Pathway Journey
Project title: Impact of intermittent cold exposure on function of brown/white adipose tissue and metabolic consequences of obesity (in collaboration with Paxman Coolers Ltd.)
Biography
I graduated from the University of Bath in Biology (BSc) with a first-class honours in 2020. During my degree, I spent a year at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research in the Diabetes and Metabolism department working on metabolism-associated behavioural patterns in zebrafish. Following this, I moved into a research assistant position at MRC Harwell, in the Genetic of Type 2 Diabetes Team, where I worked on developing a white adipose tissue organoid model. Subsequently, I moved to a colorectal cancer research group at the Wellcome Centre for Human Genetics at Oxford University, before starting the KCL MRC iCASE DTP in September 2022. As I had a strong sense of my research interests prior to my PhD, I applied directly to the 0+4 pathway in the Department of Women and Children’s Health, where I am co-supervised by Professor Catherine Williamson and Professor Anil Dhawan.
In keeping with my enthusiasm for metabolic biology, my PhD project aims to uncover novel insights into the role for intermittent cold exposure in obesity-related disorders. I am investigating this at the pre-clinical level in a mouse model of diet-induced obesity, and at the clinical level, with MASLD patients. The objective is to develop a non-invasive therapeutic treatment for patients that suffer from obesity-associated metabolic consequences.
Publications
Wu, C.W., Reid, M., Leedham, S. and Lui, R.N., 2022. The emerging era of personalized medicine in advanced colorectal cancer. Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, 37(8), pp.1411-1425.
Anwer, H., O’Dea, R.E., Mason, D., Zajitschek, S., Klinke, A., Reid, M., Hesselson, D., Noble, D.W., Morris, M.J., Lagisz, M. and Nakagawa, S., 2022. The effects of an obesogenic diet on behavior and cognition in zebrafish (Danio rerio): Trait average, variability, repeatability, and behavioral syndromes. Ecology and evolution, 12(11), p.e9511.
Awards
Best Presentation at the SLCPS PGR Awards, November 2023