ESR 10: Monika Maciuszek

Monika.Maciuszek@lifearc.org

The use of chemical biology to evaluate targets associated with vascular inflammation: identification and targeted delivery of novel agents for targets

Research project

LifeArc is fully engaged in therapeutic innovation for both small molecule and antibody therapeutic development expertise. Tool compounds from either approach or in combination such as antibody-drug conjugates will be critical to supporting the work in all other groups. LifeArc has world class computational expertise in protein and antibody modelling and in structure based drug design, and it will be through the application of such approaches that truly novel and innovative therapeutics may evolve.

This IRP includes:

1. Synthesis of required probe compounds to support target validation across the network targets, including Fpr2 (with ESR 6) and XOR (with ESR 2)
2. Development of novel agonists and/or antagonists of targets of interest through application of computational supported structure based drug design
3. Application of antibody drug conjugation technologies to support targeted delivery, selectivity enhancement and pharmacological stability of novel therapeutic agents, including phage technologies associated with WP3 (with ESR 7).

Main Supervisor

Name: Andy Merritt
Email: Andy.Merritt@lifearc.ac.uk

Host Institution

LifeArc

Accelerator Building

Open Innovation Campus

Stevenage SG1 2FX

 

Expected Results

Provide the Partners with probe compounds/lead candidates with effective pharmacological profiles to enhance our understanding of the biology and therapeutic potential of targets.

Planned secondment(s)

1. UMA, The Netherlands (Jan-Feb 2018): To develop protein model structures and apply in silico screening to project targets.
2. LMU, Germany (Jan - Feb 2019): To deliver antibody-drug conjugate technologies and support in phage display approaches.