Another six students joined us in September 2021. All are now well underway with their PhD studies!
Vikki Houghton
PhD Project Title: Investigating the impact of food allergic reactions on children’s mental health and the underlying neurobiological mechanisms
PhD Supervisors: Dr Alexandra Santos & Prof Sandrine Thuret
Educational and Career Background: I received my Master's in Neuroscience from King’s College London, specializing in neural stem cells and nervous system repair. I then worked as a research assistant at King’s for two years, investigating the underlying mechanisms associated with C9orf72-related amyotrophic lateral sclerosis & frontotemporal dementia.
Alessia Marrocu
PhD Project Title: A lipid nanoparticle-based approach for therapeutic vaccination in glioblastoma multiforme
PhD Supervisors: Prof Khuloud Al-Jamal & Dr James Arnold
Educational and Career Background: I graduated with a Neuroscience BSc from King's College London in 2020 and directly followed it up with an MRes in Experimental Neuroscience at Imperial College London where, being in the lab full-time, I slowly discovered the field of neuroimmunology.
Hannah McConchie
PhD Project Title: Multi-omics approach to identifying immunomodulatory ECM components in rodent models of SCI and TBI
PhD Supervisors: Prof Elizabeth Bradbury & Dr Tanya Shaw
Educational and Career Background: I completed my undergraduate degree at the Australian National University, and then graduated with a Masters of Neuroscience from Charité, Universitätsmedizin Berlin and Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.
Aisling McGarry
PhD Project Title: Understanding the mechanisms of immune effector cell associated neurotoxicity syndrome (ICANS) in patients receiving chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy for cancer
PhD Supervisors: Dr Gerald Finnerty & Dr Anna Schurich
Educational and Career Background: I completed my BSc (Hons) degree in Neuroscience at the University of Manchester. I then completed an MRes degree in Experimental Neuroscience at Imperial College London, where I developed an interest in neuropathology. From this, I worked as a Research Technician at the UK Dementia Research Institute at Imperial College London, where I contributed towards creating a multi-omics atlas of the human brain in Alzheimer's disease.
Maryam Waseem-Saeed
PhD Project Title: Exploring the therapeutic potential of blocking L-selectin shedding in Traumatic Brain injury and Spinal Cord Injury
PhD Supervisors: Dr Aleksandar Ivetic & Prof Elizabeth Bradbury
Educational and Career Background: I graduated with an undergraduate degree in Neuroscience at King's College London in 2020 and then graduated with a master's degree in Experimental Pharmacology and Therapeutics at University College London in 2021.
Lucy Zhao
PhD Project Title: Pain and neurodiversity in refractory rheumatoid arthritis
PhD Supervisors: Dr Kirsty Bannister & Dr Sam Norton
Educational and Career Background: I graduated from University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2019 with a BSc degree in Neuroscience and German. I then moved to Germany and completed an MSc degree in Molecular Biosciences (Neuroscience) at Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg in 2021, where I developed an interest in neuroimmunology.