensuring that the new therapies reach exactly where they are needed in the body.
Reimagining the Future of Health
Across the School of Biological Sciences, researchers are revealing the mechanisms behind cancer, infection, ageing, heart and lung disease, mental health, pain, antimicrobial resistance, and more, providing the insight that will shape tomorrow's medicines and treatment strategies.
Building on this foundation, Cambridge scientists are creating therapies with unprecedented precision, from RNA and protein drugs to engineered cells and immune-modulating treatments. And through breakthroughs in nanomedicine and targeted delivery, these innovations can now reach tumours, inflammed tissues, the brain, and other hard-to-treat sites with far greater accuracy.
Our researchers are also innovating how these treatments are manufactured, stored, and delivered, ensuring that cutting-edge therapies can be produced at lower cost, distributed globally, and accessed equitably. This systems-level thinking means that the future of therapeutics is not only about what we can make, but about who we can reach.
Work with us
Collaboration is at the heart of the success of the University of Cambridge, enabling us to make discoveries that change the world.
Our pioneering work in nanomedicine, drug delivery, and precision medicine is driving breakthrough discoveries for the future of therapeutics.
We welcome opportunities to collaborate with colleagues from academia and industry, policy makers, lived experience partners, and philanthropists.
To explore opportunities to work together, please contact:
Dr Abi Herrmann, Research Strategy Manager
To learn more about supporting this vital research, please contact:
Holly Singlehurst, Associate Director, Biological Sciences
Cambridge University Development and Alumni Relations Office