Cancer Antibody Discovery & Immunotherapy Group
The Cancer Antibody Discovery & Immunotherapy Group is led by Professor Sophia Karagiannis.
Our main research interests are focused on designing antibody therapies for solid tumours such as melanoma, ovarian and breast carcinomas. Our antibody discovery pathway is informed through dissecting humoral immune responses to solid tumours as well as investigating the tumour-targeting mechanisms of IgE class antibodies and Th2 responses in cancer. Patient-derived antibodies and B cell responses are examined as potential biomarkers, with a view of developing stratified medicine approaches and patient-focused treatments. We are presently developing a pipeline of antibodies and our first-in-class agent has reached a Phase I clinical trial.
GROUP LEAD
Professor Sophia Karagiannis
Professor of Translational Cancer Immunology and Immunotherapy
Sophia Karagiannis is a translational cancer immunologist with academic and biotechnology experience in the USA and UK. She heads a cancer antibody discovery team focused on dissecting the crosstalk between patient immune cells and cancer and on the design of novel agents for solid tumours such as melanoma, ovarian and breast cancers. Key areas of research include evaluating patient-derived B cells and their expressed antibodies, engineering antibodies of any specificity or class/isotype, including Fc-engineered antibodies and antibody-drug conjugates. The group are studying key components of the immune response in solid tumours, including Fc receptor-expressing immune effector cells which interact with and have the potential to be activated by antibodies against cancer.
The Karagiannis group is the first internationally to design, evaluate and translate anti-tumour IgE class antibodies from concept to clinical testing. Karagiannis is founder of Epsilogen Ltd (formerly IGEM Therapeutics Ltd.), the first immuno-oncology company dedicated to developing IgE therapeutic agents for cancer. She is author of several patents on antibody engineering for cancer therapy. She serves as Secretary of the international AllergoOncology consortium, focused on the interface between Th2 immunity, allergies, IgE and cancer, a Working Group of the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.
Visit Professor Karagiannis’s group web page:
Cancer Antibody Discovery & Immunotherapy Group
Dr Rebecca Adams
Clinical Research Fellow
Rebecca Adams received her BA in Medical Sciences and BMBCh from Oxford University. before undertaking clinical academic training across Wales and London. Specialising in dermatology, she has always had an interest in immunology, and specifically the immunology of skin cancer. She has been awarded an MRC Clinical Research Fellowship and is currently undertaking her PhD with the Karagiannis Group. Her project focusses on the role anti-cancer-antigen monoclonal antibodies can play in manipulating the immune response of monocytes and macrophages in the context of melanoma.
alicia.chenoweth@kcl.ac.uk
Dr Heather Bax
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Developing novel antibodies of the IgE class to target solid tumours. Supporting the first-in-class, first-in-man, Phase 1 clinical trial of MOv18 IgE (ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02546921). Now funded by IGEM Therapeutics Ltd (www.igemtherapeutics.com). Research programs include pre-clinical development of IgE antibodies against ovarian, breast (including TNBC), melanoma and lung cancers.
alicia.chenoweth@kcl.ac.uk
Dr Alicia Chenoweth
Dr Alicia Chenoweth received her BSc and Hons in Biomedical Science from the University of Adelaide (2012). She studied her PhD under the supervision of Prof. Mark Hogarth at the Burnet Institute and Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. Her work focused on the interactions of human and non-human primate IgG antibodies with Fc receptors and the impact of IgG Fc modification on immune cell function. She received her PhD in 2018 and then moved to King’s College London as a postdoctoral Research Associate in the Cancer Antibody Discovery and Immunotherapy group led by Prof. Sophia Karagiannis, funded by Breast Cancer Now.
Alicia’s research interests include antibody engineering and its effect on immune cell function in the context of breast cancer therapy.
alicia.chenoweth@kcl.ac.uk
Dr Rebecca Adams
Clinical Research Fellow
Rebecca Adams received her BA in Medical Sciences and BMBCh from Oxford University. before undertaking clinical academic training across Wales and London. Specialising in dermatology, she has always had an interest in immunology, and specifically the immunology of skin cancer. She has been awarded an MRC Clinical Research Fellowship and is currently undertaking her PhD with the Karagiannis Group. Her project focusses on the role anti-cancer-antigen monoclonal antibodies can play in manipulating the immune response of monocytes and macrophages in the context of melanoma.
alicia.chenoweth@kcl.ac.uk
Dr Heather Bax
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Developing novel antibodies of the IgE class to target solid tumours. Supporting the first-in-class, first-in-man, Phase 1 clinical trial of MOv18 IgE (ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02546921). Now funded by IGEM Therapeutics Ltd (www.igemtherapeutics.com). Research programs include pre-clinical development of IgE antibodies against ovarian, breast (including TNBC), melanoma and lung cancers.
alicia.chenoweth@kcl.ac.uk
Dr Alicia Chenoweth
Dr Alicia Chenoweth received her BSc and Hons in Biomedical Science from the University of Adelaide (2012). She studied her PhD under the supervision of Prof. Mark Hogarth at the Burnet Institute and Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. Her work focused on the interactions of human and non-human primate IgG antibodies with Fc receptors and the impact of IgG Fc modification on immune cell function. She received her PhD in 2018 and then moved to King’s College London as a postdoctoral Research Associate in the Cancer Antibody Discovery and Immunotherapy group led by Prof. Sophia Karagiannis, funded by Breast Cancer Now.
Alicia’s research interests include antibody engineering and its effect on immune cell function in the context of breast cancer therapy.
alicia.chenoweth@kcl.ac.uk
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