My first degree (First class honours) was in Natural Sciences (Biological) at the University of Cambridge specialising in Biochemistry in my final year. After this I decided to embark on a PhD after catching the ‘bug’ for research during a summer research placement in Edinburgh looking at apoptotic cells down the microscope! My PhD (University of Glasgow) focused on the deregulation of RNA polymerase III transcription in cancers and mechanistic studies relating to this. This was followed by my first post-doctoral position at the University of York within the group of Prof Jo Milner during which I identified a novel role for the tumour suppressor p53 in the regulation of global histone modifications. This was followed by a year’s teaching English as a Foreign Language in a town in Northern Greece before I returned to the UK to resume my scientific career. After further postdoctoral research positions at the Universities of York and Leeds, I began my independent research career at the Institute of Cancer Therapeutics of the University of Bradford after successfully securing my own external independent research funding as a PI. I joined the University of Huddersfield as a Senior Research Fellow within the Department of Pharmacy in August 2015.

The focus of my research is on improving our understanding of the molecular and cellular biology of cancers with the aim of exploiting fundamental ‘basal' differences that exist between cancer and non-cancer cells for more selective targeting of cancers. Most currently used anti-cancer agents lack selectivity towards cancer cells and target both rapidly proliferating cancer and non-cancer cells. This leads to unpleasant side effects for the patient but also impacts on drug dosage that can be safely used and effectiveness of treatment. As a result, development of drug resistance and tumour recurrence are major problems. By focusing on the biology of cancers, and exploiting intricate cancer cell molecular dependencies or ‘addictions’ not shared by non-cancer cells, there is an opportunity to develop potent, more selective anti-cancer therapies and improve the selectivity of existing drugs. Other research interests include the development and utilisation of more physiologically relevant in vitro models for studying cancers as well as patient-derived in vitro models for studying tumor heterogeneity and variability in patient response to drugs. Another area of interest is the further development of novel siRNA/DNA constructs developed as potential experimental and therapeutic tools. Specific current research interests include:- Exploitation of cancer cell metabolic re-wiring; The sirtuins and other NAD+-dependent enzymes Molecular addictions/dependencies of cancer cells Inter- and intra-cellular crosstalk; Regulation of epigenetic alterations in cancer cells; Elucidation of mechanisms of action of novel anti-cancer agents