Assistant Professor

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SLS Clusters

Cells & Development

Microbiology & Infectious Disease

Teaching Interests

I am a cell biologist with expertise in cancer biology, immunology and virology. My research and teaching interests lie in these three areas. My group mainly focuses on EBV-associated carcinomas and the development of organoid culture models that are applicable to EBV research in vitro. Most importantly, in utilising these models to understand basic biology of EBV-associated carcinomas and potential therapeutic treatments. Currently accepting PhD and MRes students.

In terms of teaching pedagogies, I am interested in students’ perspectives of AI and the importance of teaching ethical AI usage. I am also interested in ensuring science students are leaving university with key skills in experimental design and problem solving, and therefore how to embed these into the curriculum. I hold a PGcert in Academic Practice and am a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

Research Interests and Other Activities

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is a ubiquitous human herpesvirus associated with the development of both lymphoid and epithelial tumours; and most recently, implicated in the development of autoimmune diseases such as MS, ME and long covid. A key challenge in the study of EBV in epithelial cells is that in vitro models are not well developed, with the more advanced models being developed in B cells. This is due to the difficulty in establishing infection in epithelial cells in cell culture. Working alongside Prof. Lawrence Young in the Medical school, my group is working to overcome this. We are interested in understanding latent vs lytic EBV infection and in therapeutically targeting epithelial based EBV positive tumours.

With my early research years focusing on metallodrug, my group will also continue to collaborate on projects studying these therapeutic avenues as well, in a variety of cancer types.

Other research interests lie around the resolution of inflammation and impaired immunity. This work extends from a post-doctoral position I held with Prof. Derek Gilory at UCL, and we continue to work in collaboration.