Neil Carragher
Drug Discovery
Research in a Nutshell
The Edinburgh Drug Discovery group embraces advanced technology platforms and disease models, which drive innovations in oncology drug discovery and development. Our group is highly proficient in image-based phenotypic screening working in close collaboration with several pharmaceutical industry partners and academic groups to identify hit molecules, advance small-molecule lead generation and classify compound mechanism of action (MOA). Our laboratories are equipped with the latest kinetic (IncuCyte s3®) and high-content (ImageXpress-micoXLS, ImageXpress-confocal HT.ai and fast light-sheet oblique plane microscopy) screening platforms, fully integrated with plate-handling robotics, barcode sample tracking, image analysis and artificial intelligence/machine learning (AI/ML) workflows. We are founding members of the European Cell-Based Assay Interest group (http://www.eucai.org), and together with the Universities of Oxford and Dundee, we are the third major academic hub for the National Phenotypic Screening Centre (http://npsc.ac.uk/). We also incorporate Reverse Phase Protein Array (RPPA) and NanoString analysis to support biomarker discovery and drug MOA studies at the transcriptomic and post-translational pathway levels.
The overarching aims of our group are to enhance clinical predictivity of preclinical oncology drug discovery and improve patient stratification and efficacy, by applying an evidence-led translational research platform, incorporating disease relevant models, innovative chemical design, quantitative imaging, genomic/proteomic-discovery-informatics and AI/ML tools. To achieve these goals we work in close collaboration with local clinicians, multidisciplinary academic research groups and industry partners.
People |
|
| Principal Investigator, Professor of Drug Discovery and Director of Edinburgh Cancer Discovery Unit | |
| John Dawson |
Deputy Leader of Phenotypic Screening |
| Richard Elliott |
Head of High-throughput Screening |
| Alison Munro |
Laboratory Manager (HTPU Microarray Services) |
|
Jayne Culley |
Research Assistant |
|
Martin Lee |
Imaging Engineer (joint with Val Brunton) |
|
Alex Loftus |
Post Doc (joint with Margaret Frame) |
|
Mitch Foster |
ECAT Fellow |
|
Becka Hughes |
Post Doc |
|
Mungo Harvey |
PhD Student |
|
Vanessa Smer-Barreto |
XDF Fellow |
|
Nhan Pham |
Senior Drug Screening Scientist (joint with Siddharthan Chandran) |
|
Rod Carter |
Research Scientist (joint with Siddharthan Chandran) |
|
Steve Shave |
Research Fellow |
Contact
PA : jan.irvine@ed.ac.uk
Collaborations
- AstraZeneca
- Radius Health Inc.
- Carrick Therapeutics
- Eli Lilly
- Janssen
- National Phenotypic Screening Centre: www.npsc.org
- European Cell-based Assay Interest group: www.eucai.org
- Global RPPA society: http://capmm.gmu.edu/2015-rppa-globalworkshop-home
- Asier Unciti-Broceta: Innovative Therapeutics Group
- Steve Pollard Group
- Margaret Frame: Cancer Biology Group
- Val Brunton: Cancer Therapeutics Group
Partners and Funders
- AstraZeneca
- Radius Health Inc.
- Carrick therapeutics
- Eli Lilly
- Janssen
- EPSRC Research Grant (2016) (Unciti-Broceta, Patton, Leung, Carragher) Palladium-activated prodrug therapy: a novel focal therapy for localised cancers of unmet need (5YR): £1,074,212
- Wellcome Trust ISSF (Jan 2016 –Jan 2017) (Von-Kriegsheim, Carragher and Wills). Drug target deconvolution platform. (1YR): £54,368 + in-kind coallboration with Medimmune
- Brain Tumour Charity Quest for Cures award (2016) (Pollard Dirks, Brennan, Helin and Carragher). Chromatin proteins as drug targets for glioblastoma. Research funding (5YR): £1,481,356
- Mechanistically informed Phenotypic Screening to Advance New Therapeutic Treatments for Oesophageal Cancer Patients £104,483
Scientific Themes
Drug Discovery, Phenotypic Screening, Glioma, Esophageal cancer, breast cancer
Technology Expertise
High content imaging, image-analysis, image-informatics, Reverse phase protein array