Biosciences research group

Research theme/s:

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microbiology image The Biosciences Research Group (BRG) carries out research in two main areas: Microbiology & Infectious Diseases and Molecular Medicine. The strength of the BRG’s approach is that it aims to understand the fundamental molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying human disease with the ultimate goal to develop effective translational therapies. BRG uses a range of tools encompassing molecular, biochemical and computational approaches, such as gene editing, structural biology, molecular modelling, signal transduction, and certain animal models to understand human disease (bacterial/viral infection, cancer, birth defects, neurodegenerative diseases). The BRG is actively involved, through its collaborations with industrial partners, in bringing about clinical applications and incorporating their cutting-edge research into teaching undergraduate and postgraduate students at the University of Hertfordshire as well as training the next generation of innovative and rigorous scientists.

Research areas

Microbiology of infectious diseases, e.g. Clostridium difficile infection, antimicrobial agent development, and modelling the gut microflora/antimicrobial interactions (Dr Simon Baines)
Studying the molecular epidemiology and drug resistance detection in Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Discovery and development of novel antimicrobial agents against Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Gram negative bacteria (Dr Madhu Goyal)
Investigation of phage-mediated virulence and antibiotic resistance in Clostridium difficile and development of novel antimicrobial agents or strategies against human and animal pathogens such as Clostridium difficile, Escherichia coli, MRSA, Theileria species, and Mycobacterium bovis (Dr Shan Goh)
The role of Extracellular Vesicles in infectious disease; EV-mediated communication within the tumour microenvironment and in metastasis; therapeutic use of stem cell EVs in acute organ injury (Prof. Jameel Inal)
Studying the role of Siglec-Sialic acid axis in health and disease; strategies to overcome immunosuppression and inflammation in the cancer microenvironment, role of innate and adaptive immune system in cancer progression (Dr Shoib Siddiqui)
Understanding the molecular and cellular mechanisms that underlie human neurodegenerative diseases by using the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans (Dr Maria Dimitriadi)
Genetics, molecular biology and bioinformatics of disease pathogen carrying mosquitoes in relation to their control (Dr Colin Malcolm)
Cancer genetics and epigenetics; DNA methylation analysis, chromosomal aberrations and microRNA expression in different malignancies (Dr Maria Braoudaki)
Planar Cell Polarity (PCP) in tissue/organ morphogenesis and disease including of the neural tube and abdominal wall (Dr Caroline Formstone)
Histology and cell biology; IHC staining; novel technologies such as the use of 3D organoids and artificial epithelial tissue (skin); the potential of fungi as a medicinal tool in neurodegenerative diseases (Laura Thomas)
Investigating the effects of senescence, specifically, the senescence response to the chemotherapeutic treatment of cancer; and placental ageing and pathophysiology (Dr Helen Foster)
Mitigation strategies to tackle fungal contamination with the ultimate goal to reduce human exposure to mycotoxins, reinforce safety and reduce waste along the food chain. This involves mathematical models, biocontrol agents and natural antifungal compounds (Dr Esther Garcia-Cela)
Understanding the prevalence and population structure of existing and emerging foodborne pathogens, application of bacteriophage to control foodborne pathogens and combat antimicrobial resistant organisms and studying environmental reservoirs of antimicrobial resistance (Dr Andy Timms)
Computational biochemistry and biophysics applied to viral infections and transmembrane protein-protein interactions (Dr Andreas Kukol)
Application of computational techniques to investigate protein structure and biomolecular interactions, as well as drug target characterisation for novel anti-viral drug discovery (Dr Hershna Patel)
Protein structure determination via NMR spectroscopy; recombinant protein expression and purification in bacterial and yeast expression systems; recombinant protein purification; biophysical analysis of proteins and interactions (Dr Pryank Patel)
Enhancing plant stress resilience (Dr Cristina Barrero Sicilia)
Nutrition and clinical dietetics; nutritional assessment and screening especially in gastroenterology and hepatology; dietary management of gallstones; blended diets via enteral tube feeding; behaviour change relating to nutritional wellbeing; energy expenditure prediction in obesity (Dr Angela Madden)

