Sarah Langdon
Start date: September 2009
Division: Cancer Therapeutics
Supervisor: Professor Julian Blagg
Sarah began her PhD in September 2009 under the supervision of Professor Julian Blagg and Dr Nathan Brown in the Division of Cancer Therapeutics. Following her Chemistry MChem at the University of Durham, she was attracted to the chemoinformatics projects on offer at the ICR, as well as its interdisciplinary environment. Sarah was elected as Student President in January 2011 and is chair of the Student Liaison Committee.
Sarah’s research project involves designing kinase inhibitors with novel chemical structures. "I'm working on a virtual screening method that is capable of scaffold hopping," she explains. "This is a computational method that can identify compounds from a large library of compounds that have the same activity as known kinase inhibitors, but have a novel chemical scaffold." Her virtual screens have already helped to identify compounds that will be followed up and developed through a wider drug discovery project in the Division of Cancer Therapeutics.
The multidisciplinary work of the ICR has also allowed Sarah to take her work in new directions: "As I am doing a computational project I didn’t expect to spend time in the lab, but it’s been great to have the opportunity to experimentally validate my results."
"The ICR is a great place to do a PhD due to the multidisciplinary environment and the high quality research carried out here. It also has a great atmosphere and community to work in."
As Student President, Sarah has been able to have a role in shaping the experience of other students at the ICR. The role has also built on her wider skill base through the organising, chairing and delegating of tasks from meetings.
"There is a great student community at the ICR. The smaller student body gives you a chance to get to know everyone and really feel like part of the community. The student committee allows us to get involved with the running of the ICR and to organise student events. As there are a smaller number of students it also means that most students get the chance to be involved with the committee if they want to."
Following her PhD Sarah hopes to find a postdoc post in a similar area of research, and is coordinating with her supervisors to ensure that the next stages of her project will give her the experience she needs for her future career: "I have found both my supervisors very approachable and find it very easy to talk to them about any issues I am having."
