Staff Profile

I am a Research Technician in the Transplant Regenerative Medicine laboratories at Newcastle University. My work is mainly involved in human organ translational research involving pancreas islet isolations; pancreas, heart and lung dissection and biopsy collection for the MRC QUOD Biobank; and heart and lung perfusions. Alongside this, I have several personal projects using human isolated islets and beta cell lines that focus on the engineering of pseudo islets and studying their appearance and functionality. I also have experience in supervising Masters students and training new and existing staff.

Key skills:
Pancreas, heart and lung dissection, ELISA, glucose stimulated insulin secretion, microscopy, cell culture, aseptic technique, training and supervision.

Awards:
IST Image Competition 2022 Winner

Islet Isolation:
Key member of human pancreas islet isolation in the TRM laboratories. Trained in experiment set-up, pancreas dissection, harvest steps, islet culture.

Quality in Organ Donation QUOD:
Involved in QUOD whole organ biobanking of pancreas, heart and lung tissue. Experienced in dissection of all organs and collecting samples for FFPE, snap frozen, proteomics, RNAlater and EM.

Perfusion:
Team member on several heart (human) and lung (human and porcine) perfusion projects. Experience in priming the circuits, aiding surgeon in organ preparation, collecting samples for blood gas analysing.