Personal Statement
I am currently a Senior lecturer at the Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics where I lead the drug antigen discovery group with a focus on the identification of naturally processed and presented HLA ligands that could initiate an immune response. Comprehensive knowledge of antigenic peptides and their relationship with HLA proteins is crucial for designing innovative cancer immunotherapy and better diagnostic assays for drug hypersensitivity among other autoimmune diseases.

I completed my Ph D in medicinal chemistry at Liverpool University with a prestigious Pfizer funded studentship under the supervision of Prof Kevin Park and Dr Andrew Stachulski, in which I focused on the synthesis of reactive drug metabolites. I then took up a postdoctoral position in the NIHR Liverpool Biomedical Research Centre under the guidance of Prof Sir Munir Pirmohamed and Prof Kevin Park, followed by a Senior Postdoctoral Fellow at the MRC Centre for Drug Safety Science, where I developed mass spectrometric-based bioanalytical platforms for investigating drug metabolism and drug-protein interaction/adduct. This knowledge, combined with computational modelling, has allowed us to identify novel therapeutic targets and action mechanisms for drug design.

Research Overview
My main research interests are the use of advanced mass spectrometry-based multiomics techniques to investigate drug metabolism, explore drug-protein interaction/adduct, and discover HLA antigens that could lead to immunological reactions. My team has established a unique platform that integrates state-of the art analytical and immunological tools to address some of the most challenging questions in the field of drug hypersensitivity. We have developed analytical platforms to characterise drug-protein adducts in patients and within different cells including antigen presenting cells (B cells and dendritic cells), Keratinocytes, and hepatocytes. We were the first to show that drug-modified peptides can be presented by specific HLA alleles that can stimulate drug specific T cells. These studies will not only help understand the mechanisms of drug-induced immunotoxicity but also guide design novel therapeutics with improved efficacy and less toxicity. Through collaborating with academic scientists, clinicians, and scientist in the pharmaceutical industry, we are developing novel assays for better diagnosis, prediction, and prevention of drug-induced immunotoxicity. Beyond drug-induced immunotoxicity, my group is also interested in developing novel T-cell based immunotherapies for the treatment of various diseases including cancer and autoimmune diseases.