Dr Claire Garwood
PhD
Research, Partnerships and Innovation
Research Growth Officer - Cancer Research
- Profile
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I obtained my PhD in Neuroscience from Kings College London in 2010 where I determined that astrocytes mediate many of the toxic effects of beta-amyloid, one of the pathological proteins implicated in Alzheimer’s disease pathogenesis, and that minocycline was able to reduce the inflammatory response of astrocytes in Alzheimer’s disease models (Garwood et al., Cell Death Dis 2.e167; Garwood et al., Front. Psychiatry 1:136; Noble et al., FASEB J. 23(3): 739-750.)
After completing my PhD I moved to the Sheffield Institute for Translational Neuroscience to continue investigating the role of astrocytes in Alzheimer’s disease pathogenesis as a post-doctoral research associate with Prof. Stephen Wharton.
I have recently been awarded an Alzheimer’s Society Junior Research Fellowship based within the Sheffield Institute for Translational Neuroscience (SITraN) to continue working on the role astrocytes in Alzheimer’s disease and to develop a 3D astrocyte-neuron co-culture system in collaboration with Prof. John Haycock in the Department of Bioengineering.
- Qualifications
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- 2015-present: Alzheimer Society Junior Research Fellow
- 2011-2015: Post-doctoral Research Associate
- 2007-2010: PhD (Neuroscience), Institute of Psychiatry, Kings College London.
- 2009-2010: Research Assistant, MRC Centre for Neurodegeneration Research, Institute of Psychiatry, Kings College London.
- Research interests
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My research is focused on understanding the role of astrocytes in neurodegeneration, particularly their contribution to Alzheimer’s disease development and progression. In particular I am investigating how alterations in specific astrocytic signalling pathways compromises their function and their ability to support neurons.
Current projects
- Consequences of impaired insulin signalling in Alzheimer’s disease.
- Development of a 3D neural co-culture system.
- Variation in astrocyte responses to different molecular pathologies and the effect on neuroprotection
Collaborations
- Prof. John Haycock, Department of Bioengineering, University of Sheffield
- Dr Rosemary Staniforth, Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology
- Research group
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Martyna Matuszyk, Alzheimer’s Society Funded PhD student
- Grants
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Dr Garwood’s research is funded by the Alzheimer’s Society and the University of Sheffield.
- Teaching activities
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I teach on the MSc courses in Translational Neuroscience, Translational Pathology and Molecular Medicine focussing on molecular neuroscience including experimental design to study protein expression and critical review of the literature teaching. I also supervise MSc and BMedSci students during their research projects.
- Professional activities and memberships
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Faculty of Medicine Early Career Researcher Award 2015: Outstanding contributions to excellence in enhancing the research environment within the faculty.