Honorary members
Professor R Alan Wilson, University of York
Professor Wilson is an emeritus professor in the Department of Biology. His research focus is on the disease Schistosomiasis. Schistosomiasis is a debilitating disease and infects up to 200 million people in many parts of South America, Africa and Asia. In severe cases, infection can be fatal.
He investigates the immune responses which result in protection against infection, to discover antigens which can be evaluated as vaccine candidates and to examine the processes which give rise to pathology.
Dr Harv Isaacs, University of York
Dr Isaacs is an emeritus reader in the Department of Biology. His research focus is on developmental biology, Specifically the expression of neuronal isoforms of src (n-srcs) in the childhood cancer, neuroblastoma, with the aim of developing novel approaches to treating neuroblastoma.
Fibroblast growth factor (FGF) signalling is his other area of interest. FGF signalling is required for cell lineage specification in normal development and cultured embryonic stem cells. Mis-regulated FGF signalling is associated with human disease, including cancer and skeletal dysplasia. He is investigating the mechanisms of transcriptional regulation by FGF signalling, with the aim of understanding how FGF regulates cell lineage specification and differentiation.
Dr Chris Elliot, University of York
Dr Elliot is an emeritus Lecturer in the Department of Biology. His research focus is on the fundamental causes of Parkinson’s disease (PD), using fly models of inherited PD to understand why (some dopaminergic) neurons die more than others.
Fly models of PD are robust and recapitulate the main features of the disease because flies share many genes with humans.
Dr Debora Morgante, Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
Dr Morgante is a consultant neonatal and paediatric surgeon at Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust and is an honorary senior lecturer and associate researcher at Hull York Medical School.
She is passionate about clinical research in neonatal and paediatric surgery as well as basic science research, with particular interest in biomaterials, tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. Her PhD conducted at the Jack Birch Unit for Molecular Carcinogenesis focussed on acellular matrices for surgical application.
Professor Deborah Smith, Former Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research, University of York
Professor Smith’s research interests are in neglected tropical diseases, particularly the leishmaniases, parasitic diseases that are endemic in parts of the tropics and sub-tropics.
Professor Charles Lacey, Hull York Medical School
Professor Charles Lacey’s research interests are in clinical trials; Human challenge models; Human papillomavirus (HPV); Leishmania; and Sexually transmitted diseases (STDs).
Emeritus Professor Jenny Southgate, University of York
Emeritus Professor Jenny Southgate is currently YBRI Theme Lead for Molecular & Cellular Medicine, and was Director of the Jack Birch Unit for Molecular Carcinogenesis (JBU) and held a Research Chair part-funded externally by York Against Cancer.
The research of the JBU focuses on human epithelial tissues and their cancers. Its aims are to understand the processes that control proliferation, differentiation, and cellular organisation in normal and wounded epithelial tissues and how dysregulation of these processes leads to the development and progression of malignant disease.