Paul Leonard

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Contact Details


Associate Professor
School of Biotechnology
Lonsdale Building
Dublin City University
Glasnevin Campus, Dublin 9.
T:Ext. 5708

E:Paul.Leonard@dcu.ie
W:https://paulleonardlab.com/
Profile Photo

Executive Summary               

v  Associate Professor in Biotherapeutics at Dublin City University (DCU) leading research in biomolecular interaction analysis, technology development (including software and hardware), single cell analysis, biologics discovery and diagnostics across multiple application areas including oncology, cardiovascular and infectious disease.

v  Innovative entrepreneur and technology inventor with 20 year’s post Ph.D. experience in academic and industrial research and senior management roles in clinical and pre-clinical stage companies. Co-founder and previous CSO/CTO of Remedy Biologics Ltd. Spun the company out of Dublin City University, raising >€15M in non-dilutive and equity-based financing. 

v  Consultant to the life sciences industry including roles as advisor to senior management, entrepreneur in residence, scientific and business strategy advisor, including business positioning and communication, IP and technical expert.

v  Previous director and head of R&D at Vaccinogen Ireland responsible for leading Vaccinogen’s overall cancer therapeutics strategy in Ireland including scientific, operational and financial. 

v  Lean Six Sigma Green Belt, experienced leading process improvements using Lean Six Sigma principles and building and managing multidisciplinary teams of research scientists in the areas of single cell analysis, cancer vaccine development, manufacturing improvements, antibody engineering, high throughput screening, therapeutic discovery and assay design.

v   Lead inventor on granted and pending patents filed in the US and Europe. Expert assessor for various Health and Life Sciences funding programmes, including for SMEs.  External Examiner (2023-2024 to 2026-2027) for Technical University Dublin’s TU866 BSc (Hons) Biomedical and Molecular Diagnostics.

Book Chapter

Year Publication
2011 Leonard, P., Hearty, S. and O'Kennedy, R. (2011) 'Measuring protein-protein interactions using surface plasmon resonance' In: Protein Chromatography: Methods and Protocols (part of the Methods in Molecular Biology book series). : Springer.
2011 Fitzgerald, J., Leonard, P., Darcy, E. and O'Kennedy, R. (2011) 'Immunoaffinity Chromatography' In: Protein Chromatography: Methods and Protocols (part of the Methods in Molecular Biology book series). : Springer.
2011 Darcy, E., Leonard, P., Fitzgerald, J. and O'Kennedy, R. (2011) 'Purification of antibodies using affinity chromatography' In: Protein Chromatography: Methods and Protocols (part of the Methods in Molecular Biology book series). : Springer.
2010 O'Kennedy, R., Finlay, W.J.J., Hearty, S., Leonard, P., Brennan, J., Stapleton, S., Townsend, S., Darmaninsheehan, A., Baxter, A. and Jones, C. (2010) 'Applications of Sensors in Food and Environmental analysis' In: Sensors for Chemical and Biological Applications. : CRC Press.
2005 O'Kennedy, R., Leonard, P., Hearty, S., Daly, S., Dillon, P., Brennan, J., Dunne , L., Darmaninsheehan, A., Stapleton, S., Tully, E., Quinn, J. and Chakraborty, T. (2005) 'Advances in biosensors for detection of pathogens in food and water' In: Rapid Methods for Biological and Chemical Contaminants in Food and Feed. The Netherlands : Wageningen Academic Publishers.

