Month: January 2018

Fellowship success

Huge congratulations to the following four members of the Department who have all been awarded a Fellowship:

Iros Barozzi has been awarded an Imperial College Research Fellowship (ICRF) for 3 years, starting in August 2018. He will be looking at “Large-scale, computational modelling of non-coding alterations in endocrine-therapy resistant breast cancer”. 

Claire Fletcher has been awarded an Astra Zeneca-Sponsored Imperial College Research Fellowship looking at the “Systematic Identification of Kinase Modulators of MicroRNA Biogenesis”.  This study will systematically investigate how miR production is controlled across multiple disease models to identify novel avenues for therapeutic intervention. The partnership with Astra Zeneca permits access to cutting-edge screening facilities to fuel project progress.

Evangelos Triantafyllou was recently awarded an Imperial College Research Fellowship (ICRF) for 4 years for his study entitled “The role of Mer Tyrosine Kinase expressing cells in the immunopathology of acute liver failure syndromes” under the mentorship and supervision of Dr Harry Antoniades (Reader in Hepatology, Division of Digestive Diseases, Imperial College London). The postdoctoral fellowship is based on the work he carried out during his MRC funded PhD studentship (as part of Dr Antoniades’ MRC Fellowship programme) at King’s College London and Birmingham universities. Evangelos will take up this post in October 2018.

Jorum Posma has been awarded a 3 year Health Data Research UK (HDR-UK) Fellowship, funded by the Medical Research Council (MRC). The project title is “Identification of Metabolic Phenotypes and Systemic Biochemical Reaction Networks Associated with Human Blood Pressure”, the supervisors on the project are Professor Paul Elliott (Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health) and Professor Jeremy Nicholson.

Dr Jennifer Steel leaves legacy in the world of science and the Scottish Highlands

Dr Jennifer (Jenny) Steel, who died aged 56 on the 25th November 2017, was employed within the Divisions of IRDB and Cancer as a Research Officer.

Jenny was a superb histologist who was meticulous and insightful. She carried out numerous studies related to hormones and mouse physiology, the results of which underpinned many further studies related to reproduction and metabolic regulation, undertaken by numerous post-doctoral scientists and postgraduate students.

Jenny published in leading journals including Development, Endocrinology, Journal of Biological Chemistry and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Jenny’s skills in immunohistochemistry facilitated many valuable collaborations both internal and external to the College, and will positively impact on evaluating stratification biomarkers for cancer, which are now incorporated into plans for clinical trials, which will improve the treatment of cancer patients.

Following Jenny’s ill-health retirement in January 2017, Jenny wrote and published a book entitled Histology, Immunohistochemistry and In Situ Hybridisation, Lab Protocols.

In addition, Jenny set up a grove of trees in the Scottish Highlands, to create homes for wildlife and forests for the future, with many friends and colleagues donating to her memorial grove.

Jenny is survived by her parents, a brother and sister and will be missed by her family, extended family and her many friends, both at Imperial and those who joined her in her passion for nature, wildlife and chorister activities.

Find out more about Jenny’s Trees for Life memorial grove.

Submit abstracts for upcoming bowel cancer conference

Bowel Cancer UK are holding their first Colorectal Cancer Research Conference on 24-25 April 2018 at the Royal Society of Medicine in London. The event will showcase a wealth of the latest research and bring together clinicians, scientists and healthcare professionals to debate and discuss the challenges and opportunities for bowel cancer.

Submit your abstract to be considered for either an oral or poster presentation by Wednesday 31 January. Selected abstracts will be published in the UK’s leading colorectal journal, Colorectal Disease. Don’t miss this opportunity to promote your research.

Find out more and register at bowelcanceruk.org.uk/research/colorectal-cancer-research-conference-2018/.

Prestigious Prostate Cancer Research Award

Congratulations to Professor Hashim Ahmed who has been awarded the Prostate Cancer Research Award from the European Association of Urology (EAU) for his paper on “Diagnostic accuracy of multi-parametric MRI and TRUS biopsy in prostate cancer (PROMIS): a paired validating confirmatory study”.

Professor Ahmed will receive his prize at the Opening Ceremony of the 33rd EAU Congress in Copenhagen on Friday 16 March 2018.