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Contact information for the TRO's translational research and funding support team, the Translational Research Group (TRG).
TRG Members:
Senioar Translational Research Managers:
- Celia Murray-Dunning
- Fiona Lucas
- Gioia Cherubini
- Helen Cooksley
- Jennifer Furman
- Jessica Walsh
- Tanguy Lechertier
Pamela Tranter
Head, Translational Research Group
Email: p.tranter@ucl.ac.uk
Pamela joined the Translational Research Group in November 2014 and has been head of the group since Sept 2016. Pamela has led Thrombosis and Respiratory projects on multiple targets and is experienced in managing cross functional and global project teams.
Pamela obtained her PhD in Platelet Biochemistry from the Royal Free Hospital Medical School and has extensive experience of drug discovery in the pharmaceutical industry at Ciba-Geigy and Novartis. At Novartis, Pamela led the Respiratory Disease Ion Channel Group and implemented novel automated electrophysiology technologies enabling the prosecution of many diverse ion channel targets.
Contact Pamela for:
- Excellent connections with Funders, Industry and academic institutions working on Advanced Therapies
- Help with managing AAV and CAR T Cell projects
- Connection with any of the Therapeutic Innovation Network (TIN) communities
- Approaching and working with key partners – UCL Business (UCLB), Joint Research Office (JRO), UCL Tech Fund (UCLTF) and many more!
Celia Murray-Dunning
Senior Translational Research Manager
Email: c.murray-dunning@ucl.ac.uk
Celia received her PhD from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Sheffield. Following this she worked for several world leading research teams and clinical groups. Her work focused on bioregenerative medicine, stem cell research and medical device development, specifically in the areas of neurodegeneration and ophthalmology.
Celia has worked in both academic and industry settings and is an experienced research and development scientist specialising in translational research. She was developed a device from bench side to a clinical trial, has extensive GMP and clean room experience, alongside project management and technical lead skills.
She joined the TRO in March 2022 and looks forward to helping academic groups navigate the translational pathway, to enable the world leading research at UCL reach patients as efficiently and quickly as possible.
Fiona Lucas
Senior Translational Research Manager
Email: f.lucas@ucl.ac.uk
Fiona joined the TRG in May 2024, bringing over 15 years of drug discovery experience gained in the biotech and pharmaceutical industries. As Project Leader, Fiona has led multidisciplinary teams from the earliest stages of drug discovery, along the translational pathway through to clinical development. More recently, Fiona worked on a novel, first-in-class AI-derived target, taking responsibility for the overarching biology strategy including assay development for the hit ID campaign, in vitro / in vivo efficacy screens, safety mitigation and biomarker strategies. Fiona also led a drug target repositioning project, working with CROs and academic collaborators to identify and validate potential new indications using in vitro and in vivo models. Fiona has also been a Science Writer for an academic research group investigating bowel cancer screening & prevention, where she was involved in writing grant applications, manuscripts and monographs. Fiona is extremely passionate about science, innovation, and translating novel discoveries for the benefit of patients.
Fiona’s expertise is in small molecule drug discovery and includes disease areas such as neurodegeneration, NAFLD, allergy, endometriosis, pulmonary arterial hypertension, and cancer.
Contact Fiona to:
- help you navigate the translational pathway for your project and how the TRO can support you.
- help you identify sources of translational funding and work with you on your application.
Gioia Cherubini
Senior Translational Research Manager
Email: g.cherubini@ucl.ac.uk
Gioia joined the Translational Research Group (TRG) in May 2023. She brings a wealth of experience working at the academia-industry interface having spent the last ten years driving, establishing and managing collaborations to accelerate research translation from bench to bedside. Gioia began her career in research with a PhD in Genetics and Molecular Biology from the University of Rome ‘La Sapienza’ and held postdoctoral positions at the Institut Gustave Roussy (Paris) and the Barts Cancer Institute (Queen Mary University of London) working in cancer gene therapy.
Prior to joining the TRG, Gioia was the Senior Scientific Partnerships manager at Achilles Therapeutics UK Ltd, where she led and coordinated grant applications and scientific collaborations, bringing more than £7M in funding in three years. Before that, as a Business Development Manager (Health) at Queen Mary University of London Gioia developed strong expertise supporting academics in their efforts to translate their research.
