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Oxford-MRC DTP symposia provide opportunities for Medical Research Council funded students to network and present their research to peers.


Illustration of Oxford skyline with bright colors and silhouettes of people at the front

 2024

 

2024 Oxford-MRC DTP Symposium

Richard Doll Building, Old Road Campus

13th June 2024

 

 

 

 

 To read about previous symposia please click on the tabs below.

2023 Oxford-MRC DTP Symposium took place in Richard Doll Building, Old Road Campus on 15th June 2023.

 

 

Time Title
9:00 Registration & Tea/Coffee
9:30 Welcome – Professor Ester Hammond, Director of Oxford-MRC DTP
9:40

Student Talks – Session 1

Klara Piletic (NDORMS)
"Adipocyte autophagy in the control of obesity-induced inflammation"

Dominic Simpson (Sir William Dunn School of Pathology)
"Understanding the significance of OXR1 in neuroinflammation and lysosomal function"

Lukas Braun (Experimental Psychology)
"Preserving knowledge during learning through drifting neural representations"

Naroa Ibarra Aizpurua (Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics)
"The role of astrocytes in Parkinson’s disease pathogenesis in GBA N370ShiPSC-derived astrocyte mono-cultures and neuron-astrocyte co-cultures"

10:40 Coffee Break
11:00

Poster Presentations (Even numbers 11:00-11:30am; Odd numbers 11:30am-12:00noon)

12:00

Student Talks – Session 

Natasha Fisher-Pearson (NDORMS)
"Investigating the relationship between the gut microbiome, unconventional Tcells, and responses to ChAdOx1-vectoredvaccination"

Luisa Gullino (Pharmacology)
"5-HT-glutamate co-releasing neurons are activated by acute stress and may be involved in stress coping"

Annabell Roberti (Sir William Dunn School of Pathology)
"Reduce, Reuse, Recycle-Repurposing of FDA-approved medicines that reduce macrophage inflammation by targetingNF-κB"

Sophie Twigger (Oncology)
"Targeting hypoxic tumours with silver molecular clusters"

13:00

Lunch

14:00

3-Minute Research Competition (3-MRC)

James Ashford (RDM)
"Sequence-Driven Behaviours of Replication Timing in Human Cells through Modelling and in silico experimentation"

Katja Worth (Oncology)
"Investigating changes in RNA-binding proteins in hypoxia"

Catherine Lovegrove (Surgical Sciences)
"Perturbations in CASR-signalling alter serum calcium concentrations to increase risk of kidney stone disease through shared genetic mechanisms"

Daniele Cotton (NDORMS)
"Determining how prostate cancer cell heterogeneity promotes bone metastasis using fluid-walled microfluidics"

Lisa Spiering (Experimental Psychology)
"The Cognitive Mechanisms of Credit Assignment and Learning about Control"

Hanna Willis (Clinical Neurosciences)
"Increased white matter integrity of the dLGN-hMT+ pathway after visual rehabilitation"

Kylie Yeung (Oncology)
"Mapping Tx/Rx B1 using variable flip angle acquisitions on a person-by-person basis in hyperpolarized Carbon-13 and Xenon-129 MRI"

Susannah Holliman (RDM)
"Investigating mechanisms of zeta-globin gene silencing"

Danny Gold (Biochemistry)
"Studying the Role of Aurora A and Protein Phosphatase 6 in Regulation of NDC80 During Mitosis; Halo-NDC80, is it MT you’re looking for?"

Anezka Macey-Dare (Pharmacology)
"Exploring the impact of patient-derived NMDAR NR1-specific IgG antibodies on the developing mouse striatum "

14:30 Networking Event
15:00

Coffee/Tea Break

15:30 Keynote Speaker

Prof. Duncan Astle 
Leadership in science – what I learnt in the last 10 years (but wish I knew from the start)

16:15

Closing Remarks and Awards Ceremony

16:30

Drinks Reception

17:30 Symposium Ends

 

SPONSORS 

 

logo of the sponsor EMIS

 

 

Thank you to the Student Organising Committee:

 

Daniele Cotton

Danny Gold

Kei Landin

Jasmine Reese

2022 Oxford-MRC DTP Symposium took place online on 16th June 2022. 

 

Time Title
9:00 Registration & Tea/Coffee
9:30 Welcome – Professor Ester Hammond, Director of Oxford-MRC DTP
9:40

