Over the last 10-15 years there has been minimal progress in the treatment of Brain Cancer. Research is vital.
We provide vital Research funding to the Patrick G Johnston Centre for Cancer Research at Queen’s University Belfast.
In recent years our fundraising has enabled us to provide funding of more than £500,000 towards research.
Brainwaves NI Studentship
Brainwaves NI is delighted to announce that thanks to our generous fundraisers, we have been able to provide a further £100,000 to further support the PGJCCR in the form of a 3 Year PHD Studentship.
The Research Team
Dr. Seyed Mehdi Jafarnejad
Principal Investigator / Reader in Cancer RNA biology
Dr Seyed Mehdi Jafarnejad obtained his PhD in Experimental Medicine from The University of British Columbia in Vancouver (2008-2012), working on dysregulated mechanisms of gene expression during melanoma metastasis. This was followed by postdoctoral training at McGill University in Montreal (2013-2018), during which his research on mRNA biology led to several important discoveries, revealing the processes by which mRNA translation is dysregulated in diseases such as cancer, neurological disorders, and during viral infections.
Mehdi joined the Patrick Johnston Centre for Cancer Research at Queen’s University Belfast in 2019 as a Principal Investigator. His group currently focuses on mechanisms of regulation of mRNA translation and decay, alterations in these mechanisms induced by chemotherapeutic drugs, and how these mechanisms contribute to therapy-resistance in cancer.
Mr. Muhammad Kamran
PhD student
Kam studied his bachelor’s in Biochemistry at the University of Worcester (2018-2021), where he focused his research on the role of tRNA fragments in cancer. During his master’s at the University of Birmingham (2021-22), he studied the roles of the Tetraspanin protein family in the regulation of important cancer and inflammation related pathways.
At the RNA biology group under the supervision of Dr Mehdi Jafarnejad and Dr Colin Adrain, Kam is currently studying the role of an RNA helicase involved in translation initiation to see how it helps maintain cell survival in Glioblastoma cells with a particular focus on the mechanisms behind which it regulates metabolic fitness. This research will help us gain a better understanding of the molecular underpinnings of Glioblastoma while helping to identify new vulnerabilities in the cancer which could be used to assist in the development of new glioblastoma treatments.
Dr. Parisa Naeli – Postdoctoral Research Associate
Dr. Susanta Chatterjee – Postdoctoral Research Associate
Mr. Patric Harris Snell – PhD student
Ms. Tanvi Nitin Sawant – MSc student
Ms. Fatema Ali Saif Al Mashaykhi – Undergraduate student
Brandon Doyle– Undergraduate student