Research students

Ongoing PhD students

Student	Principal supervisor	Project title
Javier Espinosa Montiel	Dr Cristina Barrero Sicilia	Genetic Control of Lemna growth rate and protein content.
Sara Seriah	Dr Maria Braoudaki	Development of smart polymeric nanocontainers for the therapy of pediatric embryonal brain malignancies.
Dennis Mustafov	Dr Maria Braoudaki	Circulating microRNAs in central nervous system malignancies; functional role and clinical relevance.
Saman Rashid	Dr Maria Dimitriadi	Elucidation of the autophagy networks that are disturbed in spinal muscular atrophy; a pharmacological approach.
Paloma Pacheco Torres	Dr Maria Dimitriadi	Dissecting the role of oxidative stress in Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA).
Ladislav Klena	Dr Caroline Formstone	Understanding the opposing roles of the planar cell polarity proteins Celsr1 and Frizzled6 in breast cancer invasion.
Emily Roberts	Dr Helen Foster	Senescence and cytoskeletal dynamics - the key to ageing and cancer?
Rita Lawson	Dr Esther Garcia-Cela	Resilience and predicting the risk of Fusarium pathogens and mycotoxins, under existing and future climate-related abiotic factors.
Jagbir Singh	Dr Madhu Goyal	Design, synthesis and testing of novel antibacterials, based on the 1,3-Diketone scaffold, to combat multidrug resistance.
Menaka Menikpurage	Dr Madhu Goyal	Identification and validation of potential inhibitors targeting enoyl-acyl carrier protein reductase (InhA) in Mycobacterium species: a computational approach.
Purva Warde	Dr Madhu Goyal	The role of extracellular Vesicles (EVs) in viral infection and in coinfections with intracellular bacteria.
Srila Satoh	Dr Angela Madden	Evaluation of interventions for overweight and obese children and adolescents aged 5-15 years in UK and Thailand focusing on behaviour change techniques and participant-related outcomes.
Ellie Hurer	Dr Pryank Patel	Identifying therapeutic compounds for S100P in pancreatic cancer therapy.
Mohammed Saqif Ahmad	Dr Shoib Siddiqui	MicroRNA mimic mediated cancer immunotherapy against Siglec-15; clinical implications in colorectal cancer progression.

MSc by Research students

Student	Principal supervisor	Project title
Lisa Blagg	Dr Simon Baines	Characterisation of linezolid resistance in clinical Clostridium difficile strains.
Nathaniel Hearfield	Dr Cristina Barrero Sicilia	Genetic engineering of cannabinoids biosynthesis for therapeutic use.
Martyna Zajac	Dr Caroline Formstone	Understanding the role of BMP signalling in the formation of neural circuits which connect the CNS and PNS during embryogenesis.
Valerija Parthala	Dr Shan Goh	Membrane vesicles of Clostridioides difficile.
Claire Wheeler	Dr Angela Madden	Benefits and risks of blended food in enteral tube feeding identified through metagenomic analysis of gut microbiota: Initiating blended feeding.
Alina Oehlen	Dr Colin Malcolm	Origin and evolution of M5, an insertion-site specific transposable element in anopheline mosquitoes with potential as a genome editing tool.
Deema Saifaldeen Najim Al-Azzawi	Dr Shoib Siddiqui	Regulation of microglial receptor Siglec-11 by microRNAs and overall effect on glioblastoma.

Alumni students

Student	Principal Supervisor	Project title
Iye Linda Ameh	Dr Simon Baines	Characterisation of clinical Clostridium difficile PCR ribotype 002 isolates from different time lineages (PhD).
Olufunmilayo Ayus Mohammed	Dr Simon Baines	Characterisation of reduced susceptibility to metronidazole in Clostridium difficile (PhD).
Etifa Perezimor	Dr Simon Baines	Assessment of the efficacy of probiotic and prebiotic interventions in modulating spore germination, growth and toxin production by Clostridium difficile (PhD).
Daniel Keighley	Dr Simon Baines	Phenotypic Characterisation of Clostridium difficile PCR Ribotype 078 and Comparison with PCR Ribotypes 027 and 002 (MSc by Research).
Macarena Sanchez Mellado	Dr Cristina Barrero Sicilia	Understanding the Impact of Low Temperature on Seed Germination in Maize (MSc by Research).
Paul Moran	Dr Maria Braoudaki	Combination of multimodal imaging and neurophysiology to improve targeting accuracy and outcome in Deep Brain Stimulation for movement disorders (MSc by Research).
Aikaterini Stafylidi	Dr Maria Braoudaki	MicroRNA regulation and gene expression variability in glioblastomas (Summer 2022 placement).
Konstantinos Syrios	Dr Maria Braoudaki	Identifying novel theranostic interventions for aggressive childhood tumours using functional magnetic nanoparticles (MSc by Research).
Joss Murray	Dr Maria Dimitriadi	Tracking the metabolic signatures associated with spinal muscular atrophy (MSc by Research).
Michael Hodgson	Dr Maria Dimitriadi	Autophagy and spinal muscular atrophy: towards a pathway-centric therapy for a fatal childhood disorder (MSc by Research).
Patricia Barnes	Dr Maria Dimitriadi	Dissecting the role of oxidative stress in the motor neuron disorder Spinal Muscular Atrophy (Genetics Society summer 2022 studentship placement).
Fathama Mutaleb	Dr Maria Dimitriadi	The role of oxidative stress in the motor neuron disorder spinal muscular atrophy (MSc by Research).
Tony Randell	Dr Maria Dimitriadi	Perturbations of the autophagy pathway in spinal muscular atrophy; insights from the nematode C. elegans (MSc by Research).
Christopher JR Arnell	Dr Caroline Formstone	Understanding the origins of the DREZ: a new route in for spinal cord injury (MSc by Research).
Ross Kalarus	Dr Shan Goh	Prophage contribution to virulence, persistence, and transmission of Clostridioides difficile (MSc by Research).
Graham McLaughlin	Dr Shan Goh	Phage transduction in Clostridioides difficile (MSc by Research).
Annie Clark	Dr Shan Goh	Sensitization of Clostridioides difficile to phage infection by phage receptor transfer (Microbiology Society Harry Smith Studentship summer 2019 placement).
Pragya Agarwal	Dr Shan Goh	Characterisation of environmental Clostridioides difficile isolates (Summer 2019 placement).
Emily Savage	Dr Shan Goh	Comparative genome analysis of prophages of Clostridioides difficile LIBA2945 and LIBA5763 (Summer 2019 placement).
Charlotte Chan	Dr Shan Goh	Phage transduction of ermB in environmental C. difficile (Microbiology Society Harry Smith Studentship summer 2022 placement)
Dominik Brotherton	Prof. Jameel Inal	Investigating the viability of outer membrane vesicle inhibition to sensitize bacteria to phage therapy (PhD).
Dona Mannaperuma	Prof. Jameel Inal	The role of myocyte microvesicles in cancer metastasis (PhD).
Gala Ramón Zamorano	Dr Colin Malcolm	Elucidation of AsM5 retroposon insertion site specificity for histone genes and evaluation as a gene drive tool for insect control strategies (PhD).
Robyn Rhule-Samuel	Dr Pryank Patel	An evaluation of ready-meals and convenience foods as sources of nutritionally important phytochemicals and vitamins (PhD).

