Dr. Southern received a PhD in biochemistry from the University of Sussex where he studied the impact of the immune system on endocrine function in the progression of juvenile diabetes.  Dr. Southern has experience in a number of research areas in both academic and pharmaceutical settings, focusing on the cell biology and cellular signalling pathways associated with disease states.  Dr. Southern is interested in promoting the drug discovery potential of early stage scientific research and joined the MRC Technology Centre for Therapeutics Discovery in 2009.  Dr. Southern has recently been engaged in a joint collaboration with GSK and the DiscoverX Corporation to identify natural and surrogate ligands for orphan GPCR’s.