Congratulations to Dr Chris Mullington, anaesthetic registrar currently undertaking a PhD in collaboration between the Department of Anaesthetics and the MSk Lab who won the best caesarean section poster prize at the recent Obstetric Anaesthetists’ Association in Manchester.
His poster was entitled: “Is mean body temperature a cause of shivering during elective caesarean section under spinal anaesthesia? A pilot study”, which summarised the work investigating the mechanism underlying this common side effect of regional anaesthesia in obstetric patients.
Congratulations to Kirsty Flower, who formed part of the Hammersmith team who won the first Postdoc Development Centre Team Award, given to a group of individuals for their outstanding contribution to postdoc life. As a thank you, they received a £100 voucher to put towards a team celebration.
A huge thank you to Kirsty for all your hard work in supporting our postdoc community!
Our very own Prof Naomi Chayen has featured in last months widely circulated Crystallography Times speaking about the product she has pioneered and the lab where all the magic happens!
Congratulations to Matthieu Komorowski, (research fellow completing a PhD with Prof Tony Gordon) who has just won first prize in the Royal Society of Medicine Research and Innovation competition for his submission entitled: Beyond the Surviving Sepsis Campaign: the Surviving Sepsis Computer. As part of the prize, Matthieu will be invited to give an oral presentation to present his project once it is completed, and receives a £500 prize fund.
Congratulations also to Weihong Du (current BSc Surgery and Anaesthesia student) who has won the John Snow Anaesthesia iBSc Award from the National Institute of Academic Anaesthesia for his project entitled: To further investigate the mechanisms of leukocytes activation during VILI and how this activation leads to systemic inflammation.
The role of the Institute for Molecular Science and Engineering is to take on grand challenges in science and technology using an approach that integrates molecular science expertise with engineering. Projects were selected to showcase collaboration across disciplines at the College, and the potential of future collaboration in solving grand challenges. The event was hosted by Imperial’s President, Prof Alice Gast.
All staff levels are welcome to attend the Postdoc Development Centres upcoming Postdoctural Knowledge Forum happening on Tuesday the 28th June 2016. To register please contact Surgery and Cancer’s Postdoc Rep Dr Kirsty Flower (k.flower@imperial.ac.uk)
Dr David MacIntyre – MRC-CDA Fellow and Lecturer in Reproductive Systems Medicine has been recognised for his world-class research with the panel commenting:
“David’s research has impacted at a national and international level. He has been demonstrably influential on colleagues in his Department and is involved in several internal activities. He is an impressive candidate who has a good track record in securing funding”
Dr David MacIntyre’s research investigates the role of inflammation in the onset of term and preterm human labour. He is particularly interested in understanding the implications of the vaginal microbiome in poor pregnancy outcomes such as preterm premature rupture of membranes (PPROM), which is also known as when a woman’s waters break early during her pregnancy. His research team approaches this using both classical biochemistry methods as well as a “systems” approach where data acquired from genomic, transcriptomic and metabolic profiling platforms are integrated and modelled to investigate the interaction between vaginal microbiota and the maternal host. It is hoped that will lead to improved diagnostic and predictive tools that will assist in patient stratification and ultimately, improved pregnancy outcomes
Dr Chloe Chiou (Research Associate) gave a presentation at the International Society of the Lumbar Spine Conference held in Singapore from the 16th to 20th May. The presentation described work on using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) to assess compressed lumbar nerve roots in patients with sciatica and associations between the structure and function of the nerves and clinical symptoms. This work is supported by the Networks of Excellence scheme, the Wellcome Trust ISSF.
Dr Paul Strutton, Senior Lecturer in Neurophysiology
Dr Frankie Bolt (Research Associate in Microbial Metabonomics) is involved in planning an event on the evening of the 8th of September at Charing Cross Hospital as part of the Imperial Pathways to Medicine programme, which encourages students from underprivileged backgrounds to apply for medical school. As part of this event two workshops will be running for students on the programme:
Discussing cancer diagnostics: Clinical research fellows and scientists will work through case studies with the students and a presentation on the iKnife and cancer diagnostics will be given.
