Clinical Postdoctoral Training Fellows

2013

Dr Jacqueline Maybin, University of Edinburgh
Early Postdoctoral Training Fellowship
The role of hypoxia inducible factor in endometrial repair: a potential therapeutic target for heavy menstrual bleeding

Jacqueline will study the role of hypoxia inducible factor in post-menstrual endometrial repair, with the aim of identifying a non-hormonal treatment for women with heavy periods. She will start her fellowship in the laboratory of Professor Hilary Critchley in the MRC Centre for Reproductive Health, University of Edinburgh. The latter part of her project will be carried out in Professor Peter Carmeliet’s laboratory in the Vesalius Research Centre at the Katholieke Universiteit, Belgium. The project will also involve close collaboration with Professor Philippa Saunders (MRC Centre for Reproductive Health) and Dr Nikhil Hirani (MRC Centre for Inflammation Research).

Mr Neal Millar, University of Glasgow
Early Postdoctoral Training Fellowship
The role of microRNA in tendon disease

Neal is an Orthopaedic Surgeon Scientist investigating the molecular pathophysiology of tendinopathy, an overuse injury characterised by tendon pain and weakness, which has a significant burden of disease. His current focus is on understanding the role of microRNA in the post-transcriptional regulation of collagen synthesis and immediate tissue repair processes implicated in tendinopathy. His research aims to offer new insights into tissue damage, matrix remodelling and inflammatory responses in tendons that are potentially cross-regulated by microRNA and to develop novel therapeutic strategies.

2012

Dr James Chalmers, University of Dundee
Early Postdoctoral Training Fellowship
The role in ESX-1, a novel protein secretion system, in Staphylococcus aureus virulence

James is studying a recently described type VII secretion system in Staphylococcus aureus and how this system contributes to virulence and the establishment of chronic respiratory infection. This work is performed in the Division of Molecular Microbiology, University of Dundee, led by Professor Tracy Palmer and in collaboration with Dr Robert Ryan (University of Dundee) and Dundee’s Drug Discovery Unit.

Dr Mandy Johnstone, University of Edinburgh
Postdoctoral Training Fellowship for MB/PhD Graduates
Using human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) and iPSC-derived neurons to explore cellular phenotypes associated with schizophrenia

Mandy will begin her Fellowship at the University of Edinburgh, investigating how schizophrenia risk is conferred at a cellular level, through comparative studies of neural tissue derived from individuals with and without disease-associated mutations. Her goal is to better understand the molecular pathophysiology of schizophrenia and other neurodevelopmental disorders, using hiPSCs as in vitro models. Mandy is an academic psychiatrist and her research is undertaken in collaboration with Professor Andrew McIntosh (Division of Psychiatry), Dr Kirsty Millar (Institute for Genetics and Molecular Medicine) and Professor Siddharthan Chandran (Centre for Regenerative Medicine).

Dr Agatha van der Klaauw, University of Cambridge
Early Postdoctoral Training Fellowship
Genetic and physiological studies in obesity-associated neuroendocrine dysfunction

Agatha is currently working with Professor Sadaf Farooqi at the Institute of Metabolic Science in Cambridge. Agatha uses a number of genetic approaches, including whole-exome sequencing, to identify novel genes involved in hypothalamic development in patients with severe early-onset obesity and neuroendocrine abnormalities. In this area, she is collaborating with Dr Inês Barroso’s team at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute. She is also developing novel methodologies for studying hypothalamic function in human physiological studies.

Dr Stavros P Loukogeorgakis, University College London
Postdoctoral Training Fellowship for MB/PhD Graduates
Prenatal stem cell gene therapy for Wilson’s disease using amniotic fluid stem cells

Stavros will investigate the therapeutic potential of in utero stem cell gene transfer in inherited metabolic liver disease. He will use a model of Wilson’s disease to test the hypothesis that correction of the genetic defect in autologous stem cells harvested from the amniotic fluid, followed by prenatal transplantation to the fetal liver, will cure the disease before birth. This novel approach may be useful for in utero therapy in a wide range of inherited disorders. Stavros will undertake his work at the Surgery Unit, Institute of Child Health, University College London (Dr Paolo De Coppi), and the Centre for Fetal Research, The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania (Dr Alan Flake).

Dr Daniel Marks, University College London
Postdoctoral Training Fellowship for MB/PhD Graduates
An investigation into the defective termination and resolution of acute inflammation in ulcerative colitis

Daniel will begin his Fellowship with Professor Tony Segal and Professor Derek Gilroy at University College London. He will investigate the mechanisms responsible for protracted inflammation in patients with ulcerative colitis. His aims are to understand better the cause of this condition, and more broadly the impact of perturbed inflammation resolution processes on human disease. This work will be undertaken in collaboration with Professor Anna Nicolaou (University of Bradford) and Professor Allan Mowat (University of Glasgow).

