Francesca Donnellan

Whilst studying for my Biochemistry degree at Oxford, I completed my master’s project in the group making monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) against the blood-stage malaria candidate RH5. My DPhil research at the Jenner Institute was focused on making broadly-reactive antibodies that could be of therapeutic use against Ebola virus disease caused by different species of Ebolavirus. I was fortunate to also be co-supervised by Professor Alain Townsend and Dr Daniel Lightwood and to have spent time in their labs in the Weatherall Institute for Immunology, University of Oxford, and at UCB Pharma, Slough. My post-doctoral research interests include anti-viral and anti-malarial mAbs, high throughput antibody discovery, and mAb functional assay design. Alongside research I take an active role in public engagement activities (Research in Harmony (2019), Royal Society Summer Exhibition: Designer Malaria Vaccines (2018)), and am co-founder of the Jenner Institute’s book club, Phage Turners.