Mills Group

UCL Biological Mass Spectrometry Group

Professor Kevin Mills is the Head of the Translational and Clinical Omics Group at University College London based at the Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health. Our aim is to bring together state-of-the-art technology to find new drug targets, disease mechanisms, identify new biomarkers and develop new and more precise tests for the NHS. Our research group is composed of approximately 20 full time researchers and includes both clinical research fellows and basic scientists working side-by-side. We are unique in that we can use our omic capability to help understand disease mechanisms and identify drug targets, but also have the ability to translate any biomarker into a test to NHS or Industry accredited standards. We specialise in creating high throughput, multiplexed and bespoke panels of biomarkers for the diagnosis and monitoring of treatment of patients with complex diseases.

Our lab played a significant role in Pandemic ‘Operation Moonshot’ and the development and implementation of Covid 19 tests. We also recently created the first blood test for Parkinson’s disease (PD) that is capable of predicting PD up to 7 years before symptoms.

Our research lab also has a UCL spin out diagnostic and contract research arm where we provide specialist and bespoke tests for the NHS and Industry - the Guilford Street Laboratories.

Kevin Mills Lab

Selected Publications

  • Plasma proteomics identify biomarkers predicting Parkinson's disease up to 7 years before symptom onset. Hällqvist J, Bartl M, Dakna M, Schade S, Garagnani P, Bacalini MG, Pirazzini C, Bhatia K, Schreglmann S, Xylaki M, Weber S, Ernst M, Muntean ML, Sixel-Döring F, Franceschi C, Doykov I, Śpiewak J, Vinette H, Trenkwalder C, Heywood WE, Mills K, Mollenhauer B. Nat Commun. 2024 Jun 18;15(1):4759. doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-48961-3.
  • A Multiplexed Urinary Biomarker Panel Has Potential for Alzheimer's Disease Diagnosis Using Targeted Proteomics and Machine Learning. Hällqvist J, Pinto RC, Heywood WE, Cordey J, Foulkes AJM, Slattery CF, Leckey CA, Murphy EC, Zetterberg H, Schott JM, Mills K, Paterson RW. Int J Mol Sci. 2023 Sep 6;24(18):13758. doi: 10.3390/ijms241813758.
  • Immune boosting by B.1.1.529 (Omicron) depends on previous SARS-CoV-2 exposure. Science. 2022 Jul 15;377(6603):eabq1841. doi: 10.1126/science.abq1841. Epub 2022 Jul 15.
  • Plasma proteomic signature predicts who will get persistent symptoms following SARS-CoV-2 infection. Captur G, Moon JC, Topriceanu CC, Joy G, Swadling L, Hallqvist J, Doykov I, Patel N, Spiewak J, Baldwin T, Hamblin M, Menacho K, Fontana M, Treibel TA, Manisty C, O'Brien B, Gibbons JM, Pade C, Brooks T, Altmann DM, Boyton RJ, McKnight Á, Maini MK, Noursadeghi M, Mills K, Heywood WE; UK COVIDsortium Investigators.  EBioMedicine. 2022 Nov;85:104293. doi: 10.1016/j.ebiom.2022.104293. Epub 2022 Sep 28. PMID: 36182629
  • Doykov, I. D., Heywood, W. E., Nikolaenko, V., Śpiewak, J., Hällqvist, J., Clayton, P. T., . . . Mills, K. (2019). Rapid, proteomic urine assay for monitoring progressive organ disease in Fabry disease. Journal of Medical Genetics. J Med Genet. 2020 Jan;57(1):38-47. doi: 10.1136/jmedgenet-2019-106030. Epub 2019 Sep 13.
  • Captur, G., Heywood, W. E., Coats, C., Rosmini, S., Patel, V., Lopes, L. R., . . . Mills, K. (2019). Identification of a Multiplex Biomarker Panel for Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy using Quantitative Proteomics and Machine Learning. Molecular & Cellular Proteomics. Mol Cell Proteomics 2020 Jan;19(1):114-127. doi:10.1074/mcp.RA119.001586
  • Heywood, W. E., Galimberti, D., Bliss, E., Sirka, E., Paterson, R. W., Magdalinou, N. K., . . . Mills, K. (2016). Identification of novel CSF biomarkers for neurodegeneration and their validation by a high-throughput multiplexed targeted proteomic assay (vol 10, 64, 2015). Molecular Neurodegeneration, 11, 1 page. doi:10.1186/s13024-016-0086-3
  • The Development of a Peptide MRM-based Tandem Mass Spectrometry Assay for Prenatal Screening of Down syndrome.    Wendy Heywood, Darrell Wang, Tracey E. Madgett, Neil D. Avent, Simon Eaton, Lyn S Chitty and Kevin Mills. 2012 Jun 18;75(11):3248-57
  • Mills, K., Mills, P., Jackson, M., Worthington, V., Beesley, C., Mann, A., . . . Winchester, B. (2006). Diagnosis of congenital disorders of glycosylation type-I using protein chip technology. Proteomics, 6(7), 2295-2304. doi:10.1002/pmic.200500682
  • McGaughran, J., Donnai, D., Clayton, P. T., & Mills, K. (1994). Diagnosis of Smith Lemli Opitz syndrome.. N Engl J Med., 330(23), 1685-1686.
  • Clayton, P. T., Mills, K., Keeling, J., & FitzPatrick, D. (1996). Desmosterolosis- a new inborn error of cholesterol synthesis. Lancet, 348(Aug 10), 404.