Student Talks – Session 1

Daan Paget - Comparative and Integrated Analysis of Plasma Extracellular Vesicles Isolations Methods in Healthy Volunteers and Patients Following Myocardial Infarction

Emily Carroll - Impairment of mitochondrial respiration and glycolysis in an mESC-MN model of ALS

Verena Sarrazin – Targeting negative affective biases in depression with non-invasive brain stimulation

10:40 Coffee Break
10:50

Student Talks – Session 2

Romain Guyon – Development of a single dose vaccine technology by delayed release using microfluidics

Tomas Goncalves - Induction of the Alternative Lengthening of Telomeres pathway by trapping of proteins on DNA

Isaac Grennan –  The coactivation of neurons in the prefrontal corticobasal ganglia network distinguishes effort, reward and decision in a novel decision-making task

11:50

'3MRC' (3-Minute Research Competition)

Wojciech Lason – Multiomic characterisation of changes to airway epithelium in SARS-CoV-2 infection and asthma

Sophie Twigger – Design, synthesis, and validation of a reversible, fluorescent probe for measuring real time hypoxia

Tehmina Bharucha - Deep proteomics analysis of human cerebrospinal fluid in Japanese encephalitis virus infection

Alice Evans – Ex-vivo tumour slice culture for the optimisation of CAR-T cell therapy in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma

Ruofan Connie Han – Developing CRISPR-Cas9 gRNA delivery strategies for the treatment of inherited retinal disease

Anežka Macey-Dare – Exploring the impact of patient-derived NMDAR NR1- specific IgG antibodies on the developing mouse striatum

12:15

Keynote Lecture: Sir Charles Godfray (Director of Oxford Martin School and Professor of Population Biology)

Science and policy: building the evidence base for better decision making

13:00 Lunch & Poster Presentations
14:00 Careers Service Talk: Claire Chesworth (Careers Adviser, Oxford University Careers Service)
14:30

Panel Discussion: Insight into careers in biotech entrepreneurship and industry

Dr Claire Shingler (the Oxford BioEscalator)

Dr Loic Roux (Ochre Bio)

Dr Helena Meyer-Berg (SIRION Biotech GmbH)

15:00 Coffee Break
15:15

Dr Tom Beattie (Programme Manager for Doctoral Training, Medical Research Council)

From postdoc to programme manager: working for a research funder

15:45

Dr Fiona Suttle (Oxford Sparks Lead)

Bringing science to you – an introduction to science communication and Oxford Sparks

16:15 Closing Remarks and Awards Ceremony
16:30 Drinks Reception

 

 

SPONSORS

 

MRC Units Industrial Partners

 

MRC Harwell

MRC Harwell logo

 

MRC Molecular Haematology Unit

MRC Molecular Haematology Unit Logo and University of Oxford Logo 

MRC Population Health Research Unit

MRC Population Health Research Unit Logo and Unversity of Oxford logo

 

Biogen

Biogen logo

 

Immunocore

Immunocore logo

 

Magstim

Magstim logo

 

Vertex Pharmaceuticals

Vertex pharmaceuticals logo

 

Thank you to the Student Organising Committee:

Jan Boehning

Alissa Hummer

Magda Mareckova

Bethan O'Connor

Jasmine Reese

Gina Wren 

2021 Oxford-MRC DTP Symposium took place online on 24th June 2021.

 

 

Time Title
10:00

Welcome by the DTP Director

Short presentation by Peer Supporters

10:15

Student talks - Session 1

Claire Blacklock - The social ties of hospital staff: a realist synthesis

Karen Wendt - Developing an enhanced transcranial magnetic stimulator

Imran H. Yusuf - Gene therapy rescues cone and rod photoreceptor function in a pre-clinical model of CDHR1-associated retinal degeneration through restoration of outer segments

11:15 Tea/Coffee break
11:30

Student talks - Session 2

Barnabas Williams - Investigation of the Plasmodium falciparum RH5-Interacting Protein (PfRIPR) as a blood-stage malaria vaccine target

Cornelia Heuberger - Antigen presentation and T cell regulation by intestinal epithelial cells

Caitlin O'Brien-Ball - The Role of T-cell Receptor Expression and Signalling in Early Contact Formation by T Cells

