Dr James Button

Associate Principal Scientist at AstraZeneca

Speaker

Dr James Button obtained his PhD from the University of Nottingham on ‘An investigation into the post transcriptional base modification m⁶A’ and joined AstraZeneca in 2012 in the Antibody Discovery and Protein Engineering department where he applied his protein engineering skills to develop antibody drugs for Oncology and Neuroscience targets, filling multiple patents in this area. Dr Button started working on the mRNA platform within the RNA Therapy team in 2017 and was key to the success of the mRNA efforts in the DARPA Pandemic Prevention Program (P3) project; delivering optimised mRNA transcripts encoding anti-flu antibodies providing protection in a mouse flu challenge model, for which the team received the AstraZeneca 2019 R&D award for ‘Collaboration in Action’. James was seconded to, and successfully led, a 14-person team at the Cambridge Covid-19 test centre, for which he received the AstraZeneca CEO award in 2021. Dr Button is currently leading multiple mRNA programs and collaborations to further optimise the mRNA platform with the bold ambition to bring mRNA based medicines to patients faster.