Marie Fisher, PhD

• Delivery of high-quality biological data and scientific expertise in support of integrated client facing drug discovery projects leading to the development of clinical drug candidates.

• Development and execution of a range of in vitro, cellular and high content image-based assays and 3D functional models in support of target and hit identification, target validation and screening across diverse therapeutic areas including inflammatory, immunology, fibrosis and orphan disease.

• Development and implementation of robust and validated medium to high throughput screening cascades utilising automated robotic (Biomek NxP) and acoustic compound delivery systems (ECHO 650).

• Screening of early-stage candidates through primary and secondary screening cascades utilizing immortalized, primary human cells and whole blood in support of pharmacological characterisation, potency determination and in directing SAR.

• Senior Cell Biologist within the Cellular Pharmacology team which provides critical biology data to support target identification and validation at Hit ID through to candidate selection stage within both internal and collaborative projects across the Exscientia Oncology and IO portfolio.

• Acting as Lead Biologist to provide cellular and disease area expertise to cross-functional project teams in support of early-stage drug discovery programs.

• Design, planning and execution of a range of cellular and translational assays utilising a variety of assay formats (luminescence, fluorescence, live/ high content imaging, 3D models) to support target biology across a range of target classes and in novel areas of biology.

• Design and implementation of cellular drug screening cascades in collaboration with internal and external stakeholders and CRO's for the delivery of key drug discovery programs.

• Development of functional assay platforms utilising complex biology (3D spheroid/organoid and co-culture) and automated assay processes (ECHO650/ Biomek i7) for mechanism of action and efficacy testing of lead candidates.

• Scientific project lead for internal and external client led Drug Discovery projects within target biology and validation programs (drug combination studies/siRNA knockdown/viability studies utilising CRISPR edited cell lines).

• Development and validation of automated image based phenotypic assay workflows using Operetta CLS.

• Development and implementation of automated complex 3D model generation (tumour fibroblast/immune co-culture) to support disease driven drug discovery projects.

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