Studentships

The NILRF supports PhD and Summer Students working with the Haematology Research Group in the Centre for Cancer Research and Cell Biology (CCRCB) at Queen's University Belfast.

PhD Studentship

We are now part funding Castledawson student Christine Young (left) to undertake her PhD, commencing in February 2012. Christine will be focusing her research on combination therapies of AML and will be supervised by Professor Ken Mills.

The NILRF has funded Moira student Gemma Logan (right) to undertake a 4 year PhD, commencing in October 2010. Gemma is supervised by Professor Ken Mills and Dr Melanie Percy, and her research examines the role of a specific family of proteins called ASB. One aspect that Gemma is investigating is why different types of acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) have different amounts of ASB proteins. Gemma is also studying the role of ASB proteins in normal blood cell development, and has established strong collaborations with the University of Copenhagen and the Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine based at the University of Oxford.

Summer Studentships

Every year the NILRF awards grants to support Summer Research Studentships in the Centre for Cancer Research and Cell Biology (CCRCB) at Queen's University Belfast. These provide an opportunity for students with an interest in research to gain experience of working on a leukaemia-related project for 8 weeks in the summer. This year's students came from all over the Province.

Laura Smyth from Carrickfergus worked on a combined laboratory / bioinformatic project identifying specific genes involved in a sub-type of Acute Myeloid Leukaemia (AML) which may also give an indication of the type of therapy that could be used.

Darren Muldoon from Armagh is currently a Queen's University Belfast Computing Science student. His project involved working with the NILRF team to develop databases and web-based media for the charity.

Biomedical Science student Glen Titmarsh worked with Dr Melanie Percy and NILRF Ph.D. student Gemma Logan to further develop a project on the role of ASB proteins in AML.

Laura Kettyle from Maguiresbridge investigated HOX proteins, which regulate blood development, and the way they are altered during the development of leukaemia. The experience that Laura gained during the summer will also benefit her future studies as in September she is starting a Ph.D. research programme into the causes of adult leukaemia.

Laura will be supervised during her project by Dr Alex Thompson (pictured below right with Laura) who is one of the principal investigators in the CCRCB and has an international reputation in the role of the HOX gene in causing leukaemia.