News and events
Neurofly conference report
Nadezhda Velichkova, an Early Career Researcher (ECR) at BSMS, recently attended the Neurofly conference. Nadezhda said: “The conference provided me with the opportunity to explore a broad spectrum of research focused on the neurobiology of Drosophila, an invertebrate model organism that provides unique research opportunities due to its vast genetic tools. The conference covered diverse topics, including developmental and cellular neuroscience, brain homeostasis and metabolism, brain disease, injury, aging, gene expression and function to neural circuits, behaviour and neuroplasticity. It brought together researchers from across the world, including UK, Europe, the USA, China and Japan. As an attendee, I got the opportunity to learn about the latest findings on the importance and the effect of RNA localisation in space and time and its contribution to the formation and retainment of short- and long-term memories. Additionally, I gained insight into the effect of nutrient homeostasis on the up and down regulation of genes and about the effect of starvation on vesicular release at the synaptic active zone. Another key highlight was learning about the neural circuit mechanisms underlying flexible sensorimotor decision in Drosophila. During the poster sessions, I had the chance to engage directly with the work of fellow researchers, discussing their methodologies and findings in details. I also presented a poster showcasing the work from our lab, receiving valuable feedback and fostering discussions that may lead to future collaborations.” This was funded by the ECR conference fund at BSMS.
Fellowships and First Grants workshop
On Monday 30 October, Dr Deeptima Massey and Dr Liz Ford hosted a workshop for early career researchers called 'Fellowships and First Grants'. We had a range of interesting speakers, such as Prof Carrie Llewellyn who has been the chair of the NIHR Research for Patient Benefit panel and sat on numerous NIHR funding panels, Dr Khalid Ali who has had numerous grant successes, Dr Kala Ratnajothy, from the NIHR clinical research network, Dr Simon Mitchell, holder of a prestigious UKRI future leaders fellowship, and Dr Jo Wilding, holder of an ERSC New Investigator Grant. We also heard from some BSMS postdocs who had completed the University of Sussex First Grant and Accelerator programme. Over lunch there was time for networking and to discuss grant ideas with the speakers. Deeptima and Liz are keen to support BSMS early career researchers towards grant success and are happy to hear from anyone in the ECR community about ideas on how we can develop this support. Do email us on e.m.ford@bsms.ac.uk or d.massey@bsms.ac.uk or talk to the ECR reps Vicki Hall and Oliver Rogoyski.
Daniela attends European Society for Clinical Cell Analysis Conference
"I was pleased to attend and present a poster at the 2023 European Society for Clinical Cell Analysis (ESCCA) Conference in Utrecht, Netherlands. The conference programme offered basic, translational, and clinical flow cytometry applications, the primary technique used in my scientific projects. More than 400 delegates from more than 40 countries attended the event. I learned new immunologic assays and approaches related to specificities and clonality of T-cells and discussed my project with collaborators and experts. One of my highlights was the presentation of a new method for detecting and evaluating extracellular vesicles. I also met a flow cytometry specialist, who gave me valuable insights into optimising our flow cytometer to evaluate small particles. The conference exceeded my expectations. I gained knowledge, expanded my network, and got new ideas for my projects. I had the pleasure of being awarded the BSMS ECR Conference Fund, which greatly supported me in attending this conference."
Dr Daniela Teixeira, Research Fellow in Immunology
Saeideh awarded Medical Research Foundation grant
Dr Saeideh Babashahi, Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Health Economics, has been awarded an Impact of Climate Change on Health Research grant by the Medical Research Foundation. She will be co-leading the £300K study to evaluate the social and economic impact of extreme weather events in people living with HIV in South Africa in collaboration with the Africa Health Research Institute and the University of the Witwatersrand. The study extends their previous work on the impact of droughts on HIV treatment to estimate the economic impact of floods on people with HIV (PLHIV) and evaluate high-priority policy interventions using participatory methods and multi-criteria decision analysis. Extreme weather events like floods can result in acute interruption of HIV treatment and care and competing livelihood priorities, resulting in chronic disengagement from care and associated increase in morbidity, economic losses, and mortality. The study aims to i) understand the impact of the recent floods on healthcare utilisation, lives and livelihoods amongst PLHIV; ii) quantify economic productivity losses and healthcare costs associated with the floods; iii) identify and create a priority list of sustainable and adaptive actions to reduce the health, economic and social impacts of floods on PLHIV.
ISMRM2023 Toronto report
Dr Samira Bouyagoub from CISC has recently attended the annual conference of ISMRM (International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine) in Toronto Canada that meet to promote education, communication, research, development, applications, and the availability of information on magnetic resonance in medicine and biology. ISMRM is always a great opportunity to present and discover the latest research in the field of MRI. This year was a particularly important edition of the conference with the launch of the ISMRM African chapter that aims to promote MRI in Africa, increase membership & presence of African MR researchers at ISMRM, support continuing MRI education in Africa, and encourage collaborative research among the diverse multi-lingual research population in Africa. Dr Bouyagoub has a pivotal role within the inaugural committee of the chapter and attended a number of meetings in Toronto to implement a strategy to nurture collaborations with researchers in Africa and African diaspora worldwide working on MRI, particularly on the emerging low Field MRI. Dr Bouyagoub said, “As a proud African, this is a very dear initiative for me as it strengthens the links between the subject I love and the continent I love. I am looking forward to an exciting future of research in MRI and I take my role within the chapter very seriously." One of the first tasks for the inaugural committee of the ISMRM Africa chapter is to finalise the details of the first ever Africa Chapter conference on 25-27 September 2023 in Accra, Ghana. For those interested to attend in person or virtually, please contact Samira on s.bouyagoub@bsms.ac.uk.
New podcast: Dr Deborah Ikhile
BSMS researcher Dr Deborah Ikhile was recently interviewed by AudioMedica.com, an Audio Journal of Oncology. Her interview was part of the global cancer inequalities series and she spoke about her research on access to breast cancer detection in Black African women. Her research and interview highlight the significance of promoting culturally appropriate breast health education at individual, community and health system levels.
Listen to the podcast here >
BSMS hosts career development event
On Wednesday 19 April, Dr Deeptima Massey, BSMS Research Manager, and Dr Liz Ford, Early Career Researcher (ECR) Lead, hosted a career development event focused on applying for fellowships. Fellowships are especially important for early career researchers as they allow research staff without an open-ended contract to be both lead applicant on the grant and have their full salary paid. Usually, fellowships will also allow the applicant to start to build their research team or ‘lab’ and their research reputation. The event featured eight speakers including Prof Sarah Newbury, who talked about her experience of being on a fellowship funding panel; Nicky Perry from the Health Research Partnership; Prof Jorg Huber from the NIHR Research Design Service; and four current fellowship holders, including BSMS colleagues Drs Simon Mitchell and Jimena Berni. Each talk gave a different insight into how to approach writing a fellowship application for success, as well as how to prepare for interview stage. Deeptima and Liz are happy to spend time with any individual looking to write an application for a fellowship, and wider support is available throughout the school and the partner universities.
A social itch: an evening of film and social science exploring a neglected infectious disease
On 8 November, researchers from BSMS ran a general public film screening and Q&A at the Towner Art Gallery Cinema in Eastbourne, called The Social Itch. The event, led by Gem Aellah from Global Health and Infection at BSMS, was funded by small grant from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Festival of Social Science. It explored how film and social science can be used to better understand the multi-layered meanings of disease and disease outbreaks.
Read the full story here >