Clinical Trial Project Manager at the Oxford Vaccine Group

I was manager of the CORKA and PROVE clinical trials as part of the Oxford Critical Care, Trauma and Rehabilitation (CCTR) Trials Group within the Oxford Oxford Clinical Trials Research Unit (OCTRU). The CORKA study involved evaluation of physiotherapy to assist in the recovery of knee arthroplasty patients who have been predicted to have a poor outcome. The PROVE study looked at the role of physiotherapy in the treatment of osteoporosic factures of the spine. My role in both trials was to coordinate, monitor and report the progress of all trial activities including setting up, training and monitoring the activities of external recruiting sites. To perform my duties I am fully GCP qualified and attend regular training seminars.

While remaining within my previous position I moved across to the NHSBT to undertake a research project to study iron homeostasis through the production and purification of a difficult to produce protein. During the course of the project I supervised the research efforts of two undergraduate students. Efforts are continuing in the lab to use this purified protein to produce monoclonal antibodies. While pursuing this project I have used my expertise to assist other lab members to successfully synthesize a difficult-to-produce protein by using my recombinant protein knowledge and skills.Additional projects I pursued at this time included a study of the loss of deformability in stored redblood cells using a simple filtration apparatus. Through collaborations with colleagues in the NHSBT and the USA I have performed a series of studies to detect the activity of the enzyme eNOS in stored red blood cells and to contribute to a study looking at different methods used to evaluate the loss of red blood cell viability during storage. The results of these studies are progressing to publications in the near future.

My research involved the development of an assay to detect malaria immune reactions caused by malaria parasite infections. I produced and purified proteins of interest for testing against malaria immune and non-immune serum. A number of the proteins proved to have value as antigens in an ELISA system.

My Instructor position in the UNMC Department of Pathology and Microbiology involved the development of a novel patented method of recombinant protein production and purification that was licensed to Purtein LLC, a company specifically established to develop and commercialize the technology. During the course of this research I established and developed the technology in bacterial, mammalian and insect cell protein expression systems and through collaborative studies also demonstrated the technology in other expression systems.

In December 2002 I joined the UNMC Department of Urologic Surgery as an Instructor. During this time I carried out work to study the transcription regulation of the human PKCmu/PKD gene. I also contributed to other studies ongoing in the lab to investigate the role of the PKD gene in prostate cancer using RNAi silencing and to investigate the role of metallothionein genes in chemotherapy and radiation resistance in prostate cancer.

In July 1999 I moved to the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha USA to study aspects gene regulation in pancreatic cancer. I performed experiments to detect DHS in a strain of transgenic mice containing a functional copy of the human MUC1 mucin gene. During this time I also developed an RT-PCR assay that can distinguish between expression of the endogenous mouse gene and the human MUC1 transgene in MUC1 transgenic mice and used it to investigate MUC1 expression in a wide range of tissues.

My first post-doctoral position was with Prof. Ann Harris in Oxford, UK investigating the regulation of the human CFTR gene by mapping DNaseI hypersensitive sites (DHS) within the coding region of the gene, revealing the presence of multiple DHS. Further projects investigated the regulation of the ovine CFTR gene by growing primary cultures of ovine epydidymal and vas deferens cells in which we detected the presence of CFTR mRNA by RT-PCR