Funding MSc Studentships at the University of Hull

Help for Health is proud to have supported three MSc Studentships at the University of Hull with a £75,000 grant. Here is a brief summary of their projects and the impact it has had.

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Mr Przemek Golebiewski  

Development of bespoke microfluidic technology to identify thyroid tumour biomarkers

Supervisor: Dr Victoria Green

Science: The work that Przemek has completed has provided key insights into the use of spheroids/organoids as 3D models for thyroid cancer drug testing.  He has optimised a papillary thyroid model, which mimics the most prevalent form of thyroid cancer, and an anaplastic thyroid model, which represents the rarest, most aggressive, and difficult to treat form of thyroid cancer.

The work has provided preliminary data for funding applications to awarding bodies such as the Get Ahead charity, from which we can develop these models further, looking for biomarkers and responses to different novel drugs.

Przemek:  I am profoundly grateful to Help for Health for their generous support, without which I believe I would not have been able to pursue an MSc by Research. This opportunity has been transformative, my biggest personal improvement was in communication; the frequent demands of presenting and discussing research with peers and collaborators, coupled with the supportive environment, helped me break out of my shell and become a confident and effective communicator. Being based in the Daisy Research laboratories allowed me to realize my passion for medicine and placed me in the perfect environment to gain invaluable experience in this field, an opportunity I might not have had without your support. The work was presented at the British Association of Endocrine and Thyroid Surgeons (Athens, 2023), a fantastic experience.

During my studies, I met incredible people who have become both friends and mentors, opening doors to new avenues of personal and professional growth. Being surrounded by such a diverse and inspiring community has significantly broadened my perspective, helping me to crystallize my aspirations and goals. Thank you for enabling this remarkable journey of learning and discovery.  

Dr Bijal Trivedi’s

Kinetic profile of immunoparalysis in bacteraemia sepsis patients

Supervisor: Dr Stefano Caserta

Science: Septicaemia or sepsis is a severe disease responsible for approximately 37,000 deaths/year in the UK. With rising incidence (10% annually) and causing nearly 33% of all inpatient hospital deaths, sepsis remains a major burden for our society. Even recovered patients go on suffering from other infections and remain at high risk of death for up to one year after discharge, yet the reasons behind this are still not well understood. We hypothesised that the immune cells of sepsis patients quickly acquire the expression of many inhibitors that together suppress immunity to infection in the aftermath of sepsis.  

Bijal: Thanks to the received funding, during the year of my Masters by Research Thesis, I collaborated with infection clinicians based at Castle Hill who helped to recruit a population of sepsis patients. I studied the expression of many inhibitory biomarkers in the immune cells of these patients, from early after infection until recovery and discharge (or death). My results suggest that immune suppression develops from as early as the first week of sepsis and persists in patients, even as they are deemed to be recovered and discharged from the hospital, after successful antibiotic therapy. My study has helped uncover how and why sepsis patients’ immunity becomes compromised and may help develop future personalised medicine approaches for sepsis patients after discharge.

My research results were presented in posters both at the British Society for Immunology Congress (Belfast, 2023) and at the Microbiology Society Conference (Edinburgh, 2024). Additionally, I was invited for an oral presentation at the HYMS postgraduate research conference in York (June 2024). I am now completing the second year of my Doctor of Medicine degree and aspire to become a clinician scientist working in the field of biological engineering and help the advancement of immunotherapy.  

Miss Mayowa Olubukola Esan

Microplastics in Lung Disease

Supervisor: Dr Laura Sadofsky

Science: The funding from Help 4 health has meant that we could generate preliminary data about whether microplastics have a detrimental effect on human health. These particles are all around us, and accumulating in us, but the effects they have are not understood.  The University of Hull group is leading research in the effects of microplastics in lung diseases such as Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and asthma.  Following the successful study a grant is being submitted to the Wellcome Trust, and applications have been made to NHS Assure Scotland, and Asthma and Lung UK.

Mayowa:  It has been a remarkable journey thus far in my research, and a huge part of that is owing to the support from Help for Health.  The research has been a huge eye-opener for me in the world of research, especially in biomedical and environmental science, and, importantly, the impact of microplastics on a global scale. In the past few months, there has been remarkable research ongoing in this field, most of it focused on finding out the direct impact of microplastics on human health; I am honoured to be contributing to this rapidly expanding area.

Because of the research experience, training and support from the team in Hull I have recently gained a scholarship award for my PhD, focusing further on the impact of microplastics on the environment, especially in the petrochemical industry.  My most sincere appreciation and commendations go to the Trustees for awarding scholarships to my supervisor, Dr Sadofsky, and her colleagues at the University of Hull.  I can now boldly say that my success story would not have been possible without the funding from Help for Health.

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Help for Health would like to say a huge thank you to Professor John Greenman for all his work to turn this project into a reality.