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My PhD was with Professor Steven Neidle at the Department of Biophysics, King's College London, and the Institute of Cancer Research, Sutton, Surrey, on computer-aided anticancer drug design, using molecular docking algorithms, chemical synthesis, X-ray crystallography and disease models. The PhD was sponsored by Glaxo and involved secondment to the Glaxo research site at Greenford.
After graduating in 1986, I spent three years as postdoc in the laboratory of Robert D Wells at the University of Alabama in Birmingham, working on DNA biophysics, especially non-right handed structures such as triple helices DNA formed by repetitive sequences in the genome. This was followed by an EMBO long-term fellowship in the laboratory of Professor Claude Helene, studying gene targeting by antisense oligonucleotides, especially sequence-specific triple helix recognition and cleavage of duplex DNA.
In 1990 I was pointed as a lecturer in Psychiatric Genetics at the Institute of Psychiatry (now the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, KCL), working on structural variation and genetic association in psychiatric disorders, mainly focused on schizophrenia. This led to some of the seminal papers in psychiatric genetics, including genome-wide association studies of schizophrenia, identification of copy number variants associated with schizophrenia, and pharmacogenetics of antipsychotic medication, as part of large European-commission funded research consortia. In addition I was one of the initiators of genome wide association studies of anorexia. I also participated in large UK genetic initiatives such as UK10K, and the Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium. I was appointed full professor in 2003, with a personal chair in Neuropsychiatric Genetics.
In 2012, after nearly 22 years at the Institute of Psychiatry, I moved to industry, joining Eli Lilly and company at their UK site in Windlesham, Surrey, initially to use genetics in drug discovery for schizophrenia, and latterly for drug discovery in neurodegeneration (Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease motor neuron disease and rare genetic disorders), and pain. I also led or participated in several key external collaborations, including the Accelerating Medicines Partnership for Alzheimer's Disease (pharma co-chair), the IMI2 projects PHAGO (neuroinflammation) and IMPRIND (mis-folded proteins), and I was the lead on a BBSRC Collaborative Training Partnership (11 PhD studentships) on ageing. In 2022, after ten wonderful years with the company, I decided to leave Lilly to look for new opportunities.
