Dr Sam Willcocks
Lecturer in Biosciences (Microbiology & Infectious Diseases)
Heinz Wolff 228
- Email: sam.willcocks@brunel.ac.uk
- Tel: +44 (0)1895 265460
Summary
Sam joined Brunel University London as a Lecturer in Biosciences in 2022 from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), where he worked as Assistant Professor in the Department of Infection Biology. He previously received his PhD in Innate Immunology at the Royal Veterinary College, London in 2008. In 2018, Sam received an MRC Confidence in Concept Award for the development of a novel class of antimicrobials against Mycobacterium tuberculosis and in 2020 was awarded the Wellcome Translational Accelerator Award to determine their mechanism of action. Sam also holds an Honorary Fellowship at Birkbeck University London and retains strong links with the Antimicrobial Resistance Centre at LSHTM where he was previously Head of Biological and Pharmacological Sciences.
Qualifications
PhD
Responsibility
Lecturer at Brunel Medical School
Member of the Centre for Inflammation Research and Translational Medicine
Newest selected publications
Alshabani, LA., Abdali, JM., Brown, AK., de Sousa, DP., Willcocks, S., Kumar, A., et al. (2026) '3-(Pyridine-3-ylmethylene)chroman-4-one and tetralone derivatives: synthesis, Mycobacterium tuberculosisCYP121A1 enzyme inhibition and antimycobacterial activityvsdrug-sensitive and drug-resistant strains'. RSC Medicinal Chemistry, 17 (3). pp. 1672 - 1686. ISSN: 2632-8682 Open Access Link
Lamprecht, DA., Wall, RJ., Leemans, A., Truebody, B., Sprangers, J., Fiogbe, P., et al. (2025) 'Targeting de novo purine biosynthesis for tuberculosis treatment'. Nature, 644 (8075). pp. 214 - 220. ISSN: 0028-0836 Open Access Link
Martin, LT., Daniel, C., Guldberg-Allen, M., Navaratnarajah, A., Anselmi, S., Burova, T-MD., et al. (2025) 'Development of Carprofen analogues with activity against Mycobacterium tuberculosis'. Bioorganic and Medicinal Chemistry, 127. pp. 1 - 15. ISSN: 0968-0896 Open Access Link
Daniel, C., Willcocks, S. and Bhakta, S. (2024) 'Rapid Gene Silencing Followed by Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing for Target Validation in Antibiotic Discovery', inMethods in Molecular Biology. Springer US. , 2833. pp. 23 - 33. ISBN 13: 9781071639801.
Gibson, AJ., Stiens, J., Passmore, IJ., Faulkner, V., Miculob, J., Willcocks, S., et al. (2022) 'Defining the Genes Required for Survival of Mycobacterium bovis in the Bovine Host Offers Novel Insights into the Genetic Basis of Survival of Pathogenic Mycobacteria'. mBio, 13 (4). pp. e0067222. ISSN: 2161-2129