Mary Ludlam

Mary Ludlam is the Founder and CEO of Cairn Biosciences. Prior to starting Cairn, they were a Scientist and Group Leader in Discovery Oncology at Genentech from January 2002 to December 2012.

At Genentech, Mary led the delivery of key cell biology data and technical breakthroughs to diverse oncology research and small molecule drug discovery programs. Mary also led the incorporation of innovative cellular assays into several lead discovery campaigns for challenging protein-protein interaction and 'undruggable' targets. In addition, Mary investigated the spatiotemporal regulation of Ras, MAPK and Bcl-2 family signaling and characterized pathway inhibitors resulting in 7 publications. Finally, they developed unique assays that enabled characterization of the cellular potency and target specificity of a Bcl-2 selective inhibitor (ABT-199) now in clinical trials.

In addition to their work on oncology research and small molecule drug discovery programs, Mary also initiated and led the Advanced Microscopy group at Genentech. In this role, they pioneered high-throughput and multispectral live cell confocal microscopy; cell line engineering; automation, molecular biology and image analysis tools to visualize drug action in live cells. Mary also recruited and directed a team of 3 Ph.D. level researchers and 3 junior associates. Mary oversaw performance management, budget and resource allocation for the group.

Mary collaborated routinely with research and cross-functional partners during their time at Genentech. Mary directed tripartite industry-academia fluorescence lifetime imaging (FL

Mary Ludlam attended St Mary's Calne for high school. Mary then studied physics at Imperial College London, first completing their Master of Science degree and then their Doctor of Philosophy.

Jean Kwon - Microfluidics Scientist, Susana Abreu Ribeiro - Director, Discovery Data, and Claire Repellin - Oncology Scientist report to Mary Ludlam.