Dr Richard Unwin (PhD) - personal details

Richard obtained a BSc. in Biology, and an MSc. (distinction) in Oncology from Nottingham University before completing a PhD  in Leeds, applying proteomics to study renal cell carcinoma and developing methods for identifying tumour markers and antigens.

Subsequently, in the laboratory of Prof Tony Whetton in Manchester, he developed methods for the proteomic analysis of leukaemic and normal haematopoietic cell and stem cell (phospho)proteomes, establishing mass spectrometry for large scale relative protein quantification and phosphorylation site mapping. During this time, he also developed the MIDAS (MRM-Initiated Detection and Sequencing) workflow, initially for the sensitive detection of post-translational modifications, including phosphorylation, acetylation and proline hydroxylation. This workflow was extended to include relative and 'absolute' quantification of post-translational modification levels between samples, and is a useful precursor for the sensitive detection of any peptide, particularly in establishing MRM/SRM-type assays for biomarker validation workflows.

In addition, he has worked on bioinformatics methods to combine and compare protein and gene expression datasets. This led to several publications, including a paper as part of a collaboration with Ihor Lemischka (Mount Sinai, New York) describing molecular features of embryonic stem cell differentiation at four levels of gene regulation (chromatin structure, RNA sysnthesis, mRNA and protein levels).

In late 2010, he took up the post of Proteomics Lead in the newly established Centre for Advanced Discovery and Experimental Therapeutics (CADET), part of the NIHR Manchester Biomedical Research Centre, a joint venture between Manchester University and the Central Manchester Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. The laboratory is primarily focussed on analysis of human clinical and sub-clinical material in order to discover novel targets for therapeutic intervention, to define key pathways in disease progression, and extend these studies into the development and characterisation of novel therapeutics for common human conditions.