Contact information
NDM Research Building, Roosevelt Drive, Oxford OX3 7FZ UK
Annette von Delft
M.D, Ph.D.
Head of Anti-Infectives, Centre for Medicines Discovery
Annette von Delft is the Head of Anti-Infective Pillar at the Centre for Medicines Discovery (CMD), University of Oxford. She oversees discovery and development projects on novel small molecules against viruses, bacteria and fungi, from initial target validation to preclinical development. Annette trained as a clinician at University of Leipzig (Germany) and Oxford University Hospitals (UK), and obtained a DPhil in Clinical Medicine from the University of Oxford, working on HCV T cell immunology and vaccine development.
Annette's current focus is developing novel antivirals for pandemic preparedness. She leads the preclinical development of coronavirus small molecules for the global consortia COVID Moonshot and the ASAP AVIDD Center on behalf of Drugs for Neglected Disease initiative (DNDi). She is the clinical lead for discovery projects targeting flavi-, entero-, and influenza viruses, supported by the Wellcome Trust, NIH NIAID, PAD (Novo Nordisk and Gates Foundations), and the Cumming Global Centre for Pandemic Therapeutics. She also coordinates a portfolio of early discovery projects against antimicrobial and fungal targets.
Recent publications
Combined crystallographic fragment screening and deep mutational scanning enable discovery of Zika virus NS2B-NS3 protease inhibitors.
Journal article
Ni X. et al, (2025), Nat Commun, 16
Discovery of orally bioavailable Zika and West Nile Virus antiviral compounds targeting the NS2B-NS3 protease.
Preprint
Kenton NT. et al, (2025)
Assessment of repurposed compounds against coronaviruses highlights the antiviral broad-spectrum activity of host-targeting iminosugars and confirms the activity of potent directly acting antivirals.
Journal article
Brun J. et al, (2025), Antiviral Res, 237
Identification and characterization of human KALRN mRNA and Kalirin protein isoforms.
Journal article
Mould AW. et al, (2024), Cereb Cortex, 34
Collaborators
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Ana Espirito Santo
Senior Programme Manager
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Amelia Henley
DPhil Student
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Samuel Gavronski
DPhil Student
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Ryan Demel
DPhil Student
