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Brighton & Sussex Medical School

Sussex RNA Research Centre

BSMS > Research > Clinical and experimental medicine > RNA-Biology-Research-Group

Sussex RNA Research Centre

A new collaborative Sussex RNA Research Centre (Sussex RNA) has been approved by BSMS. This research centre has developed from the Sussex RNA Research Group, which started in 2019.

Someone wearing a white lab coat and purple latex gloves pouring a clear liquid into a petri dish

Overview

RNA Biology is increasing in prominence in the medical field as shown by the recent announcement of the Medicine Nobel prize for gene-regulating microRNAs and the rapid development of RNA therapeutics, including the Moderna and Pfizer Covid vaccines. 

Members of the Sussex RNA Research Centre are based at Brighton and Sussex Medical School, the University of Brighton and the School of Life Sciences at the University of Sussex.

Sussex RNA members meet regularly to share ideas and discuss their research findings. They also collaborate in dissemination of technical skills between postdocs, PhD students, Masters students and undergraduate students to encourage and train the next generation of RNA biologists.

Prof Sarah Newbury, Director of the RNA Biology Research Group, said: “Recent recruitment, publications and grant funding success mean that Sussex is now strong in the UK field of RNA biology, particularly in relation to human disease. The creation of the Sussex RNA Research Centre will help build upon this success by providing further opportunities for collaborations between BSMS and researchers at the Universities of Sussex and Brighton, as well as externally and with Industrial partners”.

Meet the team

A group of people who form the RNA group in a team photo

Members of the centre and their specific research interests are listed below: 

  1. Dr Leena Al-Hassan (BSMS): Molecular epidemiology of bacterial hospital acquired infections
    PhD student: Matthew Hersant
  2. Dr Alexandros Bousios (Life Sciences): Role of secondary structures in the regulation and epigenetic silencing of transposons in plants
    Postdoc: Estela Perez-Roman
  3. Dr Leandro Castellano (Life Sciences): Role of non-coding RNAs in cancer. PhD students: Elle Campbell, Nikolaos Sideris, Salih Bayraktar
  4. Prof Tim Chevassut (BSMS): Influence of haematological oncogenes on post-transcriptional regulation.
    PhD students: David Palmer, Hyun Park
  5. Dr Mel Flint (School of Applied Sciences): Interplay between stress hormones the immune system and cancer cells. 
  6. Prof George Giamas (Life Sciences)
    PhD student: Dr Steve Robinson
  7. Will Gittens (Life Sciences): Role of RNA topoisomerases in DNA repair
  8. Dr John Jones (BSMS): Role of long non-coding RNAs and other factors in the pathogenesis of high risk multiple myeloma.
    PhD students: Ben Green, Abigail Bentley
  9. Prof Majid Hafezparast (Life Sciences): Role of non-coding RNAs as biomarkers in motor neurone disease and neuroinflammation.
    Postdocs: Eleni Christoforidou, Martha McLaughlin
    PhD students: Sam Gornall
  10. Dr Simon Mitchell (BSMS): Understanding regulation of gene expression in cancer using systems biology approaches.
    Postdoc: Eleanor Jayawant
  11. Dr Rhys Morgan (Life Sciences): Role of β-catenin in post-transcriptional gene expression; RNA binding protein networks in AML. 
    Postdocs: Megan Wagstaff, Aaron Goff
    PhD students: Okan Sevim 
  12. Prof Sarah Newbury (BSMS): Role of microRNAs, long-noncoding RNAs and RNA stability in development and disease.
    Postdoc: Hope Haime
    PhD student: Courteney Pienaar
  13. Prof Mel Newport (BSMS)
    Postdocs: Fisal Tantoush, Diana Alcantara
  14. Dr Tony Oliver (Life Sciences): Structural understanding of protein complexes involved in R-loop resolution and processing.
  15. Dr Mark Paget (Life Sciences): Molecular mechanisms underlying the adaptive responses of bacteria to stress including control of transcription.
    PhD student: Tom Flach
  16. Prof Sandra Sacre (BSMS): Control of inflammation by microRNAs.
    PhD student: Lucy Diva MacAleese 
  17. Dr Fabio Simoes (BSMS)
    PhD student: Aleksandra Kolosova   
  18. Dr Sean Stankowski PI
  19. Ben Towler (Life Sciences): Molecular mechanisms underlying targeted RNA degradation to control gene expression. 
    PhD student: Jake Campbell
  20. Prof Simon Waddell (BSMS): Transcriptional profiling mycobacterial host-pathogen interactions and drug responses.
    PhD students: Michael Brennan, Kaya Taylor, Rachael Meade
A photograph from an RNA event, showing bunting with flags of the world, with people sitting on the grass eating.

Events

The Sussex RNA Research Centre meetings take place once per month on Mondays and include a free lunch. The programme is available from Prof Sarah Newbury (S.Newbury@bsms.ac.uk) or Dr Leandro Castellano (L.Castellano@sussex.ac.uk).

Microscopic image showing RNA