About me
I am a Spanish PhD student, hailing from the beautiful city of Salamanca, with a passion for chemistry. I made the move to Glasgow in 2019 to pursue my MSci in Chemistry with Medicinal Chemistry, graduating in 2024 with a First Class Honours. My studies included a fantastic placement year at Vertex Pharmaceuticals in Oxford, where I gained valuable experience in Formulation Development. Back in Glasgow for my final year, I dove into the world of polymer chemistry, undertaking a project on post-polymerisation functionalisation within the Prunet group. I thrive in the lab environment and particularly enjoyed my placement in the pharmaceutical industry, which ultimately sparked my interest in my current PhD research. Outside of the lab, I enjoy playing the piano, crocheting, watching a good film, and exploring new places through travel.
My Project
Double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) impurities are a barrier for the development of mRNA-based therapies. The presence of dsRNA structures can induce a strong inflammatory response that limits the drug’s efficacy. There is an increasing interest from regulatory agencies to demonstrate adequate dsRNA level control. However, current immunoassays used for the quantification of dsRNA present limitations, such as limited correlation between structure detection and immunogenicity. My project aims to repurpose natural dsRNA sensors (such as the protein OAS1) to establish an in-vitro/in-vivo assay for the quantitation of immunogenic dsRNA. This work combines chemical biology and biophysical chemistry methods and is an iCASE DTP project in partenship with AstraZeneca.