Peer Reviewed Journal

Year Publication
2016 Darcy, E; Leonard, P; Fitzgerald, J; Danaher, M; Ma, H; O'Kennedy, R (2016) 'Purification of Antibodies Using Affinity Chromatography'. Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.), 1485 . [DOI]
2016 Leonard, P; Hearty, S; Ma, H; O'Kennedy, R (2016) 'Measuring Protein-Protein Interactions Using Biacore'. Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.), 1485 . [DOI]
2016 Fitzgerald, J; Leonard, P; Darcy, E; Sharma, S; O'Kennedy, R (2016) 'Immunoaffinity Chromatography: Concepts and Applications'. Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.), 1485 . [DOI]
2015 Fitzgerald, V.; Manning, B.; O'Donnell, B.; O'Reilly, B.; O'Sullivan, D.; O'Kennedy, R.; Leonard, P. (2015) 'Exploiting highly ordered subnanoliter volume microcapillaries as microtools for the analysis of antibody producing cells'. Analytical Chemistry, 87 . [Link] [DOI]
2015 Larragy, R; Fitzgerald, J; Prisecaru, A; McKee, V; Leonard, P; Kellett, A (2015) 'Protein engineering with artificial chemical nucleases'. Chemical communications (Cambridge, England), 51 (65). [DOI]
2014 Fitzgerald, J; Leonard, P; Danaher, M; O'Kennedy, R (2014) 'Rapid Simultaneous Detection of Anti-protozoan Drugs Using a Lateral-Flow Immunoassay Format'. Applied Biochemistry and Biotechnology, 176 (2). [DOI]
2012 Hayes, C.J., Leonard, P., and O'Kennedy, R. (2012) 'Overcoming antibody expression limitations by smart design'. Protein Expression and Purification, 83 :84-91.
2011 Fitzgerald, J., Leonard, P., Darcy, E., Danaher, M. and O'Kennedy, R. (2011) 'Light chain shuffling from phage pool allows 185-fold improvement of an anti-Halofuginone scFv'. Analytical Biochemistry, 410 :27-33.
2011 Fodey, T., Leonard, P., O'Mahony, J., O'Kennedy, R. and Danaher, M. (2011) 'Developments in the production of biological and synthetic binders for immunoassay and sensor based detection of small molecules'. 30 :254-265.
2011 Welbeck, K., Leonard, P., Gilmartin, N., Viguier, C., Arora, S. and O'Kennedy, R. (2011) 'Development of a surface plasmon resonance-based immunoassay for detection of N-acetyl-B-D-glucosaminidase in milk'. Journal of Immunological Methods, 364 :14-20.
2011 Skottrup, P., Leonard, P., Kaczmarek, J.Z., Veillard, F., Enghild, J., O’Kennedy, R., Sroka, A., Clausen, R.P., Potempa, J. and Riise, E. (2011) 'Diagnostic evaluation of a nanobody with picomolar affinity towards the cysteine protease RgpB from Porphyromonas gingivalis'. Analytical Biochemistry, 415 :158-167.
2011 Leonard, P., Hayes, C.J. and O'Kennedy, R. (2011) 'Rapid selection of temperature stable Fab fragments using Biacore A100'. Analytical Biochemistry, 409 :290-292.
2010 Hearty, S., Leonard, P. and O'Kennedy, R. (2010) 'Barcodes check out prostate cancer. Nature Nanotechnology'. 5 :9-10.
2010 Guo, W.L., Leonard, P. and O'Kennedy, R. (2010) 'Simple ‘on plate' growth for improved antibody screening'. Journal of Immunological Methods, 359 :61-64.
2010 O'Kennedy, R., Townsend, S., Donohoe, G.G., Leonard, P., Hearty, S. and Byrne, B. (2010) 'Speedy, Small, Sensitive and Specific - reality or myth for future analytical methods'. Analytical Letters, 33 :1630-1648.
2009 Conroy, P., Hearty, S., Leonard, P. and O'Kennedy, R. (2009) 'Antibody production, design and use for biosensor-based applications. Seminars in Cell and Developmental Biology'. 20 :10-26.
2009 McDonnell, B., Hearty, S., Leonard, P. and O'Kennedy, R (2009) 'Cardiac biomarkers and the case for point-of-care testing. Clinical Biochemistry'. 42 :549-561.
2008 Reeves, E.P., Ali, T., Leonard, P., Hearty, S., O'Kennedy, R., May, F.E.B., Westley, B.R., Josenhans, C., Rust, M., Suerbaum, S., Smith, A., Drumm, B. and Clyne, M. (2008) 'Helicobacter pylori Lipopolysaccharide Interacts With TFF1 in a pH-Dependent Manner'. Gastroenterology, 135 :2043-2054.e2.
2007 Leonard, P., Säfsten, P., Hearty, S., McDonnell, B., Finlay, W. and O'Kennedy, R. (2007) 'High throughput ranking of recombinant avian scFv antibody fragments from crude lysates using the Biacore A100'. Journal of Immunological Methods, 323 :172-179.
2007 Skottrup, P., Hearty, S., Frøkiær, H., Leonard, P., Hejgaard, J., O'Kennedy, R., Nicolaisen, M. and Justesen, A.F. (2007) 'Detection of fungal spores using a generic surface plasmon resonance immunoassay'. BIOSENSORS & BIOELECTRONICS, 22 :2724-2729.
2007 Healy, D., Hayes, C., Leonard, P., Dillon, M. and O'Kennedy, R. (2007) 'Biosensor developments: application to prostate-specific antigen detection'. TRENDS IN BIOTECHNOLOGY (TIBTECH), 25 :125-131.
2006 Hearty, S., Leonard, P. Quinn, J. and O'Kennedy, R. (2006) 'Production, characterisation and potential application of a novel monoclonal antibody for detection of virulent Listeria monocytogenes'. Journal of Microbiological Methods, 66 :294-312.
2006 Tully, E., Hearty, S., Leonard, P. and O'Kennedy, R. (2006) 'The development of rapid fluorescence-based immunoassays, using quantum dot-labelled antibodies for the detection of Listeria monocytogenes cell surface proteins. International Journal of Biological Macromolecules'. 39 :127-134.
2005 Leonard, P., Hearty, S., Quinn, J. and O'Kennedy, R. (2005) 'Sensitive detection of Listeria monocytogenes using fully engineered recombinant scFv antibody fragments. 92nd Annual Meeting of the International Association for Food Protection Book of Abstracts'. .
2005 Leonard, P., Hearty, S., Quinn, J. and O'Kennedy, R. (2005) 'Development of a surface plasmon resonance-based immunoassay for the direct detection of Listeria monocytogenes'. Journal of Food Protection, 68 :728-735.
2005 O'Kennedy, R., Carolan, N., Hearty, S., Leonard, P., Finlay, W., Dillon, P. and Daly, S. (2005) 'Applications and future developments of sensors in relation to postharvest analysis of fruits, vegetables and other crops. Stewart Postharvest Review, Issue 3 online October 2005 [www.stewartpostharvest.com/October_2005/OKennedy.htm]'. .
2005 Dillon, P.P., Killard, A.J., Daly, S.J., Leonard, P. and O'Kennedy, R. (2005) 'Novel Assay Format Allowing the Prolonged use of Regeneration-Based Sensor Chip Technology'. Journal of Immunological Methods, 296 :77-82.
2004 Leonard, P., Hearty, S., Quinn, J. and O'Kennedy, R. (2004) 'A generic approach for the detection of whole Listeria monocytogenes cells in contaminated samples using surface plasmon resonance'. BIOSENSORS & BIOELECTRONICS, 19 :1331-1334.
2004 O'Kennedy, R., Leonard, P., Hearty, S., Brennan, J., Fanning, L., Dillon, M. and Porter, A. (2004) 'Exploiting monoclonal and recombinant antibodies for the development of surface plasmon resonance-based biosensor arrays for bacteria, drugs and tumour markers. Human Antibodies'. 13 .
2004 Paul P. Dillon , Anthony J. Killard , Stephen J. Daly , Paul Leonard , Richard O'Kennedy (2004) 'Novel assay format permitting the prolonged usenext term of regeneration-based sensor chip technology'. Journal of Immunological Methods, 296 :77-82.
2003 Leonard, P., Hearty, S., Brennan, J., Dunne, L., Quinn, J., Chakraborty, T., and O'Kennedy, R. (2003) 'Advances in biosensors for the detection of pathogens in food and water'. 32 :3-13.
2001 Leonard, P., Hearty, S., Quinn, J.G., and O'Kennedy, R. (2001) 'A pathogenic life cycle of Listeria monocytogenes. INCO COPERINICUS News'. 3 :1-2.
2000 Fitzpatrick, J., Fanning, L., Hearty, S., Leonard, P., Manning, B.M., Quinn, J.G., and O'Kennedy, R. (2000) 'Applications and recent developments in the use of antibodies for analysis. Analytical Letters, 33(13):2563-2609'. Analytical Letters, 33 :2563-2609.
1999 Leonard, P., Estrada Rendon, C.M., Amara, G., Roussy, J., Tobin, J. and Degorce-Dumas, J.R. (1999) 'Natural attenuation study of the impact of acid mine drainage (AMD) in the site of Carnoulés. Process Metallurgy'. 9 :587-594.
1999 Estrada Rendon, C.M., Amara, G., Leonard, P., Tobin, J., Roussy, J. and Degorce-Dumas, JR. (1999) 'Acid Mine Drainage (AMD) treatment by sulphate reducing bacteria. Process Metallurgy, 9(2):577-585'. Process Biochemistry, 9 :577-585.
Certain data included herein are derived from the © Web of Science (2024) of Clarivate. All rights reserved.

