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The Division of Medicine is pleased to be able to offer seven awards at the Division of Medicine Research Retreat for 2024. Winners will be announced at the event.
Retreat Presentations
- Best PhD oral presentation
- Best PhD moderated poster presentation
- Best Postdoc oral presentation
- Best Postdoc moderated poster presentation
Established Investigator Award 2023
Nominees (winners selcted by Heads of Research Departments and Deputies)
- Wolfson Institute for Biomedical Research - Professor James Cox and Professor Nicoletta Kessaris
Professor James Cox
Teaching: Professor Cox is the postgraduate tutor for WIBR and contributes to several taught modules. He is a valuable member of staff and contributes to the smooth running of the department at many levels.Public Engagement: Prof Cox has made several notable contributions that have received attention on television and in the press. These include:
BBC https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-65694397
Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/williamhaseltine/2023/06/19/no-pain-faah-out/?sh=67f5119a3461
Scientific American: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-case-of-a-woman-who-feels-almost-no-pain-leads-scientists-to-a-new-gene-mutation/
The Times: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/woman-who-feels-no-pain-is-key-to-new-breed-of-drugs-jlpbkm209
Derek Lowe science blog: https://www.science.org/content/blog-post/no-pain-and-no-worries
Research: Prof Cox has investigated the genetic basis of rare human pain disorders such as Channelopathy-associated Insensitivity to Pain (SCN9A/NaV1.7), Familial Episodic Pain Syndrome (TRPA1), Marsili Syndrome (ZFHX2) and FAAH-OUT-associated Human Pain Insensitivity. His team is particularly interested in how long non-coding RNAs regulate key pain genes and the endocannabinoid system. A major goal is to translate genetic findings into new analgesic gene therapies.
Prof Cox has several notable publications from 2023.
Lischka, A., Eggermann, K., Record, C. J., Dohrn, M. F., Laššuthová, P., Kraft, F., ... & Kurth, I. (2023). Genetic landscape of congenital insensitivity to pain and hereditary sensory and autonomic neuropathies. Brain, 146(12), 4880-4890.
Mikaeili, H., Habib, A. M., Yeung, C. W. L., Santana-Varela, S., Luiz, A. P., Panteleeva, K., ... & Cox, J. J. (2023). Molecular basis of FAAH-OUT-associated human pain insensitivity. Brain, 146(9), 3851-3865.
Professor Nicoletta Kessaris.
It is a pleasure to nominate Prof Kessaris for the Division of Medicine Established Investigator Award 2024. Prof Kessaris is an internationally acknowledged expert in the field of Developmental Neuroscience. Her work focusses on the development of inhibitory neurons and oligodendrocytes in the mammalian cerebral cortex and the role of these cells in neurodevelopmental disorders such as Autism Spectrum Disorders. Supported by numerous grants over >20 years including, the European Research Council, the Medical Research council, the UK BBSRC and the Wellcome Trust, Prof Kessaris has been using molecular genetic tools in model organisms to map the stem cell origins of inhibitory neurons and oligodendroglia and examine the role of transcriptional regulators in the specification of these cells during embryogenesis. The overarching objective of her lab is to gain insight into how these cells acquire their character, how their environment impacts their developmental trajectories and the consequences of genetic mutations on their maturation and the impact on animal behaviour.
Prof Kessaris combines her intense Research focus with a strong teaching portfolio, contributing to several taught modules within UCL SLMS. In the year 2023-24, she undertook weekly SGT sessions for Division of Medicine 1st year AMS undergraduate students and is currently setting up a new taught module in Developmental Biology for 2nd year AMS undergraduate students. The module is due to start in the year 2024-25.
Notable Research publications in the academic year 2022-23:
Kessaris N. (2022) Human Cortical Interneuron Development Unravelled. Science, 375(6579): 383-384
Asgarian Z, Oliveira MG, Stryjewska A, Maragkos I, Rubin AN, Magno L, Pachnis V, Ghorbani M, Hiebert SW, Denaxa M, Kessaris N. (2022) MTG8 interacts with LHX6 to specify cortical interneuron subtype identity. Nature Communications, 13:5217
Magno L, Asgarian Z, Apanaviciute M, Milner Y, Bengoa-Vergniory N, Rubin AN, Kessaris N. (2022) Fate mapping reveals mixed embryonic origin and unique developmental codes of mouse forebrain septal neurons. Communications Biology, 5:1137
Kessaris N and Denaxa M. (2023) Cortical interneuron specification and diversification in the era of big data. Current Opinion in Neurobiology, 80:102703
Foerster S, Floriddia EM, van Bruggen D, … Kessaris N, Richardson WD, Bussey TJ, Zhao C, Castelo-Branco G and Franklin RJM. Developmental origin of oligodendrocytes determines their function in the adult brain. Nature Neuroscience, In press.
- Institute for Liver and Digestive Health - Dr Gautam Mehta
It is with pleasure I nominate Dr Gautam Mehta for the Division of Medicine Established Investigator Award, to recognise his achievements in 2023.
Alcohol-related liver disease (ARLD): Gautam leads the translational ‘AlcoChange’ programme of digital therapies for ARLD. The Phase 2 AlcoChange trial was published this year (Mehta G et al., JHep Rep. 2023;6:100993), receiving wide press coverage. He is also CI for the NIHR-funded Phase 3 AlcoChange trial (NIHR 201002, total funding £1.75m); this received ancillary funding of £225k in 2023. Additionally, he is PI for a NIHR-funded programme exploring risk factors for ARLD (NIHR PB-PG-0418-20038). This made impact through identification of a high-risk population for ARLD, which received press coverage and is currently being reviewed by NICE for cirrhosis guideline NG50 (Ding C… Mehta G. Nature Commun. 2023;14:8041).
