- Cancer Mechanisms and Biomarkers
About me
I obtained an equivalent of BSc (D.E.U.G and Licence) in France in Cell Biology and Physiology from University Blaise Pascal , Faculty of Sciences and Technologies in France (known now as Universite Clermont Auvergne ). I continued my postgraduate studies with a master in Molecular Biology and Immunology Applied and a PhD in Molecular Genetics in the Laboratory of Molecular Oncology led by Prof Yves-Jean Bignon (Thesis title: Search for new onco-suppressor genes implicated in hereditary predisposition to breast cancer ; University Blaise Pascal). I continued my interest in Cancer Genetics with my first postdoctoral position in Montreal (Quebec - Canada) in the department of Human Genetics at McGill University in the lab of Prof Patricia Tonin. During four years I was investigating a putative tumour suppressor region on Chromosome 17q25 in somatic ovarian cancer. I became familiar with high throughput technologies such as gene expression microarrays (GEM, Genechips from Affymetrix ) to identify new tumour suppressor genes involved in sporadic ovarian cancer. After this first position, I moved to London in Prof Chris Boshoff lab (18 months) and in Prof Adrienne Flanagan’s lab (9 years) at UCL where I continued my interest in cancer genetics and genomics but this time on mesenchymal (sarcoma) and bone neoplasms.
I joined the University of Westminster in May 2014.
I am co-editor of a new text book entitled 'Molecular Diagnostics' for Oxford University Press (OUP) in the Biomedical Sciences series published in March 2019. https://global.oup.com/ukhe/product/molecular-diagnostics-9780198777069?cc=gb&lang=en&
Since october 2022 i am a Board member of the Official Journal of the Institute of Biomedical Science. I am also a guest Editor for the special Issue on Advances in Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment for the Br J Biomed Sci https://www.frontierspartnerships.org/research-topics/32/advances-in...
I obtained a Postgraduate Certificate (PG Cert) in Higher Education in March 2016 and I am a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA).
I am a Fellow of the Institute of Biomedical Science (FIBMS)
I am a Member of the Royal Society of Biology (MRSB) , the Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland and the European Society for Cancer Research (EACR)
Since October 2016 I am the Director of the 'Westminster Genomics Unit'' ([email protected]).
Teaching
I teach principally Molecular Pathology and Cancer Genetics/Genomics at undergraduate and postgraduate levels.
I am module leader for 'Systems Biology' & 'Advances in Cellular Pathology' (level 7 - MSc)
Research
My research focuses principally on the identification and investigation of new candidate genes involved in breast cancer (BC) using high throughput technologies such as Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) and using Transcriptomics data. I am also interested in the development of new diagnostic tool for cancer as well as biobanking and ethics in translational research.
I am part of the Cancer Mechanisms and Biomarkers Research group in the School of Life Sciences part of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Publications
For details of all my research outputs, visit my WestminsterResearch profile.