Monika Papworth, PhD

Principal Scientist, Biologics Engineering at AstraZeneca R&D

Dr Monika Papworth is a Principal Scientist at the Department of Biologics Engineering at AstraZeneca Cambridge and an expert in engineering of peptide and antibody-based therapeutics.

After obtaining her master’s degree in Biology from the University of Warsaw in Poland in 1991, she gained a Fellowship to study at the Paterson Institute for Cancer Research in Manchester, UK. Her research into glycoproteins of EBV resulted in her being awarded a doctorate by the University of Manchester. In 1995 she took up a post-doctoral position in the Herpes Virus Lab at the Marie Curie Research Institute in Oxted UK, specializing in molecular biology, gene regulation and protein engineering. Later she moved to work with Professor Sir Aaron Klug OM FRS at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge UK, where she worked for 8 years on phage display, DNA-binding zinc-fingers and their use in the therapy of viral and mitochondrial diseases. Since joining AstraZeneca in 2006, Dr. Papworth has worked on various early stage drug discovery programs mainly in the Cardio Vascular, Renal and Metabolic Disease therapy area, leading protein engineering activities and managing projects from target validation to IND. In addition, she is an author of numerous peer-reviewed scientific publications and patents.