ApconiX Welcomes Dr Zara Farooq
ApconiX is delighted to welcome Dr Zara Farooq who will work in the Safety Science Group under the mentorship of Dr Hannah Dixon and Dr Nicholas Coltman.
Academic Career
Originally from Manchester, Zara graduated with a BSc in Chemistry from the University of Leeds where her research project focused on the synthesis and characterisation of vanadyl complexes as potential anti-cancer compounds.
She then followed on with a master’s degree in Drug Design from University College London where she designed and synthesised novel compounds against the cancer target neuropilin, specifically focusing on increasing the binding affinity of neuropilin-1 inhibitors through the chemical synthesis of EG00229 analogues.
Enjoying the interface between medicinal chemistry and biomedical research, Zara read for a PhD in biochemistry at Queen Mary University of London in the research group of Professor Peter McCormick. During her PhD, Zara’s work investigated targeting the G protein-coupled receptor, cannabinoid receptor 2 (CB2) and successfully identified a novel CB2 allosteric site computationally and undertook verification with site-directed mutagenesis and cell signalling experiments, before developing a computational virtual screen to identify novel hits against CB2.
Working at ApconiX
Seeking an opportunity to further develop and leverage her skills in computation chemistry and pharmacological modelling, Zara approached the Safety Science Group via a friend for a potential internship opportunity. With her drug design and chemistry background, as well as her computational experience, Zara’s skills were very interesting and relevant to the team, and she is now starting a paid internship to further expand the provisions that ApconiX currently supports clients with. Zara will be working closely on an internal project with our in-house safety pharmacology and neurobiology teams to help crack a complex mechanism we have been working on!
Deputy Head of Safety Science Dr Nicholas Coltman commented, “We are always looking for ways we can expand our offerings to clients and improve our in-house expertise. Zara came along at the right time to help move our group into an exciting new space for us, to further bolster our existing capabilities in advanced bioinformatics and data science”.
Interests outside of Work
Zara likes to stay active and spend time outside, hiking, cycling, running and skiing being some outdoors activities she really enjoys. Zara also likes travelling, music and cooking.
