I am a Translational Biologist (PhD, PGCHE, FHEA) with over nine years of experience developing advanced human-relevant models for oncology research, precision medicine, and therapeutic discovery.
My expertise lies in designing and applying patient-derived organoid, ex vivo, and multicellular platforms that improve the prediction of therapeutic response and support decision-making across the drug development pipeline.
My work focuses on building scalable and biologically relevant systems that capture tumour heterogeneity, tumour microenvironment interactions, and patient-specific disease biology. I have extensive experience developing 3D organoid models, immune-oncology screening platforms, stromal-tumour co-cultures, precision-cut tissue platforms, and multi-omics workflows to support target validation, mechanism-of-action studies, biomarker discovery, and candidate prioritisation.
Throughout my career, I have led collaborative research programmes and strategic partnerships with leading biotechnology and pharmaceutical organisations. These collaborations have delivered next-generation preclinical models and screening approaches designed to improve translational predictability and accelerate the translation of scientific discoveries into patient benefit.
I have a strong track record in establishing large-scale patient-derived organoid biobanks, coordinating complex translational research programmes, and integrating clinical, experimental, and computational datasets to generate actionable biological insights. My research has been published in leading journals, including Nature, Nature Genetics, Cancer Research Communications, and Cell Reports Methods, and I was honoured to receive the 2024 Rising Star in Life Sciences Award.
My experience spans scientific leadership, project management, stakeholder engagement, and the development of high-performing multidisciplinary teams.
My goal is to advance predictive model systems and translational technologies that increase the success rate of oncology drug development and enable more personalised treatment strategies.
My current research interests include understanding the interactions between breast cancer cells and stromal cells in the tumour microenvironment, and how exercise may impinge on these interactions. We created a novel 3D model system for investigating the interactions between mesenchymal stem cells and 3D tumour spheroids, and are now branching into patient-derived organoids and adipocytes to model the obesogenic environment in hormonal breast cancers.