Principal Scientist & Program Leader

Almirall Ltd. (Pharmaceutical company)

Currently leading drug discovery projects and multidisciplinary teams from target selection to preclinical stage, with an 18-month secondment in Data Science applying AI/ML tools.

• Conceive novel therapeutic concepts and present them to internal management committees to secure project funding and build a multidisciplinary team.
• Lead multidisciplinary teams with expertise in disease biology, data science, project management, DMPK/toxicology, in vitro pharmacology, CMC, IP and new product planning, driving projects from target selection to the preclinical stage.
• Successfully led two biologics discovery projects targeting inflammatory and autoimmune diseases, progressing the projects from target validation through to candidate selection.
• Identify, evaluate and establish relationships with external CRO, pharma, biotech and academic partners to leverage technologies to strengthen the early drug pipeline.
• Provide company-wide technical expertise in therapeutic mechanisms of action, biologic discovery and engineering.
• Currently on an 18-month secondment in Data Science, applying AI/ML tools to accelerate biologic design, humanisation and developability profiling.
• Serve as a biologics and disease biology subject matter expert on due diligence teams, assessing external assets and acquisition opportunities.

Associate Principal Scientist

Lonza plc. (CDMO)

Led concurrent client projects, acted as first point of contact for clients, designed and validated assays in a GMP environment, and managed technology transfer.

• Led concurrent client projects across multiple biologic programmes, meeting all objectives and timelines.
• Acted as first point of contact for new and prospective clients, building relationships and demonstrating scientific expertise.
• Designed, developed and validated cell-based, ELISA and SPR assays in a GMP environment for release and stability testing of mAbs, multi-specifics, ADCs and fusion proteins.
• Wrote, reviewed and critiqued protocols, SOPs and technical reports.
• Managed technology transfer of assays to manufacturing sites.

Lecturer (Assistant Professor) & Principal Investigator

The University of Manchester

Led an independent research group, supervised students, designed and delivered lectures, and was an invited speaker.

• Led an independent research group investigating proteins central to inflammatory and allergic diseases using biological, biophysical and structural techniques.
• Supervised PhD students, MSc students and undergraduate researchers; all completed their degrees on schedule.
• Designed and delivered lectures and workshops at undergraduate and master's level; consistently received strong student feedback.
• Invited speaker at national and international conferences.

Senior Postdoctoral Research Associate

King's College London

Collaborated with UCB on fragment-based drug design, resulting in a small molecule that entered clinical trials. Led academic projects on biophysical, structural and functional characterisation of novel protein drug targets.

Postdoctoral Research Associate

Baylor College of Medicine

Purified and biophysically & structurally characterized DNA transcription factors.

Postdoctoral Research Associate

University of Oxford

Collaborated with Pfizer and Arrow Therapeutics on anti-viral and anti-bacterial drug candidates; solely responsible for structural and bioinformatics analyses of target protein-small molecule complexes.

PhD in Biochemistry (Structural Biology & Biophysics)

University of Bristol, UK

BSc (Hons) in Biochemistry

University of Sheffield, UK