Stemcells@lunch Digested

This week, Dr Inês Sequeira interviews Dr Nazia Mehrban about her career path spanning forensic science and criminology, to the development of biomaterials. She discusses how the smart materials she is developing will help to replace missing or diseased tissues for patients, and what her future plans are…. For more information about Dr Mehrban's work following this link: https://iris.ucl.ac.uk/iris/browse/profile?upi=NMEHR68

In Stem Cells @ Lunch Digested this week, PhD student Sergi Junyent interviews fellow CSCRM PhD student Sam Blackford. Sam talks about his experience studying in science so far, why he chose to work as a research assistant prior to taking on a PhD, and his research project exploring the possibility of using stem cells to treat liver diseases, and taking this to clinical trials. Sam completed his undergraduate degree at the University of Sussex in Neuroscience, and a masters degree at Nottingham University. From there he took on a Research Assistant post at UCL Institute of Ophthalmology before starting his PhD here at the CSCRM.

This stem cells at lunch digested episode sees CSCRM PhD student Steph Hynes interview Dr Naomi Moris about her work studying embryo development using embryonic stem cells and the magical process of how cells make decisions! Dr Moris studied Biological Science as an undergraduate, and found herself particularly interested in developmental biology and epigenetics. After some time spent researching at Cancer Research UK London, she to Cambridge to do a PhD between the departments of Genetics and Haematology. She is currently a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Department of Genetics, with Alfonso Martinez-Arias’ group. For more information about her research click this link: http://www.newn.cam.ac.uk/person/dr-naomi-moris/

Episode 52 - Dr Katelyn Spillane by StemCells@Lunch Digested

This week’s podcast episode, Dr Ines Sequeira interviews Dr Agathe Chaine from the MRC Laboratory for Molecular Cell Biology based at UCL. We hear about her research history, working with “soft cells”, asymmetric division during the development of embryos, and the different types of techniques are being used in her lab… Dr Chaine was awarded her PhD from the CIRB Collége de France where she stayed on to do a Post Doctoral position researching the biophysical properties of embryonic mitosis. She is now a Post-Doctoral Fellow at the MRC Laboratory for Molecular and Cell Biology based at UCL, where she is studying how cells control their shape and size in asymmetric division during embryonic development For more information about her research please click the following link: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/lmcb/users/agathe-chaigne

Today’s episode, CSCRM PhD student Daria Belokhvostova interviews EMBO Post Doctoral Fellow Dr Miguel Bernabe Rubio about his research background, what cilium are and why they are important in cell functions like cell division and how cells make decisions... Dr Rubio is an EMBO Post Doctoral fellow. He was awarded his PhD from the Universidad Autonoma in Madrid, Spain. His research focuses on the molecular mechanisms of dedifferentiation in epidermal cells. For more information about him see the below link: http://www.wattlab.org/miguel-bernabé-rubio.html

This week Dr Viji Draviam talks to us about why she studies cell division, what chromosomal stability is, why is it so important to understand this and some tips for starting your own lab! Following a PhD from Trinity College, University of Cambridge (with Prof. Pines, Gurdon Institute, Cambridge, UK, 1998-2001), and Post-doctoral research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard Medical School (with Prof. Sorger, Cambridge, USA; 2002-07), Viji started her own research group as a Cancer Research UK Career Development Fellow at the Department of Genetics, University of Cambridge (2008-15). Viji’s group moved to the School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, QMUL in August 2015. Her research group uses a combination of high-resolution microscopy and molecular biology techniques to understand the molecular mechanisms that ensure chromosomal and genomic stability in normal and cancerous human cells. For more information about her research follow the link: http://www.sbcs.qmul.ac.uk/staff/vijid

Welcome back to Stem Cells @ Lunch Digested! This week PhD student Emily Read interviews Dr Kai Kretzschmar about his career path, current research projects, what genetic lineage tracing is, and why he loves doing science! Dr Kretzschmar is a Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Hubrecht Institute in the Netherlands. His work focuses on understanding the gut microenvironment which may influence bowel cancer, and locating the presence of stem cells in the heart. For more information about his work follow this link: http://kaikretzschmar.strikingly.com

This week, Dr Davide Danovi interviews Dr Michela Mazzon from the Medical Research Council Laboratory for Molecular Cell Biology about her work developing antiviral drugs, what inspired her to start working with viruses, and her hopes for her research.... Click here for more information about her work: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/lmcb/users/michela-mazzon

Today’s episode of stem cells at lunch we are joined by 5 out of the 6 students of the Wellcome Trust PhD 2016 cohort based here at the CSCRM. They discuss their experience of co-writing a review for the International Journal of Developmental Biology looking at the latest developments in skin research. Hear about the review itself, and the highlights and challenges of the process… Read the review for yourself here: http://www.ijdb.ehu.es/web/paper/170341fw/homeostasis-regeneration-and-tumour-formation-in-the-mammalian-epidermis For more information about the Wellcome Trust PhD Programme click the link: https://www.kcl.ac.uk/lsm/research/divisions/gmm/departments/stemcells/wellcome-trust-phd/wellcome-trust-4-year-phd-programme.aspx

