Brief CV:
Leire Escudero-Ibarz is an Associate Director at AstraZeneca, where she leads cross-functional teams in functional genomics and drug discovery across immunology, respiratory, oncology, and cell therapy. Her industry career spans GSK, Horizon Discovery, and AstraZeneca, building expertise in advanced perturbation screening platforms integrating multiomic readouts and AI-driven analysis to translate complex biology into novel therapeutic targets across disease indications. She holds an MSc in Immune Molecular Pathology from Imperial College London and a PhD in Cancer Genetics from the University of Cambridge. An entrepreneurial leader and former co-founder, she bridges cutting-edge science with patient impact.
Novel Drug Target Discovery Across Therapeutic Areas: Scaling Functional Genomics Powered by Multi-Omics and AI
Abstract:
Discovering novel drug targets across therapeutic areas demands scalable in vitro platforms connecting human genetics to functional and mechanistic validation. Immune dysregulation underpins pathology across multiple diseases, making primary immune models broadly translational. Our platform integrates Functional Genomics with AI/ML and large-scale single and combination CRISPR screens in complex primary immune cell and co-culture models. Multi-omic readouts enable mechanism-of-action dissection across disease contexts, while high-dimensional experimentation optimises multifactorial conditions for scalable arrayed screening. Fuelled by AI from target nomination through multi-omic data interpretation, this integrated approach accelerates novel target drug discovery across indications to ultimately address patients’ unmet needs.