Introducing students to diagnostics for clinical microbiology: The team will demonstrate how Rapid Evaporative Ionisation Mass Spectrometry (REIMS) is being developed for microbial diagnostics. The students will then work in teams lead by Clinical Research Fellows and scientists to solve and curb an outbreak.
Congratulations to Dr Nikhil Tirlapur a current Clinical Research Fellow working in Anaesthetics, Pain Medicine and Intensive Care (APMIC) who has been awarded the Best International Trainee Scholarship Award from the American Thoracic Society (ATS) at this years ATS meeting that took place this month.
This conference attracts close to 7000 abstracts per year, with over 30% of abstracts from international participants. There were 55 international trainee scholarships awarded this year and Nikhil’s award for the 1st place was based on a research project carried out in the APMIC Section at Chelsea and Westminster campus.
Professor Zoltan Takats iKnife team were invited along to showcase their research at the NIHR at 10 celebratory conference on 18th May 2016. The day comprised a series of talks and panels to discuss the impact that the National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) has had on health research since its conception in 2006, with key contributors including Chief Medical Officer Professor Dame Sally Davies and the Secretary of State for Health Jeremy Hunt, speaking about the world class research funded and supported by the NIHR.
Along with Professor Takats, Clinical Research Fellow Edward St John and Research Technician Emma White were in attendance to exhibit the iKnife in the NIHR gallery, showcasing the possible future direction for the NIHR’s work and allowing attendees to experience some of the technology that will be changing the lives of patients in years to come. The exhibit proved popular amongst visitors, and the iKnife was heralded as one of Imperial College London’s most ground-breaking pieces of health research by Professor Lord Darzi of Denham in his opening address.
Precision Medicines conferences showcase international, cutting-edge research & technology that is transforming how we detect and treat cancer. The 2016 ‘Engineering Solutions for Cancer’ meeting is focused on the interface between molecular science and engineering and is targeted at ALL biologists, engineers, clinicians, chemists and data scientists interested in multidisciplinary cancer research. If you want to learn more from world-leading scientists about how cancer biology can benefit from nanotechnology (Molly Stevens), novel surgical and imaging methods (Zoltan Takats, Uwe Oelfke, Tony Ng), novel methods for liquid biopsy screening (David Klug, Charles Coombes), innovations in molecular bioengineering (Marianne Rots, Valerie Weaver) or advanced proteomics (Ruedi Aebersold) then register now at www.Precisionmedicines.com.
The Imperial College sponsored GAPs trial has recently opened to recruitment at Imperial College Healthcare Trust. The multicentre GAPS trial is examining the benefit of graduated compression stockings as an adjunct to low-dose low molecular weight heparin in the prevention of venous thromboembolism in elective surgical inpatients identified as moderate or high risk for venous thromboembolism. The importance of preventing patients from developing VTE is widely recognized.
The aim of this study is to look at whether patients who wear elastic stockings as well as taking anticoagulant medication have a lower chance of developing VTE than patients who take anticoagulant medications only. Participants are randomly allocated to one of two groups:
1) Graduated compression to wear during their hospital stay, as well as taking low molecular weight heparin OR
2) low molecular weight heparin only
Imperial Research Nurse Vernisha Ali
The trial team are all based in the Vascular department and consist of the Chief Investigator, Professor Alun Davies; Co-Investigator, Joe Shalhoub; Trial managers Francine Heatley and Rebecca Lawton and the Imperial research nurse, Vernisha Ali.
Research Councils UK (RCUK) has today launched an action plan to promote equality, diversity and inclusion in research, recognising its leadership role in driving a change in culture.
This follows RCUK’s Statement of Expectations for Equality and Diversity, published in 2013, and outlines ambitions to lead by example in ensuring a diverse workforce; challenge bias and work towards fair and inclusive funding processes; and lead and support change in our research community. Work has already begun with the roll-out of unconscious bias training for peer reviewers and funding decision-makers.
Congratulations to Dr Chris Mullington, anaesthetic registrar currently undertaking a PhD in collaboration between the Department of Anaesthetics and the MSk Lab who won the best caesarean section poster prize at the recent Obstetric Anaesthetists’ Association in Manchester.
