The aim of this years meeting is to bring together all members of The Medical School to encourage the presentation of high quality research and illustrate and showcase the breadth of clinical and scientific research currently in progress. This annual event highlights on-going research by staff and students across all of the Medical School Departments. The talks and posters were all of very high quality.
The meeting concluded with prizes awarded to the best speakers and the best posters as judged by Professor Brian Walker (Pro Vice Chancellor of Research Strategy & Resources and Chair of Medicine at Newcastle University) and Professor Marysia Placzek (Professor of Developmental Neurobiology, Department of Biomedical Science).
The following prizes were awarded:
Oral Presentations (as assessed by the internal & external judge)
1st Prize – Dr Rebecca Gosling [Department of Infection, Immunity & Cardiovascular Disease]
2nd Prize – Mr Ola Rominiyi [Department of Oncology & Metabolism]
3rd Prize – Dr Matlide Sassani [Department of Neuroscience]
Moderated Poster Presentations (as assessed by the internal & external judge)
1st Prize – Dr Noémie Hamilton [Department of Infection, Immunity & Cardiovascular Disease]
2nd Prize – Mr James Oakes [Department of Oncology & Metabolism]
3R’s Poster Presentation Competition Winner
Mr Ola Rominiyi [Department of Oncology & Metabolism]
Twitter Poster Prize
Winner – Miss Emma Mironska [Department of Oncology & Metabolism]
Runner-up – Miss Noemi Gatto [Department of Neuroscience]
Sponsor Passport Prize
Miss Emma Mironska [Department of Oncology & Metabolism]
Dr Rebecca Gosling - Virtual coronary intervention: a treatment planning tool based upon the angiogram.
“My research focused on developing a patient-specific treatment planning tool for patients undergoing coronary intervention. Percutaneous coronary intervention (coronary artery stenting) is a common treatment for patients with stable angina, yet decisions regarding the specifics of treatment such as the number, size and position of stents required can be very subjective. Using computer modelling we have developed a method that is able to predict the physiological response to stenting (i.e the predicted impact on blood flow in the artery). I applied this tool to a number of real-world cases and was able to predict the response to stenting with a high degree of accuracy. This tool will allow operators to trial a number of strategies in the model, and select the optimum, before proceeding to intervention in the patient.
The school research meeting was a fantastic opportunity both to present my research and to learn more about all the other work that is going on within the University. There was some very high quality presentations from across all of the departments so I was especially honoured to receive a prize."
Dr Noemi Hamilton - A zebrafish reporter line to elucidate the role of endogenous retrovirus in inflammatory neurological disorders.
Recent studies have shown that ERVs can be detected in disease state, particularly in inflammatory neurological disorders. The role of ERV in our immune response has been unexplored due to the lack of tractable in vivo model system to image ERVs behaviour. I have developed a reporter line for the zebrafish ERV (ZFERV) and showed that ZFERV is expressed during T-cell development. This reporter line will be combined to zebrafish models of auto-inflammatory disorders to determine its contribution to the pathology.
"The meeting this year was very focused on in vitro models of neurological disorders which made my in vivo model even more attractive. Our keynote external speaker Prof Brian Walker gave an incredibly inspiring talk and I feel very lucky to have discussed my research with him during the judging of my poster. I particularly enjoyed the poster tours that were on offer this year."