12:30 Lunch break
13:15

Keynote panel - Developing a vaccine during an ongoing pandemic

Prof Sarah Gilbert,  Dr Tess Lambe and Dr Cath Green

14:15

'3MRC' (3-Minute Research Competition)

Maisha Jabeen - Application of Modern Molecular Microbiological Techniques to Identify Treatable Chronic Bacterial Airway Infection in Severe Asthma

Adam Bush - Oxygen Microbubbles to Relieve Tissue Hypoxia in Cancer Therapy

Sara Bandiera - Characterization of the earliest thalamocortical interactions in the human fetal brain

Alice Brankin - Predicting fluoroquinolone resistance in Mycobacterium tuberculosis

Rishi Anand - Glycine reduces evoked striatal dopamine release in a region-dependent manner

Bethany Charlton - Immunological and genetic correlates of delayed HIV-1 disease

15:00

Daniele Corridoni (Kymab Ltd, Oxford) - Translating precision immunology into novel therapeutics: drug discovery without borders

15:25 Alison Murphy (Oxford Pharmagenesis) - My journey from academia to medical communications
c. 15:50

Conclusion & prizes

 

For further details please browse the Symposium Brochure.

 

SPONSORS

 

MRC Units Industrial Partners

 

MRC Harwell

MRC Harwell logo

 

MRC Molecular Haematology Unit

MRC Molecular Haematology Unit Logo and University of Oxford Logo 

MRC Population Health Research Unit

MRC Population Health Research Unit Logo and Unversity of Oxford logo

 

Biogen

Biogen logo

 

Immunocore

Immunocore logo

 

Magstim

Magstim logo

 

Vertex Pharmaceuticals

Vertex pharmaceuticals logo

 

Thank you to the Student Organising Committee:

Jan Boehning

Athena Cavounidis

Katarzyna Chwalenia

Delaney Dominey-Foy

Cornelia Heuberger

Wojciech Lason

Magda Mareckova

Louisa Zolkiewski

2020 Oxford-MRC DTP Symposium took place online on 18th June 2020.

 

 SCHEDULE

 

Time Title
10:00 Welcome by the Director & Sponsor presentations
10:15 Student talks - Session 1 (Gurpreet Bharj, Sonali Munshaw, Athena Cavounidis)
11:15 Tea/Coffee break
11:30 Student talks - Session 2 (Lilli Hahn, Rose Hodgson, Henry Bailey)
12:30 Lunch break
13:30

Keynote presentation - Prof Chas Bountra

The world needs many more great leaders, innovators and entrepreneurs

14:15

'3MRC' (3-Minute Research Competition)

Katie Mellor, Amy Southern, Sophie Hughes, Daan Paget, Shahd Fouad 

15:00

Dr Mike Moss FRSC FRSA (@54Patents)

How to think like an inventor to make better decisions about career and work

c. 15:45

Conclusion & prizes

 

For further details please browse the Symposium Brochure.

 

SPONSORS

 

MRC Units Industrial Partners

 

MRC Harwell

MRC Harwell logo

 

MRC Molecular Haematology Unit

MRC Molecular Haematology Unit Logo and University of Oxford Logo 

MRC Population Health Research Unit

MRC Population Health Research Unit Logo and Unversity of Oxford logo

 

Biogen

Biogen logo

 

Immunocore

Immunocore logo

 

Magstim

Magstim logo

 

Vertex Pharmaceuticals

Vertex pharmaceuticals logo

 

Thank you to the Student Organising Committee:

Rishi Anand

Jan Boehning

Alice Brankin

Emily Carroll

Magda Mareckova

Helena Meyer-Berg

Keanu Paphiti

2019 Oxford-MRC DTP Symposium took place on 27th June 2019 in the MRC Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine (John Radcliffe Hospital site)70 attendees and the following sponsors took part in the event:

CamBio Science logo

Lexogen logoVectorBuilder logo

 Students seated on red chairs

In the morning six students gave engaging presentations showcasing their research:

Session 1 Session 2

Barnabas Williams (NDM)

Male student giving a presentation

Mary Kempnich (EP)

Woman giving a presentation

Rosie Little (DPAG)

Female student giving a presentation

Nidi Tapoulal (DPAG)

Female student giving a presentation

Giulia Pilla (Pathology)

Female student giving a presentation

Imran Yusuf (NDCN)

Male student giving a presentation

Imran Yusuf was announced the Winner of the Oxford-MRC DTP Symposium Student Talk Competition with Giulia Pilla as the Runner-up.