Research Interests

Research interests include:

(i) Single-cell analysis for biological discovery

(ii) Technologies for improved antibody and cell therapy discovery

(iii) High throughput biomolecular interaction technologies and studies

(iv) Immunoassay development and validation for biomedical and environmental analysis

Research Projects

Title Role Description Start date End date
Biotherapeutics for Inflammatory Skin Diseases Co-PI 01/02/2024 31/12/2027
AquaBioSens Co-PI 01/01/2024 31/12/2026
Patient-guided immunological studies for the development of colon cancer therapies Co applicant and industry supervisor 01/10/2018 30/09/2022
Monoclonal Cell Array Technology DCU PI 30/09/2019 29/09/2021
Antibody-based testing hub for serological assay validation DCU PI 01/09/2020 31/12/2020
IMI Stakeholder Forum 2019 DCU PI 11/06/2019 31/07/2019
BBISolutions_DiCast Platform DCU PI 16/06/2014 15/09/2014
Protein engineering using novel artificial metallonucleases. TIDA 2013. DCU PI 01/01/2014 31/12/2014
Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) Drug Monitoring at Point of Need DCU PI 01/06/2013 12/07/2013
Innovamab - Innovation in monoclonal antibody discovery DCU PI 01/10/2012 31/07/2013
Direct Clone Analysis and Selection Technology DCU PI 14/03/2012 11/04/2012
TIDA Training for PAul Leonard DiCAST - leading the way in drug discovery DCU PI 01/06/2012 30/11/2012
BDI PP2 - DiCAST PI 01/10/2010 31/03/2012