Hasnain Ahmed
PhD student
Hasnain joined the Stewart lab in October 2021 to work on a Tenovus-funded project focussed on identifying prognostic biomarkers that can aid in predicting patient response to oesophageal adenocarcinoma therapy.
Dr Swati Arya
Research Fellow (Post-doc)
Swati initially joined the Stewart lab in September 2015 to work on a Fight for Sight-funded project examining the involvement of serum proteins in the formation of sub-retinal pigment epithelial deposits in age-related macular degeneration. Since September 2017 she has been working on a Leverhulme Trust-funded project focussed on circulatory zinc handling and it’s impact on cellular uptake.
Amy Dorward
PhD Student
Amy joined the Pitt lab in September 2017 to take up a PhD studentship supported by the BHF. She is currently investigating how zinc regulates ion channel function in heart failure and how this modulates the release of calcium from intracellular stores.
Dr Remi Fritzen
Reserach Fellow
Remi joined the Stewart lab in March 2022 to undertake a BBSRC-funded project aimed at examining the interplay between plasma fatty acids and both cellular uptake and insulin dynamics.
Stephen Hierons
PhD Student
Following completion of his Hons degree, Steve joined the Stewart lab in September 2019 to undertake a masters project examining the metal-binding properties of alpha-fetoprotein. In October 2020 started his BHF-funded doctoral training examining the interplay between plasma Zn dynamics and fibrin clotting in obesity.
Quenton Hurst
Research Fellow
Quenton joined the Pitt lab in February 2021 to undertake a UKRI-BBSRC funded project entitled “High-resolution structure, function and anti-viral inhibition of the SARS-CoV-2 E protein ion channel”. Working with partners from University of Dundee (Prof Ulrich Zachariae) and Trinity College Dublin (Prof Martin Caffrey), the team will use structure-based drug design to accelerate the discovery of drugs to target SARS-CoV2 by enabling focused, rational approaches to design and repurposing. The project aims to i) solve high-resolution crystal-structures of CoV2E (ii) apply computational electrophysiology and in silico screens including cheminformatics/machine learning approaches to identify CoV2E inhibitors from libraries of commercially available and repurposing drugs, and (iii) perform lead validation and further development of inhibitors by electrophysiology and crystallography.
Jordan Marsh
(Co-supervised with Dr Samantha Pitt)
PhD Student
Jordan joined the Stewart lab in January 2020 to take up a PhD studentship supported by the BHF. He is currently investigating how zinc homestasis is controlled in platelets and how it contributes to coagulatory pathways.
Angela Martinella
(Co-supervised with Dr Silvia Paracchini)
PhD Student
Angela joined the Paracchini and Pitt lab in November 2017 to take up a PhD scholarship supported by the Cunningham Trust. She is investigating the role of ATP2C2, a susceptibility gene for Specific Language Impairment (SLI). The main goal of her project is to study the role of ATP2C2 in brain development and look at the effects of specific mutations on the protein function. This will involve the generation of knock-out and mutated cell lines and the application of electrophysiological approaches. Angela is supported by the Cunningham Trust.
Chloe O’Rourke
MSc Student
Chloe joined the Pitt lab in November 2020 to undertake a Masters project investigating new mechanisms of sarcoplasmic reticulum calcium leak in cardiac pathology
Spencer Regan-Smith
MSc Student
Spencer joined the Stewart lab in September 2021 to undertake a masters project examining the role of zinc in controlling fibrin clotting.
Dongmei Wu
PhD Student
Dongmei joined the Stewart lab in August 2018 to take up a PhD studentship supported by the China Scholarship Council. Her project is focussed on the links between metal dishomeostasis and autoimmune disease.
Previous Group Members:
Stewart Group: Dr Mohammed Arastoo (now TauRx Pharmaceticals Aberdeen, UK), Dr Omar Kassaar (now University of Bristol, UK), Dr Kondwani Katundu (now University of Malawi), Dr Siavash Khazaipoul (now Charles River Ireland Ltd), Dr Petra Popovics (now University of Wisconsin – Madison, WI, USA), Dr Amelie Sobczak (now School of Biology, University of St Andrews), Dr Dagmara Wiatrek (now Central European Institute of Technology, Czech Rep.), Dr Ruitao Yu (returned to Northwest Plateau Institute of Biology, Xining, China)