Student talks were followed by the thank you address to Professor Marella de Bruijn who recently stepped down from her role of the Oxford-MRC DTP Director. Her last Director's duty was to introduce Professor Gil McVean who delivered the Symposium's Keynote Speech entitled "Using Genomics to Understand the Human Wiring Diagram".

A female winner receiving a bunch of flowers

Professor speaking

During lunch break attendees participated in two 30-minute poster sessions during which fourteen students took part in the Poster Competition.

People watching and discussing in front of posters Two female researchers and one male in front of a poster
Four women researchers in front of their posters Two male and a woman in front of a poster

One female student explaining her poster to two male students

Two students one female and one male in front of a poster

The poster presented by Letitia Harris (Oncology) won the top prize awarded by the judges, while Romain Guyon (NDM) was the author of the poster that received the highest number of votes from students.

 

Afternoon sessions featured:

- presentations by Alumni who were MRC-funded during their study at Oxford: Amy Varney, Bo Jing and Cecilia Chui

- "Introduction to Intellectual Property" - a talk by Sarah Jones from Oxford University Innovation; and

- Discussion Panel entitled "Bioentrepreneurship for DPhil Students" during which attendees discussed the topic with representatives from Oxford University Innovation, SBS Entreprenership Centre and Enterprising Oxford.

Three women and a men seated. One of the women is speaking

The Symposium closed with the networking session during the drinks & nibbles reception.

 

For details of topics presented at the event please consult the Symposium Brochure.

 

Attendees comments about the event:

"It was nice to see what other MRC funded students work on and to mingle. I also really enjoyed alumni talks and the bioentrepreneurship panel discussion."

"I really liked afternoon sessions on developing spin out companies, panel and IP. Very useful and inspiring."

"The variety of topics presented throughout the talks and poster sessions. A very engaging and informative atmosphere and encouragement of questions and feedback."

"I thought it was great that there was a mixture of students, postdocs and PIs!"

 

Thank you to the Student Organising Committee:

Laura Colling (Oncology)

Ryan Hole (NDM)

Magda Mareckova (NDWRH)

Helena Meyer-Berg (RDM)

Joost van Haasteren (RDM)

2018 Oxford-MRC DTP Symposium took place on Thursday 21st June 2018 in Richard Doll Building (Old Road Campus). 

Symposium programme

 

For further details please browse the Symposium Brochure.

 

Symposium sponsors were: 

 

 

2018 Symp Sponsor - Covaris

2018 Symp Sponsor - Cyagen

 

 

 

 

2018 Symp Sponsor - NEB

 

  

2018 Symp Sponsor - IDT

 

 

 

 

Their representatives were on hand during the breaks to answer student questions.

The inaugural MRC-DTP Symposium took place on 22 June 2017 in the Richard Doll Building at the Old Road Campus.  With sponsorship from Fisher Scientific and the Nuffield Department of Population Health, 52 people attended the symposium.

Symposium1

The MRC DTP Steering Group Chair, Prof. Marella de Bruijn opened the day and the first session featured talks from Ulrike Kuenzel, Soren Thomsen and Josephine Hellberg. The second session, chaired by Paolo Spingardi, brought together Jan Cosgrave, Abigail Enoch and Daniel Alanine. During the lunch break, poster sessions took place allowing researchers to showcase their work in an informal setting whilst providing a basis for discussion and networking. The afternoon had two parallel training sessions- a Managing Your Supervisor workshop led by Afsie Sabokbar, and a CV workshop from Michael Moss of the University of Oxford, Careers Service. The symposium closed with a ‘Speed Science’ session (think speed dating with science) followed by a wine reception.

Symposium2

Symposium participants commented:

“Good opportunity to present work to local and informal audience, good prep for conferences etc. Also interesting breadth of research.”

“The CV workshop was supreme and it was so wonderful networking with fellow MRC students and hearing about their work.

"Interesting to hear about different research being done; interesting to hear more about the MRC-DTP program”

With thanks to the Organising Committee:

Joost van Haasteren
Jessica Valli
Marella de Bruijn
Laura Colling
Marc Rose

Thanks also to Paolo Spingardi who provided assistance on the day. 

MRC logo