Covid-19 and liver disease: Gautam also leads the COBALT European consortium investigating Covid-19 and vaccine response in liver disease. This builds on an existing UK-US collaboration (Junquiera C… Mehta G, Bell S, Goldfeld A, Filbin M, Liebeman J. Nature. 2022;606:576-85). In 2023, the consortium published data on Covid-19 vaccine response in liver disease, which influenced European (ELITA) vaccine and shielding guidance for liver patients (Mehta G, et al. Hepatol Commun. 2023;7:e0273.; Ballester M… Mehta G. JHep Rep. 2023;5:100776.).
Clinical trials in liver disease: In 2023, Gautam also received grant funding (PI) to lead a UK-wide liver cirrhosis clinical trials network (De-LIVER programme; NIHR 155695, £102k). The overarching aim is to improve clinical trial design, participation and efficiency for liver disease, in line with the aims of the UK Government O’Shaughnessy Report (Tavabie O… Mehta G. Frontline Gastro. Manuscript in revision).
Patient and Public Involvement (PPI): Gautam also leads (PI) the James Lind Alliance (JLA) priority-setting partnership for liver cirrhosis (Royal Free Charity grant). This is a nationwide effort, involving patients and other stakeholders, to identify research questions and inform UKRI/NIHR priorities.
Teaching and UCL community involvement: Gautam is deputy lead for the Clinical Sciences iBSc programme, and also teaching faculty for the Dietetics MSc Nutrition programme. He also teaches on the Applied Medical Sciences BSc programme, supervises undergraduate and postgraduate students (currently 5) and is a member of the Royal Free Animal Welfare and Ethical Review Body. Additionally, in 2023, Gautam received a Crick Networking Fund grant to develop the London Gut-Liver Network. The inaugural meeting was held this year at the Francis Crick Institute, with attendees from across London, and has led to new collaborations between investigators at UCL ILDH and the Crick.
Public engagement and other roles: Aside from press coverage for specific manuscripts (as above), Gautam is a frequent media commentator for alcohol and health matters. In 2023, he has featured in The Guardian, The Independent, The Evening Standard and BBC Radio for alcohol and health-related commentary. Additionally, in 2023, Gautam joined the British Society of Gastroenterology working group for quality standards in liver disease.
- Imaging - Professor Shonit Punwani and Dr Tammy Kalber
Shonit Punwani
Professor Shonit Punwani and his team are worthy nominees for the DoM Academic Award Prize in recognition of his exceptional contributions to the field of prostate cancer imaging, notably early detection. When asked if agreeable to nomination, Professor Punwani stated that team nominations should be eligible since research is impossible without multidisciplinary support. We would therefore ask the Division to consider this approach, not least because it rightly allows multiple beneficiaries of the award. This is the right time for nomination because 2023 has seen multiple achievements, notably Validate PRO1, HISTO-MR2, INNOVATE3, ReIMAGINE4, and LIMIT5. These studies have advanced medical research across the entire imaging biomarker pipeline, ranging from proof-of-concept MR Hyper-polariser studies, through to multi-centre pragmatic trials, which have attracted considerable media attention this year, including Sky News and BBC News, playing an instrumental role in changing clinical practice for prostate cancer, within the UK and internationally.Professor Punwani and his team have consistently demonstrated an unwavering commitment to improving early detection methods in the realm of prostate cancer research, with the ultimate aim of enhancing patient outcomes and quality of life. The INNOVATE trial found that a new UCL-developed MR sequence, VERDICT, had exceptionally high specificity for prostate cancer, effectively eliminating the need to painful, invasive biopsy when negative. The ReIMAGINE study (BMJ Oncology 2023;2:e000057) combined MRI with prostate-specific antigen density techniques developed by Professor Punwani and team, finding that PSA alone was insufficient to detect significant prostate cancer, results that will impact considerably on how prostate cancer screening is introduced to the UK. Currently, the team is initiating the LIMIT trial, which investigates if time-efficient UCL-developed MR sequences can reduce scanning time from 45 minutes to 10, which would move MRI screening towards a viable mass-screening option in terms of cost and time.
In recognition of this work and the potential for further research, Professor Punwani was recently awarded a NIHR Research Professorship after open competition, commencing 01 December. In conclusion, Professor Punwani and his team perform exemplary research and are worthy nominees for the DoM Academic Award prize. Furthermore, Shonit's emphasis on teamwork embodies the UCL esprit de corps.
Chowdhury R, Mueller CA, Smith L, Gong F, Papoutsaki MV, Rogers H, Syer T, Singh S, Brembilla G, Retter A, Bullock M, Caselton L, Mathew M, Dineen E, Parry T, Hennig J, von Elverfeldt D, Schmidt AB, Hövener JB, Emberton M, Atkinson D, Bainbridge A, Gadian DG, Punwani S. Quantification of Prostate Cancer Metabolism Using 3D Multiecho bSSFP and Hyperpolarized [1-13 C] Pyruvate: Metabolism Differs Between Tumors of the Same Gleason Grade. J Magn Reson Imaging. 2023 Jun;57(6):1865-1875. doi: 10.1002/jmri.28467. Epub 2022 Oct 31. PMID: 36315000.
