Mark Searcey
Group Leader

Mark is currently the Pro-Vice Chancellor for Science at UEA. His research interests include the development of novel therapeutics that target DNA and inhibit protein-protein interactions.

Zoë Goddard
Lecturer

Zoë joined the group in 2016 to complete her PhD. She has since undertaken a post-doc and now co-manages the research lab. Her research focuses on the synthesis of duocarmycin analogues, and their targeting to cancers using peptides and nanoparticles. Her PhD involved the synthesis of targeted gold nanoparticles for photodynamic therapy.

Marco Cominetti
Independent Research Fellow

Marco joined the group in 2015 and co-manages the research group. His research includes the investigation of new approaches for the synthesis of duocarmycin and amino-duocarmycin derivatives. He is interested in developing small molecule inhibitors targeting P2X4, involved in chronic pain, and peptide probes for chemokine receptor CXCR4. He also worked on targeting the p53-MDM2/X interaction.

Bethany Hood
Senior Research Associate

Bethany joined the group in 2022. She works on distamycin-duocarmycin hybrids for targeted cancer therapeutics.

Lily Cassidy
PhD Student

Lily completed her BSc project in the group before starting her PhD in 2020. She investigates DNA cross-linking and duocarmycin analogues.

Ellie Ivens
PhD Student

Ellie joined the group in 2021 and designs peptides and small molecules that bind to the Holliday junction, a secondary structure of DNA.

Vicky Kamperi
PhD Student

Vicky completed her MSc in the Searcey group researching peptide nucleic acids, before starting her PhD in 2022 investigating DNA modifications to stabilise G-quadruplexes.