Contact Gioia to:
- help you understand the translational pathway and how the TRG can help you move your research from bench to bedside;
- help you identify sources of translational funding and assist you in the preparation of competitive applications;
- help you identify partners to strengthen your project.
Helen Cooksley
Senior Translational Research Manager
Email: h.cooksley@ucl.ac.uk
Translational research has been the focus of Helen’s career, co-ordinating multidisciplinary teams of scientists, clinical staff and industry collaborators to develop novel & effective immunotherapeutic strategies for treatment of liver disease. She is now using her knowledge & experience to engage with & support early career researchers translate their discovery research. She holds a BSC in Biotechnology and an MSc in Medical Biochemistry.
Contact Helen to:
- Discuss the internal translational funding opportunities provided by the TRO such as our Pilot Data Scheme and the Therapeutic Acceleration Support fund.
- Learn about how the UCL Therapeutic Innovation Networks facilitate knowledge exchange and partnerships between UCL researchers and industry experts within different therapeutic modalities, to identify common obstacles and provide solutions to accelerate translation.
- Request information relating to the TRO’s pipeline of translational projects from early proof of concept studies through to mature pre-clinical & clinical projects.
Jennifer Furman
Senior Translational Research Manager
Email: j.furman@ucl.ac.uk
Jennifer began her research career in Physics, specialising in biophysics/nonlinear dynamics in biological systems. Following several stints as a post-doc in various fields under this remit (including projects on cardiology, ophthalmology, biomedical engineering, neuroscience and computer science), in 2017 Jennifer moved into research support, specialising in research and information governance, ethics/HRA/MHRA applications, IP, etc. In February 2022 Jennifer joined the Translational Research Office, where she looks forward to helping you with translating your research ideas towards direct patient benefit.
Contact Jennifer to:
- Help with better understanding trial sponsorship and how to identify the appropriate regulatory and governance pathways, particularly for medical devices.
- Understand translational research more broadly, particularly the pathway from bed to bench.
Jessica Walsh
Senior Translational Research Manager
Email: jessica.walsh@ucl.ac.uk
Jess joined the Translational Research Group in March 2024. She has experience supporting medical devices through the translational pathway, particularly medical imaging software. Jess previously worked at Oxford University’s Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, supporting clinical and translational research. She managed multiple projects, developing translational strategies across regulatory, commercialisation and IP. She worked at the interface of research and healthcare, co-ordinating multidisciplinary teams to deliver clinically focussed and impactful research.
Prior to this, she received her PhD in Clinical Neurosciences from the University of Cambridge, where she worked in the Stroke Research group validating novel imaging biomarkers for cerebral small vessel disease. She also holds an MSc from the University of Bristol and spent a placement year working in drug discovery at GSK, within the Pre-Clinical and Translational Imaging team.
Contact Jess to:
- understand where your research fits into the translational pathway and how the TRO can help you move your research forward;
- help you develop a translational strategy for medical devices (including software, hardware, apps and AI);
- support you in identifying appropriate translational funding and provide assistance in preparing applications.
Tanguy Lechertier
Senior Translational Research Manager
Email: t.lechertier@ucl.ac.uk
Tanguy joined the translational Research Group (TRG) in May 2024. He brings a wealth of experience from both academia and industry, spanning the entire drug discovery process from early stages to clinical development. Throughout his career, Tanguy has been passionate about translating discoveries for the benefit of the patients.
With a background in Cancer Cell Biology from a PhD in Paris Diderot University (Paris7), he pursued a postdoc in tumour angiogenesis at Bart Cancer Institute (Queen Mary University of London) in London. Then, Tanguy held roles at Novintum Bioscience Ltd, Adaptate Biotherapeutics Ltd and Takeda Pharmaceutical Co where he routinely managed external partners and CROs for discovery and preclinical activities and lately led the safety, pharmacology, and de-risking strategy for immunotherapeutic antibodies. Tanguy's expertise lies in metabolism, oncology, and immunotherapies.
Contact Tanguy to:
- understand the translational pathway for your project and how the TRO can support you;
- help you identify sources of translational funding and work with you on your application.