Biography:
Gemma is currently a PhD student in the Chapman group, and her research focuses on understanding the mechanisms of drug-induced autoimmunity. She previously completed a degree apprenticeship, working for GlaxoSmithKline and studying with the University of Kent. While completing her degree apprenticeship she worked with both the In Vivo Bioimaging and Cell and Gene therapy groups at GSK, and later moved into the Oncology Cell Therapy department. Her research at GSK was broad, but she spent a large amount of time working on TCR and CAR T cell therapies, specifically focusing on the manufacturing challenges of cell therapies.
Research interests:
Drug-induced autoimmunity is an idiosyncratic adverse drug reaction, meaning it is both rare and non-dose dependent. These qualities make predicting drug induced autoimmunity extremely challenging. It is often not reported until after a drug has reached the market, and in some cases it has led to drugs being withdrawn from the market.
The aim of Gemma’s research is to better understand the mechanisms behind drug induced autoimmunity, so that predictive models can be generated, allowing such reactions to be detected at earlier stages in drug development.
