Scientific Advisory Board

Ian Churcher, D.Phil.

Ian Churcher, D.Phil., is an industry pioneer in the therapeutic application of targeted protein degradation (TPD) approaches. When leading the GSK Protein Degradation Discovery Performance Unit from 2012, Ian collaborated with Arvinas scientific founder Prof Craig Crews of Yale and Prof Alessio Ciulli, laying out many of the foundational insights in the design of in vivo-active VHL-based PROTACs. Subsequently, Ian was CSO at TPD biotech Amphista, where his team developed a novel approach to degradation using mechanisms not reliant on usual E3 ligases. More recently, Ian advises a range of groups in the TPD and drug discovery fields as a consultant through his company Janus Drug Discovery Consulting. With a background in medicinal chemistry, Ian previously led teams working across multiple therapy areas in all aspects of preclinical project progression when at Merck and GSK as well as when applying machine learning methods to drug discovery as SVP Drug Discovery at Benevolent.ai. Dr. Churcher trained at the University of Oxford where he also has held a visiting professor position.