Singh S, Mathew M, Mertzanidou T, et al Histo-MRI map study protocol: a prospective cohort study mapping MRI to histology for biomarker validation and prediction of prostate cancer BMJ Open 2022;12:e059847. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2021-059847Moore CM, Frangou E, McCartan N on behalf of the Re-Imagine Study group, et al Prevalence of MRI lesions in men responding to a GP-led invitation for a prostate health check: a prospective cohort study BMJ Oncology 2023;2:e000057. doi: 10.1136/bmjonc-2023-000057
Singh S, Rogers H, Kanber B, Clemente J, Pye H, Johnston EW, Parry T, Grey A, Dinneen E, Shaw G, Heavey S, Stopka-Farooqui U, Haider A, Freeman A, Giganti F, Atkinson D, Moore CM, Whitaker HC, Alexander DC, Panagiotaki E, Punwani S. Avoiding Unnecessary Biopsy after Multiparametric Prostate MRI with VERDICT Analysis: The INNOVATE Study. Radiology. 2022 Dec;305(3):623-630. doi: 10.1148/radiol.212536. Epub 2022 Aug 2. PMID: 35916679.Tammy Kalber
Nominated for the Division of Medicine Established Investigator Award due to her exceptional research achievements in 2023. Dr Kalber is internationally acknowledged as a leading expert in cellular and molecular imaging. She is currently Head of Preclinical Nuclear Imaging in CABI, overseeing the research programme and providing pan-faculty access to imaging systems.In 2023 Dr Kalber secured several research grants in addition to overseeing the successful installation of the new Nuclear Imaging Systems that she funded as PI following the award of an MRC equipment grant (£800K: PI). These grants include: Royal Free Charity Grant 1076/RD “Radioactive Microparticles for the Treatment of Pulmonary Hypertension (£25K: Co-I) and LifeArc: Therapeutic Acceleration Support (TAS) Fund Rare Diseases Call “Humanisation and validation of novel B7-H3 antibodies for clinical translation as antibody drug conjugates” (£70K: Co-PI). Moreover, in 2023, Dr Kalber has published four papers in leading journals including Nature Protocols (https://www.nature.com/articles/s41596-022-00769-5). In addition, Dr Kalber has recently become the UCL In-vivo Imaging STP lead (2022) and member of the STP steering committee.
Dr Kalber has always had an active teaching role at UCL and established the Translational Biomedical Imaging of Disease and Therapy I and II modules on the CABI MSc in Advanced Biomedical Imaging (ABI). In 2023 she was appointed to the role of Director for ABI, maintaining oversight of the modules within the course. Within this role she has focused on steering the course's future development, ensuring a high standard of engagement for both teachers and students, ultimately enhancing the quality of the educational experience.
Throughout 2023, Dr Kalber has held a Home Office Project Licence. This has not only enabled her research group to conduct impactful translational research, but also facilitated tens of collaborative projects across UCL, allowing other PIs to benefit from her preclinical expertise. In addition, Dr Kalber has most recently obtained a Home Office Named Animal Care and Welfare Officer accreditation and directly interacts with UCL Biological Services to oversee all animal welfare coming into the CABI animal holding unit. Dr Kalber also continues to serve on CABI’s Facilities Management Committee, overseeing all interactions with group heads and clinicians within and external to UCL to initiate CABI collaborative imaging projects. As such across 2023, Dr Kalber has led and facilitated a huge volume of cutting-edge research within the division.
Together, I believe Dr Kalber’s outstanding individual research achievements this year together with her continued commitment to supporting a broad range of high quality research within the Division makes her a highly worthy winner for the Division of Medicine Established Investigator Award.
- Inflammation - Professor Marianna Fontana and Dr Voon Ong
Marianna Fontana
Marianna Fontana is the Director of the UCL CMR unit at the Royal Free Hospital campus. She is Professor of Cardiology and Honorary Consultant Cardiologist at the National Amyloidosis Centre, Division of Medicine, where she is deputy head of Center and deputy clinical lead. She obtained her Medical degree (MD) and qualifications as a cardiologist at the University of Pisa. She was appointed Director of the UCL CMR unit at the RFH in 2015, which she founded, and Professor of Cardiology at UCL in 2020. She was awarded with an intermediate fellowship from the British Heart Foundation in 2018. She is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Michael Davies Early Career Award in 2021 and the BHF Fellow of the year award in 2022 to study the pathogenesis, clinical phenotype and treatment response in patients with cardiac amyloidosis. Her major clinical and research interests are in the delivery of efficient and effective care for patients with amyloidosis, with a particular focus on new technologies: imaging and drugs. She is chief investigator and principal investigator in several clinical trials ranging from trials focusing on gene silencers targeting the amyloid production to trials testing monoclonal antibodies targeting the existing deposits. She works across the University and the Royal Free Hospital and interacts closely with industry. Major contributions include advances on the diagnosis, management and treatment of patients with cardiac amyloidosis. She and her team have established that cardiac AL amyloidosis can regress if patients achieve a complete response with chemotherapy (JAMA Cardiol, 2023; IF;24), and established that reversal of cardiac ATTR amyloidosis due to development of anti-amyloid antibodies can result in near-complete normalisation of cardiac structure and function (Fontana et al, NEJM, 2023) providing hope for antibody therapy of this devastating disease. She has been heavily involved in numerous global IMP trials for ATTR amyloid cardiomyopathy (Maurer et al, NEJM 2023 (IF; 176.1); Gillmore et al, NEJM 2023). In addition, 2023, Marianna has contributed to a large number (>10) of other publications in areas related to amyloidosis including Cardiovascular Res (IF;13), J Am Heart Assoc, Eur J Heart Fail (x5), Circ Cardiovasc Imaging, Front Cardiovasc Med (x2), Eur Heart J. (x2) She is widely recognised as the world opinion leader in cardiac MRI for cardiac amyloidosis, her earlier work having had a global impact by establishing the role of CMR in diagnosis and monitoring of ATTRCM. She is a member of numerous academic and industry advisory boards and supervises several PhD students. Marianna’s research output and publications in 2023 places her in a strong position for the Division of Medicine established investigator award.Voon ong
