CPHI Podcast Series: The power of proteins in antibody drug development

In the latest episode of the CPHI Podcast Series, Lucy Chard is joined by Thomas Cornell from Abzena to discuss protein engineering for drug design and development. 

Thomas Cornell, Senior Manager of Protein Engineering at Abzena joins the podcast to talk about the world of protein engineering, how it’s an invaluable tool for improving the stability, functionality, and applicability for drug products. 

Cornell gained his PhD from Kings College London in the field of Chemical Biology. He then moved into the biotech startup space and spent almost a decade in preclinical vaccine research and development, focused on subunit vaccines. After working on over 20 protein families, Cornell has gained a wealth of protein engineering experience. Joining Abzena 2 years ago and now working within the protein engineering department on pre-clinical development of antibody drug candidates places Cornell at the heart of drug development at Abzena. 

The podcast covers the field of protein engineering more broadly, and includes the parts that are particularly exciting at the minute. We explore more in depth the key aspects of antibody drugs, how these can improve patient outcomes by being more specfic and stable, and the potential for bispecifics in improving functionality. We also touched on the wider considerations of the field, such as genomics, for building a wider knowledge base that individual drug makers could utlisie better to create drugs that take into account the more individual requirements of different populations. 

Finally, Cornell commented on the potential in the future for using computational design and AI to develop drugs more safely, circumventing the need for animal models, and improving time from design to market. 

Listen to the full episode here >>>