Dr. Melissa Gammons - Melissa is a physiologist who gained her PhD. in 2012 from the University of Bristol. Her thesis focused on the regulation of VEGF expression and splicing in pathological conditions including cancers and ocular disease. During her PhD she identified novel compound inhibitors of SRPK1 which regulation VEGF splicing and expression, these inhibitors were effective at preventing choroidal neovascularisation following topical application in models of exudative age related macular degeneration. She was awarded a JSPS fellowship in 2012 to work in Japan for 3 months researching kinase inhibitors and SR-protein signalling, she is currently working at the University of Bristol on a BHF funded post doc. Dr Gammons current research interests include regulation of genes involved in angiogenesis and how they are spliced, models of ocular disease including retinopathy of prematurity and factors regulating the metastasis of cancer cells namely in uveal melanoma.
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Dr Claire Clarkin - Claire gained her PhD in 2005 from the Royal Veterinary College in London, where she remained to undertake a post-doc until 2008 before undertaking a Diabetes UK Research fellowship at Kings College London. Claire was appointed as a Lecturer in Developmental Biology at the University of Southampton in September 2011. Her research to date has focussed on the cells which line blood vessels, endothelial cells, and how these cells interact with the tissues which surround them. Throughout her career she has worked with a range of vascularised and non vascularised tissues including bone, pancreatic islets and cartilage and targeting the blood supply to treat various diseases remains central to her research.
Dr Claire Clarkin - Claire gained her PhD in 2005 from the Royal Veterinary College in London, where she remained to undertake a post-doc until 2008 before undertaking a Diabetes UK Research fellowship at Kings College London. Claire was appointed as a Lecturer in Developmental Biology at the University of Southampton in September 2011. Her research to date has focussed on the cells which line blood vessels, endothelial cells, and how these cells interact with the tissues which surround them. Throughout her career she has worked with a range of vascularised and non vascularised tissues including bone, pancreatic islets and cartilage and targeting the blood supply to treat various diseases remains central to her research.
Dr. Alessio Alfieri - Alessio Alfieri obtained his Pharmacy degree (2004) from the Faculty of Pharmacy and his PhD in Drug Science (2007) from the Department of Experimental Pharmacology, University of Naples. After working in the Department of Cardiovascular Science, University of Sheffield (2008-2010), investigating the role of angiopoietin-1 in microvascular dysfunction in sepsis, Dr Alfieri joined the Cardiovascular Division and BHF Centre of Research Excellence at King’s College London, working on the role of the redox-sensitive Nrf2 pathway in neurovascular protection in stroke. He is an Ordinary member of the British Pharmacological Society and the British Microcirculation Society, and an Affiliate member of the Physiological Society (UK) and the Society for Free Radical Research-Europe. Dr Alfieri is currently an external referee for the Journal of Physiology, Free Radical Biology & Medicine and Circulation: Arrhythmia and Electrophysiology. His research interests include mechanisms of antioxidant protection in stroke and the molecular mechanisms underlying endothelial dysfunction and vascular inflammation.