This week, the Director of Diversity and Inclusion at King's College London, Sarah Guerra, joins us to talk about her career path, what diversity and inclusion is and why it's so important, and what kind of strategies her and her team implementing to encourage change at King's. For more information about the work that Sarah and her team do, follow this link: https://www.kcl.ac.uk/hr/diversity/news%20&%20events/team.aspx

Joining us for today's episode is Dr Jennifer Rohn, Principle Investigator at the Centre for Nephrology in the division of Medicine at UCL. She tells us about, her very interesting and varied career path, her current quest in unnderstanding how the bacteria interact with host cells in urinary tract infections, novel antibiotic delivery methods and moral challenges within healthcare…. Dr Rohn runs a research group studying the subversive behaviour of the bacteria involved in chronic urinary tract infection. She also teaches undergraduates, is a novelist and spends her free time doing public engagement and science communication work. For more info about her and her work, please follow the link: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/staff/staff-news/0416/21042016-spotlight-on-jennfier-rohn

Today's episode features Professor Cleo Bishop from The Blizzard Institute at Queen Mary University University of London. She talks to us about her career path, why it is important to learn about how cells age, and how outcomes from her high throughput facility will affect the public… Cleo is a Senior Lecturer and Director for Graduate Studies at the Blizard Institute at Queen Mary University of London. Her research focuses are senescence, aging and cancer. She has also established a high-throughput screening facility at the Institute. For more information about her work please follow this link: https://www.qmul.ac.uk/blizard/staff/centre-for-cell-biology-and-cutaneous-research/items/cleo-bishop.html

In this week's episode Professor Paola Scaffidi from the Francis Crick Institute talks to us about how epigenetic factors influence cancer stem cells in cancer development, what cancer stem cells are, and what gets her up in the morning! Professor Scaffidi is an established Group Leader at the Francis Crick Institute since 2015. Her group use genome-wide mapping approaches and state-of-the-art cell biological methods in combination with advanced light microscopy techniques and in vivo approaches to characterise functionally important epigenetic traits of Cancer Stem Cells, with the ultimate goal of identifying novel therapeutic targets. For more information follow the link: https://www.crick.ac.uk/research/a-z-researchers/researchers-p-s/paola-scaffidi/

Today's Stem Cells @ Lunch Digested podcast episode features Professor Nasir Rajpoot from Warwick University. He talks about what computational pathology is, how it can be used for cancer diagnosis and his collaborative project with the Alan Turing Institute. Nasir Rajpoot is Professor in Computational Pathology at the Department of Computer Science, University of Warwick. His research interests include Computational Pathology, Image Analytics, Applied Machine Learning, Cancer Biomarkers. Click the link for more information about him and his work: https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/dcs/people/nasir_rajpoot/

In this week's stem cells @ lunch digested episode, PhD student Ana-Maria Cujba speaks to Dr Caroline Hill from the Francis Crick Institute about her research into cell signalling and using fish as models to study signalling during embryonic development. Dr Caroline Hill is an established Group Leader at the Francis Crick Institute. She was awarded her PhD from Cambridge University, was elected to EMBO in 2002 and to the Academia Europaea in 2013. In 2015, she was elected a Fellow of the European Academy of Cancer Sciences. For more information about her work please follow the link... https://www.crick.ac.uk/research/a-z-researchers/researchers-d-j/caroline-hill/

In this episode we interview Dr Megha Prakash Bangalore about her work on lipid metabolism in stem cells... Megha obtained her PhD in Developmental Biology and Embryology from Manipal University in Bangalore and is now a Research Associate at Imperial College London. For more info follow the link: www.linkedin.com/in/megha-prakash…galore-64723016/

In today's episode we are joined by Dr Rob Hynds. He talks about his background of studying human lung cancers, the challenges of developing therapies, working in a multidisciplinary setting and training for the Belfast Marathon! Rob completed his PhD in epithelial stem cell biology in the Lungs For Living Research Centre in 2016 and is now a Sir Henry Wellcome Postdoctoral Fellow working on Prof. Charles Swanton's lung TRACERx clinical study in collaboration with Dr. Sergio Quezada's group. Rob's work aims to develop patient-derived cancer models and develop immune-based therapies for lung cancer. For more information about Dr Hynds please see https://iris.ucl.ac.uk/iris/browse/profile?upi=HYNDS02

In this episode of Stem Cells at Lunch Digested we hear from Dr Shukry Habib about his research focuses at the Centre for Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine and how he came to work here. Shukry Habib pursued his undergraduate and Master degrees in Israel at the Technion and Tel-Aviv university, respectively. He obtained his Dr.rer. nat from Ludwig Maximilian University (LMU) of Munich, Germany and carried out postdoctoral research at Stanford University, California, USA. He is currently a Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine and was recently awarded a Sir Henry Dale fellowship (Wellcome Trust and Royal Society, UK). For more information about Dr Habib and his work please see www.kcl.ac.uk/lsm/research/divis…hukry-j-habib.aspx

In this episode of StemCells@Lunch digested Dr Andrea Serio talks about how he and his team use bioengineering to understand neurodegeneration. Dr Serio was appointed a lectureship at King's College London in September 2017, and joined the division of Tissue Engineering and Biophotonics, where he has now established an independent group focused on neural circuit engineering (NCE). For more information please see the Serio lab website: www.seriolab.com