David Keeling

Biography

I am a Project Leader at Respiratory, Inflammation and Autoimmunity iMed, Gothenburg. I lead multi-disciplinary asthma research and development projects in pre-clinical and clinical phase. Two of these projects are international collaborations with pharmaceutical/biotech partners. From 2011 to 2013, I was Business Operations Director of RIA IMED and responsible for the smooth-running of the unit, comprising approximately 200 staff. In particular, this included orchestrating IMED governance through the RIA Research Board ensuring timely, high quality decision-making in support of project progression. Previously, I was Senior Project Manager at Respiratory and Inflammation Research Area (RIRA) AstraZeneca R&D, Charnwood, UK, from 2009 to 2011. During this time I was Chairperson/deputy of the Local Project Forum, bringing line managers, project leaders and senior scientists together to manage and support drug discovery projects. I was also member of the Research Area Portfolio Team (RAPT) responsible for implementing strategy and managing the size and shape of the RIRA discovery project portfolio. In 2014, I was made Director of Lead Generation Biology, a post I held for five years following my previous position as Associate Director. I line managed the Lead Generation Biology section of approximately 30 staff, and was jointly responsible for the delivery of lead series. From 1990 to 2001, I was a pre-clinical project leader within the Gastrointestinal, Cardiovascular Research Area at AstraZeneca, Mölndal, Sweden where I was responsible for establishing drug discovery projects in the novel area of osteoporosis and bone biology. A key area of focus was the osteoclast acid pump. I started my career within the pharmaceutical industry in the UK at SmithKline & French where I was involved as a biochemist in the drug discovery project leading to the gastric acid inhibitor, pantoprazole.

Research Interest

BIOCHEMISTRY