Gerald Kerkut Trust Symposium
11th July 2025
Axis, Science Park, Chilworth
This was a day-long symposium during which postgraduates funded by the trust gave talks on their work. More images.
Programme
| Coffee | 08:45 - 09:15 |
| Welcome and introduction from Prof. Robert Walker | 09:15 - 09:30 |
| Session 1 - Chair Prof. Robert Walker | |
 Mengyang Gou (Salah Elias, Nicole Prior)Identification of novel Annexin A1-expressing bipotent luminal stem cells in the mouse mammary gland |
09:30 - 09:45 |
| Jiaoqi Cheng (Salah Elias, Stephen Beers) CenSegNet: A versatile and high-precision automated deep learning pipeline for robust centrosome segmentation across diverse epithelial tissues |
09:45 - 10:00 |
| Suzanne Buss (Diego Gomez-Nicola. Mariana Vargos-Caballero) Unveiling and mapping the complexities of the immune compartment in human Alzheimer's disease |
10:00 - 10:15 |
| Grazia Battaglino (Nicole Prior, Owen Rackham) Establishing a novel chemically defined hydrogel for the enhancement of endodermal organoid systems |
10:15 - 10:30 | Daisy Bown (Lorraine Williams, Matthew Terry) The role of TaPIF3 in regulating growth and development of hexaploid wheat |
10:30 - 10:45 |
| Coffee | 10:45 - 11:15 |
| Session 2 - Chair Dr Niall Horn | James Lamb (James Dillon, Katrin Deinhardt, Vincent O'Connor) Discrete phenotypic clusters emerge from screening ASD associated epigenetic modifiers |
11:15 - 11:30 |
| Joshua Green Jenkinson (Nicole Prior, Jonathan Swan) Investigating the regulatory role of central carbon metabolism on cell fate decisions during liver development and regeneration |
11:30 - 11:45 |
| Shane Johnson (Karen Lillycrop, Keith Godfrey, Emma Garratt) Investigating the molecular mechanisms of sarcopenia and muscle aging within satellite cells |
11:45 - 12:00 |
| Eleonora Maria Pieroni (James Dillon. Lindy Holden-Dye, Vince O'Connor) Investigating molecular determinants of nociception in Octopus vulgaris through a model hopping approach |
12:00 - 12:15 |
| Daniel Adenisimi (Jessica Teeling, Sofia Michopoulou, Rahman Attar) IMPACT: Immune Markers of Progression of Alzheimer's Disease (AD) for Clinical Translation - An Artificial Intelligence (AI) enabled approach |
12:15 - 12:30 |
| Lunch | 12:30 - 14:00 |
| Session 3 - Chair Dr Alan Thomas | |
| Júlia Escarrabill (recorded) (Emily Brookes, Mariana Vargas-Cabalerro) Investigating BDNF gene regulation in Rett syndrome |
14:00 - 14:15 |
| Ore Fakeye (Mariana Vargas-Caballero, Andrew Penn) The GluN2A contribution to persistent activity in the Prefrontal cortex |
14:15 - 14:30 | Sonakshi Gehlot (Marcin Przewloka, Nullin Divecha) Investigating the localization and role of Nuclear PIP2 |
14:30 - 14:45 |
| Naziah Choudhury (David Tumbarello, Arjuna Ratnayaka) Investigating the role of TOLLIP in mitochondrial quality control and inflammatory pathways: Insights into the NLRP3 inflammasome and STING-mediated immune responses |
14:45 - 15:00 |
| Tea | 15:00 - 15:30 | Sam Hodgkinson (Daniel Stabler, Emily Gwyer Findlay) The physiology of macronutrient-dependent immunity in bumblebees |
15:30 - 15:45 |
| James Hennegan (Jessica Teeling, Ali Roghanian) A novel immune target in Parkinson's Disease |
15:45 - 16:00 |
| Ayesha Mohuid Din (Herman Wijnen, Marc Dumont) Mechanisms underlying environmental control of oviposition in Drosophila |
16:00 - 16:15 |
| Yongrui Zhang(Amrit Mudher, Sumeet Mahajan) Using aggregation inhibitors for treating tauopathies |
16:15 - 16:30 |
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