Selected Grants

  • UCL Translator Accelerator Award: Drug development for the treatment of manganese overload to alleviate neurological disability - £79,950
  • UCL Translator Accelerator Award: Development of a specialised, high throughput Targeted Anti-Drug Antibody Immuno Multiplex Assay (TA-DA ImmunoMA) for measuring anti-drug antibodies - £72,977
  • MRC-NIHR rare disease research platform – Nodes: metabolic and lipidomic node - £297,647.00
  • nanoUPLC Ion Cyclic QTOF Mass Spectrometer, CEF - £498,000
  • UKRI AI enabled precision diagnostics for heart muscle diseases with hypertrophy - £199,090
  • NIHR BRC – project extension - £113,977
  • Novel Immunoassay for SARS-CoV-2, CVD and Neurological Biomarkers, Delivered with Additive Layer Manufacturing, Processes UKRI - £980,164
  • Biomarkers for Long Covid, Royal Free Hospital Charity - £189,776
  • Assays for SARS-CoV-2 cellular immune responses, SBRI / UK Innovate - £178,697
  • Metabolomic profiling of cerebrospinal fluid to improve diagnosis and treatment monitoring of patients with inborn or acquired errors of metabolism, MRC - £227,249
  • UCL SMLS, Equipment bid for a UPLC Xevo XS Mass Spectrometer - £260,000
  • SILK Consortium (Industry collaboration), The develop of stable isotope leucine kinetics in dementia - £2.5 million (£186,533 to ICH)
  • Michael J Fox Foundation, “A new test for predicting Parkinson’s disease, can we predict penetrance in LRRK2 patients” - $300K
  • “Using proteomic approaches to investigate the role of plasma and urine biomarkers for disease stratification in childhood hypertrophic cardiomyopathy” - £113,793
  • NIHR GOSH Biomedical Research Centre, Mass spectral platform novel therapies (funding for 3 research staff & running costs for successful BRC research collaborative awards) - £1,000,000
  • Parkinson’s Disease UK, ‘Elucidating disease mechanisms in Parkinson’s Disease” - £230k
  • MRC, Alzheimer’s Disease pathology within the ageing (ADAGE) JPND, EU/MRC (finding new biomarkers, disease mechanisms and drug targets for Alzheimers Disease) - €554,958
  • European Union, PROPAG-AGEING The continuum between healthy ageing and idiopathic Parkinson Disease within a propagation perspective of inflammation and damage (the search for new diagnostic, prognostic and therapeutic targets) - €247,688
  • MRC, UK Genetic Frontotemporal dementia Initiative (UK GENFI) (finding new biomarkers, disease mechanisms and drug targets for Frontotemporal dementia) - £3,233,964
  • NIHR i4i Challenge Awards, Hepatocyte and mesenchymal stromal cell co-encapsulation in alginate microbeads as therapy of acute liver failure (developing new methods for increasing the life span of hepatocytes for human transplantation & a test to monitor hepatocyte function after transplantation) - £716,272
  • British Government, Operation Moonshot ‘The development of a new test for SARS Covid 2’ - £210,642
  • MRC, Investigating phosphatidylserine metabolism in Lenz Majewski syndrome (studying phospholipid metabolism in rare genetic diseases) - £820,000
  • BRC at GOSH, Rapid identification of children whose epilepsy can be treated by vitamin B6 (development of new tests for the diagnosis of patients with defects in B6 metabolism & unexplained epilepsy) - £110,197
  • UCL SLMS, Mass Spectrometry Equipment grant for developing lipidomic, metabolomics and high throughput drug screening capability - £607,000

Principal Investigator 

Professor Kevin Mills - UCL Profiles page

Contact us

 Section staff list

Inborn Errors of Metabolism Section
UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health
30 Guilford Street
London
WC1N 1EH