Staff Profile

Research Interests

Pharmacology of novel drugs to treat cancer
Pharmacokinetics

Other Expertise

Analysis of drugs in biological material

Current Work

Evaluation of, novel drugs to inhibit MDM2-p53 interaction to anticancer therapy.

Postgraduate Supervision

MRes student supervision 2012

• Anil B, Blackburn E, Blackburn T, Cully S, Liu J, Drummond CJ, Endicott JA, Golding BT, Griffin RJ, Haggerty K, Lunec J, Newell DR, Revill CH, Riedinger C, Watson AF, Xu Q, Zhao Y, Hardcastle IR, Noble MEM. An X-ray crystal structure-based understanding of the inhibition of the MDM2-p53 protein-protein interaction by isoindolinones. In: 26th EORTC-NCI-AACR Symposium on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics. 2014, Barcelona, Spain: Elsevier.
• Pecqueur J, Vormoor B, Zhao Y, Newell H. Evaluating the activity of the p53-MDM2 inhibitor NDD0005 in Ewing sarcoma. In: 26th EORTC-NCI-AACR Symposium on Molecular Targets and Cancer Theraputics. 2014, Barcelona, Spain: Elsevier.
• Tudhope S, Zhao Y, Wittner A, Wilmore E, Bertoli A, Adhikari S, Harnor SJ, Del Bello F, Piergentili A, Lunec J, Hardcastle IR, Griffin RJ, Golding BR, Cano C, Newell DR, Wedge SR. Profiling inhibitors of MDM2: p53 and MDMX: p53 in relation to MDMX protein levels. In: AACR Annual Meeting 2014. 2014, San Diego, CA: American Association for Cancer Research.
• Chen L, Zhao Y, Halliday GC, Berry P, Rousseau RF, Middleton SA, Nichols GL, Del Bello F, Piergentili A, Newell DR, Lunec J, Tweddle DA. Structurally diverse MDM2-p53 antagonists act as modulators of MDR-1 function in neuroblastoma. British Journal of Cancer 2014, 111, 716-725.
• Bertoli A, Adhikari S, Harnor SJ, Zhao Y, Lunec J, Wedge SR, Tudhope S, Wittner A, Golding BT, Hardcastle IR, Cano C, Newell DR, Griffin RJ. Validation studies with small-molecule modulators of the MDM2/MDMX-p53 binding interaction. In: 247th ACS National Meeting and Exposition. 2014, Dallas, TX, USA: American Chemical Society.
• Blackburn TJ, Ahmed S, Coxon CR, Liu JF, Lu XH, Golding BT, Griffin RJ, Hutton C, Newell DR, Ojo S, Watson AF, Zaytzev A, Zhao Y, Lunec J, Hardcastle IR. Diaryl- and triaryl-pyrrole derivatives: inhibitors of the MDM2-p53 and MDMX-p53 protein-protein interactions. MedChemComm 2013, 4(9), 1297-1304.
• Batey MA, Zhao Y, Kyle S, Richardson C, Slade A, Martin NMB, Lau A, Newell DR, Curtin NJ. Preclinical Evaluation of a Novel ATM Inhibitor, KU59403, In Vitro and In Vivo in p53 Functional and Dysfunctional Models of Human Cancer. Molecular Cancer Therapeutics 2013, 12(6), 959-967.
• Cully SJ, Blackburn TJ, Cano C, Golding BT, Griffin RJ, Lunec J, Newell D, Noble M, Zhao Y, Hardcastle IR. Regiospecific synthesis of isoindolinones as MDM2 inhibitors. In: 245th ACS National Meeting and Exposition. 2013, New Orleans, Louisiana: American Chemical Society.
• Munck JM, Batey MA, Zhao Y, Jenkins H, Richardson C, Cano C, Tavecchio M, Barbeau J, Bardos J, Cornell L, Griffin RJ, Menear KA, Slade A, Thommes P, Martin NMB, Newell DR, Smith GCM, Curtin NJ. Chemosensitization of cancer cells by KU-0060648, a dual inhibitor of DNA-PK and PI-3K. Molecular Cancer Therapeutics 2012, 11(8), 1789-1798.
• de Brito LR, Batey MA, Zhao Y, Squires MS, Maitland H, Leung HY, Hall AG, Jackson G, Newell DR, Irving JAE. Comparative pre-clinical evaluation of receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitors for the treatment of multiple myeloma. Leukemia Research 2011, 35(9), 1233-1240.
• Watson AF, Liu JF, Bennaceur K, Drummond CJ, Endicott JA, Golding BT, Griffin RJ, Haggerty K, Lu XH, McDonnell JM, Newell DR, Noble MEM, Revill CH, Riedinger C, Xu Q, Zhao Y, Lunec J, Hardcastle IR. MDM2-p53 protein-protein interaction inhibitors: A-ring substituted isoindolinones. Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry Letters 2011, 21(19), 5916-5919.
• Ladds MJGW, van Leeuwen IMM, Drummond CJ, Chu S, Healy AR, Popova G, Pastor Fernandez A, Mollick T, Darekar S, Sedimbi SK, Nekulova M, Sachweh MCC, Campbell J, Higgins M, Tuck C, Popa M, Safont MM, Gelebart P, Fandalyuk Z, Thompson AM, Svensson R, Gustavsson AL, Johansson L, Färnegårdh K, Yngve U, Saleh A, Haraldsson M, D'Hollander ACA, Franco M, Zhao Y, Håkansson M, Walse B, Larsson K, Peat EM, Pelechano V, Lunec J, Vojtesek B, Carmena M, Earnshaw WC, McCarthy AR, Westwood NJ, Arsenian-Henriksson M, Lane DP, Bhatia R, McCormack E, Laín S. A DHODH inhibitor increases p53 synthesis and enhances tumor cell killing by p53 degradation blockage. Nature Communications 2018, 9, 1107.
• Lebraud H, Noble R, Phillips N, Hearn K, Castro J, Zhao Y, Newell DR, Lunec J, Wedge S, Heightman TD. A highly potent clickable probe for cellular imaging of MDM2 and assessing dynamic responses to MDM2-p53 inhibition. Bioconjugate Chemistry 2018, 29(6), 2100-2106.