Research team
Joy Delhanty, Joyce Harper, Sioban SenGupta, Seema Dhanjal, Barbara Speyer, Leoni Xanthopoulou, Thalia Mamas, Hanan Sultan, Wael Elmahaishi, Harita Ghevaria, Aisha Elaimi, Pinar Tulay, Amanthi Balasuriya
BARBARA SPEYER, PhD, is a Research Fellow carrying out studies on sperm genetics particularly with regard to DNA fragmentation. She also provides a service for the analysis of sperm from men who are carriers of chromosomal translocations.
PhD STUDENTS
LEONI XANTHOPOULOU, BSc, MSc, Leoni graduated from her BSc in Biology at UCL in 2003, where she also completed her MSc in Prenatal Genetics and Fetal Medicine in 2005. Leoni joined the UCL Centre for PGD in January 2006 as a part time PhD student and part time clinical scientist performing clinical PGD and PGS cases. For her clinical work she is involved in working up protocols for carriers of structural chromosomal abnormalities, whereas her PhD research focuses on the molecular cytogenetics of human preimplantation embryos. Her main research interests include the origin and mechanisms of formation of binucleate cells and the investigation of microsatellite instability in human preimplantation embryos as well as the role of mutations in PGS patients with unexplained infertility.
THALIA MAMAS, BSc, MSc, After completing the MSc in Prenatal Genetics and Fetal Medicine at the Institute for Women’s Health, Thalia Mamas joined the UCL Centre for PGD in November 2005, as a part-time PhD student and a part-time scientist performing clinical PGD cases. Thalia’s main research areas are the investigation of aneuploidy in embryos from fertile couples, the detection of aneuploidy by array comparative genomic hybridisation and gene expression in human preimplantation embryos. For her clinical PGD work, Thalia is focusing on PGD for inherited cancer predisposition, mainly Neurofibromatosis type.
HANAN SULTAN, MBchB, DGO, MRCOG, ABOG, FRCOG, MSc. Hanan started her PhD in March 2007. She is a consultant Obstetricians and Gynaecologist from Saudi Arabia since 1993, and reproductive medicine and surgery specialist in 2005 (being trained at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, London). She completed her Master degree in Reproductive and Developmental biology in 2006 from Imperial college London. Hanan is very interested in the long term effects of ART. She is studying the epigenetic changes of human preimplantation embryos and the ethical implications of PGD and PND.
WAEL ELMAHAISHI, Wael has previously worked as an Obstetrician and Gynaecologist for 2 years in Libya. He started his PhD in September 2008 on human sperm chromosomal analysis and DNA fragmentation
HARITA GHEVARIA, BSc, MSc. Harita Ghevaria joined the UCL Centre for PGD as a part time PhD student and part time trainee molecular cytogeneticst in November 2008. She has done her BSc in Biochemistry and Biotechnology. She has a Masters Degree in Prenatal Genetics and Fetal Medicne from UCL. Her clinical PGD training includes optimization of clinical PGD-FISH cases involving chromosomal translocations. Her area of research focuses on investigating chromosomal aneuploidy involving sex chromosomes in the embryos from couples with recurrent miscarriages and their predispostion to X-chromosome meiotic errors. She is also involved with investigating embryos from couples carrying a chromosomal translocation via the PCR technique for detection of chromosomal imbalances.
AISHA ELAIMI, BSc, MSc. Started her PhD in May 2009. She had previously been working as a Cytogenetic Technologist for 4 years in Saudi Arabia. She completed my her Master’s degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. Her PhD is on the Genetic and Metabolic analysis of human preimplantation embryos.
PINAR TULAY, BSc, MSc. Pinar Tulay graduated from University of Missouri in 2006 with double degree in Chemistry and Mathematics (BSc). Shecompleted her MRes in Biomedical Science Research at Imperial College in 2008 and MSc in Prenatal Genetics and Fetal Medicine at UCL in 2009. Pinar joined UCL Centre for PGD in September 2009 as a full time PhD student and a scientist performing PGD. For her PhD, she is focusing on investigating DNA repair, gene expression and chromosomal abnormalities in human oocytes and embryos. For her clinical PGD work, she has been involved in developing and optimising PGD protocols for inherited cancer predisposition and recently PGD for translocations. Pinar completed her first Master’s degree in Biomedical Science Research at Imperial College, London in 2008 and her second Master’s degree in Prenatal Genetics and Fetal Medicine at UCL in 2009. For her PhD Pinar is investigating chromosomal abnormalities and gene expression in embryos.
AMANTHI BALASURIYA, BSc, MSc. Amanthi obtained her BSc in Genetics and Masters degree in Prenatal Genetics and Fetal Medicine from UCL. She started her PhD in sperm DNA fragmentation and anueuploidy in October 2009.
Page last modified on 22 nov 11 11:22