Voon Ong is an Associate Professor at UCL and an Honorary Consultant Rheumatologist at the Royal Free London NHS Trust. His research interest is in understanding the pathogenesis connective tissue diseases and in developing novel treatments notably for scleroderma. One of his main research areas is in the translational aspects of scleroderma, specifically the role of cytokines, chemokines and the immune cellular network (focussing on B cell and T cell biology) which complements the clinical service at the largest national centre for scleroderma and related diseases. He has led several key studies in the assessment of cytokines as putative biomarkers and therapeutic targets in scleroderma and immunephenotyping. In particular he has pioneered the study of B cell sub-sets in scleroderma using flow cytometry, scRNA seq and spatial transcriptomics. He is the principal investigator in numerous clinical trials in scleroderma and has contributed to major papers published in this field including national guidelines for management of scleroderma and related complications. Voon has significantly enhanced the fundamental research programme and the national service for systemic sclerosis spectrum diseases, and expanded the clinical service, to establish the UCL-Royal Free London ScleroderMA cohoRT (SMART) database, central for the collection of patient data to advancing our translational research and clinical trial programme. He has developed joint clinics, collaborated with specialties, and facilitated clinical trials and biological sample collection underpinning basic biomedical research. With the well-characterised patient cohorts on SMART database, collaborations with colleagues, collaborators and pharma have enriched scientific research in rheumatology, secured funding and advanced translational therapeutics in systemic sclerosis. Voon has been closely involved in the acquisition of significant research funding (As PI and Co-I) from both MRC (Clinical Fellowship; £270K), PhD studentships from Versus Arthritis (£120K), helping to secure industrial funding (Servier £503K; Abbvie £561K) and EU funding via the Dutch Arthritis Foundation (Eu470K). Voon has matured and developed as a clinician scientist and his research has been published (in 2023) in at least 8 high impact journals including two papers in Ann Rheum Dis (IF;27.5), Lancet Resp Med (IF;76.2), Clin Exp Rheumatol, Front Immunol, J Rheumatol, Eur Heart J Cardiovasc Imaging, and Arthritis Rheumatol (IF ;14). His research has underpinned a growing international reputation and associated invitations to present and co-organiser prestigious workshop some highlights of his contribution to international symposia in 2023 include presentation at rheumatology conferences in UK, Rhuematology Thailand, and connective tissue / Rheumatic disease symposia in Malaysia and Sri Lanka. In summary, Voon research is internationally competitive and translational with innovative and successful collaborations both internally in UCL and externally with international academics and industrial partners. Together these will enable greater achievements in the future. Voon Ong would therefore be a very suitable recipient of the DoM senior investigator award for 2023.- Renal - Professor Daniel Gale
Daniel Gale trained at Cambridge University before moving to London for postgraduate training in Nephrology, including a PhD under the supervision of Patrick Maxwell. Since 2018 he has held the St Peter’s Chair of Nephrology at University College London, where he leads the Centre for Genetics and Genomics in the Department of Renal Medicine. He looks after renal inpatients at the Royal Free Hospital and is an Honorary Consultant in Genomic Medicine at Great Ormond Street Hospital where he is Rare Diseases lead for the North Thames Genomic Laboratory Hub that delivers genomic testing to around 10% of the UK population. Professor Gale established and runs the North/Central London translational renal genetics service that has pioneered genomic testing and offers clinical trial involvement to patients and families with rare kidney diseases, including polycystic kidney disease, C3 glomerulopathy and Alport syndrome. He discovered (and identified the genetic basis of) the diseases HIF2α erythrocytosis with pulmonary hypertension, which results from defective oxygen sensing; and CFHR5 nephropathy, which is endemic in Cypriots. He leads the Genomics England Therapeutic Innovation and Trials Research Network and played a key role in developing the indications for genomic testing for kidney diseases within mainstream NHS care. His research group has conducted key large-scale genomics studies in numerous diseases, including C3 glomerulopathy, nephrotic syndrome, posterior urethral valves, intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy and IgA nephropathy. As director of the RaDaR registry (www.rarerenal.org) that includes over 30,000 patients recruited at >100 hospitals, his team has published clinical outcomes in 28 rare renal conditions, revealing the disproportionate impact these rare diseases have on the overall burden of kidney failure.
- Experimental and Translational Medicine - Professor Arne Akbar
Arne’s work on immune senescence, culminating on a recent discovery of how dendritic cells make T cells become younger during antigen presentation(1), has evolved from a series on studies centring on p38 MAPK (1-5) and (6). These studies are all human based and have utility in being manipulated to enhance vaccine inefficacy in the elderly, accelerate delayed wound healing and dementia.
1. A. Lanna et al., An intercellular transfer of telomeres rescues T cells from senescence and promotes long-term immunological memory. Nat Cell Biol 24, 1461-1474 (2022).
