Postgraduate Students

 

Name: Imran Ali

Email: iali02@qub.ac.uk

Position: Second Year PhD student

Supervisors: Dr Derek Brazil and Professor Alan Stitt

Funding: DEL

Education: BSc (Hons) Biomedical Science, Queen’s University Belfast, 2009

Current Project: Investigating outgrowth endothelial cells response to hypoxia

Key Piece of Equipment: Coy Hypoxia chamber

My Perfect Lab Day is: analysing consistent data that clarifies my hypothesis….oh and an unhealthy dose of sugar!

 

   

 

 

 

 

 

Name: James Bojdo

Email: jbojdo01@qub.ac.uk

Position: First year PhD student

Supervisors: Dr Sandra McAllister, Dr Reinhold Medina and Professor Alan Stitt

Funding: DEL

Education: MRes in Tissue Engineering for Regenerative Medisine, University of Manchester, 2012. and BSc (Hons) Physiology, University of Liverpool, 2010.

Current Project: Investigating endothelial progenitor cells in wound healing

Key Piece of Equipment: Tissue culture hood

My Perfect Lab Day is: Seeing microvessel networks in my scaffolds!

 

   

Name: Eoin Brown

Email: ebrown91@qub.ac.uk

Position: First Year PhD student

Supervisors: Dr David Simpson and Dr Tim Curtis

Funding: DEL

Education: BSc (Hons) Anatomy, Queen’s University Belfast, 2011

Current Project: Use of extracellular vesicles for the transfer of siRNA/miRNAs into endothelial cells to modify their angiogenic responses

Key Piece of Equipment: LightCycler 480

My Perfect Lab Day is: Nothing beats setting up a plate of RT-qPCR

 

Kerry Burch  

Name:  Kerry Burch

Email: kburch02@qub.ac.uk

Position: PhD Student

Supervisors:  Dr David Grieve and Dr Brian Green

Funding: British Heart Foundation

Education: BSc Biomedical Science at Queens University (2012)

Current Project: Investigation of novel actions of the gastrointestinal peptide obestatin on hyperglycaemia and vascular dysfunction in experimental diabetes

Key Piece of Equipment: Organ bath

My Perfect Lab Day is: When I can get all 8 rings on the organ bath to respond the way they should!

 

   

Name: Rachel Church

Email: rchurch01@qub.ac.uk

Position: First Year Postgraduate Research Student

Supervisors: Dr Derek  Brazil and Professor Alan Stitt

Funding: BBSRC CASE/Astra Zeneca

Education: MPharm, School of Pharmacy, Queen’s University Belfast, 2010

Current Project: Elucidating the molecular mechanisms by which the bone morphogenetic protein antagonist Gremlin 1 contributes to diabetic kidney disease

Key Piece of Equipment: Biacore Q

My Perfect Lab Day is: Learning something new and expanding my knowledge base

 

   

Name: Orla Galvin

Email: ogalvin01@qub.ac.uk

Position: Second Year PhD student

Supervisors: Dr Denise McDonald and Dr Tom Gardiner

Funding: FFS

Education: BSc (Hons) Pharmacology, University College Dublin, 2010

Current Project: Strategies to prevent vascular closure in retinal disease

Key Piece of Equipment: ProOx model C21 hyperoxia chamber

My Perfect Lab Day is: Obtaining and analysing data that confirms my hypothesis, and, taking beautiful images on the confocal microscope-food for the soul! 

 

 

   

Name: Sammy Hanrahan

Email: shanrahan01@qub.ac.uk

Position: Second Year PhD student

Supervisors: Dr Tim Curtis and Professor Alex Zholos

Funding: DEL

Education: BSc (Hons), Physiology, University of Bristol, 2008. MPhil, Respiratory Medicine Research, Queen’s University of Belfast, 2010

Current Project: Endothelial expression and function of TRPM8

Key Piece of Equipment: Confocal microscope and patch-clamp rig

My Perfect Lab Day is: Coming into the tea-room to find the milk has been bought and the biscuit tin re-filled!

  

   

Name: Adam Harvey

Email: aharvey05@qub.ac.uk

Position: Third Year PhD student

Supervisors: Dr David Grieve and Professor Barbara McDermott

Funding: DEL

Education: BSc (Hons) Physiology, Queen’s University Belfast, 2009

Current Project: Mechanisms underlying the interaction between NADPH Oxidase and PPARα in left ventricular hypertrophy.

Key Piece of Equipment: Accurate micro pipettes and sharp scissors.

My Perfect Lab Day is: Highly productive with enough time for a cup of coffee and a chat!

 

   

Name: Jennifer McNaughten

Email: jlindsay12@qub.ac.uk

Position: Second Year PhD student

Supervisors: Dr Tim Curtis and Professor Graham McGeown

Funding: DEL

Education: BSc (Hons) Anatomy, Queen’s University Belfast, 2010

Current Project: Investigating TRP Channels in Retinal Endothelial Cells

Key Piece of Equipment: Microfluorimetry Rig

My Perfect Lab Day is: When cells respond consistantly!!

