Nelofer Syed

Dr Nelofer Syed obtained her PhD from Imperial College under the direction of Professor Margaret Dallman in 2003. Her PhD training was in the field of molecular immunology and involved the generation of transgenic mouse models to conditionally silence genes of the immune system. After completing her PhD training she persued her interests in translational cancer epigenetics by joining the laboratory of Dr Timothy Crook at the Ludwig Institute of Cancer Research, London. Her main focus here centred around identifying cancer specific epigenetic changes that could be targets for therapy. She continued her research at the Institute of Cancer Research, London, where she played a key role in identifying a gene (Tip60) having a critical involvement in breast cancer development.

In 2008 she returned to Imperial College/Charing Cross Hospital NHS Trust to set up a molecular neuro-oncology laboratory (John Fulcher Molecular Lab) funded by the Brain Tumour Research Campaign (BTRC) to investigate various aspects of brain tumour biology, genetics and epigenetics. Her work has already generated novel data on deranged amino acid metabolism that she hopes will form the basis of a phase 2 clinical trial of arginine depletion as a novel therapeutic strategy for brain tumours.

In 2011 she was appointed research lecturer at Imperial College/Charing Cross Hospital NHS Trust and continues to direct her research programme of translational research in brain tumours with a particular emphasis on identifying deranged metabolic pathways to identify novel therapeutic strategies. Her group consists of two senior post-doctoral scientists (Dr Fernando Abaitua and Dr Boling Qiao) and a PhD student (Ms Julia Langer). She has recently attracted funding from the Barrow UK Neurological Foundation, a sister of the Barrow Neurological Foundation in Phoenix, Arizona to appoint a further post-doctoral scientist and PhD student in 2014.

Publications

Journals

• Schaf J, Shinhmar S, Zeng Q, et al., 2023, Enhanced Sestrin expression through Tanshinone 2A treatment improves PI3K-dependent inhibition of glioma growth., Cell Death Discov, Vol:9, ISSN:2058-7716
• Limaye S, Chowdhury S, Rohatgi N, et al., 2023, Accurate prostate cancer detection based on enrichment and characterization of prostate cancer specific circulating tumor cells., Cancer Med, Vol:12, Pages:9116-9127
• Williams R, Schaf J, Shinhmar S, et al., 2022, Enhanced Sestrin expression through Tanshinone 2A treatment improves PI3K-dependent inhibition of glioma growth