Home Address: 54 Newtown Park, Castletroy, Co. Limerick.
Telephone: +353 876415993
E-mail: fiona.gilchrist@ul.ie
Academic Qualifications:
1998 - 2001
Dept. of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry, University of Aston in Birmingham, UK
Doctor of Philosophy
The activity of pH membrane disruptive pseudopeptides and their subcellular fate in mammalian cells cultured in-vitro.
1995 - 1996
University of Kent at Canterbury, UK
MSc. in Biotechnology.
1992 - 1995
University of Sussex, UK
BSc. (Hons) Biological Sciences. Grade awarded: 2(i).
Employment History:
2004 - present
Stokes Research Institute, University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland
Marie Curie Transfer of Knowledge (TOK) Fellowship
Quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction as a means to accurately diagnose subtypes in childhood
acute leukemia. Collaboration with St. Bartholomew's Children's Hospital, London, UK and
Limerick Regional Hospital.
2003 - 2004
School of Pharmacy, University College Cork (UCC), Cork, Ireland
Assessing the potential use of cyclodextrins as drug delivery agents.
2001 - 2003
Dept., of Chemical Engineering, University of Cambridge, UK
Research Associate investigating FRET probes for the selective imaging of carcinomas and nuclear
drug targeting.
1999 - 2000
Amersham Biosciences, Cardiff, UK
Industrial experience during my PhD studies investigating the fate of fluorescently tagged polymer
probes as cancer drug delivery agents in mammalian cells cultured in-vitro using
Laser Scanning Confocal Microscopy (LSCM).
1997 - 1998
Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry, Aston University, UK
Research assistant targeting cancer cells through the use of synthetic biopolymers in collaboration with the
Cancer Research Centre (CRC) at the University of Birmingham, UK.
1989 - 1992
Department of Anatomy and Developmental Biology, University College London, London, UK.
Laboratory-Technician.
Dr. Fiona M Gilchrist
Computer Literacy:
Literate in Windows computer package including Word, Excel and Powerpoint.
Interests/Particular Achievements:
Keen interests include reading, travel, cinema, current affairs and sport.
Volunteer member for Junior Achievement Ireland (April 2007)
Reviewer for Enterprise Ireland Proof of Concept grant applications (October, 2006)
Postgraduate representative, University of Aston research Committee (1999-2001)
Member of Residence Committee at Aston University. Responsible for undergraduate student welfare (1998-2001).
Scholarships/Grant Awards
September, 2007
Enterprise Ireland, Technology Development Proof of concept Award as Prinicipal Investigator (95,000 euros).
Point-of-care diagnostic chip for the detection of herpes simplex virus (HSV:Type 1 and 2).
December, 2006
Twenty five years of embryonic stem cells in Cambridge.
Babbage Lecture Theatre, Downing Street, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK. Sponsored by Nature.
November 2006 - December 2006
Visiting Research Fellow in Proteomics Research Laboratories of the Assessment of the Efficacy and Safety of Drugs, Bundesgesundheitsamt, Berlin, Germany.
January, 2006
Open Door Workshop, 'Working with the Human Genome Sequence, Wellcome Trust Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridge, UK.
Summer, 2004
Awarded scholarship by the Health Research Board of Ireland to attend the US National Cancer Institute Summer Curriculum in Cancer Prevention.
March, 2001
Total Technology Award, Aston Business School, Aston University, Birmingham, UK
October, 1998
CASE Award scholarship. Industrial sponsorship for PhD studies by Amersham Biosciences, Cardiff, UK.
October, 1996
Awarded University of Kent at Canterbury Bursary (MSc in Biotechnology, 1996-1997).
Society Membership
Member of the Institute of Biology, UK
Member of the Controlled Release Society
Member of the American Chemical Society
Member of the COST ACTION GROUP B25 entitled 'Physiologically based Pharmaco-Toxicokinetics and Dynamics'. The main objective of the Action is to improve the utility and interpretation of scientific information obtained either during pharmaceutical product development or, subsequently, through observations in humans, to predict the safe and effective use of drugs and other chemicals in the Medicine and Health field.
Publications:
Use of PCR as a diagnostic for type and subtype of leukaemia. Ian Clancy, Fiona Gilchrist, Mark Davies, Tara Dalton Stokes Research Institute, University of Limerick, Ireland. Frederik van Delft, Olga Yiannikouris and Vaskar Saha. St. Bartholomew's Hospital, London. (Dated: December 22, 2006). In Progress.
Detection limits of gene expression in acute lymphoblastic leukaemia using Taqman assays and quantiatative PCR. Fiona Gilchrist, Christina Conway, Angela Morris. In Progress.
Eccleston, M.E., Lee, J., Gilchrist, F., Slater, N.K.H and C.F. Kaminski (2004). Bio-organic nanoprobes for tumour detection. Laser applications to chemical and environmental analysis, February 9-11, Annapolis, Maryland, USA.
F. Gilchrist (2004). Third pan-European Younger Chemists' conference held at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF), Grenoble, France.
Mark Eccleston, Fiona Gilchrist and Nigel Slater (2003). Smart Responsive polymers for Tumour Imaging and Drug Delivery. Parliamentary conference for young researchers at the House of Commons, London, UK.
Eccleston, M.E., Kuiper, M., Gilchrist, F.M., and N.K.H. Slater (2000) pH responsive pseudopeptides for cell membrane disruption, Journal of Controlled Release, Vol. 69, Issue 2, 3 November, 2000, Pages 297-307.
Eccleston, M.E., Gilchrist, F.M., Slater, N.K.H. (2000). pH responsive polymers. IChem E Research 2000, Bath UK.
Eccleston, M.E., Gilchrist, F.M., Slater, N.K.H. and B.J. Tighe (1999). pH Responsive Polymers. Macromolecules '99, Conference of the MacroGroup UK, ACS Polymer Division, Bath, UK.
Slater, N.K.H., Eccleston, M.E., and Gilchrist, F. (1999) pH-responsive biopolymers and their potential as cancer therapy agents. 5th United Kingdom and Ireland controlled Release Symposium on: 'Polymeric Drug Delivery into the New Millenium', School of Pharmacy, University of Aston in Birmingham, UK.
Key:
Diagnositics, Genomics, Cancer, Republic of Ireland
