Paul Clarke

Paul Clarke is a Group Leader working in the Cancer Research UK Cancer Therapeutics Unit at The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR), London. Prior to joining ICR, Paul trained as a molecular biologist exploring the regulation of protein synthesis in cells transformed by DNA tumour viruses, initially at University of London and then as a Human Frontiers Science Program Fellow at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratories in New York. Since joining the ICR, Paul has focused on molecular pharmacology of novel inhibitors of signal transduction in cancer, with a particular focus on the discovery and development of HSP90 and PI3 kinase inhibitors. As a member of a multidisciplinary team Paul led the molecular pharmacology and mechanism of action studies that contributed to the development of HSP90 (luminespib; AUY922) and PI3K (pictilisib; GDC-0941) inhibitors that progressed to clinical trials worldwide. More recently Paul led the biology for a collaborative ICR/Merck KGaA WNT pathway project team that discovered potent and selective inhibitors of the mediator complex associated protein kinases, CDK8/19, using phenotypic screening and chemo-proteomics. Paul currently leads drug discovery projects developing selective inhibitors of transcription and mRNA splicing.