By Jenna Stevens-Smith
August 31, 2018
Time to read: 3 minutes
Imperial College London have announced their 2019 round of academic promotions, celebrating the work of academics across the Faculties of Medicine, Engineering and Natural Sciences as well as the Business School.
This round there has been 139 academic staff promoted, with 54 academics promoted within the Faculty of Medicine, including three researchers from the MRC London Institute of Medical Sciences (MRC LMS).
Peter is Head of the Transgenerational Epigenetic Inheritance & Evolution group at MRC LMS and has been promoted to Senior Lecturer. The group are interested in the relationship between epigenetics and evolution, looking into whether epigenetic changes can ever drive evolutionary changes and how and for what reasons epigenetic mechanisms have evolved to be different in different species. Peter has just published a piece, ‘Why Study Evolution?’ on the Imperial Faculty of Medicine blog which shares his insights into the question. Peter is also affiliated with the Institute of Clinical Sciences (ICS) at Imperial.
“I’m very lucky to be in the position that I am, supported very well by a combination of Imperial and the MRC. I’m very grateful for the support they have given me and it has led us to find something which I think is potentially really important, the connection between DNA methylation and DNA alkylation repair. Without the access to resources and skills it would have been really difficult to do these experiments in a reasonable time frame” – Dr Peter Sarkies, MRC LMS
Dr Enrique “Fadri” Martinez-Perez
Fadri, Head of the Meiosis research group at MRC LMS has been promoted to Reader in Chromosome Biology. The work of the group has focused on understanding the mechanisms that ensure the faithful transmission of chromosomes from parents to offspring, using the nematode C. elegans as a model organism to provide insight into causes of infertility and aneuploidy in humans. Fadri is also affiliated with the Institute of Clinical Sciences (ICS) at Imperial.
“This promotion is largely a recognition of the work done by our group over the past years, I am extremely thankful to the MRC and Imperial College for supporting our research programme and more broadly for their continued support of the excellent research environment of the LMS.” – Dr Fadri Martinez-Perez, MRC LMS
James’ Cardiovascular Genomics group at the MRC LMS, are trying to understand the genetic basis of cardiovascular disease and explore how this information can be used to improve healthcare. James has been promoted to Reader in Genomic Medicine. Together with Professor Stuart Cook and Dr Declan O’Regan, James has recently published a study uncovering the genetic component of alcoholic cardiomyopathy. They have also recently received a £2 million investment from the British Heart Foundation (BHF) to investigate the causes underpinning dilated cardiomyopathy as part of a multi-centre project. James is also affiliated with the National Heart and Lung Institute (NHLI) at Imperial.
“I am really grateful to have been encouraged to be put forward for academic promotion, the MRC LMS and NHLI are really exciting places to work and I am pleased to be surrounded by and part of great research. It is great to work in a supportive environment in which colleagues encourage each other’s progression” – Dr James Ware, MRC LMS
Congratulations to our researchers and to the other academics who have been promoted this round. Imperial have posted the full list of 2019 academic promotions.