2. A. Lanna et al., A sestrin-dependent Erk-Jnk-p38 MAPK activation complex inhibits immunity during aging. Nat Immunol 18, 354-363 (2017).
3. B. I. Pereira et al., Senescent cells evade immune clearance via HLA-E-mediated NK and CD8(+) T cell inhibition. Nat Commun 10, 2387 (2019).
4. L. P. Covre, R. P. H. De Maeyer, D. C. O. Gomes, A. N. Akbar, The role of senescent T cells in immunopathology. Aging Cell 19, e13272 (2020).
5. S. M. Henson et al., p38 signaling inhibits mTORC1-independent autophagy in senescent human CD8(+) T cells. J Clin Invest 124, 4004-4016 (2014).
6. Cambers, E.S. Recruitment of inflammatory monocytes by senescent fibroblasts inhibits antigen-specific tissue immunity during human aging. Nature Aging, Vol 1. 101-113, 2021- Respiratory Medicine - Professor John Hurst
John Hurst
It gives us great pleasure to nominate Professor John Hurst for this award. Professor Hurst is Professor of Respiratory Medicine and Honorary Consultant at Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust. Professor Hurst’s primary research interest is focussed on exacerbations of the airway diseases, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and bronchiectasis, with a particular focus on infective, immune and inflammatory mechanisms, imaging, the role of biomarkers and the development of multi-morbidity. His research in COPD extends to the consequences in adults of people born with lung disease of prematurity, and alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency. His work has global reach, and he conducts research across three diverse sites in Nepal, Peru and Uganda. He has published his research in leading specialist and non-specialist journals, including the New England Journal of Medicine. He is a key opinion leader in the field and continues to make major contributions to international clinical guidelines for the treatment and management of COPD.
In terms of contribution to research in the calendar year 2023, John has co-authored close to 50 manuscripts, including original articles, clinical guidelines and invited editorials and opinion pieces in leading journals. In terms of a truly stand-out key personal achievement this year, John was successful in securing a highly competitive and prestigious five year NIHR Research Professorship (£1.83 M funding; awarded August 2023). Bridging the Division of Medicine and the Institute for Global Health at UCL, this Global NIHR award will enable John to develop and evaluate innovative strategies to better diagnose and treat chronic respiratory disease in the context of multi-morbidity, with international partners in Brazil. In conclusion, John is a truly exceptional clinician scientist and would be a most worthy and deserving awardee. He is an asset to the Division, a first-class ambassador for UCL as a global university, a dedicated teacher and PhD supervisor and an inspirational role model for future generations of clinician scientists.
Early Career Research Award for 2023 (Junior)
Nominees (winners selcted by Heads of Research Departments and Deputies)
- Wolfson Institute for Biomedical Research - Dr Matthew Swire
Matthew Swire (MRC Fellow).
Matthew was recently awarded an MRC Career Development Fellow to set up his own research group hosted in the Wolfson Institute for Biomedical Research (WIBR) within the Division of Medicine, UCL. Prior to this he has worked as a postdoctoral researcher in the lab of Professor William Richardson at WIBR. Matthew undertook PhD training and a short period of postdoctoral training at the University of Edinburgh, where he first developed his interest in myelin biology and established a strong network of contacts and collaborations. During his time at UCL, Matthew has driven his own research ideas forward, establishing himself as an independent researcher, alongside contributing to several collaborative projects both within UCL and with external collaborators. He comes across as an enthusiastic scientist and I regard him as an excellent candidate for this award.
Notable publication from 2023.
Shimizu, T., Nayar, S. G., Swire, M., Jiang, Y., Grist, M., Kaller, M., ... & Richardson, W. D. (2023). Oligodendrocyte dynamics dictate cognitive performance outcomes of working memory training in mice. Nature Communications, 14(1), 6499.
- Institute for Liver and Digestive Health - Dr Pilar Acedo
Pilar’s contribution to research in 2023 is supported by her publication and grant record, participation as invited speaker at congresses, reviewer for several journals, her election to the European Pancreatic Club Council and chair of the United European Gastroenterology (UEG) young talent group.
In April 2023, Pilar was awarded a Pancreatic Cancer UK (PCUK) Career Progression Fellowship (£299,999.14) becoming a Junior Group Leader at ILDH. Pilar is co-investigator in different grants focused on the discovery and validation of biomarkers for the early detection of pancreaticobiliary cancers, including a 2023 CRUK-funded programme grant (CanDetect; £2,496,457.87). Additionally, in July 2023, Pilar was awarded an MRC-UKRI Equipment Grant (£673,363.49) to create a Spatial Biology Hub at UCL (Royal Free Campus), to accelerate the clinical impact of fundamental and translational research, benefiting the whole UCL.
Pilar was awarded several prizes and awards, including the prestigious 2023 UEG Rising Star award. Based on her achievements, she was elected as Trainee Representative for the Cholangiocarcinoma-UK group.
Pilar is the chair of the UCL Cancer Domain Early Career Researcher (ECR) network and a committee member of the Division of Medicine ECR network. This supports her commitment to science dissemination, including in international newspapers and UCL initiatives (spotlights and Athena Swan- International Day of Women and Girls in Science) and training of junior scientists, especially women via her role as STEM Ambassador and student mentor in the in2ScienceUK Programme, where students from underprivileged backgrounds join her laboratory for a few weeks.
Pilar has developed a number of international collaborations. For example, in 2023, she joined the Precision-BTC EU COST Action management committee. This brought new training opportunities at UCL such as two-way secondments for ECRs (Pilar supervised several international students at ILDH and her students visited labs in Italy, Germany, Spain).
