Dr
Stefanie
Menzies
Dr
Stefanie
Menzies
Lecturer in Molecular Cell Biology
Lancaster University
Biography
My background is in drug discovery for neglected tropical diseases, ranging from small molecules to antibodies. After my BSc (Medical Sciences, University of Leeds) and MSc (Biology and Control of Parasites & Disease Vectors, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine) I worked in Ecuador as a research assistant on projects on soil transmitted helminths, intestinal protozoa and respiratory viruses. During my PhD at the University of St Andrews I investigated small molecule drug discovery for Trypanosomes and Leishmania (mode of action studies and identification of new druggable targets). My first post-doc project (Washington University in St Louis) was characterizing the enzymatic activity of a glycosyltransferase in Leishmania. I then returned to the UK to take up a position in the Centre for Snakebite Research and Interventions (Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine), working on projects evaluating new antivenoms, characterizing venom bioactivites, investigating small molecules as drugs for snakebite, and through pilot funding I set up an antibody discovery pipeline. I established my independent research group in May 2024 at Lancaster University, where I continue working on antibody and biologics discovery and evaluation projects. Research interests
The goal of my group is to develop novel biologics (antibodies and other proteins) as new treatments and diagnostics for global health challenges, in a disease-agnostic manner. We do this mostly by in vitro antibody discovery (using yeast- and phage-display libraries) and through this have discovered new antibodies for snake venom toxins and viral haemorrhagic fevers. We have antibody libraries of human scFv and camelid nanobodies, and are currently building bovine antibody libraries. We have recently incorporated de novo protein design into our portfolio, using tools such as RFDiffusion to design novel biologics that could hold potential as vaccines/immunogens. We also have experience working with virus-like particles and sheep Fc fusion proteins as immunogens. I am always interested to collaborate with researchers from other disease areas where we could perform antibody discovery for their disease/targets of interest. Projects you're working on
- mAbs and de novo designed biologics for snakebite
- mAbs for the diagnosis of viral haemorrhagic fevers
- creation of ultralong bovine antibody libraries
Discipline
Bio-manufacturing Molecular biology Parasitology Protein biology Structural biology Virology Stage of vaccine development
Antigen discovery and immunogen design