Dr Lionel Tan, Imperial College London
Early Postdoctoral Training Fellowship
The contribution of the SIC to the pathogenesis of invasive group A streptococcal infections

Lionel will be studying the Streptococcal inhibitor of complement (SIC), a protein which is secreted by a highly virulent type of the human bacterial pathogen Streptococcus pyogenes. The aim is to understand the role of the SIC and its interactions with the host immune system in the development of invasive disease caused by the bacterium. He will be based in the laboratory of Professor Shiranee Sriskandan (Imperial College London) and will also spend time in Professor Lars Bjorck’s laboratory at Lund University, Sweden.

2011-2009

Dr Rudolf Cardinal, University of Cambridge
Postdoctoral Training Fellowship for MB/PhD Graduates
Developing models of thalamocortical unsupervised attentional selection and competitive learning

Rudolf is working in the Brain Mapping Unit in the Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, under Professor Ed Bullmore. His goal is to develop computational models of thalamocortical unsupervised attentional selection and competitive learning.

Dr Ben Fairfax, University of Oxford
Postdoctoral Training Fellowship for MB/PhD Graduates
Identification and functional characterisation of genetic variation regulating tolerance to Toll-like receptor activation

Ben is investigating the genetic determinants of responses to innate immune stimuli with Dr Julian Knight at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics. His studies have focused upon the genetics of gene expression in primary monocytes, B cells and natural killer cells in resting and stimulated states. This work has illustrated how disease-associated genetic polymorphisms may act as expression quantitative trait loci under specific inflammatory conditions. Ben is continuing his research as an NIHR ACL in Medical Oncology in Oxford, with a view to understanding how cancer alters innate immune expression profiles.

Dr Kerri Kinghorn, University College London
Postdoctoral Training Fellowship for MB/PhD Graduates
Dissecting alpha-synuclein pathology in Drosophila models of Parkinson’s disease: aids to understanding idiopathic Parkinson’s disease

Kerri is working in the laboratories of Professor Dame Linda Partridge (Institute of Healthy Ageing) and Professor John Hardy (Institute of Neurology) at University College London. Her work seeks to further understand the pathogenesis of Lewy body pathology and Parkinson’s disease by modelling disease-associated gene mutations in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster.

Dr Jenny Papakrivopolou, University College London
Postdoctoral Training Fellowship for MB/PhD Graduates
Planar cell polarity in glomerular development and disease

Jenny’s research interest is in glomerular filtration barrier development during health and disease. During her Fellowship she will focus on podocytes: specialised epithelial cells of the filtration barrier, with a highly branched morphology acquired during development and necessary to prevent the loss of protein in the urine. She will examine the role of the planar cell polarity pathway in podocyte morphogenesis and in glomerular disease, as the ability to manipulate this pathway would have significant implications for the treatment of many proteinuric kidney diseases.

Dr Tim Raine, University of Cambridge
Postdoctoral Training Fellowship for MB/PhD Graduates
Defining the impact of SNPs associated with inflammatory bowel disease on the immunobiology of human mucosal T lymphocytes

Tim is working with Professor Arthur Kaser and Dr Miles Parkes at the University of Cambridge and Addenbrooke’s Hospital, as well as with colleagues at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in Cambridge, to examine the functional impact of genetic variants associated with increased risk of inflammatory bowel disease on human gut mucosal T cell function. By working with T cells extracted from patient biopsy specimens, his project aims to improve our understanding of these important lymphocytes and better define their roles in health as well as in disease.

Dr Lance Turtle, University of Liverpool
Postdoctoral Training Fellowship for MB/PhD Graduates
Human T lymphocyte responses in Japanese encephalitis

Lance is studying the T cell response to Japanese encephalitis (JE) virus, the most important cause of epidemic encephalitis in the world. Lance is currently based in Professor Tom Solomon’s group, and, after a period of training, will move to Professor Paul Klenerman’s lab (University of Oxford), where he will be applying cellular immunology techniques to understand the difference between healthy exposed individuals and patients who have suffered from clinical JE. The majority of this work is taking place at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, in South India - a JE-endemic area. The work is aimed at understanding determinants of clinical recovery in JE and also the role of cross-reactive T cells in vaccine responses and immunity to flaviviruses.

Dr Michael Weekes, University of Cambridge
Postdoctoral Training Fellowship for MB/PhD Graduates
Quantitative proteomic analysis of latent human cytomegalovirus infection

Mike’s Fellowship is split between the laboratories of Professor Paul Lehner (University of Cambridge) and Professor Steven Gygi (Harvard Medical School). He has developed a novel proteomic technique to quantify the effect of viral infection on proteins at the plasma membrane. He is applying this and other proteomic technologies to study ‘latent-phase’ infection by human cytomegalovirus (HCMV). In order to develop novel therapeutics, Mike aims to determine which cell surface receptors are modulated by latent HCMV infection, and which intracellular signalling pathways are altered in latently infected cells.

Dr Joel Winston, University College London
Postdoctoral Training Fellowship for MB/PhD Graduates
Interoceptive awareness in health and disease

Joel will work in the laboratories of Professors Ray Dolan and Geraint Rees (University College London) and Jay Gottfried (Northwestern University, Chicago). He plans to explore the neuropsychological mechanisms underlying health perception, specifically focusing on the interactions between interoception (visceral sensory processing) and higher cognitive function. During the second half of his Fellowship he will continue his clinical training in neurology.