Pilar collaborated with charities (e.g. CRUK, PCUK) to raise cancer awareness and to support donors and patients, leading Patient and Public Involvement events at ILDH. She also organised visits to our laboratory, and filmed videos.
Currently, she has published more than 35 peer-reviewed articles (H-index: 18). Pilar has been invited speaker at several international and national conferences including 2023 UEG Week and the CRUK Early detection conference. She has also contributed to educational seminars/talks.
Regarding teaching and supervising students in 2023, Pilar supervised 4 BSc and 5 MSc students (plus 4 ongoing PhD students). All the students were awarded a Distinction. Remarkably, Kristine Bunayog has been nominated to the 2023 Dean's Research Prize and received the Mariam Sabir Award for the high quality of her research project supervised by Pilar. Pilar also acted as personal tutor and mentor for UCL students. Outside UCL, Pilar has been appointed as the chair of the Spanish Researchers in the UK Cancer Committee, increasing the visibility of the research done at UCL. She has also involved herself in teaching for Applied Medical Sciences and MSc Human Tissue Repair courses.- Imaging - Dr Charith Perera and Dr Shereen Nizari
Charith Perera
I am writing to nominate Dr Charith Perera for the Division of Medicine ECR award. In 2023, Charith has made several experimental breakthroughs leading to the development of a new MRI technique that can non-invasively probe the microstructure of the CP, the first in-vivo measurement of such kind. As an MRI physicist, Dr Perera’s research centres on the development of novel imaging methodologies for the non-invasive assessment of Choroid Plexus (CP) function. The CP resides within the brain’s fluid filled ventricles and forms the blood-cerebrospinal fluid barrier (BCSFB) - a unique interface which plays a critical role in effective homeostasis of the central nervous system. The CP has been shown to be selectively vulnerable to risk-factors such as ageing and hypertension, which, through changes in CP structure and function, may facilitate the onset of pathological cascades leading to neurodegenerative conditions, such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD), later in life. Unfortunately, however, the CP represents a highly challenging target for existing brain imaging methods and as a result, exploration of the CP-BCSFB’s role in health and disease to date has been severely hindered due to a lack of non-invasive imaging methods.
Charith’s work aims to address this problem by designing and building new MRI sequences that are sensitive to distinct components of CP physiology that may play an important role in the development of AD. He then tests the sensitivity of the new imaging methods that he has developed in mouse models of AD and works with clinical collaborators to optimise the novel methods for application to the human brain. Prior to 2023, Charith has previously published influential work using this approach (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36117909/; https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34144160/).
Furthermore, Charith has been collaborating with the Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown (Lisbon), to apply the novel MRI methods that he has developed to mouse models of AD. In doing so he has demonstrated that his novel method is highly sensitive to AD pathology, the first time that a derangement in CP function in AD has been captured using non-invasive techniques (https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.03.06.583668v1.full). Given these impressive research achievements, I believe that Charith would be fully deserving of the Division of Medicine ERC award.
Shereen Nizari
It is my pleasure to write to nominate Dr Shereen Nizari for this years’ Division of Medicine ECR award. Over the past year, Dr Nizari has been working tirelessly to lead a highly technically challenging and multidisciplinary project centering on the development of novel, translational, MRI biomarkers for the diagnosis and treatment of hydrocephalus. Dr Nizari has independently funded this work though the award of a UCL Therapeutic Innovation Networks (TINs) pilot grant for which she was PI (£10,000, 9/5/2023). In order to make progress on this ambitions project, Dr Nizari has pioneered/ adapted three novel scientific methodologies: 1) a new MRI technique that measures the function of the choroid plexus; 2) a novel mouse model of hydrocephalus; 3) the dual capture of MRI measurements of choroid plexus function and direct measurements of intra-cranial pressure. Together, Dr Nizari has therefore established a breakthrough methodological platform which has allowed her to make new discoveries about how hydrocephalus develops and how it can be successfully treated by drugs which target the function of the choroid plexus. Importantly because the MRI method is non-invasive, identical measurements can then be taken in patients to directly test drug efficacy in clinical hydrocephalus. Dr Nizari was recently awarded ‘Best Oral Presentation’ for her pioneering work at the Dementia Research Centre ECR Vascular Conference, Glasgow (December 2023).
In 2023, Dr Nizari has also made many important contributions outside academia, through the organisation of volunteer work in her community with local charities. For example, every Monday eve (7-10pm) she leads a team of people to provide food and shelter at a women's homeless shelter through the charity Glass Door. Furthermore, she has ran several trips to the countryside to organise teams to plant hedgerows as well as volunteered for several inner-city community garden projects. Taking steps to establish herself as an independent researcher, I am delighted that Dr Nizari has just submitted a Fellowship proposal to the ARUK Race Against Dementia ERC Fellowship scheme. I hope that this will allow her to establish her own research group in the Division of Medicine, a role in which I have no doubt she will excel.
In conclusion, I firmly believe that Dr Nizari’s research achievements this year, enabled by her exceptional work ethic and determination, make her a worthy winner of the Division of Medicine ECR award. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you require any more information about Dr Nizari’s work.
