2024
Dr Claire Salter wins Isabelle Oberle Award. Early Career Award, European Society of Human Genetics Conference for an outstanding presentation, in the field of genetics of intellectual disability
Dr Lowri Allen awarded Welsh Endocrine and Diabetes Society Spring Meeting: Best Oral Presentation by a Trainee. At the spring meeting Dr Lowri Allen, who presented on two collaborative research projects was awarded the Society’s award for Best Oral Presentation by a Trainee.
Dr Lowri Allen – Winner Alistair Williams Young Presenter Award, UK Type 1 Diabetes Research Consortium. Initiated by the The Type 1 Diabetes UK Immunotherapy Consortium Scientific Committee, in memory of Alistair Williams, Research Fellow, Bristol Medical School the “Alistair Williams award” is presented to the best young presenter at each scientific meeting in memory of Alistair’s contribution to training young scientists.
Dr Fergus Hamilton – Recipient Gold Research Medal, Royal College Pathology. The Royal College of Pathology Trainees’ Research Medals are awarded annually for outstanding research work undertaken by pathologists or scientists in training. Medals are awarded for research published in a variety of specialties, with assessment being made for potential benefits to the public and patients; impact on the field and contribution of the individual to the paper.
Dr Nick Thomas – Young Diabetologists & Endocrinologists’ Forum UK Best Oral Presentation at the Diabetes UK Conference held in London, for his presentation ‘Pre-symptomatic adult type 1 diabetes case detection: Type 1 diabetes genetic risk guided islet autoantibody screening in a general population’.
2023
Dr Fergus Hamilton – Barnett Christie Lecture 2023. Gus was invited to deliver the highly prestigious Barnett Christie Lecture at the annual meeting of the Federation of Infection Societies (FIS). His lecture was entitled ‘Immunosuppression and infection: what can genetics tell us?’
Dr Sarah Clarke awarded Thompson Family Scholarship by the Royal Society of Medicine (RSM). This coincides with her taking up the post of Trainee Trustee on the Royal Society of Medicine Council, the governing body of the RSM, for the period of October 2023 – 2026.
Dr Claire Salter, awarded Dian Donnai Prize for best platform presentation by an early career researcher, at the Manchester Dysmorphology Conference 2023.
Dr Lowri Allen – Runner up in the Diabetes UK Clinical Science Poster Award
Dr Naomi Cornish wins Best Presentation Prize at Bristol Heart Institute & BHF Accelerator Award meeting 2023. At a joint meeting of the Bristol Heart Foundation, University of Bristol, University Hospitals Bristol and Weston and the British Heart Foundation, Dr Naomi Cornish won Best Presentation for her flash talk entitled ‘Genomic risk factors for cancer-associated thrombosis’. Eighteen PhD students took part in the event presenting their research. The day also included presentations from leading clinical academics and opportunities to network, and concluded with a plenary chaired by Deborah Lawlor, Professor of Epidemiology, MRC Investigator and BHF Chair, University of Bristol.
2022
Dr Mike Ambler wins Grey Walter Prize for Best PhD Paper – 2022 awarded to a current or recently graduated University of Bristol PhD student who is first or joint author of a journal paper based on a research project which they conceptualised and developed independently and which has had discernible impact GW4-CAT Fellow Dr Mike Ambler (School of Physiology, Pharmacology and Neuroscience, graduated 2021), Michael Ambler, Timna Hitrec, Andrew Wilson, Matteo Cerri and Anthony Pickering (2021). Neurons in the dorsomedial hypothalamus promote, prolong, and deepen torpor in the mouse. The Journal of Neuroscience. 42(21), pp4267-4277.
Dr Simeng Lin wins GUT award for Best Scientific Abstract, British Society of Gastroenterology Annual Conference November 2022.
Dr Mark Gormley: British Association of Oral Surgeons (BAOS) Open Paper Competition Winner 2022.
