The Alzheimer’s Research UK Oxford Drug Discovery Institute (ODDI)
- 01865289497
- emma.mead@cmd.ox.ac.uk
The ODDI was founded in 2015
We have a team of 40 staff and students, comprising biologists, screening scientists and medicinal chemists.
We have partnered three drug discovery projects to date.
The Alzheimer's Research UK Oxford Drug Discovery Institute couples the deep disease knowledge and biology expertise of the academic community with high quality, innovative drug discovery technologies.
Overview
Housed within the Centre for Medicines Discovery, Nuffield Department of Medicine at the University of Oxford Old Road Campus, the Oxford Drug Discovery Institute is uniting collaborative efforts for target identification with sophisticated target development capabilities. We are looking for academic researchers who have targets and ideas with translational potential, keen to partner with us to fast-track these ideas towards new medicines.
We focus on validating targets that influence neuroinflammatory processes and organelle dysfunction in Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease, as well as other neurodegenerative conditions. We have a core biology team with expertise in validating targets using iPSC technologies, and a dedicated assay development and screening team, who support our portfolio of projects and develop bespoke screening assays to identify compounds that can be developed by our medicinal chemists.
For further information, please contact our Chief Scientific Officer, Dr Emma Mead (emma.mead@cmd.ox.ac.uk), or our Assistant Project Manager, Kate Humphrey (kate.humphrey@cmd.ox.ac.uk)
Organogram
ODDI Portfolio
Visit our ODDI Portfolio page for more information.
senior leadership team
biology teams
Assay Development and Screening Team
chemistry teams
Our team
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Emma Mead
Chief Scientific Officer, Alzheimer’s Research UK Oxford Drug Discovery Institute
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Emma Murphy
Head of Biology - Alzheimer's Research UK Oxford Drug Discovery Institute
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Tryfon Zarganis-Tzitzikas
Head of Chemistry, Alzheimer’s Research UK Oxford Drug Discovery Institute
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Kate Humphrey
Assistant Project Manager, ODDI
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Katerina Gospodinova
Team Leader- Neuroinflammation
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Katherine England
Postdoctoral Researcher
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Margarida Ruas
Team Leader - Organelle Biology
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Franziska Guenther
Team Leader - Assay Development and Screening
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Sheenagh Aiken
ODDI Chemistry Team Leader
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Michael Ellis
Research Assistant Neuroinflammation
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Ethan Chidlow
Research Assistant - Medicinal Chemistry for Dementia
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Tika Malla
Postdoctoral Scientist - Enzymology and Assay Development
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Gonzalo Vera Namuncura
Research Assistant
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Laura Ortega Varga
Postdoctoral Scientist
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Eboni Bucknor
Postdoctoral Research Scientist
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Munashe Joy Mudiwa
Research Assistant - Protein Biochemist and Molecular Pharmacologist
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Tom Grimes
Research Scientist
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Mia Callens
Postdoctoral Research Scientist - Medicinal Chemistry
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Lynn Wambua
Postdoctoral Scientist-Assay Development and Screening Team
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Elisabeth Mira Rothweiler
Pharmacist, DPhil in Clinical Medicine
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Emma Kennedy
Research Assistant
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Claire Martin
Postdoctoral Scientist
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Shania Ibarra
Research Assistant/DPhil Student
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Karly Aitmakhanova
Research Assistant / DPhil Student
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Jess Bithell
Postdoctoral Research Assistant
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William Bradshaw
Postdoctoral Scientist - Structural Biology
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Donatella Di Rienzo
Research Assistant - DPhil Student
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Annabelle Weinand
Student
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Sana Hafian
Student
Selected publications
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PPARγ ligands activate the ion channel TRPA1.
Journal article
Guenther F. et al, (2025), Eur J Pharmacol, 1008
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A BRET biosensor for measuring uncompetitive engagement of PRMT5 complexes in cells.
Journal article
Rothweiler EM. et al, (2025), Nat Commun, 16
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SHIP1 regulates TREM2 signalling and macrophage functions in a hiPSC-derived model
Preprint
Martin CS. et al, (2025)
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obABPP-HT*: A Precision-Engineered Activity Proteomics Pipeline for the Streamlined Discovery of Deubiquitinase Inhibitors
Preprint
Jones HBL. et al, (2025)
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A patent review of peptidylarginine deiminase 4 (PAD4) inhibitors (2014-present).
Journal article
Aiken SG. et al, (2025), Expert Opin Ther Pat, 1 - 11