- Inflammation - Dr George Robinson and Dr Diana Cannetti
George Robinson
Nomination of Dr George Robinson for the ECR award in recognition of his outstanding contribution to research into the pathogenesis of Juvenile-onset systemic lupus erythematosus (JSLE) and stellar progress in the last year. George has rapidly developed as an ECR publishing seven first-author original research articles (two in Lancet Rheumatology, impact factor 25.4, one in eBioMedicine, impact factor 11.1), six first-author review articles (including in Journal of Clinical Investigation, impact factor 15.9), two senior-author original research articles (including in Arthritis & Rheumatology, impact factor 13.3), one senior-author review, six datasets, and co-authored 11 additional articles. Most of his first/senior-author papers are published in journals with impact factor >5. Many of these publications involve self-developed cross-disciplinary collaborations across UCL and Europe/USA, including a lab placement (2024) with world-leading cardiovascular research figures at New York University (Prof Ed Fisher) and has led multiple approved agreements with the Childhood Arthritis and Rheumatology Research Alliance (CARRA) Biorepository for access to rare clinical trial patient samples. George has now started his career as an independent scientist after obtaining a highly competitive 5-year Career Development Fellowship from Versus Arthritis (£399,844). In addition, he gained research funding as PI from the NIHR UCL/UCLH BRC (£93,620), Lupus UK (£50,000), and BBSRC (£4,000), as well as >£4,000 in international travel grants and >£70,000 in co-applicant funding. George’s research has been recognised both nationally and internationally through prestigious awards including the inaugural and prestigious British Society for Immunology (BSI) 2023 Early Career Research Excellence Award, which ‘recognises individuals at an early career stage who have made an outstanding contribution to immunology research’. His translational research was recognised by the British Society for Rheumatology 2022/23 Garrod Award, presented to ‘an early career scientist who demonstrates a distinguished contribution to the field of rheumatology’, the Paediatric Rheumatology European Association (PReS) 2022 Best Oral Presentation in Translational Science Award which supported him to attend the internationally recommended Eureka International Summer Course on Translational Medicine 2023 and was faculty member at the GSK-funded and UCL-led course on SLE (2024). George engages in science communication and enabling as member of the BSI Member Representative Forum and BSI Equity, Diversity and Inclusion group. He represented UCL at the BSI 2023 Royal Society of Biology’s Voice of the Future event, held in parliament to discuss science policy with political figures and is Translational Science Representative on the PReS EMErging RheumatoloGists and rEsearchers Executive Committee and Versus Arthritis Fellows Network Committee member. He contributes to the UCL Rheumatology patient engagement programme, and is ambassador for World yOung Rheumatic Diseases Day. Finally, as part of the UCL community he Co-Chairs the UCL DoM Early Career Research Network Committee, is member of the UCL DoM Athena SWAN Self-Assessment Team and took an active role in the organising committee for the 2023 UCL DoM Retreat meeting. Overall, George has set himself on a rapid upward trajectory and is developing into a successful and engaged independent scientist who would be a worthy winner of this award.Diana Cannetti
Diana Canetti is a newly appointed Lecturer (since October 2022) at the UCL Centre for Amyloidosis. She obtained her BSc, MSc and PhD in Chemical Sciences from the University of Naples (Italy) before joining UCL in 2017 as research associate at the Centre for Amyloidosis. Diana has focussed her research in the area of protein biochemistry and structure and is a recognised expert in proteomics. She has >10 years’ experience in the application of mass spectrometry/proteomics to address problems of physiological and pathological importance. Her current research activity is focused on the amyloid characterization and quantitation using proteomic approaches, and in understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying amyloid deposition in patients with amyloidosis. This includes work on post-translational modifications of amyloid proteins, drug effects on protein conformation, and international validation studies on clinical amyloid proteomics. In the division of medicine at the Royal Free Campus, Diana has pioneered the implementation of contemporary Mass spectrometry methodologies including MALDITOF/MALDI-TOFTOF, ESI-MS, LC-MS/MS systems, including Q/TOF, Ion Trap, LTQ Orbitrap XL, Velos, Q-Exactive Plus. She has developed robust strategies for proteins characterization, including PTMs using classical biochemical methods coupled with mass spectrometry techniques, and limited proteolysis for characterization of proteins surface topology. In addition to methodologies and applications Diana is a skilled proteomic bioinformatician for the analytical strategies using MASCOT, MaxQuant, Proteome Discoverer, Scaffold, Skyline) and for protein network analyses (Cytoscape, Gene Ontology, David, Panther, String). In 2023, her first year as a lecturer, Diana’s research expertise in protein biochemistry and proteomics has enabled her to make several essential contributions to key publications in the field of amyloidosis research including papers in FASEB BioAdvances, NEJM (IF; 176), PLoS ONE, and Cells (IF;8). Diana has also been invited guest editor in the journal ‘Molecules’ covering hot topics in mass spectrometry and proteomics. Diana’s success in grant funding includes a 2 year grant (as PI) from the US-based pharmaceutical company, Pfizer Inc to investigate circulating and deposited wild type, variant and truncated transthyretin in amyloidosis patients as a basis for improved diagnosis. And works closely with the clinical team in the National Amyloidosis Centre to enhance the diagnostic capability of proteomics, and have also collaborated with colleagues across the division, (Prof Anisur Rhaman, Prof Alan Salama and Prof Massimo Pinzani) to provide proteomics input into their research projects. Diana also has an active education portfolio, where she is the module lead on Proteomics Techniques and Applications for Genetics and Multiomics in Medicine MSc (MEDC0127), and part of her academic activity she supervises BSc and MSc students within the Division of Medicine. For a newly appointed lecturer Diana’s research achievements are exceptional, bringing great research strength to the division underpinned by her proteomic expertise. She is therefore deemed to be a highly appropriate candidate for the division of medicine ECR award.- Renal - Dr Keith Siew and Dr Catherine Chieng
Keith Siew
Keith is a physiologist who is coming to the end of his Henry Dale Wellcome Fellowship. During his time he has established a novel set of platforms for imaging and interrogating the kidney from 3D histological analysis of kidney biopsies to patch clamp techniques of kidney sections, and cells. These are being utilised by others in the department to allow further research on immune-physiological interactions investigating the impact of salt on immune reactivity. Most recently he has led work investigating the impact of space travel, specifically microgravity, and cosmic radiation on kidney function in rodents and astronauts- using multi-omic, biochemical and morphometric approaches. This work will be published in April as part of a large Nature package of work on the impact of space travel on health. Keith is currently applying for a position as a Associate Professor in the newly established Centre for Kidney and Bladder Health and if successful will form an integral part of the physiology theme of the centre.
