About
Max Crispin is Director of the Institute for Life Sciences and Professor of Glycobiology at the University of Southampton. Max runs the Glycoprotein Therapeutics Laboratory (within the School of Biological Sciences) which is predominantly focussed on developing anti-viral vaccines and new antibody-based therapies against cancer.
In the Glycoprotein Therapeutics Laboratory we exploit the glycan modifications of proteins in the design of vaccines candidates and glycoprotein-based therapeutics. We have a particular interest in vaccine design against the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and in the development of novel antibody-based cancer therapeutics. This involves understanding how glycans impact on protein and viral function, how they are structured, and how we they can be manipulated for therapeutic applications.
You can update this in Pure (opens in a new tab). Select ‘Edit profile’. Under the heading and then ‘Curriculum and research description’, select ‘Add profile information’. In the dropdown menu, select - ‘About’.
Write about yourself in the third person. Aim for 100 to 150 words covering the main points about who you are and what you currently do. Clear, simple language is best. You can include specialist or technical terms.
You’ll be able to add details about your research, publications, career and academic history to other sections of your staff profile.
Research
Research interests
- Viral Glycobiology
- Therapeutic Antibodies
Current research
Viral Glycobiology: Our work assisting the development of an HIV vaccine is based on targeting the carbohydrate coat of HIV that shields the virus. We have shown that this shield is different from normal “self” carbohydrates and is remarkably constant despite huge variation in the underlying protein. We also study glycoproteins from a large range of other viruses including influenza and coronaviruses such as SARS-CoV-2.
Therapeutic Antibodies: Antibodies are incredibly versatile therapeutics and can exhibit both pro- and anti-inflammatory properties. For this reason, they are being applied to the treatment of conditions ranging from cancers to autoimmune disorders. Anti-cancer antibodies often rely on the recruitment of the immune system to cancerous cells through a constant region of the antibody termed the Fc region. We have structurally characterized how different glycans can impact on Fc structure and how they can be manipulated to fine-tune antibody effector functions. In addition, we are developing bispecific antibodies and a new approach for enhancing therapeutic antibodies against cancer that involves deactivating competing endogenous antibodies that can limit the potency of anti-cancer antibodies. We are very proud to be sponsored by Against Breast Cancer.
You can update the information for this section in Pure (opens in a new tab).
Research groups
Any research groups you belong to will automatically appear on your profile. Speak to your line manager if these are incorrect. Please do not raise a ticket in Ask HR.
Research interests
Add up to 5 research interests. The first 3 will appear in your staff profile next to your name. The full list will appear on your research page. Keep these brief and focus on the keywords people may use when searching for your work. Use a different line for each one.
In Pure (opens in a new tab), select ‘Edit profile’. Under the heading 'Curriculum and research description', select 'Add profile information'. In the dropdown menu, select 'Research interests: use separate lines'.
Current research
Update this in Pure (opens in a new tab). Select ‘Edit profile’ and then ‘Curriculum and research description - Current research’.
Describe your current research in 100 to 200 words. Write in the third person. Include broad key terms to help people discover your work, for example, “sustainability” or “fashion textiles”.
Research projects
Research Council funded projects will automatically appear here. The active project name is taken from the finance system.
Publications
Public outputs that list you as an author will appear here, once they’re validated by the ePrints Team. If you’re missing any outputs that you’ve added to Pure, they may be waiting for validation.
Supervision
Current PhD Students
Contact your Faculty Operating Service team to update PhD students you supervise and any you’ve previously supervised. Making this information available will help potential PhD applicants to find you.
Teaching
A short description of your teaching interests and responsibilities.
This section will only display on your public profile if you’ve added content.
You can update your teaching description in Pure (opens in a new tab). Select ‘Edit profile’. Under the heading and then ‘Curriculum and research description’ , select ‘Add profile information’. In the dropdown menu, select – ‘Teaching Interests’. Describe your teaching interests and your current responsibilities. Aim for 200 words maximum.
Courses and modules
Contact the Curriculum and Quality Assurance (CQA) team for your faculty to update this section.
External roles and responsibilities
You can update your external roles and responsibilities in Pure (opens in a new tab). Select ‘+ Add content’ and then ‘Activity’, your ‘Personal’ tab and then ‘Activities’. Choose which activities you want to show on your public profile.
You can hide activities from your public profile. Set the visibility as 'Backend' to only show this information within Pure, or 'Confidential' to make it visible only to you.
Biography
Max Crispin is Director of the Institute for Life Sciences and Professor of Glycobiology at the University of Southampton. Max read Biochemistry at Oriel as an undergraduate and, after doctoral studies at Oxford and Scripps Research, went on to run the Glycoprotein Therapeutics Laboratory within Oxford’s Department of Biochemistry. At Oriel College, he held a variety of roles including as a Tutorial Fellow in Biochemistry, Against Breast Cancer Senior Research Fellow, Senior Dean, and is currently a Supernumerary Fellow. He has also been a Lecturer in Biochemistry at Corpus Christi College.
Max’s laboratory currently operates at the nexus of glycoprotein engineering and glycan analytics and is mainly focussed on the design of antibody therapeutics against breast cancer and in supporting the development of vaccine candidates against viral pathogens, especially HIV.
Max’s laboratory is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation through the Collaboration for AIDS/Vaccine Discovery, the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative, the US National Institute of Health, the European Union Horizon 2020 programme, and by Against Breast Cancer. He is Professor Adjunct in the Department of Immunology and Microbiology at Scripps Research, California, USA, and was listed by Web of Science as one of the world’s most highly cited researchers for 2019.
Prizes
- Supernumerary Fellowship at Oriel College, Oxford (2018)
- FRSB (2016)
- FRSC (2020)
- Highly Cited Researcher 2019 (2019)
- Highly Cited Researcher 2022 (2022)
- Highly Cited Researcher 2019 (2022)
- 2023 ASBMB MCP Lectureship Award (2023)
- Highly Cited Reseacher 2023 (2023)
You can update your biography section in Pure (opens in a new tab). Select your ‘Personal’ tab then ‘Edit profile’. Under the heading, and ‘Curriculum and research description’, select ‘Add profile information’. In the dropdown menu, select - ‘Biography’. Aim for no more than 400 words.
This section will only appear if you enter the information into Pure (opens in a new tab).
Prizes
You can update this section in Pure (opens in a new tab). Select ‘+Add content’ and then ‘Prize’. using the ‘Prizes’ section.
You can choose to hide prizes from your public profile. Set the visibility as ‘Backend’ to only show this information within Pure, or ‘Confidential’ to make it visible only to you.