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Ashfeen Khokar

PhD Researcher

Biography

Ashfeen Khokhar is a PhD Researcher in the Department of Chemistry, King’s College London, working under the direct supervision of Professor Martin Ulmschneider. She graduated from Queen Mary University of London with a first-class BSc in Biochemistry (2024), which included a Year in Industry. During her placement year, she worked as a Clinical Trial Assistant at the Institute of Cancer Research, where she developed a strong interest in drug discovery. Shortly after, she was awarded a PhD studentship/scholarship by King’s College London and Kvantify to further pursue her interest in the development of new therapeutics.

Research Interests

  • Rational drug design
  • Cell culture
  • Drug delivery 

Thesis

Developing a new drug simulation-guided development pipeline

Ashfeen’s interdisciplinary doctoral research project aims to establish a new drug development pipeline. The key goal is to provide proof-of-concept for systematic rational simulation-guided design of novel drug candidates with computationally optimised pharmacological properties and physiological delivery signatures using Kvantify’s proprietary tools. In particular, Ashfeen will be guided by her team of supervisors to develop, apply, and validate computational tools using experimental assays to aid in the design and optimization of drug candidates with a particular focus on central nervous system diseases such as dementia. 

Supervisors

  • Primary: Professor Martin Ulmschneider
  • Secondary: Dr Andre Cobb