 

   

Name: Estelle Lowry

Email: elowry05@qub.ac.uk

Position: Second Year PhD student

Supervisors: Dr Ruth Hogg and Dr Jayne Woodside (Centre for Public Health)

Funding: DEL

Education: BSc (Hons) Biomedical Science (Physiology), University of Aberdeen, 2009

MSc Public Health and Health Sciences Research, University of Aberdeen, 2010

Current Project: Investigating the determinants of macular pigment and response to supplementation

Key Piece of Equipment: Macular Pigment Optical Densitometer

My Perfect Lab Day is: Getting lots of volunteers to take part in my study!!

 

   

Name: Rosie McDowell

Email: rmcdowell10@qub.ac.uk

Position: Second Year PhD student

Supervisors: Professor Graham McGeown and Dr Tim Curtis

Funding: Fight for Sight

Education: BSc (Hons) Biochemistry, University of Edinburgh

Current Project: Broadly, Oxidative stress in the diabetic retina

Key Piece of Equipment: LightCycler 480

My Perfect Lab Day is: Planning experiments…the bit before they have a chance to go wrong. And cake in the tea-room!

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Name: Caitriona O’Leary

Email: coleary03@qub.ac.uk

Position: First Year PhD student

Supervisors: Dr Tim Curtis, Professor Graham McGeown and Professor Alan Stitt

Funding: Fight For Sight

Education: BSc. (Hons) Pharmacology, University College Dublin (2010)

MSc. Regenerative Medicine, National University of Ireland, Galway (2012)

Current Project: Investigating the link between Transient Receptor Potential Vanilloid 4 and Growth factor-mediated intracellular calcium signalling in ocular angiogenesis

Key Piece of Equipment: Microfluorimetry Rig

My Perfect Lab Day: When cells respond the way they’re expected to

 

   

Name: Olivia O’Leary

Email: ooleary01@qub.ac.uk

Position: First Year PhD student

Supervisors: Professor Alan Stitt and Dr Derek Brazil

Funding: Diabetes UK

Education: BSc (Hons) Neuroscience, University College Dublin, 2010

Current Project: Investigating the tissue protective potential of EPO mimetic peptides in Diabetic Retinopathy

Key Piece of Equipment: Bio Rad Mini Protean Western Blotting system

My Perfect Lab Day is: Leaving feeling like I know a little bit more than the day before.

 

   

Name: Sudha Priya Soundara Pandi

Email: ssoundarapandi01@qub.ac.uk

Position: Second Year PhD student

Supervisors: Dr Heping Xu and Dr David Simpson

Funding: Queen’s University Belfast

Education: MSc Biotechnology, Lady Doak College, Madurai Kamraj University, India, 2008

Current Project: MicroRNA in Retinal Ageing and Age- related Macular Degeneration

My Perfect Lab Day is: Working with the sequencing data

 

Name: Mitchel Tate

Email: mtate06@qub.ac.uk

Position: First Year PhD student

Supervisors: Dr David Grieve and Professor Barbara McDermott

Funding: British Heart Foundation (BHF)

Education: BSc (Hons) Biomedical Sciences, Newcastle University, 2010; MSc Biomedical Research, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, 2011

Current Project: Does glucagon-like peptide-1 modulate progression of cardiac remodelling in diabetes via specific actions on inflammation and the extracellular matrix?

Key Piece of Equipment: Vevo 770 High-Resolution Imaging System

My Perfect Lab Day is: When everything goes according to plan!

 

 

Name: Sarah Chambers

Email: swilson50@qub.ac.uk

Position: First Year PhD Student

Supervisors: Professor Alan Stitt and Dr Heping Xu

Funding: Fight for Sight

Education: MSc Stem Cells and Regeneration, University of Bristol, 2012

BSc (Hons) Anatomy, Queen’s University Belfast, 2010

Current Project: Characterising EPCs for use in Diabetic Retinopathy

Key Piece of Equipment: Tissue Culture Hood & Centrifuge

My Perfect Lab Day: Getting useful results from an experiment that has taken several days or even weeks to prepare

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Name: Janet Yarham

Email: jyarham01@qub.ac.uk

Position: First Year PhD student

Supervisors: Dr Anthony (Tony) Collins and Dr David Simpson

Funding: DEL

Education: BMedSci (Hons) Biomedical Science, University of Birmingham, 2011

Current Project: Investigating the role of miRNAs in the downregulation of Kir2.1 in heart failure

Key Piece of Equipment: PCR Thermal Cycler

My Perfect Lab Day is: When an experiment works first time!

 

   

Name: Jiawu Zhao

Email: jzhao07@qub.ac.uk

Position: PhD student since 2010

Supervisors: Dr Heping Xu and Professor Alan Stitt

Funding: NERC

Education: BSc (Hons) Pharmacology & Immunology, University of Manchester, 2007

MRes Biomedical Sciences, University of Glasgow, 2009

Current Project: Investigating mechanisms of chronic inflammation-induced retinal angiogenesis

Key Piece of Equipment: Confocal microscope

My Perfect Lab Day is: Have all the work done before 5pm