More about Helen
Helen has many years of experience in both the production of pure protein and protein crystallisation for structural studies to support structure-based drug design across a range of clinical targets. She has experience of successful fragment-based-screening by protein crystallography.
Helen worked for AstraZeneca in their Protein Science and Structural Biology groups for 15 years. This was followed by a short spell of 1½ years at the University of Manchester, in research involving tissue culture and microbiology, before joining Peak Proteins.
(Maiden name McMiken)
Heparan sulfates are critical regulators of the inhibitory megakaryocyte-platelet receptor G6b-B
Elife. 2019 8. pii: e46840
Vögtle T, Sharma S, Mori J, Nagy Z, Semeniak D, Scandola C, Geer MJ, Smith CW, Lane J, Pollack S, Lassila R, Jouppila A, Barr AJ, Ogg DJ, Howard TD, McMiken HJ, Warwicker J, Geh C, Rowlinson R, Abbott WM, Eckly A, Schulze H, Wright GJ, Mazharian A, Fütterer K, Rajesh S, Douglas MR, Senis YA.
Tetrahydroisoquinoline Phenols: Selective Estrogen Receptor Downregulator Antagonists with Oral Bioavailability in Rat
ACS Medicinal Chemistry Letters, 2015, 7, 94-99
James S. Scott, Andrew Bailey, Robert D. M. Davies, Sébastien L. Degorce, Philip A. MacFaul, Helen Gingell, Thomas Moss, Richard A. Norman, Jennifer H. Pink, Alfred A. Rabow, Bryan Roberts, and Peter D. Smith
Optimization of a Novel Binding Motif to (E)-3-(3,5-Difluoro-4-((1R,3R)-2-(2-fluoro-2-methylpropyl)-3-methyl-2,3,4,9-tetrahydro-1H-pyrido[3,4-b]indol-1-yl)phenyl)acrylic Acid (AZD9496), a Potent and Orally Bioavailable Selective Estrogen Receptor Downregulator and Antagonist.
J Med Chem., 2015, 58(20), 8128-8140
De Savi C, Bradbury RH, Rabow AA, Norman RA, de Almeida C, Andrews DM, Ballard P, Buttar D, Callis RJ, Currie GS, Curwen JO, Davies CD, Donald CS, Feron LJ, Gingell H, Glossop SC, Hayter BR, Hussain S, Karoutchi G, Lamont SG, MacFaul P, Moss TA, Pearson SE, Tonge M, Walker GE, Weir HM, Wilson Z
Structure Guided Lead Generation for M. tuberculosis Thymidylate Kinase (Mtb TMK): Discovery of 3-Cyanopyridone and 1,6-Naphthyridin-2-one as Potent Inhibitors
J Med Chem 2015, 58 (2), 753–766
Naik M, Raichurkar A, Bandodkar BS, Varun BV, Bhat S, Kalkhambkar R, Murugan K, Menon R, Bhat J, Paul B, Iyer H, Hussein S, Tucker JA, Vogtherr M, Embrey KJ, McMiken H, Prasad S, Gill A, Ugarkar BG, Venkatraman J, Read J, Panda M.
Optimization of pyrrolamides as mycobacterial GyrB ATPase inhibitors: structure-activity relationship and in vivo efficacy in a mouse model of tuberculosis
Antimicrob. Agents Chemother, 2014, 58(1), 61-70
Hameed, S.P., Solapure S, Mukherjee K, Nandi V, Waterson D, Shandil R, Balganesh M, Sambandamurthy VK, Raichurkar AK, Deshpande A, Ghosh A, Awasthy D, Shanbhag G, Sheikh G, McMiken H, Puttur J, Reddy J, Werngren J, Read J, Kumar M, R M, Chinnapattu M, Madhavapeddi P, Manjrekar P, Basu R, Gaonkar S, Sharma S, Hoffner S, Humnabadkar V, Subbulakshmi V, Panduga V.
Pyridomycin bridges the NADH- and substrate-binding pockets of the enoyl reductase InhA
Nature Chemical Biology, 2014, 10, 96–98
Hartkoorn RC, Pojer F, Read JA, Gingell H, Neres J, Horlacher OP, Altmann KH, Cole ST
Methyl-Thiazoles: A Novel Mode of Inhibition with the Potential to Develop Novel Inhibitors Targeting InhA in Mycobacterium tuberculosis
J Med Chem, 2013, 56 (21), 8533–8542
Shirude PS, Madhavapeddi P, Naik M, Murugan K, Shinde V, Nandishaiah R, Bhat J, Kumar A, Hameed S, Holdgate G, Davies G, McMiken H, Hegde N, Ambady A, Venkatraman J, Panda M, Bandodkar B, Sambandamurthy VK, Read JA.
Employee Spotlight
I crystallise proteins: setting up thousands of tiny drops, hoping that at least one will be the perfect condition for crystallisation. Then carefully and gently harvesting and cryoprotecting the delicate microscopic crystals before zapping them with a 12keV Xray beam to collect a diffraction pattern and hence solve the 3D structure of that protein. (I occasionally purify some proteins too.)
I worked for AstraZeneca in the protein structure group for many years, then in Medical Device Biology Group at the University of Manchester for a couple of years.
Marie Curie for her determination to pursue science, her discovery of several radioactive elements and investigating their use to treat cancer. Also her practical development of mobile Xray units for use in World War 1.
I had worked with the founding partners previously and knew that Peak Proteins would be a business built on quality and integrity.
Discovering a beautiful crystal of a protein that has no previously published structure.
Walk in the countryside.
Little black plastic bags littering the countryside – Why???
My Mum’s lasagne.
Become an all-mighty benevolent dictator with the power to do anything – it’s like wishing for infinite wishes of course!
Chatting to old friends, furry animals, being in nature.
I’m not always quiet…
