Research

Organ Chip, Synovium Joint, Cardiovascular Disease, Immunology, Infectious Disease, Bone Oncology, Molecular Medicine, Biochemistry

Underpinning Bioengineering, Cardiovascular Models, Infectious Disease and Inflammation Models, Musculoskeletal Models

PhD Title

Development of a dual synovial joint and heart on-a-chip model for investigating heart disease in Rheumatoid arthritis and testing new therapeutics

Interests

My expertise in biochemistry, coupled with diverse clinical and medical experiences in the UK and internationally, has provided me unique research-driven training in translational oncology, and immunology, strengthening my ability to bridge scientific discovery for meaningful improvements in patient care.

As a born leader, I thrive in challenging environments where I can apply my scientific communication, negotiation, and project management skills. During my MSc at Imperial College London, I gained hands-on experience in developing high-throughput quantitative imaging platforms for testing PROTACs against proinflammatory cytokines. This work underscored the therapeutic potential of harnessing targeted protein degradation to mitigate harmful cytokine activity, a strategy with far-reaching implications for treating inflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis. The ability to design and assess targeted therapies not only deepened my technical expertise but also reinforced my motivation to contribute to immunology research with tangible clinical impact.

As part of the first COaCT cohort, I am undertaking a PhD with Dr Lucy Norling, Dr Jianmin Chen, Prof Thomas Iskratsch where I will investigate the molecular mechanisms underpinning the link between rheumatoid arthritis and cardiovascular disease to contribute to the development of in vitro models that can aid in generation of novel therapeutics to improve patient outcomes. This project represents the natural progression in my professional and academic journey and emphasises my personal commitment to improving clinical outcomes.

Alongside immunology, I remain deeply committed to oncology, particularly bone cancer research. Through first-hand accounts from survivors of osteosarcoma, Ewing sarcoma, chondrosarcoma, chordoma, and adamantinoma, I understand the devastating impact of current cytotoxic systemic treatments. My first-author publication on post-treatment late and long-term effects in bone sarcoma in the Journal of Bone Oncology highlighted significant gaps in clinical knowledge and underscored the urgent need to re-examine current long-term care.