Leonie Müller

• CDT Doctoral Researcher Supervisor: Matthias Trost
• Email: L.Muller2@newcastle.ac.uk
• Project Title: Developing drug discovery assays for primary human immune cells by high-throughput MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry

Co-supervisors: Dr Maria Duenas and Dr Rachel Heap (GSK)

Institution: Newcastle University

Project Summary: Development of high-throughput MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry technology has in recent years contributed greatly to novel large-scale drug discovery workflows. Typically, these have been used to measure products of enzymatic reactions in vitro and has enabled screening of small molecule activators and inhibitors against a variety of protein targets. Human cell-based assays are used in early phase drug discovery to improve the translation of target hits. However, label-free cell-based assays by MALDI are less well established and need to be implemented in order to better describe human biology. In particular, this applies to human primary and iPSC derived immune cells, which play important roles in auto-immunity and in cancer.
With the support of my industrial partner GSK Stevenage, I will develop biochemical high-throughput screening workflows for drug discovery as well as explore cell-based models. The project will focus on attractive targets within the immune response as well as primary immune cells as they are targets for anti-inflammatory drugs and drugs in immune oncology.

Interesting Fact: I am a passionate rower and successfully took part in many competitions on a national and international level.