Research Experience

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Academic Research Positions

• Dec 2024 - Present, Principal Investigator, University of Sussex

  • Project: Evaluating interneuron density and distribution in the lumbar spinal cord of ALS mouse models.

• Nov 2023 - Present, Research Fellow in Motor Neurone Disease, University of Sussex

  • Project: Identification of non-coding RNA biomarkers for disease prognosis and progression in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

• Oct 2022 - Oct 2023, Volunteer Research Associate, University of Sussex

• Sep 2018 - Sep 2022, Doctoral Researcher, University of Sussex

  • Main project: Investigating the contributions of impaired cytoplasmic dynein 1, TDP-43, and microglia-derived microRNA to the pathology of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
  • Rotation 1 project: Investigating the effects of a synaptically-enriched glutamate reporter on basal AMPAR-mediated synaptic transmission"
  • Rotation 2 project: Imaging spontaneous calcium activity in the brain's white matter.

• Sep 2017 - Apr 2018, Scientific Researcher, University of Glasgow

  • Project 1: Investigating the therapeutic potential of angiotensin-(1-7) in a hypertensive model of stroke.
  • Project 2: Investigating the effects of intravenous catecholamines on heart rate and blood pressure under inhalational anaesthesia.

• Sep 2016 - Aug 2017, Clinical Psychology Work Placement Researcher, University of Glasgow

  • Project: Investigating heart rate variability in schizophrenia patients, first-episode psychosis, and clinical high-risk individuals.

Internships

🔬 Jul 2015 - Aug 2015 (1 month)

Summer Internship at Lifebank Laboratory Ltd, Cyprus

• Learned the process of cryopreserving human tissues and stem cells for therapeutic purposes.
• Engaged with advanced molecular biology techniques aimed at detecting genetic disorders and viral infections in newborn human samples.
• Acquired insights into the practical aspects and challenges of running a cutting-edge biotechnology lab.

🏥 Jun 2015 - Jul 2015 (1 month)

Summer Internship at Ygia Polyclinic Private Hospital, Cyprus

• Completed 100 hours of clinical rotations across various hospital departments (Paediatric ward, Medical Oncology Centre, Surgical ward, Laboratory Department, Radiology Department, Intensive Treatment Unit, Casualty, and Endoscopy), absorbing knowledge from each specialised setting.
• Engaged with patients to ensure their understanding and comfort with medical procedures.
• Practiced and enhanced skills in patient care such as measuring vital signs, administering injections, and implementing infection control protocols.
• Conducted routine laboratory procedures like urinalysis, urine culture, and blood glucose monitoring.
• Collaborated with medical professionals, learning to navigate the dynamics of a fast-paced hospital environment.

👩‍⚕️ Sep 2012 - Apr 2013 (8 months)

Internship as a Child Therapist Assistant at the Child Development Centre "To Alma", Cyprus

The centre provides comprehensive Early Childhood Intervention services for children aged 0-6 with developmental delays, diagnosed disabilities, or significant risks of delay, fostering their overall growth and development while supporting their families during the critical early years.

• Shadowed Speech, Occupational, and Physical Therapists, learning their unique methodologies and approaches.
• Assisted in providing early childhood intervention services to children aged 0-6 with developmental delays, diagnosed disabilities, or at risk of delay.
• Contributed to the family-centric approach of the centre, facilitating parent involvement in therapeutic and educational decision making.

Laboratory Skills

🧬 Molecular Biology and Biochemistry

• cDNA synthesis, PCR, RT-qPCR
• RNA sequencing, microarrays
• DNA & RNA extraction
• Molecular cloning
• Gel electrophoresis, genotyping
• ELISA

🧫 Cellular Biology

• Primary and immortalised cell culture
• Transfection, viral transduction
• Cre-Lox recombination

🔬 Microscopy and Histology

• Histology
• IF, ICC, IHC
• Epifluorescence microscopy, confocal microscopy
• Vibratome slicing, cryo-sectioning

🐁 In vivo techniques

• Perfusion-fixation
• Intraperitoneal injections
• Inhalational anaesthesia
• Behavioural testing
• Muscle dissection

🧪 Bioinformatics Tools and Bioconductor R Packages

• Preprocessing: Nanoplot, NanoFilt, Guppy, FASTQC
• Alignment & Mapping: Samtools, minimap2, HTSeq, ClustalW, RNA STAR
• Variant & Feature Analysis: IGV, seqtk, featureCounts, BEDTools, MiRDeep2 Mapper &Quantifier
• Transcriptomics: DESeq2, Salmon, DRIMSeq, edgeR
• qPCR Normalisation: geNorm, NormqPCR
• Gene & Protein Interaction: STRING, Gene Ontology
• Functional Genomics & Pathway Analysis: clusterProfiler, GOplot
• Alternative Splicing: FLAIR, DEXSeq, SGSeq

⚙️ Machine Learning

• Dimensionality reduction, Principal Component Analysis
• Data classification, Hierarchical Clustering, k-Means clustering
• Regression trees, Gaussian process regression
• Time-series analysis, Signal interpolation
• Frequency analysis, Spectrum plotting, Sampling, Aliasing
• Feature extraction, Image segmentation
• Convolution filtering, Filter quality analysis

🧠 Clinical Psychology

• Assessing basic symptoms in the psychosis spectrum in young adults.
• Assessing sub-clinical psychopathology in clinical-high-risk people.
• Conducting structured clinical interviews.
• Participant recruitment and screening.
• Using magnetoencephalogram-derived data from schizophrenia and clinical-high-risk patients to examine their autonomic nervous system activity.
• Decomposing physiological data into frequency components and quantifying their relative power.