Dr Leon Willis

Profile

I joined the University of Leeds as a PhD student in 2014, following my undergraduate degree in Biological Chemistry at the University of Sheffield (2010-2014). My project was funded by the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Innovative Manufacturing in Emergent Macromolecular Therapies. I commenced my postdoctoral research in October 2018, initially funded by an EPSRC Doctoral Prize Fellowship, then subsequently through a number of industrial collaborations. I am currently Researcher Co-I on an EPSRC grant and continue to work closely with industry.

Research interests

My research has primarily focussed on how hydrodynamic forces (shear and extensional flows) can damage proteins. As therapeutic proteins encounter hydrodynamic forces throughout their manufacturing process and delivery into patients, it is important to understand how these forces effect protein unfolding and aggregation, with a view to preventing this happening. We have developed a small-scale Extensional Flow Device (EFD) to probe these effects fundamentally, complementing this with an array of different biophysical and biochemical techniques. We have also applied the EFD as a tool to screen therapeutic antibodies for their robustness to flow, as well as identify formulation conditions which can protect them against aggregation. More recent work has compared the damage observed in the EFD to that seen in industrial-scale bioproecessing equipment.

More recently, I am interested in the “developability” of antibody-based therapies, namely the physicochemical properties that make these molecules good drugs and the analytical techniques used to measure these properties. I am developing workflows, including the use of the EFD, to better understand this, with the aim of getting these molecules through the drug discovery pipeline in a more efficient manner.

A video highlight, providing an overview of my research, is available to view here.

An example of my outreach work can be found on the STEM learning website.

Qualifications

• PhD (2018)
• MChem Biological Chemistry (2014)

Professional memberships

• Member of the Royal Society of Chemistry (MRSC)
• Trained STEM Ambassador since 2012