Young researcher of the month
MCSB's young researcher of the month of November is Chloe Stoyle. Chloe recently passed her PhD viva and was appointed as a Research Assistant in Professor Neil Bulleid's research group. She recently won second prize for a talk at the UCB studentship day in London!
About my research
My PhD project was a collaboration with the pharmaceutical company UCB Pharma based in Slough. One of the main products which UCB manufacture is antibodies and novel antibody formats which are utilised for therapeutic applications. The focus of my PhD was to investigate the folding and assembly of some of these engineered antibodies and antibody formats to improve our understanding of the folding pathways involved in order to adapt them to increase the overall yield of protein produced.
The mechanism of antibody production and folding has been well characterised and of huge interest to the research areas of both academia and industry for many decades. In addition to this, the various domains which comprise antibodies have been studied and manipulated to create novel antibody formats which tailor the specific function of antibody domains for highly specialised use as a therapeutic. However, the potential consequences of engineering these antibodies on the yield and quality of protein produced had not been realised.
During the investigations of my PhD I was able to identify several consequences to expression of engineered therapeutic antibodies. Firstly I demonstrated a novel mechanism as to how the heavy chain of the antibody is able to fold and be secreted without its partner light chain which results in a decrease in the amount of antibody produced. This result was also interesting from an academic perspective as the secretion of the heavy chain without light chain does not occur during the natural development of antibodies; therefore potentially implying a higher level of quality control during B cell development by inhibiting this process. Secondly I was able to identify cleavage of the protein as a consequence to expression, and thirdly I was able to demonstrate a folding assembly pathway for a novel antibody format. These results have highlighted some consequences to the engineering and development of antibodies which can be improved for the generation of therapeutics.
Recent prizes and achievements
I have thoroughly enjoyed undertaking my PhD at the University of Glasgow in collaboration with UCB Pharma. Working with an industrial partner has allowed me to present at symposiums in London in addition to the symposium at Glasgow. At both conferences I was awarded second prize for the best presentation and was able to network and gain insight on my results from both an academic and industrial perspective. Furthermore during my PhD I was lucky enough to attend a conference in Venice where I got to go on a gondola ride, see the city, eat lots of yummy Italian food and present a poster to several academic experts in ER redox biology. Also, I liked working and living in Glasgow so much that have decided to stay on as a post-doctoral researcher in the Bulleid lab!
About me
Aside from slaving away in the lab, I enjoy travelling, seeing friends and family, keeping fit and enjoying a nice G&T in the pub on a Friday!