Dr Michael Howell

After graduating in Biochemistry at the University of Cambridge, Michael completed a PhD in the Department of Biochemistry, Cambridge in the laboratory of Richard Jackson working on Poliovirus protein synthesis before going on to complete a Post doc with Tim Hunt at the CRUK Clare Hall laboratories on cyclins and the cell cycle.
He subsequently worked with Caroline Hill at both the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research and Cancer Research UK London Research Institute working on TGF-beta signalling in disease and early embryo development.
In 2007 he set up the High Throughput Screening facility at CRUK LRI which in turn became the Crick HTS science technology platform in 2016. They specialise in large-scale arrayed cell-based assays using genetic or chemical reagents and high content microscopy.
Throughout 2020 and 2021 the facility played a role in establishing the Crick Covid Consortium PCR screening pipeline for healthcare workers and also creating a high throughput, live-virus covid neutralisation assay platform to assess the impact of vaccination regimes in clinically vulnerable cohorts.