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A/Prof Kym Lowes

Head, Screening Lab & Joint Head, NDDC (Screening)
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About

Associate Professor Kym Lowes received her PhD in Biochemistry and Medicine from the University of Western Australia in 2002. She has over 17 years of experience in early-stage drug discovery. In her current role as Head of the Screening Laboratory, she leads a multidisciplinary team of 18 staff comprising assay development specialists, target screeners, data scientists, automation experts and engineers. Her laboratory exploits state-of-the-art robotic equipment to enhance the scope and speed of the pre-clinical drug discovery process.

Dr Lowes has a successful track record leading screening campaigns with internal and external collaborators from both academia and pharma. She has designed, implemented and led many large-scale screening campaigns and effectively executed hit to lead and lead optimisation programs. She is experienced in using automation, complex data sets and various assay detection methodologies to support drug discovery projects.

She has been a key contributor to multidisciplinary teams across a wide range of indications including oncology, infectious diseases and inflammatory diseases, and various target classes including enzymes, protein-protein interactions and GPCRs.

Publications

Selected publications from A/Prof Kym Lowes

Wu X, Go M, Nguyen JV, Kuchel NW, Lu BGC, Zeglinski K, Lowes KN, Calleja DJ, Mitchell JP, Lessene G, Komander D, Call ME, Call MJ. Mutational profiling of SARS-CoV-2 papain-like protease reveals requirements for function, structure, and drug escape. Nature Communications. 2024;15(1):10.1038/s41467-024-50566-9

In E-J, Tan T, Mouradov D, Sakthianandeswaren A, Au A, Lowes K, Sieber O. Abstract C043: Discovery of new drug combinations for metastatic colorectal cancer. Molecular Cancer Therapeutics. 2023;22(12_Supplement):10.1158/1535-7163.targ-23-c043

Pierotti CL, Jacobsen AV, Grohmann C, Dempsey RK, Etemadi N, Hildebrand JM, Fitzgibbon C, Young SN, Davies KA, Kersten WJA, Silke J, Lowes KN, Sabroux HJ, Huang DCS, van Delft MF, Murphy JM, Lessene G. The VEGFR/PDGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor, ABT-869, blocks necroptosis by targeting RIPK1 kinase. Biochemical Journal. 2023;480(9):10.1042/bcj20230035

Ashton TD, Dans MG, Favuzza P, Ngo A, Lehane AM, Zhang X, Qiu D, Maity BC, De N, Schindler KA, Yeo T, Park H, Uhlemann A-C, Churchyard A, Baum J, Fidock DA, Jarman KE, Lowes KN, Baud D, Brand S, Jackson PF, Cowman AF, Sleebs BE. Optimization of 2,3-Dihydroquinazolinone-3-carboxamides as Antimalarials Targeting PfATP4. Journal of Medicinal Chemistry. 2023;66(5):10.1021/acs.jmedchem.2c02092

Calic PPS, Vinh NB, Webb CT, Malcolm TR, Ngo A, Lowes K, Drinkwater N, McGowan S, Scammells PJ. Structure-based development of potent Plasmodium falciparum M1 and M17 aminopeptidase selective and dual inhibitors via S1′-region optimisation. European Journal of Medicinal Chemistry. 2023;248:10.1016/j.ejmech.2022.115051

de Lera Ruiz M, Favuzza P, Guo Z, Zhao L, Hu B, Lei Z, Zhan D, Murgolo N, Boyce CW, Vavrek M, Thompson J, Ngo A, Jarman KE, Robbins J, Boddey J, Sleebs BE, Lowes KN, Cowman AF, Olsen DB, McCauley JA. The Invention of WM382, a Highly Potent PMIX/X Dual Inhibitor toward the Treatment of Malaria. ACS Medicinal Chemistry Letters. 2022;13(11):10.1021/acsmedchemlett.2c00355

Hodder AN, Christensen J, Scally S, Triglia T, Ngo A, Birkinshaw RW, Bailey B, Favuzza P, Dietrich MH, Tham W-H, Czabotar PE, Lowes K, Guo Z, Murgolo N, Lera Ruiz MD, McCauley JA, Sleebs BE, Olsen D, Cowman AF. Basis for drug selectivity of plasmepsin IX and X inhibition in Plasmodium falciparum and vivax. Structure. 2022;30(7):10.1016/j.str.2022.03.018

Jacobsen AV, Pierotti CL, Lowes KN, Au AE, Zhang Y, Etemadi N, Fitzgibbon C, Kersten WJA, Samson AL, van Delft MF, Huang DCS, Sabroux HJ, Lessene G, Silke J, Murphy JM. The Lck inhibitor, AMG-47a, blocks necroptosis and implicates RIPK1 in signalling downstream of MLKL. Cell Death & Disease. 2022;13(4):10.1038/s41419-022-04740-w

Calleja DJ, Kuchel N, Lu BGC, Birkinshaw RW, Klemm T, Doerflinger M, Cooney JP, Mackiewicz L, Au AE, Yap YQ, Blackmore TR, Katneni K, Crighton E, Newman J, Jarman KE, Call MJ, Lechtenberg BC, Czabotar PE, Pellegrini M, Charman SA, Lowes KN, Mitchell JP, Nachbur U, Lessene G, Komander D. Insights Into Drug Repurposing, as Well as Specificity and Compound Properties of Piperidine-Based SARS-CoV-2 PLpro Inhibitors. Frontiers in Chemistry. 2022;10:10.3389/fchem.2022.861209

Healer J, Thompson JK, Mackwell KL, Browne CD, Seager BA, Ngo A, Lowes KN, Silk SE, Pulido D, King LDW, Christen JM, Noe AR, Kotraiah V, Masendycz PJ, Rajagopalan R, Lucas L, Stanford MM, Soisson L, Diggs C, Miller R, Youll S, Wycherley K, Draper SJ, Cowman AF. RH5.1-CyRPA-Ripr antigen combination vaccine shows little improvement over RH5.1 in a preclinical setting. Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology. 2022;12:10.3389/fcimb.2022.1049065

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