Two talented PhD research students in the Department of Biological Sciences at Royal Holloway, University of London have been recognised as joint recipients of an international award for their research contributions.
Dictyostelium graduate award 2020 joint winners Joseph Damastra-Oddy and Eleanor Warren
Eleanor Warren and Joseph Damastra-Oddy, members of a research group led by Professor Robin Williams, were successfully selected as winners of the 2020 Dictyostelium Graduate Award.
The award was open to graduate students from laboratories worldwide, including in the US, UK, EU, Australia and Japan that use the model system, Dictyostelium, as a research model. Topics or research are wide ranging, from molecular pharmacology (how drugs work), to cell and developmental biology, and ecology.
Robin Williams, Professor of Molecular Cell Biology commented,
“I am delighted to congratulate Ellie and Joe on this thoroughly deserved international award. They are outstanding young scientists, with both of them showing hard work and determination, combined with academic excellence and an ability to work together in a team, listening to and supporting those around them. I can only expect them both to be future stars in their fields.”
Eleanor Warren is due to submit her PhD thesis in August 2020 having completed an iCASE Studentship in collaboration with Vitaflo ltd. Her project was entitled ‘Identifying novel molecular mechanisms of medium chain fatty acids using the model Dictyostelium discoideum’. This has investigated how a key component of a medicinal diet functions in the treatment of epilepsy and cancer, and she has made a significant breakthrough in this area, providing important new insight to how the diet works at a molecular level. In her time at Royal Holloway, Ellie has already published four papers (with two more still in review and one in construction) and she has submitted her work to a high impact journal (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA). Ellie is moving to a postdoctoral position in the MRC London Institute of Medical Sciences in the group of Dr Karen Sarkisyan.
Joseph Damstra-Oddy submitted his PhD thesis in April 2020 and has subsequently passed his viva. Joe was directly funded by GW Pharmaceuticals. His project was entitled ‘Therapeutic cannabinoids: Using Dictyostelium discoideum to investigate the mechanism of action of cannabigerol’. His project focused on understanding how a non-psychotropic chemical found in medicinal cannabis functions at a cell and molecular level, and how it may be used as a medicinal treatment. He has made a major breakthrough in this area, providing highly valuable understanding on how a relatively unknown chemical may provide a new approach to treating patients with a variety of diseases including multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, psychosis and cancer. In his time at Royal Holloway he has published three papers (with two more still in review and one in construction). Joe is moving on to a postdoctoral position at the University of Geneva in Switzerland in Prof Pierre Couson’s group.
The Dictyostelium award scheme was organised by Prof Richard Gomer (Texas A&M Biology University, USA) with the selection panel of Dr Derrick Brazill (City University of New York, USA); Ass Prof Pascale Charest (University of Arizona, USA), and Prof Cynthia Damer (Central Michigan University, USA).
Read more about the Centre of Biomedical Sciences at Royal Holloway