Catherine Chieng
Catherine Chieng joined the Bladder infection and Immunity group in 2021 (Centre for Kidney and Bladder Health). Since then she has worked primarily on disease causation and uncovering immune perturbations leading to or driving chronic UTI. She has given 5 podium presentation at both national and leading international conferences
In 2023, Catherine published an invited review paper on mucosal immunology in recurrent / chronic UTI (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36642381/) and, this year, co-authored a manuscript on artificial intelligence in UTI diagnosis published by Nature Scientific Data (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38302487/).
She is currently writing up 2 further papers. One of which, an invited manuscript by Pathogens, detected causative pathogens in UTI by exploring which bacteria triggered a host immune response. The 2nd of which, submitted to the DoM retreat, used image based machine-learning to detect highly significant clinical and statistical differences in the innate immune responses found in chronic UTI patients and healthy controls. To achieve this, Catherine trained a neural network to detect morphology, activation, motility and death in over 30,000 images of live neutrophiles (1080 hours of time-lapse). Using these technologies she has developed further understanding of the biology surrounding urinary tract infections.
- Experimental and Translational Medicine - Dr Nish Arulkumaran
Can we commend Dr Nish Arulkumaran for this award. Nish is an exceptional and productive clinician-scientist in intensive care medicine with 50% research time funded by the MRC and grant support from the Rosetrees Trust. He has been highly prolific throughout 2023 with 8 peer-reviewed publications – one as first author (in Nat Commun) and three as last author (incl Sci Rep and Chest). Some of these publications relate to his considerable expertise in conducting systematic reviews and meta-analyses. His research focuses on two main areas: (i) leading an exciting project (in conjunction with UCL Chemistry and UCL Microbiology) to enhance existing antibiotics by encapsulation within customized liposomes and incorporation of DNA nanotubes as artificial neutrophil extracellular traps, and (ii) assessing multi-omic changes in peripheral blood mononuclear cell functionality during infection/sepsis across the patient pathway from the emergency department through the ward to intensive care which is yielding some fascinating results. He also finds time to be the Academic Training Programme Director for the London School of Intensive Care Medicine. He is successfully building up his research group with several PhD students. He also takes on multiple MSC/BSc project students, two of whom presented their research abstracts at the 2023 European Congress of Intensive Care Medicine.
- Respiratory Medicine - Dr Kaylee Worlock
Kaylee Worlock
We would like to nominate and highly recommend Kaylee Worlock for the Division of Medicine Academic Contribution Award as the UCL Respiratory nominee. Kaylee is an exceptional post-doctoral research associate in Marko Nikolić’s group. She was recruited to UCL Respiratory as an MRCT DTP student and excelled in her PhD as evidenced by her first author Nature paper on paediatric-specific COVID-19 responses. She worked throughout all lockdowns during the pandemic (doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-04345-x) and additionally contributed to six high-impact manuscripts as a co-author in Nature Genetics (doi: 10.1038/s41588-023-01421-y and doi: 10.1038/s41588-022-01243-4), American Journal Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine (doi: 10.1164/rccm.202204-0751oc) and Nature Medicine (doi: 10.1038/s41591-023-02327-2, doi: 10.1038/s41591-021-01329-2 and doi: 10.1038/s41591-020-0868-6).
Over the last year she contributed to several high-impact manuscripts, two as a first author; one has just been accepted in Nature Microbiology: doi: 10.1101/2023.01.16.524211 and the other is currently in 3rd revision at Nature: doi: 10.1101/2023.04.13.23288227). She was also second author on a manuscript published in Science Immunology (doi: 10.1126/sciimmunol.adf9988).
Additionally, she is an amazing public speaker both nationally and internationally, and eagerly helps other colleagues in any way she can. At UCL, Kaylee also volunteered at educational days aimed encouraging students to participate in STEM subjects and participated in lay talks/tours for CRUK supporters. She regularly co-reviews scientific manuscripts and acted as a MRC-DTP student representative on interview panels. She won the British Association for Lung Research (BALR) Early Career Investigator Prize in 2021, was nominated for the UCL Dean’s Research Prize in 2022, won several international poster prizes and was nominated by the Royal Society and UCL to attend the 72nd Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting in Physiology and Medicine in 2023.
Kaylee is truly exceptional and would be a most worthy and deserving awardee. She is on a very steep academic trajectory but continuous to stay true to herself and is both approachable and humble. She is an asset to the Division, a first-class ambassador for UCL and an inspirational role model for future generations of emerging scientists.
Education Excellence Award for 2023
Organised by the Education Department. Winner to be announced at the Retreat.