Research Staff

Post-doctoral Fellows

Post-doctoral Fellow	Principal Supervisor	Project title
Dr Amer Nubgan	Dr Shan Goh	Phage genetic modification in Clostridioides difficile.
Dr Juliet Curry	Dr Shan Goh	Targeting intracellular dermatology pathogens by combining phage and nano-technologies.
Dr Emmanuella Enuwosa	Dr Shoib Siddiqui	Developing first-in-class RNAi therapeutics for hard-to-treat cancers.

Research Assistants

Research Assistants	Principal Supervisor	Project title
Roozba Malik	Dr Maria Braoudaki	Apafix fixation as a new option for morphologic analysis of animal tissues.
Amy Yong	Dr Maria Dimitriadi	Spinal muscular atrophy: identification of pathways critical for SMN function.
Laura Cox	Dr Helen Foster	Placental senescence, hypoxia, and metformin study.

Funding

Research grants and granted consultancy income have recently been secured from the Wellcome Trust, BBSRC, MRC, Royal Society, Procarta Bioscience Ltd, UK India Education Research Initiative (UKIERI), PRODEP Mexico, and the Industrial-Academia Partnerships and Pathways (IAPP) ‘EVEStemInjury’.

Infrastructure

roundworm Research in the biosciences group is supported by the well-equipped state-of-the-art Science Building that houses cutting-edge research technologies: cell culture and histology facilities, molecular biology laboratories, fermentation equipment for medical microbiology and biotechnology research, anaerobic microbiology facilities, confocal imaging and C. elegans microscopy, fluorescence spectroscopy, FTIR spectroscopy, NMR, access to the UH high performance computer cluster, MALDI-TOF MS and Nanosight Tracking Analysis (NTA, LM10) for Extracellular Vesicle characterisation.

Research degrees and post-doctoral fellowships

Applications are invited from candidates with good first degrees in biosciences, chemistry, bio-physics, genetics, neuroscience or other relevant disciplines to join projects as research students. Projects are available for PhD and MSc by Research students in the areas mentioned above (but not limited to). Candidates from low and middle income Commonwealth countries can apply annually to the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission for a Commonwealth PhD Scholarship with support from UH Bioscience researchers. In addition, we welcome Visiting Researchers and Postdoctoral Fellowships in the research areas above. We will gladly support and assist with fellowship applications to national and international research councils or charities.

To learn more about the research degree programmes offered in biosciences please visit the Doctoral College page.

We recommend that you discuss your proposed research with a member of academic staff of the Biosciences Research Group before submitting your application. Please name the staff member when submitting your application.

For informal enquiries, please contact Dr Yongju Huang, Clinical, Pharmaceutical and Biological Science Research Tutor.

Download your application form here. Application forms should be returned to the Doctoral College.

Email Dr Maria Dimitriadi for any enquiries about this research group.

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