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PhD Project Title: Rotation Year
Supervisors: Professor Alun Hughes
Lay summary:
I am currently in the first year of the PhD which is the rotation year. As part of this year I work on three different projects within three different labs. For my first rotation I have been investigating cardiac complications in scleroderma patients. I am still yet to start my second and third rotations but I am looking forward to them. So far I have learnt a lot and really appreciate the fact that I have this rotation year which enables me to learn new techniques and improve my knowledge and understanding of scientific principles that I may not have come across already.
My Background
I started my academic career at the University of Birmingham studying Biochemistry with Genetics. I really enjoyed studying my BSc and particularly found the genetic aspect very interesting. As a result, on finishing my BSc I decided to carry out a masters in Genetics of Human Disease which I studied at UCL. My MSc project focused on the role of microRNAs (miRNAs) in early heart development. During my project I became particularly interested in wanting to understand the role that genes play in the development, function and maintenance of the heart. Therefore, after finishing my MSc I applied and was offered a 3 month research assistant position with my project supervisors and went on to investigate the role of miRNAs in angiogenesis. On finishing this post I decided I would like to explore this area further and therefore decided to apply for the BHF cardiovascular PhD. I am keen to understand the role of genetics in the development of cardiovascular diseases and how genetic mutations and abnormalities can cause changes to the structure and function of the heart.
Qualifications
- BSc Biochemistry (Genetics)
- MSc Genetics of Human Disease
Publications
- Huntley RP, Kramarz B, Sawford T, Umrao Z, Kalea A, Acquaah V, Martin MJ, Mayr M, Lovering RC. Expanding the horizons of microRNA bioinformatics. RNA. 2018 Aug;24(8):1005-1017. doi: 10.1261/rna.065565.118. Epub 2018 Jun 5. PubMed PMID: 29871895; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6049505.
- The Gene Ontology Consortium.. The Gene Ontology Resource: 20 years and still GOing strong. Nucleic Acids Res. 2019 Jan 8;47(D1):D330-D338. doi: 10.1093/nar/gky1055. PubMed PMID: 30395331; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6323945.
Poster publication
- Rachael P. Huntley, Barbara Kramarz, Zara Umrao, Vanessa Acquaah, Tony Sawford, Maria J. Martin, Manuel
- Mayr, Ruth C. Lovering (2017). “Functional annotation of cardiovascular microRNAs with GO” presented at the 2017 translational Bioinformatics conference at the Wellcome Trust Genome Campus
Appointments
Sept-2017- Jan 2018 Biocurator Post
Functional Gene Annotation team, Centre for Cardiovascular Genetics, Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences, UCL
Supervisors: Dr Ruth Lovering, Dr Rachael Huntley, Project Title: Investigating the role of microRNAs in angiogenesis (blood vessel development)
Contact details