Professor John Howl

• Peptide and Protein Chemistry: peptide synthesis, cell penetrating peptides, bioportides, chimeric hormones and neuropeptides.
• Microscopy:  SEM, TEM, confocal
• Receptor Pharmacology: ligand binding, second messenger assays
• Electrophysiology: ion channels, [Ca²⁺]_i
• Molecular Cell Biology: receptor cloning and mutagenesis

• PhD
• BSc (Hons) Biological Sciences
• Fellow of the Higher Education Academy

• European Peptide Society
• American Peptide Society
• FASEB
• M.J.Fox LRRK2 Consortium (new York)

• Biomedical Sciences
• Non Medical Prescribing
• Research: Methods of Enquiry (CPD)

John’s major research focus is the development of a male contraceptive. Lead compounds, which penetrate spermatozoa to block a sperm-specific protein-protein interaction and inhibit motility, have been identified. The next stage of development is to produce metabolically stable and more drug like formulation of these NCEs, validated in vivo, and suitable for clinical trials. This work is being progressed by the Male Contraceptive Research Consortium, involving teams at BCU, Portugal, Brazil, and Australia, of which John is the coordinator.

Bioportides, targeting transcription factors and their intracellular signalling networks, also modulate the fate of stem cells. Using the S. mediterranea planarian model, exogenous application of bioportides can modulate stem cell differentiation to influence tissue remodelling. There is tremendous potential to apply the same technology to control the fate of mammalian stem cells in a biomedical setting.

Other areas of research employing rationally designed synthetic peptides include the development of bioportides to combat prostate cancer; cell penetrating peptide vectors for drug delivery; antimicrobial peptides; chimeric hormones and neuropeptides; mast-cell mediated drug delivery; machine learning and the prediction of cell penetrating peptide within medically relevant proteins.

John has successfully supervised >25 PhD studentships and 3 post-doctoral fellows.

• Jones, S., Matos, B., Dennison, S., Fardilha, M., & Howl, J. (2023) Stem cell bioengineering with bioportides: Inhibition of planarian head regeneration with peptide mimetics of Eyes Absent proteins. Pharmaceutics 15, 2018. https://doi.org/10.3390/pharmaceutics15082018.
  
  
• Ismail, B., Jones, S. & Howl, J. (2023) A holistic approach towards a generalizable machine learning predictor of cell penetrating peptides. Aust. J. Chem. 76, 493-506.
  
  
• Howl, J., Silva, J.V., Fardilha, M. & Jones S. (2022) Protein mimicry and the design of bioactive cell penetrating peptides: The genesis of STOPSPERM bioportides. In, Cell-Penetrating Peptides, Methods and Protocols, Third Edition (Langel, Ü ed). Methods Mol. Biol. 238, 293-306. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-1752-6_20
  
  
• Howl, J. & Jones S. (2021) A new biology of cell penetrating peptides. Pept. Sci. 113, e24154.https://doi.org/10.1002/pep2.24154
  
  
• Silva, J.V, Freitas, M.J., Santiago, J., Jones, S., Guimarães, S., Vijayaraghavan, S., Publicover, S., Colombo, G., Howl, J. & Fardilha, M. (2021) Disruption of protein phosphatase 1 complexes with the use of bioportides as a novel approach to target sperm motility. Fertility and Sterility, 115, 348-362.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fertnstert.2020.08.013
  
  
• Matos, B., Howl, J., Jeronimo, C. & Fardilha, M. (2020) The disruption of protein-protein interactions as a therapeutic strategy for prostate cancer. Pharmacol. Res. 161, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.phrs.2020.105145

Research progress towards a novel male contraceptive modality has attracted significant worldwide coverage including interviews, opinion pieces, and numerous commentaries across four continents.

The first televised exposure of this work was aired on Wednesday, 18^th July 2018 on Channel 4’s curiously entitled Live Well for Longer, Episode 1, Sex, Drugs and Alcohol. BBC Horizon’s, The Pill, featuring an updated summary of research developments, was first transmitted in February 2019. To ensure that these continuous activities contribute to education, research, and enterprise, public lectures, specialised seminars, and conference presentations are provided by members of the Male Contraceptive Research Consortium.

PanTechnia PLC collaborated with many partners both within academia and industry. John currently supports the development of a portfolio of cell penetrating peptides marketed by CRB.

• View John's Orcid Profile