ProfTracy Robson

Professor Tracy Robson's major research focus has been the development of novel approaches for sensitizing tumours to therapy using personalised medicine approaches. She led a major programme of research aimed at the identification and functional characterisation of genes that alter tumour response to anti-cancer agents. In particular, she cloned and characterized a novel human gene, FKBPL. Her group has demonstrated an extracellular role for FKBPL as a naturally secreted, anti-angiogenic protein.

Together with Almac, she led the development of therapeutic peptide derivatives (AD-01 and ALM201) based on FKBPL’s active anti-angiogenic domain. Based on the robust efficacy and excellent safety profile, ALM201, a ‘first-in-class’ FKBPL-based anti-angiogenic therapeutic peptide has completed formulation and toxicology testing and has entered phase I/II cancer clinical trials (EudraCT number: 2014-001175-31).More recently, ALM201 was granted Orphan Drug Designation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the treatment of ovarian cancer.

Through further investigative research and the development of genetically modified mouse models, Professor Robson also demonstrated a role for FKBPL in protection against a range of other diseases associated with vascular regulation obesity and inflammation. She is actively researching in these areas, so that the clear translational potential of FKBPL-based therapeutics can be fully harnessed and FKBPL’s diagnostic potential in these disease settings can be scrutinized.