Alumni interview: Ioannis Theocharopoulos
Final-year MBBS Medicine and former iBSc Neuroscience student, Ioannis Theocharopoulos, was part of a team of researchers at Queen Mary who successfully demonstrated the use of a novel light emitting technology in identifying anti-drug antibodies that can reduce effectiveness of monoclonal antibody therapies. We caught up him to find out more.

Name: Ioannis Theocharopoulos
Course: MBBS Medicine (final year)
Intercalated (iBSc) Neuroscience
How were you involved with the research?
I was initially involved with this research during my Intercalated Bachelor of Science (iBSc) in Neuroscience, where I had the pleasure to work and be part of Dr Angray Kang’s team. With the help of Dr Kang, we were able to develop a novel anti-drug antibody assay to detect immunogenicity of therapeutic monoclonal antibodies and more specifically, the development of auto-antibodies against Alemtuzumab, a well-known drug used in the management of Multiple Sclerosis.
What skills did you develop during the project outside of your regular undergraduate work?
By working in this project, I was able to learn and master laboratory techniques such as cell culture, western-blotting, PCR amplification and analysis, transformation of DNA and many others. Furthermore, I learned the importance of dedication, devotedness and perseverance that are needed to achieve your goals.
What impact do you think this research will have?
This research will be the stepping-stone for the development of anti-drug antibody assays with the novel use of GloBody™ technology and specifically the Nanoluciferase activity. The anti-drug-antibody response influences the clinical efficacy of the drug and being able to detect it by an anti-drug-antibody assay can be helpful to guide doctors with respect to patient safety.
What is the most important thing you have learnt during the project?
I am grateful to say that being a member of Dr Kang’s team has been a vital step in my career as it has made me realise the importance of teamwork and how the questions that are raised during our meetings can generate ideas and become protagonists in a never-depleting pursuit of knowledge.
How has this helped you in your career/further study?
Being part of this team and working under the supervision of Dr Kang has equipped me with skills of teamwork, organisation and more importantly discipline to achieve my goals. Working in a laboratory helps you understand the importance of pre-clinical work and the effort that is put in by researchers every day to unravel the secrets of medicine. It has been a pleasure working as part of this team.
More information
- Research paper: ‘GloBody Technology: Detecting Anti-Drug Antibody against VH/VL domains‘. Gauri K. Saxena, Ioannis Theocharopoulos, Nisha Thaslima Aziz, Meleri Jones, Sharmilee Gnanapavan, Gavin Giovannoni, Klaus Schmierer, James A. Garnett, David Baker and Angray S. Kang. Sci Rep 10, 1860 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-58041-3.
- Find out more about our Intercalated iBSc Neuroscience programme at the Blizard Institute.
- Find out more about the MBBS Medicine programme at Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London.
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