Headshot of Mark O’Connor

I have headed up the DNA Damage Response (DDR) strategic biology area within AstraZeneca Oncology R&D for the last 15 years, providing scientific leadership for various aspects of research, drug discovery and the development of DDR inhibitors. During that time, I have gained experience in the full process of drug discovery and development from target identification through to clinical candidate selection, Phase 1 to Phase 3 clinical development, regulatory approval and life cycle management.

After going to Bristol University in 1983 to study Microbiology, I gained a PhD in Molecular Genetics before moving to Singapore as a postdoctoral fellow at the Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, where I worked on the transcriptional regulation of human papillomavirus oncogenes and their association with cervical cancer.

In 1999, I returned to the UK to take up a position as one of the three science team leaders at KuDOS, a spin-out biotech company based on the work of Professor Steve Jackson at Cambridge University. Here, I researched the cellular network of pathways that minimise the daily impact of DNA damage in normal tissue but represent an Achilles’ heel in cancers, where DDR dependencies can be targeted to generate new therapeutic treatments for cancer. It was at KuDOS in 2004 that I first started working on PARP inhibitors. KuDOS was acquired by AstraZeneca at the beginning of 2006, and I’m now based in the new Discovery Centre (DISC) based in Cambridge, UK.

As well as being a named inventor on multiple patents, I have a strong publication record, many of which have come through great external collaborations, and that include peer reviewed publications in Cell, Cancer Cell, Cancer Discovery, Molecular Cell, Nature Cell Biology, Journal of Clinical Oncology and the New England Journal of Medicine.


2015

Oncology iMed Innovation and Achievement Award ‘Winner of the Winners’

2010

Co-PI for an EU Framework 7 Grant on DDR worth €11m

2002

UK Department of Trade and Industry Award for ‘Novel Markers of Active DNA Repair Pathways’

CURRENT ROLE

Chief Scientist, Oncology R&D

2018

Promoted to VP Science

2016

Assumed role of Chief Scientist in Oncology R&D

2010

Joined AstraZeneca as Senior Principal Scientist

Career highlights


2022

Keynote speaker at the inaugural Genome Instability Symposium in Philadelphia

2015-2016

Keynote address at Gordon Research Conference on Mammalian DNA Repair in Ventura, 2015 AACR Special Conference on DNA Repair in Montreal, 2016

2015

Oncology IMED Innovation and Achievement Award ‘Winner of the Winners’ 2015 for leading the science in DDR-based medicine

2015

Authored Molecular Cell Review paper on Targeting the DNA Damage Response in Cancer (2015), highlighting different concepts behind targeting DDR and how this can provide significant opportunities for DDR-based therapies in the future. Now cited over 1500 times.

2009

Co-author on the New England Journal of Medicine paper describing the clinical exploitation of cancers with DNA repair defects using a PARP inhibitor

2005

Nature Front Cover from a Nature Cell Biology 2005 article on ATM inhibitors as anti-HIV agents

Featured publications


Veeva ID: Z4-70469
Date of preparation: December 2024