Category: College Events

MedTechOne Early Careers Network Summer Meeting (19 June)

We are excited to invite you to the next MedTechOne Early Career Researchers Network meeting on the 19th June 2025, 17:00-19:00 at SALC 10 (Sherfield Building, South Kensington). Our invited speaker, Dr. Maria Leiloglou, will share her experience as a medtech innovator and leader in AI-fuelled hyperspectral imaging for biomedical applications.

Dr Maria Leiloglou is the founder and CEO of EnAcuity. Maria is a MedTech innovator with expertise in development and clinical translation of imaging technology. During her PhD and MSc at Imperial College London, she brought three surgical imaging devices to first-in-human trials. With EnAcuity, Maria’s vision is to empower surgeons to enhance patient care with the world’s first AI-driven hyperspectral imaging solution.

All postgraduate students, early career researchers, fellows, and members of the business school with an interest in medical technology and entrepreneurship are encouraged to attend. Feel free to share it with colleagues who might be interested!

Register your attendance: Fill in this form

Meeting details:

📅 Date: 19th June
🕓 Time: 17:00 – 19:00
📍 Location: SALC 10, Sherfield Building (Imperial College London, South Kensington Campus)

🔊 Speaker: Maria Leiloglou, CEO at EnAcuity and RAEng Enterprise Fellow

About the MedTechONE ECR Network:

The MedTechOne Early Career Network is a forum aimed at addressing the pressing challenges in medtech commercialization, and fostering collaboration and innovation among researchers, clinicians, and entrepreneurs passionate about medtech commercialisation. Our goal is to create a thriving community to engage with like-minded peers, hear from inspiring leaders, and explore how the intersection of research and entrepreneurship can drive impactful medtech solutions.

This networks integrates within the wider MedTechOne  Centre of Excellence at Imperial College London, dedicated to supporting medtech entrepreneurs by addressing challenges such as regulatory hurdles, high development costs, and NHS adoption. MedTechONE also streamlines resources to fast-track medical technologies from research to real-world applications.

Want to join the network?

Email Dr Miguel Paez-Perez at m.paez-perez16@imperial.ac.uk

We look forward to seeing you there.

Kind Regards,

Miguel Paez-Perez, Zejian Cui, Nazia Bharde, Ivet Angelova & the MedTechOne Team

Imperial Fungal Science Network – Seminar – Keynote by Prof. Sophien Kamoun (3 July)

We warmly invite you to attend the Imperial Fungal Science Network – Seminar – Keynote by Prof. Sophien Kamoun on

🗓️ Thursday 3 July, 15:30 – 16:30

📍 G47 Flowers Building, South Kensington Campus, Armstrong Road, London SW7 2AZ

No registration required

Click here – to see full event information

In-person (walk in; refreshments from 3pm) or online (via Teams; see live link above)

