Staff Profile

Current Role

I work in the pharmacology group where I have lab management duties covering chromatography and mass spectrometry equipment. I also lead on method development and perform clinical trial analysis. Our lab and data systems are GCP/GCLP regulated due to our involvement in clinical research.

Background

Prior to joining the University, my professional background was in the biotech and pharma industries, where I worked as a Senior Bioanalytical Scientist performing regulated PK/PD/TK studies. I also have experience working in histopathology, performing cancer diagnostics using protein and genetic biomarker assays, such as immunohistochemistry and in-situ hybridisation.

Qualifications

• BSc (Hons), Biological Sciences, Lancaster University
• MSc, Molecular Genetics and Diagnostics, University of Nottingham
• Currently working towards a PhD in Cancer Pharmacology at Newcastle University
• Title: Development of quantitative assays for the measurement of anticancer chemotherapeutics in early phase clinical trials using liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry

Research

My research involves the development of novel LC-MS/MS methods for the quantitation of chemotherapeutic drugs in biological samples. These methods are applied to studies across clinical trials, pharmacokinetics, therapeutic drug monitoring and toxicology.

Current Lab Equipment - Newcastle Cancer Centre Pharmacology Group (NCCPG)

LC-MS/MS

• Sciex QTRAP 5500 with Waters ACQUITY Premier UPLC
• Sciex API4000 with Shimadzu Prominence LC20
• Agilent 6460 QQQ with Agilent 1260 Infinity II LC

HPLC-DAD

• Agilent 1260 Infinity II LC - Agilent 1100 Series Diode Array Detector (x2)

Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy

• Agilent 280FS-AA

Project Supervision

I supervise undergraduate BSc students and postgraduate MRes students during their research projects in the pharmacology group.

• Article

  • Bell HL, Blair HJ, Jepson Gosling SJ, Galler M, Astley D, Moorman AV, Heidenreich O, Veal GJ, van Delft FW, Lunec J, Irving JAE. Combination p53 activation and BCL-x_L/BCL-2 inhibition as a therapeutic strategy in high-risk and relapsed acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Leukemia 2024, 38, 1223-1235.