Dr Jack Underwood and Timothy Syndrome Alliance – Gene People Awards 2022, Winner Best Research Partnership. The Gene People hosted the very first Gene People Awards with the aim of highlighting the efforts of both individuals and organisations in improving the lives of people affected by a genetic condition.
Dr Nick Thomas Diabetes consortium best presentation prize May-22
Dr Nick Thomas North European young diabetologists best presentation May-22
Dr Bnar Talabani recipient of Royal Society of Biology Award for Public Engagement (Leadership). The Royal Society of Biology’s Outreach and Engagement Award acknowledges and rewards outreach work carried out by researchers who inform, enthuse and engage the public with their research. The Award is open to researchers studying or working in any sector of UK biosciences, from universities, institutes or industry.
Dr James Fasham Winner of the Clinical Genetics Society (CGS) Conference 2022, Robin Winter Prize awarded to the trainee who is judged to have delivered the most outstanding podium presentation at the Annual Clinical Genetics Society (CGS) Conference has once again been awarded to a GW4-CAT Fellow. Congratulations to Dr James Fasham, whose win follows GW4-CAT fellow Dr Claire Salter’s win in 2021.
Dr Majd Protty Awarded AMS Starter Grant for £28,711 to extend his PhD research with a project entitled ‘Investigating the role of procoagulant enzymatically oxidized phospholipids in arterial thrombosis using in vivo models’. Majd will continue his research at Cardiff University.
Simeng Lin wins Young-ECCO (Y-ECCO) Award. Young – European Crohn’s and Colitis Organisation (ECCO). The ECCO Young Researcher Award recognises and promotes young researchers who have demonstrated excellence in IBD-related research fields. Feb 2022
Dr Bnar Talabani recognised in New Years Honours List 2022 for outstanding voluntary work
The GW4-CAT Programme is delighted to announce that GW4-CAT programme fellow, Dr Bnar Talabani has become a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for services to the NHS and the accessibility of the Covid vaccination to ethnic minority communities in Wales.
Bnar volunteers with the United Nations Verified initiative, Team Halo an international group of scientists and healthcare professionals who work to address Covid-19 vaccine concerns and misinformation. She also volunteers with Muslim Doctors Cymru, (MDC) who during the pandemic have worked to dispel misinformation about the Covid vaccine through social media, specifically targeted at communities where English is not spoken as a first language. Through-out the pandemic the MDC also arranged pop-up vaccine centres within local communities, to increase the availability and take-up of the vaccine.
2021
Dr Mike Ambler – Awarded BBSRC Grant with co-investigator with Professor Tony Pickering, University of Bristol, has secured a BBSRC grant of £540K, which will support the continuation of his PhD research on torpor – exploring the activation of protective torpor circuits during extreme critical illness. Turn it off and on again: characteristics and control of torpor – PubMed (nih.gov)
Dr Alice Hughes wins award for Abstract First prize abstract at the Diabetes UK Diabetes in Pregnancy Conference.
Dr Claire Salter, Winner of the Clinical Genetics Society (CGS) Conference 2021, Robin Winter Prize at the Annual Clinical Genetics Society (CGS) Conference 2021 which this year was a virtual event. The Robin Winter prize is awarded to the trainee who the panel judges to have delivered the most outstanding podium presentation.
Dr Mark Gormley, awarded Faculty of Dental Surgery (Royal College of Surgeons of England), Grant. A £10,000 grant to expand his cell line work “Establishing a DNA methylation profile for e-cigarette exposure in oral and oropharyngeal cancer cells”.
Dr James Fasham, recipient European Society for Human Genetics Fellowship 2021
Dr James Fasham Lightning Talk Prize at the two-day Joint National Meeting of British Society for Genetic Medicine (BSGM) and Association for Clinical Genetic Science, (ACGS) held virtually in January 2021. James won the four-slides, four-minute presentation, on his work on SCN9A, which has recently been published in PLOS Genetics.
2020
Dr Nick Thomas – £10,000 Northcott Devon Medical Foundation Award to investigate, continuous glucose monitoring within the DROPLeT study.