Associate Professor Daniel Scott is an academic in the Department of Biochemistry and Pharmacology within the School of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences at the University of Melbourne. He holds a BSc (Hons), BBiomedSc, and PhD (2007) from the University of Melbourne, where his doctoral research focused on the relaxin receptor RXFP1. Following his PhD, Scott was awarded an NHMRC C.J. Martin Postdoctoral Fellowship in 2008 and a University of Zurich Postdoctoral Fellowship in 2010, both conducted in Professor Andreas Plückthun's laboratory in Zurich, Switzerland, specializing in directed evolution of stabilized G protein-coupled receptors. In 2011, he was recruited as a junior group leader to the Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, where he now serves as Head of the Drug Discovery Innovation Group. In 2013, he co-founded G7 Therapeutics AG in Switzerland, which was acquired by Heptares Therapeutics in 2016. Scott co-leads the Drug Discovery Innovation group at both the Florey Institute and the Department of Biochemistry and Pharmacology at the University of Melbourne.

Scott's research specializes in G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) engineering for drug discovery, including stabilizing GPCRs using the Cellular High Throughput Encapsulation, Solubilization and Screening (CHESS) method he invented in 2010, peptide GPCR targeting, α1-adrenoceptors, allostery, biased agonism, and structure-based drug design. His work addresses applications in Alzheimer's disease, heart failure, epilepsy, and neuronal imaging. Notable achievements include solving crystal structures of CHESS-stabilized neurotensin receptor variants in 2014. He has received the 2013 Australasian Society of Clinical and Experimental Pharmacology and Toxicology (ASCEPT) Denis Wade Johnson & Johnson New Investigator Award and the British Pharmacological Society (BPS)/ASCEPT Outstanding Young Investigator Prize, along with the 2017 NHMRC Boosting Dementia Research Leadership Fellowship and multiple NHMRC Project Grants from 2015 to 2018. Key publications include Egloff et al. (2014) 'Structure of signaling-competent neurotensin receptor 1 obtained by directed evolution in Escherichia coli' in PNAS; Scott et al. (2018) 'A novel ultra-stable, monomeric green fluorescent protein for direct volumetric imaging of whole organs using CLARITY' in Scientific Reports; and Scott et al. (2013) 'Stabilizing membrane proteins through protein engineering' in Current Opinion in Chemical Biology. His research has garnered over 1,500 citations, influencing GPCR drug development.

Professional Email: daniel.scott@florey.edu.au