2019- Funded Research - 2023
The Nottinghamshire Leukaemia has recently committed over £180,000 to train two young scientists in the field of blood cancer and stem cells. The students will be performing research projects under the supervision of Dr Alexander Thompson and Dr Claire Seedhouse at the University of Nottingham.
Mays Abuhantash
I'm a stem cell scientist working towards my PhD in haematology. I have specialised in cancer and stem cells with the goal of delivering life-changing research to the clinic. My research focuses on creating advanced leukaemic models in the lab that will help us develop better drug treatments in the future. I have always wanted to make a difference in cancer patients' lives and the NLA has paved the way for me to do so by funding my research. I'm very excited to engage with the NLA as part of my Betty Barton Studentship and further enrich my PhD experience.
Lara Doolan
I’m Lara, one of the Betty Barton PhD students funded by the NLA. My PhD is focused on ‘dormant’ leukaemia cells which can be responsible for both failure to enter remission when patients are first treated, and for relapse following treatment. I will be spending the coming years looking at ways that we can use drugs that are already FDA-approved to overcome the drug resistance and relapse caused by dormant cells. I also hope to improve the understanding we already have of these cells. I have already started some initial experiments (as well as lots of reading!) to help plan my research over the next few months, and I can’t wait until the project is fully underway. I’m very excited to be carrying out research that will add to what we know about leukaemia and ways to treat it, and incredibly grateful to the NLA for supporting me in doing this!
