Intercalated PhDs 2023 Cohort

 

Tiondre

Tiondre Brown

Project title - Improving targeted drug delivery to tumours using ultrasound and Acoustic Cluster Therapy: An organ-in-chip approach

What inspired you to choose this project?

The approach for targeted drug delivery was extremely novel to me, and the prospect of researching US seemed very applicable to my career, as well as seeming vastly interesting.

 

ACT is already being studied in clinical trials. This research could lead to directly translatable outcomes for these trials and the wider ACT literature. The prospect of ACT in the clinic seems extremely high. The organ-in-chip platform could be used in multiple avenues of biomedical research. 

 

Interesting fact about yourself

I was a reserve for Young Masterchef 2022

 

 

Amy

Amy Lovejoy

Project title - Understanding the role of zinc (Zn) in breast cancer progression by combining analytical chemistry and multi-omics techniques

 

 

Amelia

Amelia Fraser-Dale 

Project title - Cellular Precision Head and Neck Surgery by Combination of Microrobotics with Real-Time Optical and Molecular Sensing Technologies

What inspired you to choose this project?

I began my medical degree at St. George’s hospital in 2019, where I quickly developed a special interest in maxillofacial surgery. I transferred to Imperial for an intercalated BSc in Surgical Technology in 2022, which then led into the CSC iPhD program. Head and Neck surgery is the coolest specialty by far, but I also have a soft spot for physics and robotics. The opportunity to combine these disparate interests to develop novel surgical technologies was a dream come true. This project has potential to improve the way we diagnose and treat head and neck cancers, which could be hugely beneficial for patients, as well as facilitating a whole new field of in vivo metabolomic cancer research. It’s the kind of technology I look forward to using in my future surgical career. 


Interesting fact about yourself

I enjoy learning to figure skate in my spare time. It’s harder than it looks and there are a lot of moves to learn! 

 

 

Maxime

Maxime Giot

Project title - Diffuse Reflectance Spectroscopy (DRS) Guided Cancer Resection

What inspired you to choose this project?

There are currently no techniques that allow for real-time differentiation of tissue (cancer vs normal) in the operating theatre. This is particularly important as the goal of surgery is to achieve a negative resection margin, whereby no cancer cells are left behind and the tumour is removed wholly. DRS has already proven itself as a great candidate for assessment of the resection margins. My project focuses on validating its use in vivo in patients as well as exploring new applications of the technology, such as introducing it to laparoscopic (keyhole) surgeries. 


Interesting fact about yourself

I enjoy playing the piano during my free time and I love travelling when I get the chance to.

 

 

Elina

Elina Tanskanen

Project title - Tumour-localised mRNA delivery of cytokines using polymer-lipid nanoparticles to achieve safe and efficacious immunotherapy

What inspired you to choose this project?

I chose this project as it allowed me to explore my interests in molecular biology and drug development. mRNA therapeutics is an exciting and rapidly advancing field, and I was keen to investigate its applications in cancer treatment. Cytokine-based immunotherapies show great promise in overcoming resistance to immune checkpoint inhibitors, but clinical translation is restricted by dose-limiting toxicities. Improving their safety and efficacy has potential to improve prognosis of many patients with treatment-resistant tumours. 

Interesting fact about yourself

I'm Finnish and love wild camping, despite once enduring over 40 mosquito bites in a single trip