The programme explores host-pathogen interactions and we welcome speakers from across our fungal research themes.
Prof. Sophien Kamoun (The Sainsbury Laboratory)
Think. Evolutionary. Transitions.
In recent years, my lab — or perhaps it’s just me — has become increasingly obsessed with evolutionary transitions: the idea that every gene has an origin and an evolutionary journey marked by gain, loss, or shifts in function. In this talk, I will explore how this perspective applies to the study of filamentous plant pathogens — fungi and oomycetes. Though phylogenetically distant, they share striking similarities in morphology and lifestyle: both are filamentous, heterotrophic, and notoriously adaptable. Their ability to evade plant immunity and shift hosts makes them ideal models for studying the evolutionary arms race between pathogens and plants. I’ll also highlight how plant-pathogen coevolution has shaped — and continues to reshape —mechanisms of plant immunity.Bio  Sophien Kamoun grew up in Tunisia where he developed a passion and curiosity about nature. He studied genetics in Paris and Davis, California, before working in Wageningen, Ohio and Norwich, where he is currently a Senior Scientist at The Sainsbury Laboratory and Professor of Biology at The University of East Anglia. He is known for his seminal contributions to our understanding of plant diseases and plant immunity having pioneered genomics and molecular biology methods to reveal fundamental insights into the biology and evolution of eukaryotic plant pathogens. His inventive work in plant pathology has resulted in new approaches to mitigate some of the world’s most serious crop diseases. He is well-known as a champion of open science, including open data, transparent peer review, and preprints to promote rapid dissemination of science. Professor Kamoun has received many awards and recognitions, notably the Kuwait Prize and The Linnean Medal. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2018.
Cristina Vuolo (Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London)
Dissecting recognition of fungal virulence factors by plant cell-surface immune receptors
I am a first year PhD student in Dr Tolga Bozkurt’s lab, which focuses on dissecting the many intricacies of plant-pathogen interactions. My research interests centre on how plants recognise invading pathogens and trigger defence responses. In this talk, I will present current work investigating the mechanisms by which plant cell-surface receptors mediate immunity against fungal plant pathogens. 
Dr Tom Williams (Department of Infectious Disease, Imperial College London)
Investigating Fungal Airway Disease Through the Use of Murine Repeat Challenge Models
I am an early career researcher at Imperial College, working with Prof. Darius Armstrong-James whose group focuses on the biological properties and immune responses to the opportunistic pathogen Aspergillus fumigatus.  My primary research area of interest is in understanding how the fungi that we are exposed to everyday impact our immune system. In this talk I will outline repeat challenge models of fungal exposure highlighting the immunological and transcriptomics responses. Finally, I will demonstrate how these models can be employed to investigate immunological pathways, respiratory disease and co-infection.

Sir Ernst Chain Annual Lecture: A tale of two antibodies (2 July)

Imperial College London’s Department of Life Sciences invites you to attend the Sir Ernst Chain Annual Lecture. The lecture will be delivered by Sir Gregory Winter, MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge, winner of the 2018 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

A tale of two antibodies

Date: Wednesday 2 July 2025

Time: 17.30 – 18.30 BST

Lecture venue: Lecture Theatre 200, City and Guilds Building, Imperial College London, South Kensington, SW7 2AE. (see square B2 on the map)

Live stream: Please note that there is no live stream provision for this lecture.

 

Please register to attend the lecture here

 

We have limited spaces available, so please ensure you register for this lecture in advance via the link above.

The lecture will be followed by a public reception until 19.30.

Abstract

In recent years we have seen a revolution in the development of monoclonal antibodies as game-changing pharmaceutical drugs. As one of its ringleaders, Sir Gregory Winter will take us on a journey through the development of two antibodies, alemtuzumab and adalimumab, telling us the story of the interplay of technology, intellectual property, business and politics that shaped this amazing breakthrough.

Biography

Sir Gregory Winter CBE FRS FMedSci is a Nobel Prize-winning English molecular biologist best known for his work on the therapeutic use of monoclonal antibodies. His research career has been based almost entirely at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology and the MRC Centre for Protein Engineering, in Cambridge, England.

He is credited with having invented techniques to both humanize and, later, to fully humanize using phage display, antibodies for therapeutic uses. Previously, antibodies had been derived from mice, which made them difficult to use in human therapeutics because the human immune system had anti-mouse reactions to them. For these developments Winter was awarded the 2018 Nobel Prize in Chemistry along with George Smith and Frances Arnold.

Sir Ernst Chain Lecture

The Sir Ernst Chain Lecture is an annual event held by Imperial’s Department of Life Sciences, commemorating the achievements of Sir Ernst Chain for humankind. In 1945 Ernst Chain, Alexander Fleming and Howard Florey received the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for the discovery and isolation of penicillin. Fleming made the original famous observation of the production of an “anti-bacterial agent” at St Mary’s, but it was Ernst Chain who developed the process to isolate penicillin.

Further details will be sent out in the joining instructions ahead of the event. If you have any questions in the meantime, please email rsvp@imperial.ac.uk

Communicating about Science and the Scientific Enterprise for Nature (02 July 2025)

The Early Career Researcher Showcase is a celebration of the research being carried out by the ECR community at Imperial College London.

Join us for the Keynote Speech with Jack Leeming, Senior Careers Editor, Nature* who will be delivering his talk ‘Communicating about Science and the Scientific Enterprise for Nature’

The keynote speech, will be followed by the prize ceremony for the winners of the ECR Showcase competition. All attendees are then welcome to join us for networking drinks and nibbles in the Sir Alexander Fleming Building Foyer.

