Papers
8
Total Citations
170
H-Index
4
About
Frank von Delft is a structural biologist and chemical biologist whose research sits at the intersection of high-throughput crystallography, fragment-based drug discovery, and automated laboratory methods. Working primarily at the Diamond Light Source and the University of Oxford, he has made transformative contributions to streamlining the pipeline from protein structure determination to early-stage drug discovery. His most influential work — on acoustic dispensing for crystal soaking (119 citations) — addressed a critical bottleneck in structural biology workflows, demonstrating that nanoliter-scale compound delivery could make ligand-soaking experiments dramatically faster and more reproducible. Building on this foundation, von Delft has pioneered methodologies such as Binding-Site Purification of Actives (B-SPA) and synthesis-directed fragment elaboration (Syndirella), which tackle one of drug discovery's persistent challenges: efficiently progressing weakly binding fragment hits into potent leads. His integration of low-cost robotics, array synthesis, and high-throughput crystallographic screening reflects a broader vision of democratizing structural biology. Early structural genomics work, including solving the crystal structure of γ-glutamyl phosphate reductase from *Thermotoga maritima*, grounded his expertise in protein structure. Von Delft's career exemplifies how methodological innovation can accelerate the entire drug discovery ecosystem.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
- 1Gentle, fast and effective crystal soaking by acoustic dispensing119 citations · 2017
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- 6Gentle, fast and effective crystal soaking by acoustic dispensing4 citations · 2016
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