Biography

Following ten years as a Specialist Biomedical Scientist in an NHS diagnostic histopathology laboratory and completion of an MSc in Biomedical Sciences, I joined the group as a Research Technician in 2013. I began my staff PhD in 2015 and as a part-time student, I split my time roughly 50/50 between my own research and supporting that of others within the group.

Research Focus

Investigating the effect of mitochondrial dysfunction on mouse intestinal tumour formation and progression.

Previous work carried out by the group has demonstrated that mutations within the mitochondrial genome accumulate in normal, ageing colonic crypt stem cells. In addition, such mutations have been found to be present in colorectal tumours. Different colonic crypts contain different mtDNA mutations which are not present in the germline, they are occurring somatically with time. These mutations confer deficiencies in either single or multiple oxidative phosphorylation enzymes within the crypts in which they are present. Using a mouse model of disease, my PhD project aims to ascertain if there is an association between the presence of mtDNA mutations in normal ageing colonic stem cells and colorectal tumour transformation and progression.

Sponsor/funder: Newcastle University Staff PhD