*Jack Leeming is an editor for Nature’s careers section, which focuses on the issues faced by working scientists around the world. He also runs Nature’s award-winning photographic ‘Where I work’ section, which profiles a different researcher every week.

Find out more & register

“Innovators Meet Future Talent”, a special networking event hosted by Imperial College London’s Student Research Network Hub (19 June 2025)

Join us for “Innovators Meet Future Talent”, a special networking event hosted by Imperial College London’s Student Research Network Hub.

This is a fantastic opportunity to connect directly with dynamic start-up founders from the Scale Space ecosystem. You’ll hear short pitches, join informal discussions, and take part in a live Q&A with fellow founders. You’ll also be able to share your research ideas, offering fresh thinking and exciting opportunities for collaboration.

This is a great chance to forge interdisciplinary partnerships and connect with innovators eager to contribute to real-world solutions. Whether you’re considering future career paths, looking for collaborations, or simply want to expand your professional network within the Imperial community, we’d be delighted to see you there.

Tickets are limited and allocated on a first-come, first-served basis. Click the link below to save your spot!

Event Details:

And yes, there will be free drinks and nibbles!

We hope you can make it for an evening of insightful connections.

Join the launch of the Imperial Health Economic Evaluation (IHEE)—network, learn & shape the future of health economics! (19 June 2025)

Join us for the launch of Imperial Health Economic Evaluation (IHEE)—a new initiative designed to strengthen Imperial College London’s capacity for economic evaluation in health research.

As funding bodies increasingly require economic evaluations in grant applications, researchers at Imperial have highlighted a critical need for in-house expertise. This event will introduce the group’s vision, showcase ongoing collaborations, and create opportunities for interdisciplinary networking.

Led by Professor Anita Patel, this initiative aims to reduce outsourcing costs, enhance grant success rates, and build long-term capacity for economic evaluation across faculties.

Why Attend?
  • Gain Insights – Learn about the role of economic evaluation in health research and its growing importance in securing grants and influencing policy.
  • Network & Collaborate – Meet leading researchers across Imperial College London and explore potential collaborations.
  • Engage with Experts – Hear from key teams conducting health economic evaluations.
  • Be Part of the Future – Help shape the development of this new cross-faculty initiative.
Who Should Attend?
  • Any researchers at Imperial seeking health economic evaluation expertise
  • Academics from Imperial College Business School & Faculty of Medicine
  • Grant applicants looking to strengthen funding proposals

 

Register: Launch of Imperial Health Economic Evaluation (IHEE) Tickets, Thu, Jun 19, 2025 at 9:00 AM | Eventbrite

 

Join the 3Rs-Hub Advisory Group – Let’s Make a Difference Together!

I’m excited to reach out to you as the newly appointed PhD student representative for the 3Rs-Hub Advisory Group at Imperial College London. As you may know, the 3Rs-Hub is dedicated to promoting the 3Rs (Replacement, Reduction, and Refinement) in animal research, and our mission is to create a collaborative environment where researchers like you can engage in discussions, share ideas, and work together to advance more ethical and efficient practices in animal research.

Whether your PhD involves animal work, or you are exploring alternative models and systems that can help reduce or replace animal testing, the 3Rs-Hub is a fantastic group for you to get involved in. We are building a community of like-minded students who are passionate about driving change, and we’d love for you to be part of this initiative.

Throughout the year, we will be hosting a range of informative events and networking opportunities aimed at fostering collaboration and furthering the application of the 3Rs principles in research. These events are not only an excellent chance to learn from experts but also a great way to socialize and connect with fellow researchers in the field.

If you are interested in joining the 3Rs-Hub community and contributing to this important work, please contact me at mm720@ic.ac.uk . We look forward to hearing from you and hope you’ll consider being part of this exciting initiative!

Thank you for your time, and I hope to see you at our upcoming events.

Best regards,


Michael Manolakakis
PhD Student Representative, 3Rs-Hub Advisory Group (https://3rshub.imperial.ac.uk/)
Imperial College London
mm720@ic.ac.uk