Darren Tomlinson | Professor
University of Leeds

Professor Darren Tomlinson is Head of the School of Molecular and Cellular Biology at the University of Leeds and co-inventor of the Adhiron protein scaffold, a versatile engineered binding platform widely used in research and diagnostics. His work focuses on protein engineering approaches that enable functional interrogation and therapeutic targeting of intracellular biology. Professor Tomlinson’s research spans the development of engineered binding proteins, and intracellular biologic platforms designed to access previously intractable targets. His team has developed strategies for delivering RNA cargo using engineered VLPs and for direct cytosolic delivery of folded protein binders that retain immediate functional activity inside cells. These approaches aim to overcome one of the central barriers in biologics — efficient intracellular target engagement using biologics. His work sits at the interface of structural biology, synthetic biology, and translational biotechnology, with applications ranging from cell signalling and oncology to diagnostics and therapeutic development. The Adhiron platform has been licensed commercially and incorporated into industrial discovery pipelines, and his group actively collaborates with pharmaceutical and biotechnology partners to translate engineered protein technologies into real-world applications. Professor Tomlinson has supervised over 40 postgraduate researchers and leads multidisciplinary programmes integrating protein design, advanced imaging, and computational modelling to expand the scope of biologic drug discovery.